He was party to the nation's international visits to the USSR, including the summit that led to the Tashkent Declaration, as well as the Warsaw Pact socialist republics in the 1960s.

Mani Ram Bagri was born in the village of Ban Mandori, Hissar District, Haryana (erstwhile Panjab) on 1 January 1920.

A close associate of late Dr Lohia and Raj Narain, he was also detained during Emergency under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act, and allegedly subject to sleep deprivation, mental harassment and a poor diet while imprisoned with other prominent Socialist leaders.

Bagri officially retired from politics in the late 1980s, following the demise of Indira Gandhi and the 1984 Anti-Sikh riots, in which he played an active part in preventing harm from coming to innocent Sikh civilians in Delhi and Hisar.

He was a hardcore socialist and demanded the word of other Non-Congress parties in the government and this attitude earned him the honour of being the first Leader Of Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

Despite representing a brand of socialist ideology often opposed to Congress' policies, Bagri shared a deep personal bond with Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi.

Bagri played a pivotal role in shaping the nascent democracy in India, and gave a voice to millions of villagers, the poor and the downtrodden and represented their aspirations.

He led many movements in North India championing the cause of the poor and the oppressed and is considered a major force in giving these weaker sections of society self-belief.