{{Short description|Indian socialist politician (1926–2017)}} {{Use Indian English|date=June 2015}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2015}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Rabi Ray | image = Portrait of Rabi Ray.jpg | caption = Portrait of Rabi Ray | birth_date = {{Birth date|1926|11|26|df=y}} | birth_place = Bhanagarh, Bihar and Orissa Province, British India | death_date = {{death date and age|2017|3|6|1926|11|26|df=y}} | death_place = Cuttack, Odisha, India | office = 9th Speaker of the Lok Sabha | prime_minister = Vishwanath Pratap Singh <br> Chandra Sekhar | term_start = 19 December 1989 | term_end = 9 July 1991 | deputy = Shivraj Patil | predecessor = Balram Jakhar | successor = Shivraj Patil | office1 = Minister of Health and Family Welfare | prime_minister1 = Morarji Desai | term_start1 = 25 January 1979 | term_end1 = 14 January 1980 | predecessor1 = Raj Narain | successor1 = Mohsina Kidwai | office2 = Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha | constituency2 = Kendrapara, Odisha | term_start2 = 1989 | term_end2 = 1996 | predecessor2 = Sarat Kumar Deb | successor2 = Srikant Kumar Jena | constituency3 = Puri, Odisha | term_start3 = 1967 | term_end3 = 1971 | predecessor3 = Bibudhendra Mishra | successor3 = Banamali Patnaik | office4 = Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha | constituency4 = Odisha | term_start4 = 3 April 1974 | term_end4 = 2 April 1980 | party = Janata Dal | other_party = Janata Party (Secular), <br/> Janata Party, <br/>Samyukta Socialist Party, <br/>Socialist Party | spouse = Dr. Saraswati Swain | children = | website = | footnotes = | date = 11 July | year = 2009 | source = https://loksabha.nic.in/writereaddata/biodata_1_12/1924.htm }}
'''Rabi Ray''' (26 November 1926 – 6 March 2017) was an Indian socialist politician, a Gandhian, a speaker of the Lok Sabha and a former Union minister. He hailed from Odisha. He joined the Socialist Party in 1948, and later became member of the Samyukta Socialist Party, the Janata Party and the Janata Dal.<ref name="speaker">{{cite web|url=http://speakerloksabha.gov.in/former/rabiray.asp|title=Former speakers - Rabi Ray|publisher=The Speaker, Lok Sabha official website|access-date=21 April 2010|archive-date=19 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719093857/http://speakerloksabha.gov.in/former/rabiray.asp|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/former-lok-sabha-speaker-rabi-ray-passes-away/articleshow/57495889.cms|title=Former Lok Sabha Speaker Rabi Ray passes away|date=2017-03-06|work=The Economic Times|access-date=2020-02-16}}</ref>
==Early life== Ray was born on 26 November 1926 at Bhanaragarh village in the Puri district of Orissa, He earned his B.A. Honours in History from the Ravenshaw College in Cuttack and later studied law at the Madhusudan Law College in Cuttack.<ref name="speaker"/> 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.
==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 the tricolor 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 of Ram Manohar Lohia, he founded the Socialist Party in Orissa.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Das|first=Pradip|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/rabi-ray-former-lok-sabha-speaker-passes-away/article17418688.ece|title=Rabi Ray, former Lok Sabha Speaker, passes away|date=2017-03-06|work=The Hindu|access-date=2020-02-16|language=en-IN|issn=0971-751X}}</ref> 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 the 4th Lok Sabha from Puri constituency in Orissa. 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 the Rajya Sabha from Orissa and he completed his term in Rajya Sabha in 1980. He was the Union minister of Health and Family Welfare in the Morarji Desai Ministry from January 1979 to January 1980.<ref name="speaker"/>
In 1989, he was re-elected to the 9th Lok Sabha from the Kendrapara 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 the 10th Lok Sabha from the same constituency.<ref name="speaker"/> 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 some Janata Dal MPs left Janata Dal to join Chandra Shekhar, Rabi Ray sent notices to them under Anti-defection law.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Order, order! Disorder too!|url=https://www.theweek.in/columns/prasannan/order-order-disorder-too.html|access-date=2021-12-28|website=theweek.in|archive-date=28 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211228192304/https://www.theweek.in/columns/prasannan/order-order-disorder-too.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Cabinet Minister Subramanian Swamy threatened Rabi Ray in his chambers to send him to jail, Swamy was reacting to Ray's unwillingness to give 37 Janata Dal (S) MPs more time to explain why some of them should not be disqualified.