Deepak Babaria

Deepak Babaria died on Saturday 10 October 2026 at Jivraj Mehta hospital in Ahmedabad after a prolonged illness, aged 75. He had been in poor health since suffering a brain stroke and had been admitted to hospital in the preceding days. His last rites were performed the same afternoon at the Ellisbridge crematorium in Ahmedabad.

Rahul Gandhi said his death was extremely heartbreaking and an irreplaceable loss to the party. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra called him a dedicated soldier of the Congress Party and its ideology. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge called his death a profound loss, and tributes also came from Randeep Surjewala, the AICC general secretary in charge of Gujarat, Gujarat Congress president Amit Chavda, Shaktisinh Gohil and Paresh Dhanani. His death came three days after that of the Amreli Congress veteran Veerji Thummar.

Deepak Babaria was from Gujarat and was based in Ahmedabad. He trained and worked as a chemical engineer. Reports at the time of his death gave his age as 75; his exact date and place of birth were not given in the reports. He belonged to an Other Backward Class (OBC) community, according to Vistaar News.

Babaria joined the Congress in the 1970s and never stood for or held elected office, preferring organisational work. He first made his name in Gujarat by taking up the causes of workers and industrial and trade unions, which Mallikarjun Kharge later described as the start of his political journey.

He held several posts in the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee and the All India Congress Committee. On 9 September 2017 he was named AICC general secretary in charge of Madhya Pradesh, succeeding Mohan Prakash. With Kamal Nath as state party president, the Congress won the 2018 Madhya Pradesh assembly election and returned to power after 15 years. He suffered a brain stroke before the 2019 Lok Sabha election, and in 2020, after Jyotiraditya Scindia's defection had brought down the Kamal Nath government, he resigned the Madhya Pradesh charge citing ill health. Sonia Gandhi accepted his resignation and appointed Mukul Wasnik.

Babaria resumed work after his recovery. He was regarded as a party strategist, helped draft Congress election manifestos, particularly in Gujarat, and was one of the observers sent to decide the chief minister after the Congress won the Karnataka assembly election. In 2023 he served as AICC general secretary in charge of Haryana and Delhi, a responsibility handed to him by Shaktisinh Gohil.

Babaria lived in Ahmedabad. Colleagues described him as simple, sincere and committed to the party's ideology, and as an organisation man who avoided the limelight. He was survived by two daughters, one of whom lives in the United States.

Babaria is remembered within the Congress as an organiser who worked out of public view, a labour advocate turned national strategist, and the party's man in charge of Madhya Pradesh when it ended 15 years in opposition there in 2018. Colleagues highlighted his loyalty to the party's ideology and his role in strengthening the organisation in Gujarat and nationally.