Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna
Personal life
He was born on 25 April 1919 in Bughani, Pauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand in a Garhwali Brahmin family. The family later moved to Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh.
Little is known about his first marriage. His first wife always lived in his native village Bughani as a simple village woman. His 2nd wife, Kamala Bahuguna, lived with him in Allahabad and was the mother of their 3 children:
- Their eldest son Vijay Bahuguna served as the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand. He was a former judge of Allahabad and Bombay High Court. Currently, he is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party
- Second son Shekhar Bahuguna.
- The couple's daughter, Rita Bahuguna Joshi was chief of the UP Pradesh Congress Committee. She also served as the Mayor of Allahabad. Currently, she is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
A personal tribute to him has recently been written.
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 the Government Intermediate College in Allahabad in 1937 in the Bachelor of Science program. He received an Arts degree in 1946.
In jail
He was jailed as a part of the Quit India movement from 1942 to 1946.[citation needed]
Post-independence
Union Cabinet
In 1971, he was made State Minister for Communication in the Union Cabinet.
Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh
In 1973, he was appointed as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state in India. However, his tenure was short and he was forced to resign by Prime minister Indira Gandhi in 1975.
Parting of ways with the Congress
In early 1977, when Indira Gandhi lifted the state emergency and called for new elections to the Lok Sabha, Bahuguna left the ruling Congress party of Indira and formed a new group called Congress for Democracy (CFD) with Jagjivan Ram and Nandini Satpathy. The CFD joined the Janata alliance to contest the elections. After the victory of the Janata alliance, Bahuguna joined the cabinet of Janata Prime Minister Morarji Desai as the minister of chemicals and fertilizers. In 1979, he became the Finance Minister under the short-lived ( August - December 1979) Charan Singh administration. During his term, the Indian economy went into the last recession of the 20th century. Real GDP growth fell by a massive 5.2% in 1979 due to the global energy crisis. Bahuguna withdrew from the government and joined hands with Indira Gandhi in October 1979
In the January 1980 Parliamentary elections, he won from Garhwal as Indira Gandhi's Congress(I) party candidate. But, he soon left the party and resigned his seat subsequently. He won the by-election for the seat in 1982.
1984 Lok Sabha Elections
He contested against the Congress candidate, Amitabh Bachchan, in the 1984 Parliamentary elections from Allahabad constituency. Bachhan won the election by approximately 1,87,000 votes. Later his wife Kamla Bahuguna also stood for by-elections from Allahabad.
Electoral history
1971: Elected to Lok Sabha from Allahabad as member of Congress
1977: Elected to Lok Sabha from Lucknow as member of 'Congress For Democracy', supported by Janata Party
1980: Elected to Lok Sabha from Garhwal as member of Congress, but soon quit both Congress and Lok Sabha
1982 bypoll: Elected to Lok Sabha from Garhwal, defeating his Congress rival
1984: Lost to Amitabh Bachchan in Prayagraj (Allahabad)
Death
Bahuguna fell ill in 1988 and flew to the United States for coronary bypass surgery. The surgery was unsuccessful and he died 17 March 1989 in a Cleveland hospital.
