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Chronicle IAS Academy [1]

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East India Association 1867

The "Grand Old Man of India" DadabhaiNaoroji initiated establishment of East IndiaAssociation, at London. It was one of thepredecessor organizations of the Indian NationalCongress in 1867. The idea was to present thecorrect information about India to the BritishPublic and voice Indian Grievances. In 1869, thisorganization opened branches in Bombay,Kolkata and Madras. It became defunct in1880s.

Indian National Association

The Indian National Association was the firstavowed nationalist organization founded inBritish India by Surendranath Banerjea andAnanda Mohan Bose in 1876. The objectives ofthis Association were “promoting by everylegitimate means the political, intellectual andmaterial advancement of the people”. TheAssociation attracted educated Indians and civicleaders from all parts of the country, andbecame an important forum for India'saspirations for independence. It later mergedwith the Indian National Congress.

Indian National Congress

The Congress was founded by Indian andBritish members of the Theosophical Societymovement, most notably A.O. Hume. It has beensuggested that the idea was originally conceivedin a private meeting of seventeen men after aTheosophical Convention held at Madras inDecember 1884. Hume took the initiative, andit was in March 1885 that the first notice wasissued convening the first Indian National Unionto meet at Poona the following December.

Founded in 1885 claiming that it had theobjective of obtaining a greater share ingovernment for educated Indians was createdto form a platform for civic and politicaldialogue of educated Indians with the BritishRaj. The Congress met once a year during

December. Indeed, it was a Scotsman, AllanOctavian Hume, who brought about its firstmeeting in Bombay, with the approval of LordDufferin, the then-Viceroy. Womesh ChandraBonnerjee was the first President of the INC. Thefirst meeting was scheduled to be held in Pune,but due to a plague outbreak there, the meetingwas later shifted to Bombay. The first session ofthe INC was held from 28–31 December, 1885,and was attended by 72 delegates.

Within a few years, the demands of the INCbecame more radical in the face of constantopposition from the government, and the partydecided to advocate in favour of theindependence movement, as it would allow fora new political system in which they could be amajorly dominant party. By 1907 the party wassplit into two-halves—the Garam dal (literally"hot faction") of Bal Gangadhar Tilak, orExtremists, and the Naram Dal (literally "softfaction") of Gopal Krishna Gokhale, orModerates—distinguished by their attitudetowards the British colonists. Under theinfluence of Tilak, the Congress became the firstorganised independence group in the country,bringing together millions of people against theBritish.

In the pre-independence era, the INCfeatured a number of prominent political figures:Dadabhai Naoroji, a member of the sister IndianNational Association, elected president of theCongress in 1886, and between 1892 and 1895the first Indian Member of Parliament in theBritish House of Commons; Bal Gangadhar Tilak;Bipin Chandra Pal; Lala Lajpat Rai; GopalKrishna Gokhale; and Mohammed Ali Jinnah,later leader of the Muslim League andinstrumental in the creation of Pakistan. TheCongress was transformed into a massmovement by Surendranath Banerjea and SirHenry Cotton during the partition of Bengal in1905 and the resultant Swadeshi movement.Mohandas Gandhi returned from South Africa

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[2] Chronicle IAS Academy

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in 1915 and with the help of the moderate groupled by Ghokhale became president of theCongress and formed an alliance with theKhilafat Movement. In protest a number ofleaders—Chittaranjan Das, Annie Besant,Motilal Nehru—resigned from the Congress toset up the Swaraj Party. The Khilafat movementcollapsed and the Congress was split.

With the rise of Mahatma Gandhi'spopularity and his Satyagraha art of revolutioncame Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, PanditJawaharlal Nehru (the nation's first PrimeMinister), Dr. Rajendra Prasad (the nation's firstPresident), Khan Mohammad Abbas Khan,Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, ChakravartiRajgopalachari, Dr. Anugraha Narayan Sinha,Jayaprakash Narayan, Jivatram Kripalani andMaulana Abul Kalam Azad. With the alreadyexisting nationalistic feeling combined withGandhi's popularity, the Congress became aforceful and dominant group of people in thecountry, bringing together millions of people byspecifically working against caste differences,untouchability, poverty, and religious and ethnicboundaries. Although predominantly Hindu, ithad members from just about every religion,ethnic group, economic class and linguisticgroup. In 1939, Subhash Chandra Bose, theelected president in both 1938 and 1939 resignedfrom the Congress over the selection of theworking committee. The Indian NationalCongress was not the sole representative of theIndian polity and other parties existed at thetime, notably the Hindu Mahasabha, Azad HindSarkar, and Forward Bloc.

The 1929 Lahore session under the presidencyof Jawaharlal Nehru holds special significanceas in this session "Purna Swaraj" (completeindependence) was declared as the goal of theINC. 26 January, 1930 was declared as "PurnaSwaraj Diwas", Independence Day, althoughthe British would remain in India for 17 moreyears. To commemorate this date theConstitution of India was formally adopted on26 January, 1950, even though it had beenpassed on 26 November, 1949. However, in1929, Srinivas Iyenger was expelled from theCongress for demanding full independence, notjust home rule as demanded by Gandhi.

After the First World War the party becameassociated with Mohandas K. Gandhi, whoremained its unofficial, spiritual leader and massicon even as younger men and women became

party president. The party was in many waysan umbrella organization, sheltering within itselfradical socialists, traditionalists and even Hinduand Muslim conservatives, but all the socialistgroupings (including the Congress SocialistParty, Krishak Praja Party, and Swarajya Partymembers) were expelled by Gandhi alongwithSubhash Chandra Bose in 1939. Members of theCongress initially supported the sailors who ledthe Royal Indian Navy Mutiny. However theywithdrew support at the critical juncture, whenthe mutiny failed. During the INA trials of 1946,the Congress helped to form the INA DefenceCommittee, which forcefully defended the caseof the soldiers of the Azad Hind government.The committee declared the formation of theCongress' defence team for the INA andincluded famous lawyers of the time, includingBhulabhai Desai, Asaf Ali, and JawaharlalNehru.

Post-independence

After Indian independence in 1947, theCongress became the dominant political partyin the country. In the first general election in1952, the party swept to power at the centre aswell as in most state legislatures. The Congresswas continuously in power until 1977, when itwas defeated by the Janata Party. It returned topower in 1980 and ruled until 1989, when it wasonce again defeated. It formed the governmentin 1991 at the head of a coalition, as well as in2004 and 2009, when it led the UnitedProgressive Alliance. During this period it hasremained centre-left in its social policies, whilesteadily shifting from a socialist to a neoliberaleconomic outlook.

Swaraj Party

Swaraj Party, Indian political partyestablished in late 1922–early 1923 by membersof the Indian National Congress (CongressParty), notably Motilal Nehru, one of the mostprominent lawyers in northern India, and ChittaRanjan Das, a nationalist politician from Bengal.The party’s name is taken from the term swaraj,meaning “self-rule,” which was broadly appliedto the movement to gain independence fromBritish rule.

The party’s primary goal was to contest theelections to the new Central Legislative Assemblyin 1923 and, once in office, to disrupt officialpolicy and derail the Raj (British government inIndia) by anti-government agitation within the


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council chambers. Though the noncooperationapproach of Gandhiji had remained the primarystrategy of the Congress, in reality those Congressleaders who were more secular-minded inoutlook chose the alternative tactic of partiallycooperating with political reforms beinginstituted by the British after World War I. TheSwarajists won more than 40 seats in the CentralLegislative Assembly in 1923, but their numberswere never quite enough to prevent the Britishfrom passing the legislation they desired orbelieved was needed to maintain internal orderin India. By 1927 the party was disbanded andits members dissolved into the Congress fold.

All India Forward Bloc

The Forward Bloc of the Indian NationalCongress was formed on 3 May, 1939 by NetajiSubhash Chandra Bose, who had resigned fromthe presidency of the Indian National Congresson April 29 after being outmaneuvered byGandhiji. The formation of the Forward Bloc wasannounced to the public at a rally in Calcutta.Initially the aim of the Forward Bloc was to rallyall the left wing sections within the Congress anddevelop an alternative leadership inside theCongress. Bose became the president of theForward Bloc and S.S. Cavesheer its Vice-President. A Forward Bloc Conference was heldin Bombay in the end of June. At that conferencethe constitution and programme of the ForwardBloc were approved. In July 1939, SubhashChandra Bose announced the Committee of theForward Bloc S.S. Cavesheer, Lal Shankarlal,Pandit B. Tripathi, Khurshed Nariman,Annapurniah, Senapati Bapat, Hari VishnuKamath, Pasumpon U. MuthuramalingamThevar Sheel Bhadra Yajee and Satya RanjanBakshi, were its prominent members.

In August, the same year Bose beganpublishing a newspaper titled Forward Bloc. Hetravelled around the country, rallying supportfor his new political project.

The following year, on June 20–22, 1940, theForward Bloc held its first All India Conferencein Nagpur. The conference declared the ForwardBloc to be a socialist political party, and the dateof June 22 is considered as the founding date ofthe party by the Forward Bloc itself. Theconference passed a resolution titled 'All Powerto the Indian People', urging militant action forstruggle against British colonial rule. SubhashChandra Bose was elected as the president ofthe party and H.V. Kamath the general secretary.

Arrest and exile of Bose

Soon thereafter, on July 2, Bose was arrestedand detained in Presidency Jail, Calcutta. InJanuary 1941 he escaped from house arrest, andclandestinely went into exile. He travelled to theSoviet Union via Afghanistan, seeking Sovietsupport for the Indian independence struggle.Stalin declined Bose's request, and he thentravelled to Germany. In Berlin he set up the FreeIndia Centre, and rallied the Indian Legion.

