S
-D.B. Thengadi
?Despite being president of the country'slargest labour organisation, Raj Krishan Bhakt was never status conscious as are today'sleaders. For him everybody had the right to enjoy equal status. The comfort-living cadre and status-conscious leaders must take a leaf out of Raj Krishan Bhakt'slife. He lived an inspiring life,? said Shri D.B. Thengadi, veteran thinker, scholar and founder of Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), while paying tributes to Raj Krishan Bhakt at a condolence meeting. He passed away in New Delhi following a brief illness on March 29. Bhakt had donated his body to a medical college of Delhi for medical research.
Shri Thengadi said that Raj Krishan Bhakt dedicated his life to make India a major force as was dreamt by Dr B.R. Ambedkar and other great people. ?He was truly the foundation stone as has been described by Mananeeya Sarsanghchalak Sudarshanji in his tributes. He suffered plenty of hardships while establishing the BMS units in Punjab. When 83 workers of the Jagadhari Paper Mills were implicated in false cases and were sent to jail, Bhaktji too preferred to be in jail with them for five months. The labour movement has lost a great pillar of strength in his death,? said Shri Thengadi.
Paying his tributes Shri Madan Das, Sahsarkaryavah of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), described the departure of Raj Krishan Bhakt as a major loss to the labour movement of India. ?Bhaktji was such a dedicated person that he never expected anything in return for his services. He dedicated everything belonging to him to the nation. His life is an inspiration to all the workers working in public life including the labour organisations. Bhaktji played a significant role in making BMS the largest and most effective labour organisation of the country,? he pointed out.
Shri Hasubahi Dave, president, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, pointed out that Raj Krishan Bhakt was the worker who spent most of his salary on the organisation in initial days to make it stronger. ?Later he became a full timer BMS worker and continued to serve the labour movement for almost four decades. He worked tirelessly without expecting any credit for his work. He lived a simple life and also inspired other workers to live a simple life,? Shri Dave informed.
Apart from Shri Satyanarayan Bansal, Delhi Prant Sanghchalak, and Dr Sahib Singh Verma, Union Labour Minister, the other prominent personalities who spoke on the occasion included Dr M.K. Pandey, president, CITU, Shri U.M. Purohit, president, HMS, Shri Mahadevan, deputy general secretary, AITUC, Shri Chandi Das Sinha, secretary, INTUC, Shri R.K. Sharma of UTUC (LS), and Shri O.P. Sharma, president, NFITU. Senior workers of Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, Sarva Panth Samadar Manch, and Rashtriya Sikh Sangat also paid their tributes. Family members and relatives of Raj Krishan Bhakt were also present at the condolence meeting.
