Prayagraj,

April 25 (HS): The birthday of the great freedom fighter Late Hemvati Nandan

Bahuguna, former union minister Government of India and Chief Minister of Uttar

Pradesh, was celebrated as National Unity and Goodwill Day by the All India

Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Smriti Samiti. District President of the Samiti, Sant

Prasad Pandey said that first of all, at the statue site in the park located at

Civil Lines Fire Brigade Square, late Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna's son Shekhar Bahuguna

and daughter-in-law Vinita Bahuguna and son-in-law PC Joshi and

great-granddaughter Uttara Bahuguna started the program by lighting a lamp and

paid their respects by garlanding it. After that, a meeting was organized which

was presided over by his son Shekhar Bahuguna, who said that his father always

worked to unite the weaker sections and worked to unite the entire India.

Shekhar

Bahuguna threw light on the contributions of Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna for the

overall development of the city. Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna, a freedom warrior who

was imprisoned for his involvement in the Quit India movement, went on to

become a Union minister and eventually the chief minister of India's most

populous state, and left an indelible mark on how we perceive Indian politics

today. Bahuguna's politics are quite complicated to understand, from being the

party's general secretary to his appointment in the Congress governments at the

Centre, to breaking away from the grand old party of India, to forming a new

party and joining the Janata alliance, to returning to the Congress fold two

years later before leaving again. However, it is difficult to find a

straightforward leader like Bahuguna nowadays. He was not just an accomplished

politician, but also an excellent administrator, he noted.

Shekhar

recalled Bahuguna's contribution to the city's industrial growth, especially in

the Naini area of district. Bahuguna was born in Pauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand, in

1921, but subsequently migrated to Allahabad for study. Bahuguna's political

career began when he was attending college at Allahabad University in the

1930s. His increased involvement in the liberation fight, particularly during

the Quit India campaign in 1941, caused him to be considered a renegade by

British authority. It is thought that the British had placed a price on his

head, and Bahuguna was caught and imprisoned from 1942 to 1946. Bahuguna

returned to university after his release from jail. Following India’s

independence a year later, he worked with labour unions in Allahabad which led

him to be appointed as a member of the Indian National Trade Union Congress. His

first electoral victory came in 1952 when he was elected as an MLA in Uttar

Pradesh VidhanSabha from Karchana and Chail constituency in Allahabad. He

followed that up in 1957 assembly polls with a win from Sirathu. His electoral

success coincided with his elevation in the Congress government.In 1957,

Bahuguna was made a parliamentary secretary in the state’s ministries of labour

and social welfare. A year later, he moved up the ranks and served as a deputy

minister for industries. Later, he worked the labour department in 1962.The

1960s and early 1970s continued to witness Bahuguna’s steady rise in the

government as well as the Congress party — he was given the charge of the

ministry of finance and transport in 1967 and the All India Congress Committee

general secretary in 1969.In 1971, he was elevated to Union ministry of

communication as minister of state.Four years later, Bahuguna was appointed the

chief minister of Uttar Pradesh,” he said prior to signing off.

Former

MP Ramesh Dwivedi, former Legislative Council member Suresh Tripathi, Congress

District President Ganga Par Ashfaq Ahmed, District President BJP Yamuna Par Rajesh

Shukla, Vibhav Nath Bharatiya Advocate Vijay Mishra, and former Allahabad

University Student Union President Satish Agarwal, Om Prakash Tiwari,

Umashankar, etc. also expressed their views in the meeting. Prominently present

in the program were Dr. Mani Shankar Dwivedi, Sunil Das, Umashankar Ahi Lani,

Bhagwat Kushwaha, Uma Lal Pandey, Naini ADA Vinod Tripathi, Dr. Sudha Tripathi,

Udit Narayan Shukla, Ram Shankar Kushwaha, Harishchandra Omprakash Tiwari, Dr.

Amar Singh Patel, Luv Kush Dwivedi, Ashok Kumar, Vimal Malhotra, Abhishek

Shukla, Manu Kakkar, Swapnil Dwivedi, Vipin Kesarwani, Dr. Asaram Shukla, Anuj

Kumar Pandey, Arun Pathak, Sanjay Shukla, Praveen Patel, Harish Tripathi, Alok

Tripathi, etc.

Hindusthan Samachar / Abhishek Awasthi