Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna

Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna (April 25, 1919 – March 17, 1989) was a Congress Party leader and former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh; he later joined Bharatiya Lok Dal and worked with Charan Singh.

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Early life

He was the sixth child of his parents, born on 25 April 1919 in a small village called Bhugani in the district of Pauri Garhwal in Uttarakhand. His father Ravati Nandan Bahuguna was a village Patwari and his mother Dipa a housewife. The Bahuguna family hails from Bughani, Pauri Garhwal but settled in Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh. Honored with β€œProud Past Alumni" in the list of 42 members, from "Allahabad University Alumni Association", NCR, Ghaziabad (Greater Noida) Chapter 2007-2008 registered under society act 1860 with registration no. 407/2000[1].

Politics

Pre independence

Students Parliament

He studied in D.A.V. School and Messmore Inter College of Pauri Town. He passed 10th from Pauri and went to Allahabad for higher studies. In 1937, he moved to Allahabad for further studies and was admitted into the Government Intermediate College. There he founded the first "Students Parliament" in the college and was elected its "Prime Minister".

Non-Cooperation Movement

In 1939-40 he was enrolled in B.Sc. at Allahabad University. The university, besides being known as the Oxford of the east, was also a pivot of the freedom movement. Mahatma Gandhi by 1940 had already beckoned the youth to join the Non-Cooperation Movement. In 1941 when the president of the Allahabad University Union was declared an absconder, Bahuguna was elected the dictents movement in Uttar Pradesh. His plunge into the freedom movement was deep. The British declared him a rebel and Bahuguna had to go underground. Subsequently a reward of Rs. 5000/- was offered by the British to anyone who aided in his arrest dead or alive.

In jail

An active participant in the freedom movement, Bahuguna was jailed several times in the prisons of Allahabad and Sultanpur. Finally in 1942 as a part of Quit India movement he was again jailed till 1946. In 1946 he completed his graduation in Arts.

Post independence

Trade unions

India finally attained independence on 15 August 1947. Post independence period saw Bahuguna playing a major role in Trade Unions. He was instrumental in organizing labour unions at Allahabad in the Power House, Government Press, Central Ordinance Depot, Symonds, and Dey's Medical. Unrelentingly he espoused their cause and never compromised with their cause or their welfare. A contemporary of Bahuguna, a union labour leader at Allahabad, Janab Abdul Hamid, said once, "Bahuguna Ji always fought for the cause of the labour and he was the only labour leader on whom we hed absolute faith in those days". In 1953 he became a member of the Indian National Trade Union Congress.

State cabinet

In 1952 Bahuguna entered into the main stream of Indian politics. He was elected M.L.A. from Karchana and Chail constituency in Allahabad. In the house he impressed all with his deep understanding of the legislative process. The proceedings in the house reflect his deep concern for the proletariat, the downtrodden and the minorities. He was again elected to the U.P Legislative Assembly. This time from Sirathu in 1957. The same year Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant, then Chief Minister U.P impressed with Bahuguna's political acumen appointed to him Parliamentary Secretary and entrusted to him the portfolio of labour and industry. In 1960 he was elevated as a Deputy Minister with the same portfolio. In 1967 he was made the Finance Minister with the U.P Government.

Union Cabinet

In 1971 he was made State Minister for Communication in the Union Cabinet.

Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh

1973 saw him as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, the largest state in India. His tenure was short and he was forced to resign by Indira Gandhi in 1975.

Parting of ways with the Congress

1976 saw parting of ways with the Congress and 1977 he was elected to the Parliament from Lucknow constituency. He was subsequently appointed as Cabinet Minister in the Department of Petroleum and Chemicals by the Prime Minister Morarji Desai. His brief stint as Petroleum Minister saw various projects which enabled the country to achieve self-sufficiency in Petroleum products.[2]

1979 saw him as the Finance Minister with the Union Government of India. But by then the Janta Party was Plagued with conflicts amongst several Pressure groups. Disenchanted was Bahuguna again and Indira Gandhi took pains in convincing him that the Congress still stood by its ideals of socialism, and secularism. Thus the spirit was brought back in to the body.

In 1980 he won the Parliamentary elections from Garhwal with a thumping majority. But the spirit was restless again with the Congress. He left the party and resigned his seat as well. He thereby established the highest norm in the history of Indian Parliamentary Democracy. Acharys Narendra Deo, earlier being the only exception, but Bhuguna with a difference, while the Acharya lost, when he recontested, Bahuguna won again in 1982.

Between 1982-84 he revived his Democratic Socialist Party. Later he joined the Lok Dal and became its Vice-President and subsequently its President.

His last endeavor was to forge a common minimum programme amongst the like minded opposition parties. But they did not reciprocate. He warned the heads of parties against believing their own lies and Bahuguna parted company with them for he upheld Ralph Waldo Emerson's maxim of a 'genius': "To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men β€” that is genius."

While a Brahmin, he was noted for his popularity among the Muslim communities of UP.

1984 Lok Sabha Elections

He contested against the congress candidate, Amitabh Bachhan, in 1984 Parliamentary elections from Allahabad constituency. Bachhan won the election by approximately 1,87,000 votes. Later his wife Kamla Bahuguna also stood up for by-elections from Allahabad.

Death

IN 1988 he was later taken ill. It was found that his coronory arteries were blocked. Doctors advised him to undergo a by-pass surgery. For this he flew to the United States of America. On 17 March 1989 when the nation was gearing to felicitate H.N Bahuguna on completing 50 years of his dedicated career in Indian politics, it had to mourn his death when he breathed his last at a Cleveland Hospital in USA.

Other

Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University is Uttaranchal's largest university, in Garhwal, is named after him. H.N. Bahuguna's two children, Vijay Bahuguna and Rita Bahuguna Joshi, are in politics too.

Little is known about his first marriage.

Timeline

[3]

Government offices
Preceded by
-
Parliamentary Secretary for labour and industry of Uttar Pradesh
10 April 1957 – 17 November 1958
Succeeded by
-
Political offices
Preceded by
-
Deputy Minister for labour and industry of Uttar Pradesh
17 November 1958 – 6 December 1960
Succeeded by
-
Preceded by
-
Deputy Minister for labour and industry of Uttar Pradesh
22 March 1962 – 26 August 1963
Succeeded by
-
Preceded by
-
Cabinet Minister for Finance of Uttar Pradesh
14 March 1967 – 2 April 1967
Succeeded by
-
Preceded by
-
State Minister for Communication of India
1971
Succeeded by
-
Preceded by
President's Rule
Administered by the Governor of Uttar Pradesh, Akbar Ali Khan
title/post previously held by-
Kamalapati Tripathi
Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh
8 November 1973 – 30 November 1975
Succeeded by
President's Rule
Administered by the Governor of Uttar Pradesh, Dr M C Reddy
title/post subsequently held by-
Narayan Dutt Tiwari
Preceded by
-
Cabinet Minister in the Department of Petroleum and Chemicals of India
1977
Succeeded by
-
Preceded by
-
Finance Minister of India
1979
Succeeded by
-

See also

References

External links