Rabi Ray | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Rabi Ray | |
| 9thSpeaker of the Lok Sabha | |
| In office 19 December 1989 – 9 July 1991 | |
| Prime Minister | Vishwanath Pratap Singh Chandra Sekhar |
| Deputy | Shivraj Patil |
| Preceded by | Balram Jakhar |
| Succeeded by | Shivraj Patil |
| Minister of Health and Family Welfare | |
| In office 25 January 1979 – 14 January 1980 | |
| Prime Minister | Morarji Desai |
| Preceded by | Raj Narain |
| Succeeded by | Mohsina Kidwai |
| Member of Parliament,Lok Sabha | |
| In office 1989–1996 | |
| Preceded by | Sarat Kumar Deb |
| Succeeded by | Srikant Kumar Jena |
| Constituency | Kendrapara,Odisha |
| In office 1967–1971 | |
| Preceded by | Bibudhendra Mishra |
| Succeeded by | Banamali Patnaik |
| Constituency | Puri,Odisha |
| Member of Parliament,Rajya Sabha | |
| In office 3 April 1974 – 2 April 1980 | |
| Constituency | Odisha |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1926-11-26)26 November 1926 Bhanagarh,Bihar and Orissa Province,British India |
| Died | 6 March 2017(2017-03-06) (aged 90) Cuttack,Odisha,India |
| Political party | Janata Dal |
| Other political affiliations | Janata Party (Secular), Janata Party, Samyukta Socialist Party, Socialist Party |
| Spouse | Dr. Saraswati Swain |
As of 11 July, 2009 Source:[1] | |
Rabi Ray (26 November 1926 – 6 March 2017) was an Indian socialist politician, a Gandhian, aspeaker of the Lok Sabha and a former Union minister. He hailed fromOdisha. He joined theSocialist Party in 1948, and later became member of theSamyukta Socialist Party, theJanata Party and theJanata Dal.[1][2]
Ray was born on 26 November 1926 at Bhanaragarh village in thePuri district of Orissa, He earned his B.A. Honours in History from theRavenshaw College inCuttack and later studied law at theMadhusudan Law College in Cuttack.[1] He was married to Dr. Saraswati Swain, a medical doctor, who later became a professor at SCB Medical College, Cuttack. Being a socialist and forward looking, Ray never expected his wife to change her surname after marriage. She stood beside him as a source of inspiration in political career.
Before joining active politics Rabi Ray was a freedom fighter. In early 1947, when he was studying history in Ravenshaw College, Cuttack, he was arrested by the British Army in connection with the unfurling of thetricolor Indian flag in Ravenshaw College. At the end of the day, the British Government had to give in to students' demands for the unfurling the tricolor Indian flag in educational institutions, though the country was still under foreign rule.
An ardent believer in socialism from his college days, Rabi Ray joined the Socialist Party as its member in 1948. Due to his innate qualities of leadership and his deep commitment to the socialist cause, he always remained at the forefront of the Socialist movement. During 1953–54, he held the post of the Joint Secretary, All India Samajwadi Yuvak Sabha. In 1956, under the leadership ofRam Manohar Lohia, he founded the Socialist Party in Orissa.[3] He was a member of the National Executive of the Socialist Party during that period. Later, in 1960, he became the General Secretary of the party for about a year.
In 1967, he was elected to the4th Lok Sabha fromPuri constituency inOrissa. In the 4th Lok Sabha, he was the leader of the Parliamentary Group of the Samyukta Socialist Party (SSP). In 1974, he was elected to theRajya Sabha from Orissa and he completed his term in Rajya Sabha in 1980. He was the Union minister of Health and Family Welfare in theMorarji Desai Ministry from January 1979 to January 1980.[1]
In 1989, he was re-elected to the9th Lok Sabha from theKendrapara constituency in Orissa as a Janata Dal candidate. On 19 December 1989, he was unanimously elected as the Speaker of the 9th Lok Sabha. In 1991, he was re-elected to the10th Lok Sabha from the same constituency.[1] Rabi Ray, who was empowered with an inherent simplicity and integrity, added to the prestige and dignity of the office of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha through his unbiased approach.
In 1990, when someJanata Dal MPs leftJanata Dal to joinChandra Shekhar, Rabi Ray sent notices to them underAnti-defection law.[4] Cabinet MinisterSubramanian Swamy threatened Rabi Ray in his chambers to send him to jail, Swamy was reacting to Ray's unwillingness to give 37Janata Dal (S) MPs more time to explain why some of them should not be disqualified.[5][6] But Ray unseated those MPs.[4]
Since 1997, he was associated with a non-political organisation, Lok Shakti Abhiyaan, and spearheaded a people's movement against corruption in high places, excessive centralisation and a decadent consumerist culture. He toured different parts of the country in furtherance of ensuring probity and transparency in all spheres of public life. He was a member of the Citizens Initiative for Peace, a civil society group, and sought to find a peaceful resolution to the problem ofNaxalite–Maoist insurgency in India.[7][8] He regularly contributed articles on contemporary political and social issues to various leading journals in Oriya, Hindi and English.
Mr. Ray, along with other prominent members of civil society, had urged the government to begin a dialogue with the CPI (Maoist) and stop the offensive against naxalites in some States
| Lok Sabha | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by B. Mishra | Member of Parliament forPuri 1967 – 1971 | Succeeded by Banamali Patnaik |
| Preceded by Sarat Kumar Deb | Member of Parliament forKendrapara 1989 – 1996 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Minister of Health and Family Welfare 25 January 1979 – 14 January 1980 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Speaker of the Lok Sabha 19 December 1989 – 9 July 1991 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
