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Shri Raj Krishan Bhakt, former President of Bharatiya Mazadoor Sangh (BMS), passed away in New Delhi on March 30. He was 84. He is survived by three daughters and two son.
He was shifted from Jalandhar to a hospital in New Delhi where he suffered a cardiac arrest. He breathed his last at 2 a.m. His body was taken to the BMS headquarters in Paharganj where thousands of people belonging to different labour organisations, BMS workers and his family members paid their tribute to the departed soul.
As per Bhakt'swishes, his dead body was donated to the Dadhichi Deh Dan Samiti for medical research. A team of doctors belonging to Maulana Azad Medical College received the body. His eyes were also donated to the Guru Nanak Eye Centre, New Delhi.
S/Shri Madan Das, Sah-Sarkaryavah of RSS, Sohan Singh and Thakur Ram Singh, senior Sangh Pracharak, Ramesh Prakash and Suresh Vajpayee, prominent Sangh leaders of Delhi, Lakshman Dev, Bharatiya Kisan Sangh president and P.D. Shenoy, Secretary, Labour, Government of India were among the prominent personalities who paid their homage to the departed soul.
Prominent BMS leaders who paid their respect included S/Shri Omprakash Agghi, National Organising Secretary, Girish Awasthi, Deputy Secretary General, Ram Das Pandey, Amarnath Dogra, Lakshman Reddy, Premnath Sharma, Jagdish Joshi, all central leaders and Rajendra Singh Chauhan, Delhi State General Secretary.
Born on June 1, 1921, at Kabula village of Montgomeri district (now in Pakistan), Raj Krishan Bhakt migrated to India during Partition and settled at Jalandhar in Punjab. Impressed with the views of BMS founder, Dattopant Thengadi, Bhakt, who was a graduate in economics, left his job with Punjab National Bank and became a full-time worker of BMS in 1960. After joining the BMS, he moblised the bank workers under the banner of BMS. He was National General Secretary and National President of BMS. He took up the labour cause not only at the national level but also at the international platforms. He also worked as member of different labour committees and boards.
Raj Krishan Bhakt gave a new direction to the labour movement in India as per Indian values. He was a champion of labour cause. His simple life moved and impressed everyone who came in his contact. He received regard not only from govern-ment officials but also from the leaders of other labour organisations. This is the reason that leaders of almost all the labour organisa-tions, including the ATUC, HMS, INTUC, CITU, etc., came to the BMS headquarters to pay him their tributes.
By Pramod Kumar
He was the foundation stone
-K.S. Sudarshan Sarsanghchalak, RSS
Paying tributes to the former BMS president, Raj Krishan Bhakt, the RSS Sarsanghchalak, K.S. Sudarshan described him as ?the foundation stone on which the structure of such a huge organisation as the BMS has been able to stand today. He played an eminent role in making the BMS the largest and effective labour organisation of the country. Many such foundation stones are disappearing now. May God rest his soul in peace. This is our heartfelt desire.?
Great loss to the labour movement
-Madan Das
Sah-Sarkaryavah, RSS
RSS Sah-Sarkaryavah, Madan Das has described the death of Raj Krishan Bhakt as a great loss to the labour organisation. In his tributes he said that Bhakt was a dedicated person who worked for the largest labour organisation of the country, the BMS, for more than four decades. ?During this period he held various responsibilities in the organisation including the national president. Even after leaving that post he continued to work for the organisation and stayed in the organisation office till his last days. He was a very soft spoken and disciplined worker. He was a Sangh Swayamsevaks since his childhood from Montgumari district of pre-partitioned India. He went to the BMS as per the Sangh wishes. Raj Krishan Bhakt was a senior worker of the Sangh Parivar. His death has created a vacuum,? he said.
