Lenin Raghuvanshi is an Indian Dalit rights activist, political thinker and social entrepreneur. He is one of the founding members of People's Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR), which works for the upliftment of the marginalised sections of the society. His work has been recognized with awards like Gwangju Human Rights Award (2007), the ACHA Star Peace award (2008), the International Human Rights Prize of the city of Weimar (2010),Special Mentions Prize of Human Rights of The French Republic (2018), Public Peace Prize(2018) and Karmaveer Maharatna Award (2019). He nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to combat masculinity driven militarist traditions, for his contribution to bettering conditions for peace in world and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of masculinity driven militarist traditions as a weapon of war and conflict. His childhood learning on hegemonic masculinity has been acknowledged by film actor Aamir Khan and he has been invited to participate in Satyamev Jayate TV series , a TV show hosted by Aamir Khan that discussed issue of violence and hegemonic masculinity that went on air in 2014.
Personal life
Lenin Raghuvanshi was born in a higher caste Hindu family, to Surendra Nath Singh and Shrimati Savitri Devi, on 18 May 1970. His grandfather Shanti Kumar Singh, was a Gandhian freedom fighter. He did his bachelor's course in Ayurveda, Modern Medicine and Surgery from the State Ayurvedic Medical College, Gurukul Kangari, Haridwar in 1994. Lenin married Shruti Nagvanshi,a famous social activist on 22 February 1992 and has a son, Kabeer Karunik, who is national level snooker player. Both he and Shruti are converts to Buddhism.
Initial years
From the beginning, Raghuvanshi was averse to the caste system. He refers to his higher caste Hindu upbringing as "feudal". This sprung the seed of social activism in him. He became the president of the Uttar Pradesh chapter of United Nations Youth Organisation at the age of 23 (1993).
With his exposure into the mainstream society, he realised that casteism is present in all walks of life. With the Indian Government tackling the issue with its reservation policies and making it perennial, Raghuvanshi chose the path of uplifting them by making their voices heard. He founded the People's Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR) in 1996, along with his life partner Shruti Nagvanshi, historian Mahendra Pratap, musician Vikash Maharaj, and poet Gyanedra Pati.
On bonded labour and children's right to education
In 1999, Raghuvanshi founded a community-based organisation, Jan Mitra Nyas (People-friendly Association), which was backed by ActionAid. The movement adopted three villages near Varanasi and an urban slum, with an objective of providing better education to the children there. He was elected in 2001 into the executive council of Voice of People, supported by Child Rights and You (CRY), an organisation active in 15 districts of Uttar Pradesh, which works for the rights of the children.
He was appointed as a member of the District Vigilance Committee on Bonded Labour under Bonded Labour abolition Act 1976 by the Governor of UP in 2002. He filed an FIR (First Information Report) against Rajendar Thripathi, the village head of Belwa in the Badagaon block of Varanasi administrative district in his capacity as a member of the District Vigilance Committee. However, Rajendar escaped arrest, and Lenin has been reported to be receiving death threats since then. In revenge, the head of Belwa village filed a case against Raghuvanshi and two PVCHR staff members for "statements conducing to public mischief" and "anti-state activities"; the latter proceeding of case was stayed by High Court.
In 2004, he conceptualised the 'Jan Mitra Gaon' (People-friendly villages) project, under which three villages and an urban slum were adopted with the motives of eradicating child labour, providing education to girls, reintroducing non-traditional education and improving the state of educational institutions.