A RISING regional leader in Uttarakhand, Bobby Panwar, 27, has now emerged as the key face in the ongoing protests against a paper leak that has put the Pushkar Singh Dhami-led BJP government in the dock.
The president of the Swabhiman Morcha and the former head of the Uttarakhand Berozgar Sangh, Panwar is a familiar face in the state, rarely seen without the traditional cap he sports.
On Sunday, when thousands hit the streets of Dehradun following reports of alleged leak during the recruitment exam for the Uttarakhand Subordinate Services Selection Commission, in the second such mass agitation in the city in the past three years, Panwar was at the heart of it.
He was also a key face in the demonstrations two years ago over the leak of a paper during the 2021 Uttarakhand Subordinate Services Selection Commission exam.
On Thursday, protesters swarmed Dehradun’s Parade Ground, with Pawar leading the way with the slogan: “Paper chor, gaddi chod (Paper thieves, quit the chair).” Dhami has dubbed the paper leak “nakal (cheating) jihad”. Two of the accused in the case have been arrested.
Born into an agrarian family, and belonging to Lakhmandal in Chakrata tehsil of Dehradun, Panwar joined the Berozgar Sangh — an organisation for the unemployed — in 2018. Since then, he has led countless protests, pressing for government recruitment and accountability in alleged scams. In February 2023, he was jailed while demonstrating against the 2021 paper leak, which catapulted his image as a youth leader almost overnight.
He has also alleged tender manipulation in the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana project, and claimed irregularities in recruitments at Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited and Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited.
Panwar attributes his foray into activism to his years as a job aspirant in coaching centres. “The government has played games with youth like me, forcing us to stand up against these scams. We have faced lathicharge, multiple cases and constant pressure, but it is these struggles that shaped me,” he said in an interview.
He has been sharply critical of both the BJP and Congress for sidelining Uttarakhandiyat — or the essence of Uttarakhand — in governance.
“People have Uttarakhandiyat on their tongue, but vested interests in their mind,” Panwar once said during a podcast, adding that the BJP could attempt to weaken his outfit by propping up rival groups.
In 2024, he contested as an Independent in the Lok Sabha polls. He stood third with 1.6 lakh votes, just behind the Congress candidate’s 1.9 lakh. The performance established him as a serious contender in state politics.
The following year, Panwar left the Berozgar Sangh to join the Swabhiman Morcha, an explicitly political platform alongside leaders such as Tribhuvan Chauhan and Uttarakhand Kranti Dal’s (UKD) Mohit Dimri.
Although the Swabhiman Morcha is not a political party, Panwar describes it as a platform for exerting pressure on political issues.
“It is not a party, but the work is political,” he said.
His stance has distanced him from the UKD, the state’s lone regional party, which many believe lost its relevance after Uttarakhand was carved out of Uttar Pradesh. The UKD supported his Tehri candidacy in 2024, but Panwar backed Tribhuvan Chauhan over the UKD candidate in the 2025 Kedarnath bypolls. This has led to a rift between the UKD and the budding organisation.
Panwar has also courted controversy, having faced several police cases. In 2023, he was accused of threatening a government employee in the tribal welfare department. In 2024, he was booked for allegedly vandalising a coaching centre. Later that year, he clashed with then Energy Secretary R Meenakshi Sundaram at the secretariat. Based on Sundaram’s complaint, Dehradun police registered an FIR against Panwar and two associates for allegedly threatening and misbehaving with the officer. Panwar denied the charge, saying the encounter was only a heated discussion.
When Panwar was booked in the Sundaram case, Congress briefly rallied behind him in protest. But his support for Chauhan in the 2025 Kedarnath bypoll came at a political cost. The BJP’s Asha Nautiyal defeated Congress’s Manoj Rawat by 5,622 votes in the seat, while Chauhan polled 9,311 votes.
Congress leaders have since viewed Panwar with suspicion. Senior vice-president Surya Kant Dhasmana said people in the state are unlikely to trust another regional front.
“Politics is not built on spontaneity or movements born out of the moment. It requires a clear ideology, and Panwar lacks that. Since 1947, Uttarakhand residents have aligned with national parties. While regional outfits have thrived elsewhere. The UKD itself declined after statehood,” he said.