Comrade Ram Narayan Thakur was born on 14 August 1943 in B.C. Basaon village of Dinara block in Rohtas district. His parents were Yashoda Devi and Shivdayal Thakur. He dedicated his whole life for the revolution and spent his time always away from his ancestral home, but was the unique member of that family because of whom the entire family has remained a joint family to this day.
A brilliant student from childhood, Comrade R.N. Thakur completed his early education in the village school. He later studied Chemistry (Honours) at the prestigious Science College of Patna University. During 1969-70, when the echoes of the Naxalbari movement were inspiring students and youth across the country, he too was deeply influenced. Under his leadership, an important meeting of students from various colleges in Patna was organised, which was addressed by Comrade Satyanarayan Singh and many other leading leaders of the revolutionary movement. Inspired by Charu Mazumdar's call, he, along with his comrades Ashok Kumar and S.K. Sharma, left college and gave up his family responsibilities and career to go to the villages.
He began his Party life by building CPI(ML) among landless and poor peasants in the Punpun area of Patna district. Soon, when the Party entered a period of fragmentation and ideological deviation, he remained steadfast. During this period he came into contact with Comrade Johar and Comrade Ram Naresh Ram and enthusiastically joined the work of reorganising CPI(ML) and organising peasant resistance. During the Emergency, he was arrested and lodged in Bankipur (Patna) Jail. There too he led a series of struggles on the issues of prisoners. Leading the historic Bankipur (Patna) Jail break of 4 November 1974, he escaped along with 16 comrades.
After the Emergency, when the Party launched the rectification movement and began the initiative of building mass organisations, uniting peasants, taking their movement to new heights, and taking CPI(ML) among the broader masses, he enthusiastically participated in it. Once again, in 1979, he was arrested at Danapur Railway Station. At that time, the Janata Party government had already announced the release of political prisoners on bail. Despite this, he refused to seek bail and came out of jail only in 1981, after a provision for unconditional release was introduced. The hardships of prison and repression never weakened his resolve, and each time he returned to the people with greater determination than before.
After coming out of jail, he contributed to building the Party organisation and expanding the peasant movement in many districts of Bihar and present-day Jharkhand, including Jehanabad, Gaya, Arwal, Hazaribagh, Purnea, Rohtas, Siwan, Vaishali, Muzaffarpur, Giridih and Munger. When the Special Committee for the districts of Central Bihar, the Central Bihar Regional Committee, was formed, he became one of its members. He was also a member of the Party's Central Committee from 1983 to 1992. During this period, he also briefly served as the Acting State Secretary of Bihar. From then until the end of his life, he remained a member of the Party's Bihar State Committee.
During the 1990 Bihar Assembly elections, he was in charge of the Bagodar constituency, where the late Comrade Mahendra Prasad Singh was elected for the first time as the IPF candidate.
In the late 1980s, when CPI(ML) began expanding its intervention in the workers' movement and took the initiative to build a revolutionary workers' organisation, he became one of its principal organisers in Bihar. This process gained momentum after Comrade Yogeshwar Gop, a prominent leader of the employees' movement in Bihar, left CPI(M) and joined CPI(ML), and in 1989 the All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU) was formed through its Chennai conference. During the same period, when the Party began functioning openly, he also became the spokesperson of the Bihar State Committee.
Under his guidance, many trade unions including the Bihar State Construction Workers' Union, Bihar State Local Bodies Employees' Federation, Bihar State Unorganised Workers' Union, East Central Railway Employees' Union, Bihar State Rickshaw-Thela-Tamtam Drivers' Union, Private Vehicle Drivers and Employees' Union (Patna), Pataliputra Milk Producers Employees and Officers' Union, Bihar State Democratic Beedi Workers' Union, Coal Mines Workers' Union (Dhanbad), and Motor Workers' Union (Giridih) in Jharkhand were built and expanded. He also played an important role in the formation of the All India Construction Workers' Federation (AISWF) at the national level. He served as president or held other important responsibilities in many of these organisations. From 2001 onwards, he continuously served as the General Secretary of AICCTU Bihar State.
Comrade R.N. Thakur strongly took the initiative for the formation of the Welfare Board for construction workers in Bihar. He first served on its Expert Committee and later became a member of the Welfare Board. He was also a member of the Bihar State Child Labour Commission during 2010–15. He also served as a member of the Regional Employees' Provident Fund (EPF).
For the last three decades, he played a leading role in strengthening the unity of central trade unions and in the struggle for the rights of workers and employees through the Bihar Labour Organisation. Rising above small differences, he always gave the highest priority to workers' unity.
His life was a living example of communist values. His simplicity, discipline, ideological clarity, unwavering commitment to the organisation, and ability to continue working even under difficult circumstances made him stand out among his contemporaries. Until the last days of his life, he carried out every responsibility assigned by the Party with complete sincerity and commitment. His entire life was dedicated to the rights of the exploited, the oppressed, and the working people.
With his passing, the workers' movement of Bihar has lost a courageous, committed, farsighted and militant leader. This is an irreparable loss not only for CPI(ML), AICCTU or any one organisation, but for the entire workers' movement and the broader Left-democratic movement.
The Party offers a Red Salute to his revolutionary life, struggle, sacrifice and commitment to the people, and resolves to intensify the struggle for building an exploitation-free, democratic and egalitarian society by following the path shown by him.
Red Salute to Comrade R.N. Thakur! 
Final Tribute in Patna
Comrade R.N. Thakur's mortal remains were kept for final homage at MLA Flat 15/10 in Patna, where a large number of Party leaders, activists, representatives of various political parties, and family members paid their tributes. He was given a final farewell at the electric crematorium at Bans Ghat.
Those who paid tribute included senior Party leader Swadesh Bhattacharya, State Secretary Kunal, Patna District Secretary Amar, AICCTU National General Secretary Rajiv Dimri, All India Agricultural and Rural Workers' Association General Secretary Dhirendra Jha, AIPWA General Secretary Meena Tiwari, MPs Rajaram Singh and Sudama Prasad, Scheme Workers' national leader and MLC Shashi Yadav, MLAs Arun Singh and Sandeep Saurabh, K.D. Yadav, Saroj Chaubey, Santosh Sahar, Ranvijay Kumar, Umesh Singh, Jitendra Kumar, Rambali Singh Yadav, Ajit Kumar Singh, Rambali Prasad, Premchand Sinha, and hundreds of leaders and activists from different districts.
Representatives of INTUC, NAPM, UTUC, the Scheme Workers' Federation and other mass organisations also paid their heartfelt tributes.
Several senior leaders of the Mahagathbandhan and Left parties also paid floral tributes to Comrade R.N. Thakur. Among them were senior Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui, CPI leader Vishwajit Kumar, DYFI leader Asif Ali, CPI(ML) leader Nandkishore Prasad, and many others.
Memorial meetings were organised in many states, and several districts in Bihar including Bhagalpur, Begusarai, Arwal, Jehanabad, East Champaran, Supaul, where leaders and activists paid heartfelt tributes to Comrade R.N. Thakur.
