Romesh Chandra (30 March 1919 – 4 July 2016) was an Indian leader of the Communist Party of India (CPI). He took part in the Indian independence struggle as student leader of CPI after joining it in 1939. He held various posts within the party. He became president of the

World Peace Council The World Peace Council (WPC) is an international organization with the self-described goals of advocating for universal disarmament, sovereignty and independence and peaceful co-existence, and campaigns against imperialism, weapons of mass ...

in 1977.

Life

Chandra was born on 30 March 1919 in Lyallpur in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

(now

Faisalabad Faisalabad (; Punjabi/ ur, , ; ), formerly known as Lyallpur (Punjabi, Urdu: لائل پور), named after the founder of the city, but was renamed in 1977 in honour of late King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. It is the 3rd largest city of Pakis ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

). He earned one degree in

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...

and another from

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

in England. In Lahore, Chandra was chairman of a students' union from 1934 to 1941. He joined the Communist Party of India in 1939, taking part in India's freedom struggle and became the member of the Central Committee of the CPI by 1952. Later he rose to the National Council in 1958 and entered the Central Executive Committee. He was member of the Central Secretariat of the National Council from 1963 to 1967. Chandra also edited the party publication ''New Age'' from 1963 to 1966. Chandra became the General Secretary of the All-India Peace Council in 1952 and continued that position till 1963. In 1953 he joined the

, becoming its General Secretary in 1953 and its president in 1977. He addressed the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

many times, the most times of any

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n. The World Peace Council gave Chandra its F. Joliot-Curie Gold Peace Medal in 1964. The

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

in 1968 presented him with the International Lenin Prize for Strengthening Peace among Nations and again honoured him by conferring the

Order of Friendship of Peoples The Order of Friendship of Peoples (russian: oрден Дружбы народов, translit=orden Druzhby narodov) was an order of the Soviet Union, and was awarded to persons (including non-citizens), organizations, enterprises, military unit ...

in 1975. In 1971, he criticized the

North Atlantic Treaty Organization The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

as a "great threat to world peace". During the Assembly of the World Peace Council held at Athens in 2000, Chandra was elected as its "President of Honour". Chandra was married and had a son, Firoze Chandra. The couple divorced, and his ex-wife died in 2015. Around 3 p.m. IST on 4 July 2016, Chandra died in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

of old age at the age of 97.

References

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* . * . {{DEFAULTSORT:Chandra, Romesh 1919 births 2016 deaths Communist Party of India politicians from Maharashtra People from Faisalabad World Peace Council Recipients of the Lenin Peace Prize Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples Punjabi people