Comrade Raja Bahuguna, a committed, fearless leader of poor and downtrodden, passed away
Comrade Raja Bahuguna, a committed, fearless leader of poor and downtrodden, passed away
Dehradun, Nov 28
Comrade Raja Bahuguna, Chairperson of Central Control Commission of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation and one of the founder leaders of the party in Uttarakhand, passed away on 28 Nov. 25 at a hospital in Delhi. He was suffering from liver and biliary cancer since 2023. The Party has paid rich tributes and lowered it’s party flag in solemn tribute to a comrade whose entire life was woven into the struggles of the toiling masses.
A life dedicated to people’s rights and an egalitarian society, Comrade Raja Bahuguna started his political journey early in his college days when, as a student in Nainital, he became associated with the Youth Congress. But soon his disillusionment with ruling class politics became evident in those tumultuous seventies, and he aligned himself with the ongoing Chipko Movement. Later, he joined the Uttarakhand Sangharsh Vahini in the late seventies and participated in and led many struggles against environmental degradation and for the rights and livelihood of peasants and workers in Nainital and Almora districts. His continued quest for a powerful political resistance eventually brought him in contact with the CPI(ML) in the early eighties. He, along with a few comrades, founded the party in the Uttarakhand region, which was then part of undivided Uttar Pradesh.
Comrade Raja Bahuguna played an important role in the Uttarakhand statehood movement, and when the movement was at an ebb in the late eighties, he mobilised a huge rally in Nainital. Later, he wrote a booklet highlighting the future framework for a separate state and also launched the Uttarakhand People’s Front, a platform to give voice to democratic sentiments for the separate statehood.
Comrade Raja Bahuguna was also the Vice President and UP State President of the Indian People’s Front. He spearheaded the historic Bindukhatta land struggle for the distribution of land to the landless, and the Mahtosh Mor struggle against violence against women in the Terai region, among many other struggles. He was sent to jail many times during these struggles.
He contested the parliamentary elections in 1989 and secured a good number of votes. By the nineties, the party under his leadership had expanded to almost all corners of the state. He was also the State Secretary, Central Committee member, AICCTU Vice President, and AIPF Central Executive member. The 11th Party Congress held in Patna in 2023 elected him Chairperson of the Central Control Commission.
His passing leaves a deep void, but the example he set through his humility, commitment, and unwavering dedication to people’s movements will continue to inspire us for years to come. Every struggle for dignity, every act of resistance, and every step taken toward a just society will carry echoes of his life and work.