In August 1942, the British authoritiesbanned the Forward Bloc. Its offices around thecountry were ransacked. In 1943, Bose wastransported to Asia, where he took over theleadership of the Indian National Army. Duringthe final phase of the war the INA foughtalongside the Japanese against the British army.

Inside India, local activists of the ForwardBloc continued the anti-British activities withoutcentral coordination. For example, in Biharmembers were involved in the Azad Dastaresistance groups, and distributed propagandain support of Bose and INA. They did not have,however, any organic link either with Bose northe INA.

Post-war reorganization

At the end of the war, the Forward Bloc wasreorganized. In February 1946, R.S. Ruikerorganized an All India Active WorkersConference at Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. Theconference declared the formation of the 'FBWorkers Assembly', in practice the legal coverof the still illegal Forward Bloc. Notably someleading communists from Bombay, like K.N.Joglekar and Soli Batliwalli, joined the 'FBWorkers Assembly'. The Workers Assemblyconference declared that the "Forward Bloc is aSocialist Party, accepting the theory of classstruggle in its fullest implications and aprogramme of revolutionary mass action for theattainment of Socialism leading to a ClasslessSociety."

Ahead of the 1946 assembly elections the banon the Bloc was lifted in June that year. TheWorking Committee of the Forward Bloc met onJune 10.

Elections to the Constituent Assembly andto provincial legislatures were held in December1946. The Forward Bloc contested the elections.H.V. Kamath won a seat in the ConstituentAssembly and Jyotish Chandra Ghosh,


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Hemantha Kumar Basu and Lila Roy wereelected to the Bengal Legislative Assembly.

All–India Muslim League

The All–India Muslim League was a historicpolitical party established in the early years of20th century in the British Indian Empire. Itsstrong advocacy for the establishment of aseparate Muslim-majority nation-state, Pakistan,successfully led to the partition of India in 1947by the British Empire. Early genesis of the partyare founded as an aftermath of literarymovement led by Syed Ahmad Khan, who alsohelped in founding the party. In 1906, the partywas officially found at the educationalconference held in Dhaka to protest against theintegration of Bengal in 1905. Its original politicalgoal was to define and advance the IndianMuslim's civil rights and to provide protectionto upper and gentry class of Indian Muslims.From 1906–30s, the party worked on itsorganizational structure, its credibility in all overthe Muslim communities of British IndianEmpire, and lacked as a mass organization butrepresented the landed and commercial Musliminterests of the United Provinces (today's UttarPradesh).

Following in 1930s, the idea of separatenation-state and influential philosopher SirIqbal's vision of uniting the four provinces inNorth-West British India further support therational of Two-nation theory. Constitutionalstruggle of Jinnah and political struggle offounding fathers, the Muslim League played adecisive role in the World War II in 1940s and asthe driving force behind the division of Indiaalong religious lines and the creation of Pakistanas a Muslim state in 1947. The events leadingthe World War II, the Congress effective protestagainst the United Kingdom unilaterallyinvolving India in the war without consultingwith the Indian people; the Muslim League wenton to support the British war efforts, which wasallowed to actively propagandise against theCongress with the cry of "Islam in Danger".

After the partition and subsequentestablishment of Pakistan, the Muslim Leaguecontinued as a minor party in India.

All India Kisan Sabha

All India Peasants Union, also AkhilBharatiya Kisan Sabha, was the name of thepeasants front of the undivided CommunistParty of India (CPI), an important peasant

movement formed by Swami SahajanandSaraswati in 1936, and which later split into twoorganizations, by the same name.

The Kisan Sabha movement started in Biharunder the leadership of Swami SahajanandSaraswati who had formed in 1929 the BiharProvincial Kisan Sabha (BPKS) in order tomobilise peasant grievances against thezamindari attacks on their occupancy rights,and thus sparking the Farmers' movement inIndia

Gradually the peasant movement intensifiedand spread across the rest of India. Theformation of Congress Socialist Party (CSP) in1934 helped the Communists to work togetherwith the Indian National Congress, howevertemporarily, then in April 1935, noted peasantleaders N.G. Ranga and E.M.S. Namboodiripad,then secretary and joint secretary respectivelyof South Indian Federation of Peasants andAgricultural Labour, suggested the formation ofan all-India farmers body, and soon all theseradical developments culminated in theformation of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS)at the Lucknow session of the Indian NationalCongress on April 11, 1936 with SwamiSahajanand Saraswati elected as its firstPresident, and it involved prominent leaders likeN.G. Ranga, E.M.S. Namboodiripad, PanditKaryanand Sharma, Pandit Yamuna Karjee,Pandit Yadunandan (Jadunandan) Sharma,Rahul Sankrityayan, P. Sundarayya, RamManohar Lohia, Jayaprakash Narayan, AcharyaNarendra Dev and Bankim Mukherji. The KisanManifesto released in August 1936, demandedabolition of zamindari system and cancellationof rural debts, and in October 1937, it adoptedred flag as its banner. Soon, its leaders becameincreasingly distant with Congress, andrepeatedly came in confrontation with Congressgovernments, in Bihar and United Province.

In the subsequent years, the movement wasincreasingly dominated by Socialists andCommunists as it moved away from theCongress, by 1938 Haripura session of theCongress, under the presidency of NetajiSubhash Chandra Bose, the rift became evident,and by May 1942, the Communist Party of India,which was finally legalized by then governmentin July 1942, had taken over AIKS, all acrossIndia including Bengal where its membershipgrew considerably. It took on the Communistparty's line of People's War, and stayed away


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from the Quit India Movement which started inAugust 1942, though this also meant it losing itspopular base and many of its members defiedparty orders and joined the movement, andprominent members like N.G. Ranga, IndulalYagnik and Swami Sahajananda soon left theorganization, which increasing found it difficultto approach the peasant without the watered-down approach of pro-British and pro-war, andincreasing its pro-nationalist agenda, much tothe dismay of the British Raj which alwaysthough Communist would help them incountering the nationalist movement.

The Communist Party of India (CPI), splitinto two in 1964, following which so did the AllIndia Kisan Sabha, which each faction affiliatedto the splinters.

All India Jamhur Muslim League

The All India Jamhur Muslim League wasformed in 1940, to counter the Lahore resolution,passed by the All-India Muslim League, for aseparate Pakistan based on Muhammad AliJinnah's Two nation theory.

The first session of the party was held atMuzaffarpur in Bihar. The Raja of Mahmoodabadwas elected president and Dr. Maghfoor AhmadAjazi was elected General Secretary. Later, theRaja of Mahmoodabad changed his mind underinfluence of Jinah, who was a long time familyfriend and rejoined Jinnah in 1941. A majorfaction of the Jamhur Muslim League under theleadership of Dr. Ajazi merged with Congressto strengthen its views on partition.

Anushilan Samiti

Anushilan Samiti was an armed anti-Britishorganisation in Bengal and the principal secretrevolutionary organization operating in theregion in the opening years of the 20th century.

Political activities began taking an organisedform in Bengal at the beginning of the 20thcentury. By 1902, Calcutta had three societiesworking under the umbrella of AnushilanSamity, a society earlier founded by a Calcuttabarrister by the name of Pramatha Mitra. Theseincluded Mitra's own group, another led by aBengalee lady by the name of Sarala Devi, and athird one led by Aurobindo Ghosh-one of thestrongest proponents of militant nationalism ofthe time. The Anushilan Samiti had SriAurobindo and Deshabandhu Chittaranjan Das

as the vice-presidents. Jatindra Nath Banerjee(Niralamba Swami), Jatindra Nath Mukherjee(Bagha Jatin), Bhupendra Nath Datta (SwamiVivekananda's brother), Barindra Ghoshyounger brother of Aurobindo Ghosh, wereamong other initial leaders. By 1906, the worksof Aurobindo and his brother Barindra Ghoshallowed Anushilan Samity to spread throughBengal. The controversial 1905 partition ofBengal had a widespread political impact: itstimulated radical nationalist sentiments in theBhadralok community in Bengal, and helpedAnushilan acquire a support base amongst ofeducated, politically conscious and disaffectedyoung in local youth societies of Bengal. TheDhaka branch of the Anushilan Samiti wasformed by Pulin Behari Das, who was once ateacher in the Dhaka Government College and,later, a founding headmaster of 'National School'(Dhaka), alongwith his followers, in 1906. He,like Barindra Ghosh, believed in a highlycentralised one-leader organization. Under theirleadership, respectively in Dhaka and elsewhere,in a spirit of a boastful showdown, AnushilanSamiti slowly adopted untimely terrorismprogrammes during the first decade of 20thcentury, with 1905 Partition of Bengal acting asa major catalyst. The Dhaka branch ofAnushilan was led by Pulin Behari Das andspread branches through East Bengal andAssam. Aurobindo and Bipin Chandra Pal, aBengali politician, began in 1907 the radicalBengali nationalist publication of Jugantar, andits English counterpart Bande Mataram. Amongthe early recruits who emerged noted leaderswhere Rash Behari Bose, JatindranathMukherjee, and Jadugopal Mukherjee.

Anushilan, notably from early on, establishedlinks with foreign movements and Indiannationalism abroad. In 1907, Barin Ghosharranged to send to Paris one of his associatesby the name of Hem Chandra Kanungo (HemChandra Das), he was to learn the art of bombmaking from Nicholas Safranski, a Russianrevolutionary in exile in the French Capital. Pariswas also home at the time Madam Cama whowas amongst the leading figures of the ParisIndian Society and the India House in London.The bomb manual later found its way throughV.D. Savarkar to the press at India House formass printing. In the meantime, in December1907, the Bengal revolutionary cell derailed thetrain carrying the Bengal Lieutenant GovernorSir Andrew Fraser. A few days later, on 23December, they attempted to assassinate Mr.