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Re. Alleged threat to the Speaker, Lok Sabha, by Shri Subramaniam Swamy, A Union Minister: contd.|url=https://eparlib.nic.in/handle/123456789/811651?view_type=browse|website=Lok Sabha Digital Library| date=25 October 2021 | last1=Ali | first1=Subhashini | last2=Lal | first2=Devi | last3=Kaushik | first3=Purushottam | last4=Baig | first4=Arif | last5=Chatterjee | first5=Nirmal Kanti | last6=Munda | first6=Govind Chandra | last7=Gupta | first7=Indrajit | last8=Malhotra | first8=Vijay Kumar | last9=Shastri | first9=Yamuna Prasad | last10=Yadvendra | first10=Dutt | last11=Shiwankar | first11=Maha Deo Rao | last12=Paswan | first12=Ram Vilas | last13=Lodha | first13=Gumanmal | last14=Yadav | first14=Sharad | last15=Makkasar | first15=Shopat Singh | last16=Topdar | first16=Tarit Baran | last17=Tyagi | first17=K. C. | last18=Malik | first18=Satya Pal | last19=Sait | first19=Ebrahim Sulaiman | last20=Kumar | first20=Nitish | last21=Kapse | first21=Ram | last22=Jena | first22=Srikant Kumar | last23=Jatiya | first23=Satyanarayan | last24=Singh | first24=Nathu | last25=Naik | first25=Ram | last26=Khurana | first26=Madan Lal | last27=Ray | first27=Rabi | last28=Dhan | first28=Ram | last29=Dasgupta | first29=Biplab | last30=Tirkey | first30=Piyus | display-authors=1 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|author=Paranjoy Guha Thakurta |date=January 31, 1991 |title=Subramanian Swamy embarrasses himself by threatening Lok Sabha Speaker Rabi Ray|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/special-report/story/19910131-subramanian-swamy-embarrasses-himself-by-threatening-lok-sabha-speaker-rabi-ray-813942-1991-01-31|access-date=2021-12-28|magazine=India Today|language=en}}</ref> But Ray unseated those MPs.<ref name=":0" />
== Later years and social work == 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 of Naxalite–Maoist insurgency in India.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.satp.org/south-asia-intelligence-review-Volume-8-No-16|title=SOUTH ASIA INTELLIGENCE REVIEW-Volume-8-No-16|date=October 26, 2009|website=www.satp.org|access-date=2020-02-16}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Kumar|first=Vinay|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/Chidambaram-ready-for-talks-with-Maoists-if-they-abjure-violence/article16887746.ece|title=Chidambaram: ready for talks with Maoists if they abjure violence|date=2009-10-20|work=The Hindu|access-date=2020-02-16|language=en-IN|issn=0971-751X|quote=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}}</ref> He regularly contributed articles on contemporary political and social issues to various leading journals in Oriya, Hindi and English.
==Awards==
* Light Of Truth, 2002 (Rabi Ray, received the award on behalf of the people of India during the closing ceremony of the Tibetan Festival of Compassion on 18 December 2002.) * Shanti Doot International Award - the honour is conferred by the World Peace Movement Trust India. * Kalinga Ratna, 2008
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|in-lwr}} {{s-bef|before=B. Mishra}} {{s-ttl|title=Member of Parliament<br>for Puri |years=1967 – 1971}} {{s-aft|after=Banamali Patnaik}} |- {{s-bef|before=Sarat Kumar Deb}} {{s-ttl|title=Member of Parliament<br>for Kendrapara |years=1989 – 1996}} {{s-aft|after=Srikant Kumar Jena}} |- {{s-off}} {{s-bef|before=Raj Narain}} {{s-ttl|title=Minister of Health and Family Welfare|years=25 January 1979 – 14 January 1980}} {{s-aft|after=Mohsina Kidwai}} |- {{s-bef|before=Balram Jakhar}} {{s-ttl|title=Speaker of the Lok Sabha|years=19 December 1989 – 9 July 1991}} {{s-aft|after=Shivraj Patil}} {{s-end}}
==External links== *[https://loksabha.nic.in/writereaddata/biodata_1_12/1924.htm Rabi Ray at The Office of Speaker Lok Sabha] * [https://loksabha.nic.in/writereaddata/biodata_1_12/1924.htm Official biographical sketch in Parliament of India website] *[http://www.winentrance.com/general_knowledge/shri-rabi-ray.html Biography of Shri Rabi Ray at Winentrance.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806204321/http://www.winentrance.com/general_knowledge/shri-rabi-ray.html |date=6 August 2023 }} {{Speakers of the Lok Sabha}} {{Rajya Sabha Members from Odisha}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ray, Rabi}} Category:1926 births Category:2017 deaths Category:Speakers of the Lok Sabha Category:India MPs 1967–1970 Category:India MPs 1989–1991 Category:India MPs 1991–1996 Category:People from Puri district Category:V. P. Singh administration Category:Desai administration Category:Rajya Sabha members from Odisha Category:Lok Sabha members from Odisha Category:Samyukta Socialist Party politicians Category:Health ministers of India Category:Janata Dal politicians Category:Janata Party politicians Category:People from Kendrapara district Category:Lok Dal politicians Category:Janata Party (Secular) politicians Category:Recipients of the Utkal Ratna Samman