Ram Surat Rai Rajbhar

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Ram Surat Rai Rajbhar (January 31, 1939) was born in the Jamunipur village of the Chandauli district (then Varanasi). His father Khedaru Rai Rajbhar was an eminent freedom fighter and the distinguished figure of individual satyagraha against colonial rule in 1942 in his district.

Ram Surat Rajbhar was an engineer in the Indian Railway after graduating with a degree in IIT from Kanpur in the early seventies. It was while in school that he came in contact with people of socialist ideas. He was influenced by their thoughts and decided to resign from his coveted job at the Indian Railway and begin a career in politics in the late seventies.

He was a staunch follower of Ram Manohar Lohia and Rajnarayan. He contested the general election in 1969 from Mau parliamentary seat but missed it by a narrow margin. "His motive was not to win the election at that time but to bring awareness to those people who did not knows the value of a single vote.[citation needed]

He then came into contact with Rajnarayan, the most maverick socialist politician of his time who opposed the emergency rule vehemently in 1975. He was arrested under MISA and sent to Tihar jail. After the restoration of democracy he was inducted as general secretary of the Janta party. Although the volatile Janta party was soon dissolved after the formation of Lokdal(B), he became the national organizations secretary. By way of the formation of Janta Dal and through the appeals of V P Singh to all like minded party members to come on the same dias against the misrule of congress party, he joined the Janta Dal and became the general secretary. After the Janta Dal fragmented he joined the Samajwadi party under the socialist leader Mulayam Singh Yadav.