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Allen, formerly District Magistrate of Dhaka.Anushilan also engaged at this time in a numberof notable incidences of political assassinationsand dacoities to obtain funds. This was, however,the crest for Anushilan.

In April 1908, two young recruits, KhudiramBose and Prafulla Chaki were sent on a missionto Muzaffarpur to assassinate the ChiefPresidency Magistrate D.H. Kingford. The duobombed a carriage they mistook as Kingsford's,killing two English women in it. In the aftermathof the murder, Khudiram Bose was arrestedwhile attempting to flee, while Chaki took hisown life. Narendra Nath Bhattacharya, then amember of the group, shot dead NandalalBannerjee, the officer who had arrestedKhudiram. Police investigations into the murdersrevealed the organizations quarters in Manicktalasuburb of Calcutta and led to a number of arrests,opening the famous Alipore Conspiracy trial.Some of its leadership were executed orincarcerated, while others went underground.Aurobindo Ghosh himself retired from activepolitics after serving a prison sentence, hisbrother Barin was imprisoned for life.

The result of the trial was a division of theAnushilan Samiti. Two main groups thatremained were the Jugantar itself and the DhakaAnushilan Samiti, in the western and the easternparts of the Bengal, respectively. The initialAnushilan disappeared. Jatindra NathMukherjee escaped arrest in the Alipore case,and took over the leadership of the secret society,to be known as the Jugantar Party.

Hindustan Socialist Republican Association

Hindustan Socialist Republican Association(HSRA) was a revolutionary organization, alsoknown as Hindustan Socialist Republican Armyestablished in 1928 at Feroz Shah Kotla, NewDelhi by Chandrashekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh,Sukhdev Thapar and others. [1] Previously it wasknown as Hindustan Republican Association(HRA).

From 1924 to 1925, the HRA grew innumbers with the influx of new members likeBhagat Singh, Chandrasekhar Azad, SukhdevThapar and Ram Prasad Bismil. There weremany early attempts at disruption and obtainingfunds, such as the robbery of a post office inCalcutta and of monies belonging to a railwayat Chittagong, both in 1923, but the Kakori trainrobbery was the most prominent of the early

HRA efforts. The Kakori event occurred on 9August, 1925, when HRA members lootedgovernment money from a train around 14 miles(23 km) from Lucknow. Significant members ofthe HRA were arrested and stood trial for theirinvolvement in that incident and others whichhad preceded it. The outcome was that fourleaders – Ashfaqullah Khan, Ram Prasad Bismil,Roshan Singh and Rajendra Lahiri – werehanged in December 1927 and a further 16imprisoned for lengthy terms. The result of thetrial, in which the HRA participants sangpatriotic songs and displayed other forms ofdefiance, seriously damaged the leadership ofthe HRA and dealt a major blow to its activities.Many associated with the HRA who escapedtrial found themselves placed under surveillanceor detained for various reasons, Azad was theonly one of the principal leaders who managedto escape arrest.

Around the time of the Kakori robbery andthe subsequent trial, various revolutionarygroups had emerged in places such as Bengal,Bihar and Punjab. These groups eventually cametogether for a meeting at Feroz Shah Kotla, inDelhi, on 7–8 August, 1928, and from thisemerged the Hindustan Socialist RepublicanAssociation. The socialist leanings voiced in theearlier HRA manifesto had gradually movedmore towards Marxism and the HSRA spoke ofa revolution involving a struggle by the massesto establish "the dictatorship of the proletariat"and the banishment of "parasites from the seatof political power". It saw itself as being at theforefront of this revolution, spreading the wordand acting as the armed section of the masses.Its ideals were apparent in other movementselsewhere at that time, including incidents ofcommunist-inspired industrial action by workersand the Rural Kisan Movement.

In 1928, the British government set up theCommission, headed by Sir John Simon, to reporton the political situation in India. The Indianpolitical parties boycotted the Commission,because it did not include a single Indian in itsmembership, and it met with countrywideprotests. When the Commission visited Lahoreon 30 October, 1928, Lala Lajpat Rai led a non-violent protest against the Commission in a silentmarch, but the police responded with violence.The superintendent of police, James A. Scott,ordered the police to lathi charge the protestersand personally assaulted Rai, who wasgrievously injured, later on Rai could not recover


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from the injury and died on 17 November, 1928.It was obviously known that Scott's blows hadhastened his demise. However, when the matterwas raised in the British Parliament, the BritishGovernment denied any role in Rai's death.Although Singh did not witness the event, hevowed to take revenge, and joined otherrevolutionaries, Rajguru, Sukhdev andChandrashekhar Azad, in a plot to kill Scott.However, in a case of mistaken identity, Singhwas signalled to shoot on the appearance of JohnP. Saunders, an Assistant Superintendent ofPolice. He was shot by Rajguru and Singh whileleaving the District Police Headquarters inLahore on 17 December, 1928.

The next major action by the HSRA was thebombing of the Central Legislative Assembly inDelhi on 8 April, 1929. This was a provocativepropaganda exercise, intended to highlight theaims of the HSRA and timed as a protest againstthe introduction of the Public Safety Bill and theTrade Disputes Bill, both of which had beendrafted in an attempt to counter the effects ofrevolutionary activities and trade unionism.

Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt threwbombs at the empty treasury benches, beingcareful to ensure that there were no casualtiesin order to highlight the propagandist nature oftheir action. They made no attempt to escapeand courted arrest while shouting InquilabZindabad (Long Live the Revolution) andSamrajyavad ko nash ho (Down withImperialism). Their rationale for the bombingwas explained in a leaflet titled "To Make theDeaf Hear". This leaflet was also thrown in theassembly and was reproduced the next day inthe Hindustan Times. On 15 April, 1929, policeraided the HSRA's bomb factory in Lahore andarrested Kishori Lal, Sukhdev and Jai Gopal. TheAssembly Bomb case trial followed and BhagatSingh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were hanged on23 March, 1931 for their actions.

In December 1929, the HSRA bombed thespecial train of Viceroy, Lord Irwin. The viceroyescaped unhurt. In December 1930, an attemptwas made to assassinate the Governor of Punjab,which wounded him in his arm.

By 1931, most of the HSRA's main leaderswere either dead or in jail. Kailash Pati wasarrested in October 1930 and turned approver(witness for the prosecution). On 27 February,1931, Chandrashekhar Azad shot himself duringa gunfight with the police in a famous incident

of Alfred Park. Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev andRajguru were hanged in March 1931. AfterAzad's death there was no central leader to unitethe revolutionaries and regional differencesincreased. The organization split into variousregional groups and they carried out bombingsand attacks on Indian officials without anycentral coordination. In December 1931, anotherattempt was made to revive the HSRA at ameeting in Meerut. However this attempt failedwith the arrests of Yashpal and Daryao Singhin 1932. This effectively ended the HSRA as aunited organization.

As the political scenario changed in the late1930s — with the mainstream leadersconsidering several options offered by the Britishand with religious politics coming into play —revolutionary activities gradually declined. Manypast revolutionaries joined mainstream politicsby joining Congress and other parties, especiallycommunist ones, while many of the activists werekept under hold in different jails across thecountry.

Khudai Khidmatgar

Khudai Khidmatgar literally translates as theservants of God, represented a non-violentstruggle against the British Empire by thePashtuns (also known as Pathans, Pakhtuns orAfghans) of the North-West Frontier Provinceof India.

Also called "Surkh Posh" or "Red Shirts", itwas originally a social reform organizationfocussing on education and the elimination ofblood feuds known as the Anjuman-e-Islah-eAfghania (society for reformation of Afghans).The movement was led by Khan Abdul GhaffarKhan, known locally as Bacha Khan or BadshahKhan.

It gradually became more political as it wasbeing targeted by the British Raj, by 1929 itsleadership was exiled from the province andlarge numbers were arrested. Seeking allies, itapproached the Muslim League and IndianNational Congress, rebuffed by the former in1929 the movement formally joined the Congressparty. Due to pressure across India, the Britishgovernment finally released Khan Abdul GhaffarKhan and lifted restrictions on the movement.As part of the Government of India Act, 1935,limited franchise was for the first timeintroduced in the North-West Frontier Province.In the subsequent election, Khan Abdul Ghaffar


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Khan's brother Dr. Khan Sahib was elected ChiefMinister.

The Khudai Khidmatgar (KK) movementfaced another crackdown for its role in the quitIndia movement after 1940, in that period itstarted facing increasing opposition from theMuslim League in the province. Its Congressaffiliate won the 1946 election again, however itfaced an increasing protest by supporters of thePakistan movement. Amidst negotiations for theBritish departure from India, the Congress partyagreed to the partition of India on the provisionthat a referendum was held to ascertain whetherNWFP would prefer to be part of the new stateof Pakistan or India. Realizing they were in anuntenable position the KK movement decidedto boycott the referendum which allowed anarrow victory for the Pakistan vote.

The Communist Party of India (CPI)

The Communist Party of India (CPI) is anational political party in India with a communistideology.

CPI was formed on 26th December, 1925. Itwas inspired by the Great October SocialistRevolution in Russia. Formally announced at thefirst Party Conference at Kanpur. It waspreceded by founding of All India Trade UnionCongress in 1920. The founding members of theparty were M.N. Roy, Evelyn Trent Roy, AbaniMukherji, Rosa Fitingof, Mohammad Ali(Ahmed Hasan), Mohammad Shafiq Siddiqui,Rafiq Ahmed of Bhopal and M.P.B.T. Acharya.

