Vimla Bahuguna (1932-2025): Her weak physical exterior concealed her immense inner strength and her rock-like confidence

A disciple of Sarla Behn and a student of Lakshmi Ashram, Kausani, Vimla Bahuguna passed away in Dehradun, in the early hours of February 14, 2025. As a social activist, she was deeply inspired by the Gandhian programme of Social Reconstruction. She married Sunderlal Bahuguna on the condition that Sunderlal, the then secretary of the U P Congress Party, quit active party politics and engage in empowering the not-so-privileged masses living in remote Uttarakhand, then part of undivided Uttar Pradesh.

Parvatiya Navjeevan Ashram at Silyara village in Tehri Garhwal, where the couple lived, became a centre of Sarvodaya activism and for the implementation of village uplift programme.

Vimlaji carried forward the task of her mentor in educating village women, inculcating in them a sense of awareness about their immense inherent potential. This initiative transformed hill women from “burden of beasts” to human beings with dignity. Mobilisation of thousands of women in Tehri Garhwal in the Prohibition movement (1965-’67) and Chipko (1973-1981) was the consequence of Vimla Bahuguna’s relentless effort.

Unfortunately, the role and contribution of Vimla Bahuguna in the making of women’s movements in Tehri Garhwal has been downplayed. There is hardly any mention in Chipko literature of this frail and diminutive but extremely courageous woman who had on several occasions along with women of the villages gone into the forests to prevent felling. 

Publicity-shy Vimla Bahuguna represented the Gandhian principles of discipline, humility, compassion and honesty. Her weak physical exterior concealed her immense inner strength and her rock-like confidence. She will remain an inspiration for women’s movement in future. 

Debarati Banerjee is associate professor of history at Netaji Subhas Open University, West Bengal. Jayanta Bandyopadhyay is former professor at the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta.