Raj Narain was born into a well-to-do Bhumihar Brahmin family, also known as the Babhan family, in the village of Motikot in Varanasi on 23 November 1917. He was a freedom fighter and politician. He hailed from the Narayan dynasty, the royal family of Banaras State, and was a direct descendant of Maharaja Chet Singh and Maharaja Balwant Singh, who had both been the Maharajas of Banaras State a century prior. Raj Narain completed his MA and LLB from Banaras Hindu University.
As a political and social activist, he played an instrumental role in establishing several educational institutions such as a school for adults and a girls' school, as well as a study center and a labour organization. Raj Narayan served as a committee member of the Congress Socialist Party in 1934 and the National Students Union from 1939 to 1944. Additionally, he held positions such as President of the Banaras University Mandal Congress Committee and member of the District Congress Committee (DCC). During the Quit India Movement of 1942, Raj Narayan was the President of the Students' Congress and led protests in and around the Varanasi district of Uttar Pradesh. Despite having to go underground for three months initially, he was finally arrested on 28th September 1942 during the Quit India Movement and remained in custody until 1945. Due to his involvement in the student and socialist movements, he was imprisoned 58 times for a total of approximately 15 years.
Following India's independence, Raj Narain joined the Socialist Party under the leadership of Acharya Narendra Dev, Jaiprakash Narayan, and Ram Manohar Lohia. He held various positions within the party, including Secretary of the UP Socialist Party from 1948 to 1951. Raj Narain shared a close bond with his mentors Acharya Narendra Dev and Ram Manohar Lohia. In fact, Lohia held Raj Narainin very high regard, describing him as "a man with the heart of a lion and the demeanour of Gandhi". Lohia even commended him by stating that "if India can have even three or four persons like him, dictatorship can never cast a shadow on democracy".
On 23 March 2007, a commemorative stamp was released in honour of Raj Narain by Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, the former Vice President of India. In 2012, Akhilesh Yadav, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh at the time, unveiled a statue commemorating Raj Narayan's memory at Chandrabhanu Gupta Agriculture College, located near the state capital of Lucknow.
Source: Manjari Tiwari, Contributor for CCRT