1921 to 1924: there were three conspiracytrials against the communist movement -Peshawar Conspiracy Case, Moscow ConspiracyCase and the Cawnpore Bolshevik ConspiracyCase. The Cawnpore trial had significant politicalimpact. M.N. Roy, S.A. Dange, Muzaffar Ahmed,Nalini Gupta, Shaukat Usmani, SingaraveluChettiar, Ghulam Hussain and R.C. Sharma werecharged in this Conspiracy case.

In 1934, the main centres of activity of CPIwere Bombay, Calcutta and Punjab with someinitial activity in Madras. In 1934, the party wasaccepted as the Indian section of the CommunistInternational. The first Kerala unit of CPI wasfounded in July 1937. CPI strongly opposed theQuit India Movement. In Provincial LegislativeAssembly elections of 1946 it contested 108 outof 1585 seats. It won in eight seats.

In February 1948, B.T. Ranadive (BTR) was

elected General Secretary. In 1948, it adoptedthe 'Programme of Democratic Revolution' - firstmention of struggle against caste inequality. In1951 party Congress 'People's Democracy' wassubstituted by 'National Democracy' as the mainslogan of the party. In 1957, general electionsCPI emerged as the largest opposition party.

CPI won the state elections in Kerala in 1957and E.M.S. Namboodiripad became the ChiefMinister.

In the International meeting of Communistparties in Moscow of 1957 the Communist Partyof China criticized the CPI for having formed aministry in Kerala. CPI and CPI(M) splits in1964.

The Principal mass organizations of the CPI:

(a) All India Trade Union Congress(b) All India Youth Federation(c) All India Students Federation(d) National Federation of Indian Women(e) All India Kisan Sabha(f) Bharatiya Khet Mazdoor Union(g) All India State Government Employees

Federation

Revolutionary Communist Party of India(RCPI) was founded by Saumyendranath Tagorein 1934, breaking away from the CommunistParty of India (CPI). During the period 1934–1938 the name of the party was CommunistLeague.

The Ghadar Party

The Ghadar Party was an organizationfounded in the United States and Canada withthe aim to gaining India's independence fromBritish rule. Key members included Lala HarDayal, Sohan Singh Bhakna, Kartar SinghSarabha, and Rashbehari Bose.

The economic downturn in India during theearly nineteenth century witnessed a high levelof emigration. Some of these emigrants settledin North America. These included Punjabis aswell as people from other parts of India. TheCanadian government decided to curtail thisinflux with a series of laws, which were aimedat limiting the entry of South Asians into thecountry and restricting the political rights ofthose already in the country. The Punjabicommunity had hitherto been an important loyalforce for the British Empire and the community


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had expected, equal welcome and rights fromthe British and Commonwealth governments asextended to British and white immigrants. Theselaws fed growing discontent, protests and anti-colonial sentiments within the community. Facedwith increasingly difficult situations, thecommunity began organising itself into politicalgroups. A large number of Punjabis also movedto the United States, but they encounteredsimilar political and social problems.

Rash Bihari Bose on request from VishnuGanesh Pingle, an American trained Ghadar,who met Bose at Benares and requested him totake up the leadership of the coming revolution.But before accepting the responsibility, he sentSachin Sanyal to the Punjab to assess thesituation. Sachin returned very optimistic, in theUnited States and Canada with the aim toliberate India from British rule. The movementbegan with a group of immigrants known as theHindustani Workers of the Pacific Coast.

The Ghadar Party, initially the Pacific CoastHindustan Association, was formed in 1913 inthe United States under the leadership of HarDayal, Sant Baba Wasakha Singh Dadehar, BabaJawala Singh, Santokh Singh and Sohan SinghBhakna as its president. The members of the partywere Indian immigrants, largely from Punjab.Many of its members were students at Universityof California at Berkeley including Dayal, TarakNath Das, Maulavi Barkatullah, Harnam SinghTundilat, Kartar Singh Sarabha and V.G. Pingle.The party quickly gained support from Indianexpatriates, especially in the United States,Canada and Asia.

The party was built around the weekly paperThe Ghadar, which carried the caption on themasthead: Angrezi Raj Ka Dushman (an enemyof the British rule). "Wanted brave soldiers", theGhadar declared, "to stirr up rebellion in India.Pay-death; Price-martyrdom; Pension-liberty;Field of battle-India". The ideology of the partywas strongly secular. The first issue of TheGhadar, was published from San Francisco onNovember 1, 1913.

Following the voyage of the Komagata Maruin 1914, a direct challenge to Canadian racistanti-Indian immigration laws, several thousandIndians resident in the USA sold their businessand homes ready to drive the British from India.However, Hardayal had fled to Europeconcerned that the US authorities would handhim over to the British. Sohan Singh Bhakna was

already in British hands, and the leadership fellto Ram Chandra. Following the entry of Canadainto World War I, the organization was centeredin the USA and received substantial fundingfrom the German government. Ghadar activistsundertook what the British described as politicalterrorism. Ghadar activists were responsible forbombs planted on government property. In 1917,some of their leaders were arrested and put ontrial in the Hindu German Conspiracy Trial.

During World War I, Ghadar party membersreturned to Punjab to agitate for rebellionalongside the Babbar Akali Movement. In 1915,they conducted revolutionary activities in centralPunjab and attempted to organize uprisings, buttheir attempts were crushed by the BritishGovernment. The party rose to prominence inthe second decade of the 20th century, and grewin strength owing to Indian discontent overWorld War I and the lack of political reforms.After the conclusion of the war, the party inAmerica split into Communist and Anti-Communist factions. The party was formallydissolved in 1948.

The Hindu Mahasabha

In 1910, an All India Hindu Conference wasorganised in Allahabad by leading Hindu socialand political leaders who sought to organizeIndian Hindus politically in response to the riseof the Muslim League. The Hindu Mahasabhawas founded in 1914 in Amritsar and establishedits headquarters in Haridwar. Amongst its earlyleaders was the prominent nationalist andeducationalist Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya,who founded the Benaras Hindu University, andthe Punjabi populist Lala Lajpat Rai. UnderMalaviya, the Mahasabha campaigned for Hindupolitical unity, for the education and economicdevelopment of Hindus as well as for thereconversion of Muslims to Hinduism.

While not loyal to the British Raj, the HinduMahasabha did not actively support agitationsagainst British rule in India. The Mahasabharefused to endorse any of the movements andparticipated in the legislative councils establishedby the British, which were otherwise boycottedby the Congress and most of the population.Malaviya's desire for independence throughconstitutional means made the party seem tocooperate with the British at a time whennationalist feelings were running high. TheMahasabha was also affected in its fortunes byappearing to be a party dominated by the upper


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caste Brahmins. Although it opposeduntouchability, the Mahasabha's orthodoxy onother matters concerning Hindu law andcustoms were a handicap in attracting thesupport of a vast majority of Hindus.

In the late 1920s, the Mahasabha cameunder the influence of nationalist VinayakDamodar Savarkar, a former revolutionary whohad been banned from anti-British politicalactivities and opposed the secularism of theCongress. Under Savarkar, the Mahasabhabecame a more intense critic of the Congress andits policy of wooing Muslim support. TheMahasabha suffered a setback when in 1925, itsformer member Dr. Keshav Baliram Hedgewarleft to form the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh,a Hindu volunteer organization that abstainedfrom active politics. Although ideologicallysimilar to the Mahasabha, the RSS grew fasteracross the nation and became a competitor forthe core constituency of the Mahasabha.

The party opposed the Quit India movementin 1942, and like the Muslim League, supportedthe British war effort in the Second World War.The Hindu Mahasabha performed poorly in theelections for the central and provincial legislativeassemblies in 1937 and 1946.

After communal violence claimed the livesof thousands in 1946, Savarkar claimed thatGandhi's adherence to non-violence had leftHindus vulnerable to armed attacks by militantMuslims. When the partition of India was agreedupon in June 1947 after months of failed effortsat power-sharing between the Congress and theLeague, the Mahasabha condemned theCongress and Gandhi for agreeing to thepartition plan.

On January 30, 1948, Nathuram Godse shotMahatma Gandhi three times and killed him inDelhi. Godse and his fellow conspiratorsDigambar Badge, Gopal Godse, Narayan Apte,Vishnu Karkare and Madanlal Pahwa wereidentified as prominent members of the HinduMahasabha. Alongwith them, police arrestedSavarkar, who was suspected of being themastermind behind the plot. While the trialresulted in convictions and judgments againstthe others, Savarkar was released on atechnicality, even though there was evidence thatthe plotters met Savarkar only days beforecarrying out the murder. The Kapur Commissionin 1967 established that Savarkar was in closecontact with the plotters for many months.

There was an angry popular backlash againstSavarkar, Godse and the Hindu Mahasabha astheir involvement in Gandhi's murder wasrevealed. The Hindu Mahasabha became moremarginalised than ever. Its one-time rising star,Syama Prasad Mookerjee, left the party andestablished the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, theforerunner to the Bharatiya Janata Party, whichis today the largest Hindu nationalist politicalparty in India. The Hindu Mahasabha remainsactive as an organization, but it only a marginalpresence in some parts of the Indian state ofMaharashtra and negligible instances throughthe rest of the country.

The Liberal party

The Liberal party was formed about 1910,and British intellectuals and British officials wereoften participating members of its committees.The Indian National Congress, which had beenformed to create a mature political dialogue withthe British government, included both moderatesand extremists. Many moderate leaders withliberal ideas left the Congress with the rise ofIndian nationalism, and extremist leaders likeBipin Chandra Pal, Lala Lajpat Rai and BalGangadhar Tilak.

When the Montagu report of 1918 was madepublic, there was a divide in the Congress overit. The moderates welcomed it while the extremistsopposed it. This led to a schism in the Congresswith moderate leaders and forming the "NationalLiberal Federation of India" in 1919. Its mostprominent leaders were Tej Bahadur Sapru, V.S.Srinivasa Shastri and M.R. Jayakar.

