Vimla Dang, née "Vimla Bakaya", was born on 26 December 1926 in a Kashmiri family at Lahore in the British India and did her early education in the local schools. She was involved with student politics early on when she became a member of the Lahore Students’ Union. Her graduation was at Wilson College, Mumbai during which time she continued her involvement in student politics. She was a part of the All India Students Federation (AISF) delegation which visited the state and engaged in the relief activities of the Bengal famine of 1943. She also attended the first Party Congress of the Communist Party of India held in Bombay in 1943. Later, she moved to Prague, the capital of the erstwhile Czechoslovakia, joining the International Students Union (ISU), and spent a few years there involved with the organization's activities.