Ravindra Varma (9 April 1925 – 10 October 2006) was an Indian politician who served as the Minister for Labour and Parliamentary Affairs in the

Morarji Desai Ministry The Morarji Desai ministry was formed on 24 March 1977 following the 1977 Indian general election. Morarji Desai led the Janata Party to victory against the Congress party. Upon taking office, Morarji Desai Morarji Ranchhodji Desai (29 ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

from 1977 to 1979.

Politics

He entered active politics in 1942. He plunged into the vortex of the freedom struggle while studying at the Christian College in Chennai. He was founder-president of the Indian Student Congress and the World Youth Assembly. He was first elected to the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

from

Thiruvalla Thiruvalla, () also spelled Tiruvalla, is a Municipalities of Kerala, municipality in Pathanamthitta district, Kerala, India. The town is spread over an area of and has a population of 52,883 people, down from 56,837 in 2001. It is also the H ...

in Kerala in 1962 on a Congress ticket. When Congress split in 1969, he stayed on as the General Secretary of Congress (Organisation) founding the organization along with Morarji Desai, Nijalingappa and Kamaraj. He was politically active in resisting the Emergency (1975–77) and organized underground cells. He was next elected in 1977 from

Ranchi Ranchi (; ) is the capital city and also the largest district by population of the Indian state of Jharkhand. Ranchi was the centre of the Jharkhand movement, which called for a separate state for the tribal regions of South Bihar, northern ...

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

as a

Janata Party The Janata Party (JP, ) is an unrecognised political party in India. Navneet Chaturvedi is the current president of the party since November 2021, replacing Jaiprakash Bandhu. The JP was established as an amalgam of Indian political partie ...

candidate. He represented

Mumbai North Mumbai North Lok Sabha constituency (formerly, Bombay City North Lok Sabha constituency) is one of the 48 Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituencies of Maharashtra state in western India. Assembly segments Before boundary delimitation, delimitat ...

in 7th Lok Sabha from 1980 to 1985. He had been the Chairman of the

Gandhi Peace Foundation The Gandhi Peace Foundation is an Indian organisation that studies and develops Mahatma Gandhi's thought. History The foundation was established on 31 July 1958 to preserve and spread Gandhi's thought. It began with donation of 10 million rup ...

since the death of its founder-chairman Diwakar in 1989. He was the founder-chairman of the Gandhi Vichar Parishad at Wardha. He was also Chancellor of the Gujarat Vidyapeeth.

Personal life

Varma belonged to the royal family in

Mavelikkara Mavelikkara () is a municipality in the Onattukara Region of Alappuzha district of Kerala, India. It is located south of the district headquarters in Alappuzha and about north of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. As per the 2011 ...

in southern

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

. He died in 2006, aged 81.Ravindra Varma dead
/ref> He is survived by his younger son Harshvardhan Varma. His elder son Goutham and wife Mangala died within a span of a few months in 2015.

References

External links

India MPs 1977–1979 India MPs 1980–1984 Lok Sabha members from Bihar 2006 deaths India MPs 1962–1967 1925 births Lok Sabha members from Maharashtra Lok Sabha members from Kerala Labour ministers of India Politicians from Alappuzha district Janata Party politicians Politicians from Ranchi Indian National Congress (Organisation) politicians Indian National Congress politicians from Kerala {{Maharashtra-politician-stub