Tej Bahadur Sapru emerged as the mostimportant leader among the Liberals. During theagitation against the Simon Commission, helaunched the idea of an all-parties conference inIndia to prepare an agreed constitutional scheme.This resulted in the "Nehru Report" whichproposed a Dominion constitution andpersuaded the new Labour Government inBritain to offer India a Round Table Conference.

A number of Liberals including Sapru andShastri attended the first Round Table Conference(November 1930 to January 1931). They ralliedthe Indian Princes to the idea of an All-Indiafederal union, recognizing that Dominion statuswould be a frail thing unless it embraced boththe British Indian provinces and the princelyIndian States. Sapru and Shastri likewiseattacked the communal issue, working primarily


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through M.A. Jinnah. The two Liberals' ultimateobject was to secure a constitutional agreement,provisional if not final, on the basis of which theCongress might suspend noncooperation andrenew negotiations with the British government.

After the Government of India Act, 1935, theLiberal Party also contested the 1937 elections,but fared poorly. The popularity of the Congressand the Muslim League diminished the influenceof the Liberal Party and its session of 1945 provedto be the last.

The Liberals were moderate nationalists whoopenly pursued India's independence fromBritish rule and resented the excesses of Britishimperialism. They preferred gradual constitutionalreform to revolutionary methods as the meansof achieving independence and because theyattempted to secure constitutional reform bycooperating with British authority rather thandefying it. Their goals and methods wereinspired by British Liberalism. They aimedtoward parliamentary democracy, including notonly an institutional structure but a system ofvalues which emphasized the achievement ofnational welfare through peaceable negotiationand compromise among competing publicinterests. Therefore, the Liberals regularlyparticipated in the legislative councils andassemblies at the town, provincial and centrallevels. They also espoused the British system ofeducation and cultural influences on Indian life.

The Liberal Party opposed Mahatma Gandhiand the Non-Cooperation Movement (1919-1922), the Salt Satyagraha (1930-31), and theQuit India Movement (1942-1945). The Liberalparty was never popular with common Indians,and distrusted intensely by Indian nationalists.With the British decision to grant independenceto India, the party disappeared from existence.

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh

RSS was founded in 1925 by Keshav BaliramHedgewar, who was a doctor in the city ofNagpur, British India. Hedgewar as a medicalstudent in Calcutta had been a part of therevolutionary activities of the Anushilan Samitiand Jugantar striving to free India from Britishrule. He was charged with sedition in 1921 bythe British Administration and was imprisonedfor one year.

After the formation of the RSS, Hedgewarkept the organization away from having anydirect affiliation to any of the political organiza-

tions then fighting British rule. But Hedgewarand his team of volunteers, took part in the In-dian National Congress, led movements againstthe British rule. Hedgewar was arrested in theJungle Satyagraha agitation in 1931 and serveda second term in prison.

It was founded as an educational group totrain Hindu men by character-building to unitethe Hindu community, counter Britishcolonialism in India, and suppress Muslimseparatism. Since its foundation it has espouseda Hindu nationalist agenda. It has mentionedits ideals to be as upholding Indian culture andits civilization values more than anything else.The group drew inspiration from Europeanright-wing groups during WWII. RSS volunteersparticipated in various political and socialmovements including the Indian independencemovement and the group became an extremelyprominent Hindu nationalist group in India.

The RSS portrayed itself as a socialmovement and refused to consider itself apolitical party, and did not play any role in manyof the efforts in Indian independence movement.When the Congress passed the Purna Swarajresolution in 1930, Dr. Hedgewar asked all theRSS branches to hoist the Indian flag andorganize lectures on the need for independence.However, the RSS emphatically rejectedGandhiji's willingness to cooperate with Muslimsin the Anti-British struggle. In 1934, Congresspassed a resolution prohibiting its members fromjoining RSS, Hindu Mahasabha or MuslimLeague.

RSS states that its ideology is based on theprinciple of selfless service to the nation. It hasbeen criticized as an extremist and a paramilitarygroup.

It was banned by the British Raj, and thenthrice by the post-independence Indiangovernment — first in 1948 when NathuramGodse, a former RSS member, assassinatedMahatma Gandhi; then during the emergency(1975–78); and after the demolition of BabriMasjid in 1992. The bans were subsequentlylifted.

All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen

All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen orAIMIM has roots back to the days of the princelyState of Hyderabad. It was founded and shapedby Nawab Mahmood Nawaz Khan Qiledar ofHyderabad All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul


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Muslimeen or AIMIM has roots back to the daysof the princely State of Hyderabad. It wasfounded and shaped by Nawab MahmoodNawaz Khan Qiledar of Hyderabad State by theadvice of Nawab Mir Osman Ali Khan, theNizam of Hyderabad as a pro-Nizam party.Then it was only Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen(MIM) and the first meeting was held in thehouse of Nawab Mahmood Nawaz Khan onNovember 12, 1927. The MIM advocated the setup of a Muslim dominion rather than integrationwith India. In 1938, Bahadur Yar Jung waselected President of the MIM which had acultural and religious manifesto. It soon acquiredpolitical complexion and became aligned withthe Muslim League in British India.

The Razakars (volunteers), a Muslimparamilitary organization aimed at resistingmerger with India, was linked to the MIM. Intotal up to 150,000 Razakar soldiers weremobilized to fight against the Indian Union andfor the independence of the Hyderabad Stateagainst Indian integration. After the integrationof the Hyderabad state with India, the MIM wasbanned in 1948. The Razakar leader Qasim Rizviwas jailed from 1948 to 1957, and then he wasreleased on the condition to go to Pakistan, wherehe was granted asylum.

Before leaving, Qasim Rizvi handed over theresponsibility of whatever remained of theIttehadul Muslimeen, to Abdul Wahid Owaisi,a lawyer. Abdul Wahed Owaisi restructured theParty and Organized it into All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen.

State by the advice of Nawab Mir Osman AliKhan, the Nizam of Hyderabad as a pro-Nizamparty. Then it was only Majlis-e-Ittehad-ulMuslimeen (MIM) and the first meeting was held

in the house of Nawab Mahmood Nawaz Khanon November 12, 1927. The MIM advocated theset up of a Muslim dominion rather thanintegration with India. In 1938, Bahadur YarJung was elected President of the MIM whichhad a cultural and religious manifesto. It soonacquired political complexion and becamealigned with the Muslim League in British India.

The Razakars (volunteers), a Muslimparamilitary organization aimed at resistingmerger with India, was linked to the MIM. Intotal upto 150,000 Razakar soldiers weremobilized to fight against the Indian Union andfor the independence of the Hyderabad Stateagainst Indian integration. After the integrationof the Hyderabad state with India, the MIM wasbanned in 1948. The Razakar leader Qasim Rizviwas jailed from 1948 to 1957, and then he wasreleased on the condition to go to Pakistan, wherehe was granted asylum.

Before leaving, Qasim Rizvi handed over theresponsibility of whatever remained of theIttehad-ul Muslimeen, to Abdul Wahid Owaisi,a lawyer. Abdul Wahed Owaisi restructured theParty and Organized it into All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen.

All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference

In October 1932, Sheikh Abdullah foundedthe All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference.On 11 June, 1939, it was renamed as the AllJammu and Kashmir National Conference. TheNational Conference was affiliated to the AllIndia States Peoples Conference. SheikhAbdullah was elected its president in 1947. In1946, the National Conference launched anintensive agitation against the state government.It was directed against the Maharaja. The sloganof the agitation was "Quit Kashmir".

OTHER IMPORTANT ORGANIZATIONS

Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerceand Industry (FICCI)

The Federation of Indian Chambers ofCommerce and Industry (FICCI) is anassociation of business organizations in India.Established in 1927, on the advice of MahatmaGandhi by GD Birla and Purushottam DasThakurdas, it is the largest, oldest and the apexbusiness organisation in India. It is a non-government, not-for-profit organisation. FICCIdraws its membership from the corporate sector,

both private and public, including SMEs andMNCs. The chamber has an indirect membershipof over 2,50,000 companies from variousregional chambers of commerce. It is involvedin sector specific business policy consensusbuilding, and business promotion andnetworking. It is headquartered in the nationalcapital New Delhi and has presence in 11 statesin India and 8 countries across the world.

All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC)

The All India Trade Union Congress


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(AITUC) is the oldest trade union federations inIndia and at present one of the five largest. Itwas founded on 31 October, 1920 in Bombay byN.M. Joshi, Lala Lajpat Rai and a few others and,until 1945 when unions became organised onparty lines, it was the primary trade unionorganization in India. Since then it has beenassociated with the Communist Party of India.AITUC is a founder member of the WorldFederation of Trade Unions.

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)is an association of Indian businesses whichworks to create an environment conducive to thegrowth of industry in the country. CII is a non-government, not-for-profit, industry-led andindustry-managed organization, playing aproactive role in India's development process.The organization was founded in 1895 when 5engineering firms, all members of the BengalChamber of Commerce and Industry, joinedhands to form the Engineering and Iron TradesAssociation (EITA).

1895 - Engineering and Iron Trades Association(EITA)

EITA established at the end of 1895 with theaspiration of pressurizing the provincialgovernment to place orders for iron, steel andengineering goods with companies stationed inIndia. The practice back then was to place allgovernment orders with enterprises based in UK.

1912 - Indian Engineering Association (IEA)

The revision from EITA to IEA in 1912echoed the association's decision to rule outtraders from the membership and fixate fully onpromoting the motive of manufacturers.

1942 - Engineering Association of India (EAI)

Till 1942, IEA was the sole all-Indiaassociation of engineering industry andcharacterized mainly big engineering companies,especially the British firms. This drove to asituation where the concern of the Indianenterprises (mainly medium and small scale) wasnot adequately represented. Hence theEngineering Association of India (EAI) wasestablished in 1942 as a branch of the IndianChamber of Commerce. EAI represented smalland medium engineering firms mostly boughtand encouraged by Indians, and had differentsources and management approaches from theIEA.

1974 - Association of Indian EngineeringIndustry (AIEI)

After India’s Independence in 1947, thepublic sector feigned the advantageous role inindustrial development. By 1970s, an advancedfoundation of heavy industries had been built,but private companies faced constrictionsthrough licensing demands for fresh units and/or expansion. Keeping in perspective thegreater importance of the Engineering industry,in April 1974, the two associations - IEA andEAI - incorporated to form the Association ofIndian Engineering Industry (AIEI). For theengineering industry the association meant astronger affiliation capable of utilizing largerresources and providing a broader range ofbenefits.[5]

1986 - Confederation of Engineering Industry(CEI)

Foreseeing the upcoming challenges in thefuture, the leadership at AIEI felt the need forgreater consolidation and solidarity that wouldput the industry on a stronger footing and wouldhelp it meet the challenges of competition andglobalization. Thus in 1986 there was a changein name from AIEI to the Confederation ofEngineering Industry (CEI), reflecting thegrowth and expansion of the organization since1974. CEI now became an apex body formanufacturing industries at the national level.

1992 - Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)

In 1991, industrial licensing was abolishedand economic reforms on a wide scale startedtaking shape. With effect from 1 January, 1992,in keeping with the government's decision to optfor the liberalisation of the Indian economy, thename of CEI was changed to Confederation ofIndian Industry (CII). In a new policyenvironment, it was natural that there wouldbe inter-sectoral integration through a processof diversification and expansion, where theengineering units would diversify into non-engineering units and vice-versa. Since 1992,through rapid expansion and consolidation, CIIhas grown to be the most visible businessassociation in India.

Founded in 1895, CII has over 7300members, from the private as well as publicsectors, including SMEs and MNCs, and anindirect membership of over 90,000 enterprisesfrom around 257 national and regional sectoralindustry bodies.


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CII works closely with Government on policyissues, interfacing with thought leaders, andenhancing efficiency, competitiveness and

business opportunities for industry through arange of specialized services and strategic globallinkages.

SOCIO – RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS(ORGANIZATIONS AND PERSONALITIES)

Brahmo Sabha

In 1815, Raja Rammohan Roy established theAtmiya Sabha. Later, it was developed into theBrahmo Sabha in August 1828. Brahmo Samaj,Brahmo also spelled Brahma, (Sanskrit: “Societyof Brahma”), quasi-Protestant, theistic movementwithin Hinduism. The Brahmo Samaj does notaccept the authority of the Vedas, has no faithin avatars (incarnations), and does not insist onbelief in karma (causal effects of past deeds) orrebirth. It discards Hindu rituals and adopts someChristian practices in its worship. Influenced byIslam and Christianity, it denounces polytheism,idol worship, and the caste system. The societyhas had considerable success with its programsof social reform but has never had a significantpopular following.

Whereas Ram Mohun Roy wanted to reformHinduism from within, his successor,Debendranath Tagore, broke away in 1850 byrepudiating Vedic authority and making reasonand intuition the basis of Brahmanism. He tried,however, to retain some of the traditional Hinducustoms, and a radical group led by KeshabChunder Sen seceded and organized the BrahmoSamaj of India in 1866 (the older group becameknown as the Adi—i.e., original—BrahmoSamaj). The new branch became eclectic andcosmopolitan and was also most influential inthe struggle for social reform. It sponsored theBand of Hope temperance society, encouragedthe education of women, and campaigned forthe remarriage of widows and for legislation toprevent child marriages. When Keshab arrangedfor his daughter to marry the Prince of CoochBihar, both parties were well under age. He wasthus violating his own reformist principles, andmany of his followers rebelled, forming a thirdsamaj, or “association,” the Sadharan (i.e.,common) Brahmo Samaj in 1878. The SadharanSamaj gradually reverted to the teaching of theUpanishads and carried on the work of socialreform. Although the movement lost force in the20th century, its fundamental social tenets wereaccepted, at least in theory, by Hindu society.

The Young Bengal Movement

Henry Vivian Derozio was the founder of theYoung Bengal Movement. He was born inCalcutta in 1809 and taught in the HinduCollege, Calcutta. He died of cholera in 1833.His followers were known as the Derozians andtheir movement the Young Bengal Movement.They attacked old traditions and decadentcustoms. They also advocated women’s rightsand their education. They founded associationsand organized debates against idol worship,casteism and superstitions.

The Arya Samaj

The Arya Samaj was founded by SwamiDayanand Saraswati. The Arya Samajmovement was an outcome of reaction toWestern influences. It was revivalist in formthough not in content. The founder, SwamiDayanand, rejected Western ideas and soughtto revive the ancient religion of the Aryans.Swami Dayanand (1824-83) believed the Vedaswere the source of true knowledge. His mottowas “Back to the Vedas”. He was against idolworship, child marriage and caste system basedon birth. He encouraged inter-caste marriagesand widow remarriage. He started the Suddhimovement to bring back those Hindus who hadconverted to other religions to its fold. The mostphenomena achievement of the Arya Samaj hasbeen in the field of social reform and spread ofeducation. The Samaj based its socialprogramme entirely on the authority of theVedas, of course conditioned by rationalism andutilitarianism. The Arya Samaj‘s social idealscomprise, among others, the Fatherhood of Godand the brotherhood. The Arya Samaj‘s socialideals comprise, among others, the Fatherhoodof God and the brotherhood of man, the equalityof sexes, absolute justices and fairplay betweenman and man and nation and nation and loveand charity towards all. The Arya Samaj laysgreat emphasis on education and enjoins on allArya Samajists to endeavours to diffuseknowledge and dispel ignorance. The AryaSamaj movement gave proud self–confidenceand self-reliance to the Hindus and undermined


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the belief in the superiority of the White Raceand western culture. As a disciplined Hinduorganization, it is succeeded in protecting Hindusociety from the onslaught of Islam andChristianity. Rather, the Samaj started the shudhimovement to convert non-Hindu to HinduismFurther; it infused a spirit of intense patriotism.The Samaj always remained in the forefront ofpolitical movement and produced leaders of theeminence of Lal Hans Raj, pandit Guru Dutt andLala Lajpat Rai. Dayanand‘s political slogan wasIndia for the Indians‘.

The Arya Samaj, though founded in Bombay,became very powerful in Punjab and spread itsinfluence to other parts of India. It hascontributed very much to the spread ofeducation. The first Dayanand Anglo-Vedic(DAV) School was founded in 1886 at Lahore.Many more schools came up in other parts ofIndia in later years.

Prarthana Samaj

The Prarthana Samaj was founded in 1867in Bombay by Dr. Atmaram Pandurang. It wasan off-shoot of Brahmo Samaj. It was a reformmovement within Hinduism and concentratedon social reforms like inter-dining, inter-marriage, widow remarriage and uplift ofwomen and depressed classes. Justice M.G.Ranade and R.G. Bhandarkar joined it in 1870and infused new strength to it. Justice Ranadepromoted the Deccan Education Society.

Ramakrishna Mission

Ramakrishna Mission is an organisationwhich forms the core of a worldwide spiritualmovement known as the Ramakrishna Move-ment or the Vedanta Movement. The mission isa philanthropic, volunteer organisation foundedby Ramakrishna's chief disciple Vivekananda on1 May, 1897. It is a social service and charitablesociety. The objectives of this Mission are pro-viding humanitarian relief and social workthrough the establishment of schools, colleges,hospitals and orphanages. It uses the combinedefforts of hundreds of ordered monks and thou-sands of householder disciples. The mission basesits work on the principles of karma yoga. Themission subscribes to the ancient Hindu philoso-phy of Vedanta.

Theosophical Society

The Theosophical Society was founded bywesterners who drew inspiration from Indian

thought and culture. Madame H.P. Blavatsky(1831-1891) of Russo–German birth laid thefoundation of the movement in the United Statesin 1875. Later Colonel M.S. Olcott (1832-1907)of the U.S. Army joined her. In 1882, they shiftedtheir headquarters to India at Adyar, an outskirtof Madras. The members of that his society be-lieve that a special relationship can be establishedbetween a person‘s soul and God by contemplation, prayer, revelations, etc. The Societyaccepts the Hindu beliefs in reincarnationtion.Karma and draws inspiration from the philoso-phy of the Upanishads and Samkhya, Yoga andVedanta school of thought. It aims to work foruniversal Brotherhood of Humanity without dis-tinction of race, creed, sex, caste or colour. TheSociety also seeks to investigate the unexplainedlaws of nature and the powers latent in man.The Theosophical Movement came to be alliedwith Hindu Renaissance.

In India the movement became somewhatpopular with the election of Mrs. Annie Besant(1847-1933) as its President after the death ofOlcott in 1907. In (1889), she formally joinedTheosophical Society. After the death of MadameBlavatsky in 1891, Mrs. Besant felt lonely anddecided to come to India. Mrs. Besant was wellacquinted with Indian thought and culture andher approach was Vedantic as is very evident fromher remarkable translation of the Bhagvat Gita.Madame Blavatsky‘s main emphasis had been onthe occult than spiritualism. Mrs. Besant found abridge between matter and mind. In India, underthe guidance, Theosophy became a movementof Hindu Revival. Talking of the Indian problem,Besant laid the foundation of the Central HinduCollege in Benares in 1898 where both the Hindureligion and western scientific subjects weretaught. The College became the nucleus for theformation of Benares Hindu University in 1916.Mrs. Besant also did much for the cause of femaleeducation. She also formed the home RuleLeague on the patterns of the Irish Home Rulemovement. The Theosophical Society provideda common denominator for the various sects andfulfilled the urge of educated hindus. Howeverto the average Indian the philosophy ofTheosophical Movement seemed rather vagueand positive programmed and as such its impactwas limited to a small segment of the westernizedclass.

Aligarh Movement

The Aligarh Movement was started by Sir


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Syed Ahmad Khan (1817-98) for the social andeducational advancement of the Muslims inIndia. He fought against the medievalbackwardness and advocated a rationalapproach towards religion. In 1866, he startedthe Mohammadan Educational Conference as ageneral forum for spreading liberal ideas amongthe Muslims. In 1875, he founded a modernschool at Aligarh to promote English educationamong the Muslims. This had later grown intothe Mohammadan Anglo Oriental College andthen into the Aligarh Muslim University.

The Deoband School

The orthodox section among the Muslimulema organised the Deoband Movement. It wasa revivalist movement whose twin objectiveswere:

(i) To propagate among the Muslims thepure teachings of the Koran and theHadis.

(ii) To keep alive the spirit of jihad againstthe foreign rulers.

The new Deoband leader Mahmud-ul-Hasan(1851-1920) sought to impart a political andintellectual content to the religious ideas of theschool. The liberal interpretation of Islam createda political awakening among its followers.

Sikh Reform Movement

Punjab also came under the spell of reforms.Baba Dayal Das founded the NirankariMovement. He insisted the worship of God asnirankar (formless). The Namdhari Movementwas founded by Baba Ram Singh. His followerswore white clothes and gave up meat eating. TheSingh Sabhas started in Lahore and Amritsar in1870 were aimed at reforming the Sikh society.They helped to set up the Khalsa College atAmritsar in 1892. They also encouragedGurmukhi and Punjabi literature. In 1920, theAkalis started a movement to remove the corruptMahants (priests) from the Sikh gurudwaras.The British government was forced to make lawson this matter. Later, the Akalis organizedthemselves into a political party.

Parsi Reform Movement

The Parsi Religious Reform Association wasfounded at Bombay by Furdunji Naoroji and S.S.Bengalee in 1851. They advocated the spread ofwomen’s education. They also wanted to reform

their marriage customs. Naoroji published amonthly journal, Jagat Mithra. The momentumgathered through these reform movements andwent a long way in uplifting the entirecommunity. By the middle of the twentiethcentury most of them were highly placed invarious capacities and have made a significantcontribution to India’s development.

Raja Rammohan Roy

Raja Rammohan Roy is considered as thefirst ‘modern man of India’. He was a pioneer ofsocio-religious reform movements in modernIndia. Born in 1772 in the Hooghly district ofBengal, he inculcated a brilliant freedom ofthought and rationality. He studied the Bible aswell as Hindu and Muslim religious texts. He hadexcellent command over many languagesincluding English, Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic,French, Latin, Greek and Hebrew.

In 1815, he established the Atmiya Sabha.Later, it was developed into the Brahmo Sabhain August 1828. Through this organization, hepreached that there is only one God. Hecombined the teachings of the Upanishads, theBible and the Koran in developing unity amongthe people of different religions. The work of theAtmiya Sabha was carried on by MaharishiDebendranath Tagore (father of RabindranathTagore), who renamed it as Brahmo Samaj. Heturned the Brahmo Samaj into a leading socialorganization of India.

Raj Rammohan Roy is most remembered forhelping Lord William Bentinck to declare thepractice of Sati, a punishable offence in 1829.He also protested against the child marriage andfemale infanticide. He favored the remarriage ofwidows, female education and women’s rightto property. He felt that the caste system wasthe greatest hurdle to Indian unity. He believedin the equality of mankind. He did not believe inthe supremacy of the Brahmin priests. Hefavoured inter-caste marriages. He himselfadopted a Muslim boy.

In 1817, he founded the Hindu College (nowPresidency College, Calcutta) along with DavidHare, a missionary. He also set up schools forgirls. Rammohan Roy started the first Bengaliweekly Samvad.

Kaumudi and edited a Persian weekly Mirat-ul-akhbar. He stood for the freedom of the press.Rammohan died in Bristol in England in 1833.


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Swami Dayanand Saraswati

Mulshanker (1824-83) popularly known asDayanand was born in a Brahmin family livingin the old Morvi state in Gujarat. Dayanand‘squest for the truth goaded him to yogabhyas(contemplation or communion) and to learnYoga it was necessary to leave home. For fifteenyears (1845-60) Dayanand wandered as anascetic in the whole of India studying Yoga. In1875 he formally organised the first Arya Samajunit at Bombay. For the rest of his life, Dayanandextensively toured India for the Propagation ofhis ideas. Dayanand‘s ideal was to unite Indiareligiously, socially and nationally-Aryanreligions to be the common religion of all, aclassless and casteless society, and an Indian freefrom foreign rule. He looked on the Vedas. Hegave his own interpretation of the Vedas. Hedisregarded the authority of the later Hinduscriptures like the puranas and described themas the work of lesser men a responsible for theevil practices of idol worship and othersuperstitious beliefs in Hindu religion. Dayanandcondemned idol worship and preached unity ofGodhead. His views were published in his famouswork Satyarthaa Prakash (The True Exposition).Dayanand launched a frontal attack on thenumerous abuses (like idolatry, polytheism, beliefin magic, charms, animal sacrifie, feeding thedead through shradhs, etc.) that had crept intoHindu religion in the 19th century. He rejectedthe popular Hindu philosophy which held thatthe physical world where evil existed and to seekunion with God. Against this belief, Dayanandheld that God, soul and matter (prakriti) weredistict and eternal entities and every individualhad to work out his own salvation in the light ofthe eternal principles governing human conduct.In rejecting monism, Dayanand also dealt aserve blow at the popular belief in pre-determination. The swami contended thathuman beings were not playthings of fate andas such no one could avoid responsibility for hisactions on the plea that human deeds werepredetermined. Dayanand accepted the doctrineof karma, but rejected the theory of niyati(destiny).

Dayanand challenged the dominant positionof the Brahmin priestly class in the spiritual andsocial life of the Hindus. The swami assertedevery Hindu‘s right to read and interpret theVedas. He strongly condemned the caste systembased on birth, thought he subscribed to theVedic notion of the four-Varna system in which

a person was not born in any Varna (caste). Theswami was also a strong advocate of equal statusbetween man and woman; he pleaded forwidow remarriage and condemned childmarriages. In sarcastic languages he describedthe Hindu race as by the children of children?.It should be clearly understood that Dayanand‘sslogan of Back to the Vedic was a call for revivalof Vedic learning and Vedic purity of religionand not revival of Vedic times. He acceptedmodernity and displayed patriotic attitude tonational problems.

Swami Vivekananda

The original name of Swami Vivekanandawas Narendranath Dutta (1863-1902) and hebecame the most famous disciple of ShriRamkrishna Paramahamsa. He was born in aprosperous Bengali family of Calcutta andeducated in Scottish Church College. In 1886,Narendranath took the vow of Sanyasa and wasgiven the name, Vivekananda. He preachedVedantic Philosophy. He condemned the castesystem and the current Hindu emphasis onrituals and ceremonies.

Swami Vivekananda is known for hisinspiring speech at the Parliament of the World'sReligions at Chicago on 11 September, 1893,where he introduced Hindu philosophy to thewest. But this was not the only contribution ofthe saint. He revealed the true foundations ofIndia's unity as a nation. He taught how a nationwith such a vast diversity can be bound togetherby a feeling of humanity and brotherhood.Vivekananda emphasized the points ofdrawbacks of western culture and thecontribution of India to overcome those. Freedomfighter Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose once said:"Swamiji harmonized the East and the West,religion and science, past and present. And thatis why he is great. Our countrymen have gainedunprecedented self-respect, self-reliance and self-assertion from his teachings." Vivekananda wassuccessful in constructing a virtual bridgebetween the culture of East and the West. Heinterpreted the Hindu scriptures, philosophy andthe way of life to the Western people. He madethem realize that inspite of poverty andbackwardness, India had a great contributionto make to world culture. He played a key rolein ending India's cultural isolation from the restof the world. Vivekanand never gave anypolitical message. All the same, through hisspeeches and writings he infused into the new


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generation a sence of pride in India‘s past, a newfaith in India‘s culture and a rare sense of self-confidence in India‘s future. He was a patriotand worked for the upliftment of the people. 'Sofar as Bengal is concerned writes Subhash Bose?Vivekanand may be regarded as the spiritualfather of the modern nationalist movement.

Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar

Pandit Ishwar Chandra was a greateducator, humanist and social reformer. He wasborn in 1820 in a village in Midnapur, Bengal.He rose to be the Head Pandit of the BengaliDepartment of Fort William College. He firmlybelieved that reform in Indian society could onlycome about through education. He is consideredas one of the pillars of Bengal renaissance. Inother words, he managed to continue thereforms movement that was started by RajaRammohan Roy. Vidyasagar was a well-knownwriter, intellectual and above all a staunchfollower of humanity. He brought a revolutionin the education system of Bengal. In his book,"Barno-Porichoy" (Introduction to the letter),Vidyasagar refined the Bengali language andmade it accessible to the common strata of thesociety. Poet Michael Madhusudan Dutta whilewriting about Ishwar Chandra said: "The geniusand wisdom of an ancient sage, the energy ofan Englishman and the heart of a Bengalimother". Vidyasagar founded many schools forgirls. He helped J.D. Bethune to establish theBethune School. He founded the MetropolitanInstitution in Calcutta. He protested againstchild marriage and favoured widow remarriagewhich was legalised by the Widow RemarriageAct (1856). It was due to his great support forthe spread of education that he was given thetitle of Vidyasagar.

Jyotiba Phule

Jyotiba Phule was one of the prominent socialreformers of the nineteenth century India. Heled the movement against the prevailing caste-restrictions in India. He revolted against thedomination of the Brahmins and for the rightsof peasants and other low-caste fellow. Hebelieved that enlightenment of the women andlower caste people was the only solution tocombat the social evils. Therefore, in 1848, healong with his wife started a school for the girls.Jyotirao attacked the orthodox Brahmins andother upper castes and termed them as"hypocrites". He campaigned against theauthoritarianism of the upper caste people. He

urged the "peasants" and "proletariat" to defythe restrictions imposed upon them. In 1851,Jyotiba established a girls' school and asked hiswife to teach the girls in the school. Jyotirao, later,opened two more schools for the girls and anindigenous school for the lower castes, especiallythe Mahars and Mangs. Viewing the patheticcondition of widows and unfortunate childrenJyotirao decided the open an orphanage. In orderto protect those widows and their children,Jyotiba Phule established an orphanage in 1854.

Satya Shodhak Samaj

After tracing the history of the Brahmindomination in India, Jyotirao blamed theBrahmins for framing the weird and inhumanlaws. He concluded that the laws were made tosuppress the "shudras" and rule over them. In1873, Jyotiba Phule formed the Satya ShodhakSamaj (Society of Seekers of Truth). The purposeof the organization was to liberate the people oflower-castes from the suppression of theBrahmins. The membership was open to all andthe available evidence proves that some Jewswere admitted as members. In 1876, there were316 members of the 'Satya Shodhak Samaj'. In1868, in order to give the lower-caste peoplemore powers Jyotirao decided to construct acommon bathing tank outside his house. He alsowished to dine with all, regardless of their caste.

Jyotiba Phule devoted his entire life for theliberation of untouchables from the exploitationof Brahmins. He revolted against the tyranny ofthe upper castes. On 28 November, 1890, thegreat reformer of India, Mahatma Jyotirao Phule,passed away.

Saint Ramalinga

Saint Ramalinga was one of the foremostsaints of Tamil Nadu in the nineteenth century.He was born on October 5, 1823 at Marudhur,near Chidambaram. He was the last son of his fa-ther, Ramayya Pillai and mother, Chinnammayar.Developing a deep interest in spiritual life,Ramalinga moved to Karunguli in 1858, a placenear Vadalur where the Saint later settled down.His divine powers came to be recognized at theearly age of eleven. In 1865, he foundedthe Samarasa Suddha Sanmargha Sangha forthe promotion of his ideals of establishing a caste-less society. He preached love and compassionto the people. He composed Tiru Arutpa. Hisother literay works include Manu Murai KandaVasagam and Jeeva Karunyam. His language


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was so simple as to enable the illiterate people tounderstand his teachings. In 1870, he moved toMettukuppam, a place three miles away fromVadalur. There he started constructing the SatyaGnana Sabai in 1872. He introduced the prin-ciple that God could be worshipped in the formof Light.

Sri Vaikunda Swamigal

Sri Vaikunda Swamigal was born in 1809 atSwamithoppu in the Kanyakumari district of TamilNadu. His original name was MudichoodumPerumal but he was called Muthukkutty. Hepreached against the caste system anduntouchability. He also condemned religiousceremonies. Many came to his place to worshiphim and slowly his teachings came to be knownas Ayyavazhi. By the midnineteenth century,Ayyavazhi came to be recognized as a separatereligion and spread in the regions of SouthTravancore and South Tirunelveli. After hisdeath, the religion was spread on the basis of histeachings and the religious books AkilattirattuAmmanai and Arul Nool. Hundreds of NizhalThangals (places of worship) were built acrossthe country.

Periyar E.V.R. and Self-Respect Movement

Periyar E.V. Ramaswamy was a great socialreformer. In 1921, during the anti-liquorcampaign he cut down 1000 coconut trees in hisown farm. In 1924, he took an active part in theVaikam Satyagraha. The objective of theSatyagraha was to secure for untouchables theright to use a road near a temple at Vaikom inKerala. E.V.R. opposed the Varnashrama policyfollowed in the V.V.S. Iyer’s SeranmadeviGurugulam. During 1920-1925 being in theCongrees Party he stressed that Congress shouldaccept communal representation.

Subsequently in 1925, he started the “Self-Respect Movement”. The aims of the ‘Self-Re-spect Movement’ were to uplift the Dravidiansand to expose the Brahminical tyrany and de-ceptive methods by which they controlled allspheres of Hindu life. He denounced the castesystem, child marriage and enforced widow-hood. He encouraged inter-caste marriages. Hehimself conducted many marriages without anyrituals. Such a marriage was known as “Self-Respect Marriage.” He gave secular names tonew born babies. He attacked the laws of Manu,which he called the basis of the entire Hindusocial fabric of caste. He founded the Tamil jour-

nals Kudiarasu, Puratchi and Viduthalai topropagate his ideals. In 1938, at Tamil Nadu,Women’s Conference appreciated the noble ser-vice rendered by E.V.R. He was given the title“Periyar”. On 27th June, 1970, the UNESCOorganisation praised and adorned with the title“Socrates of South Asia”.

Tulsi Ram

Popularly known as Shiva Dayal Saheb, hefounded the Radha Soami Satsang, an esotericsect, in 1861 at Agra, with the aim of propagatinga monotheistic doctrine. According to him, theonly means of salvation was the practice of suratsabdyoga (union of the human soul with thespirit-current or word) under the guidance of aSant Satguru or sincere lover of the SupremeBeing. His teachings were embodied in twobooks, each named Sarr Bachan (EssentialUtterance). The sect recognizes no God of theHindu pantheon, nor any temples or sacredplaces except those sanctified by the presence ofthe guru or his relics.

Shivanarayan Agnihotri

Hailing from UP, he was educated in theEngineering College at Rurki and later becamean active member of the Lahore branch of theBrahmo Samaj. But due to differences with theother leaders of the Samaj, he left it and foundedthe Deva Samaj in 1887 at Lahore with aimssimilar to those of the Brahmo Samaj but withan additional element, namely the predominanceof the guru. The religious text of this Samaj wasDeva Shastra and the teaching devadharma. Theguru, claiming supernatural powers waspractically regarded and worshipped as a godby his disciples.

N M Joshi

Initially a member of Gokhale‘s Servants ofIndia Society, he founded the Social ServiceLeague at Bombay in 1911 with the aim ofsecuring for the masses better and reasonableconditions of life and work. He also founded theAll India Trade Union Congress in 1920 atBombay, but left it in 1929 when it showedleaning towards the Soviet Union, and startedthe Indian Trades Union Federation.

H N Kunzru

He founded the Seva Samiti at Allahabad in1914 with the objective of organizing socialservice during natural calamities, and promoting


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education, sanitation, physical culture, etc. Hewas also a member of the Servants of IndiaSociety earlier.

Shri Ram Bajpai

Another member of the Servants of IndiaSociety, he founded the Seva Samiti Boy ScoutsAssociation in 1914 at Bombay on the lines of theworldwide Baden-Powell Organization, which atthat time banned Indians from joining it. Thoughlater Baden-Powell, after a private visit to India,lifted the colour bar, Bajpai‘s organizationcontinued its separate existence, for it had the aimof bringing about the complete Indianisation ofthe Boy Scout movement in India.

Muhammad Iqbal (1873-1 938)

He emphasized the need for a reconstructionof Muslim religious thought in the light of theproblems posed by the modem world; criticizedthose ascetic elements of religious thought which

made man parasistic and indolent, and preacheda life of self-assertion, self-realization; influencedthe contemporary Muslim religious attitudethrough his poetry.

Maulana Shibli Numani

He founded the institution of Nadwah-ul-Ulama at Lucknow in 1894 with the objectivesof recasting Muslim educational system,developing religious sciences, reforming Muslimmorals and putting an end to theologicalcontroversies with in Islam.

Syed Nazir Husain

He founded the sect of Ahl-i-Hadis (Peopleof the hadis) in Punjab in the second half of the19th century. This group considered only thehadis (Sayings of the Prophet) and the Quran asthe only and the ultimate authority on Islam, andrefused to recognize none of the existing fourschools of jurisprudence.

EMINENT PERSONALITIES

Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi was born as MohandasKaramchand Gandhi on October 2, 1869 atPorbandar, located in the present day state ofGujarat. His father Karamchand Gandhi was theDiwan (Prime Minister) of Porbandar. Gandhi'smother Putlibai was a pious lady and under hertutelage Gandhi imbibed various principles ofHinduism at an early age.

After completing his college educationGandhi left for England on September 4, 1888to study law at University College, London. In1893, went to South Africa as a legal advisor toan Indian firm in South Africa. This decisionalone changed the life of Gandhi, and with that,the destiny of an entire nation. As he descendedin South Africa, Gandhi was left appalled at therampant racial discrimination against Indiansand blacks by the European whites.

Soon Gandhi found himself at the receivingend of such abuse and he vowed to take up thecudgels on behalf of the Indian community. Heorganized the expatriate Indians and protestedagainst the injustices meted out by the Africangovernment. After years of disobedience andnon-violent protests, the South Africangovernment finally conceded to Gandhi'sdemands and an agreement to this effect wassigned in 1914. A battle was won, but Gandhi

realized the war that was to be waged againstthe British awaits his arrival in India. He returnedto India the next year.

After reaching India, Gandhi travelled acrossthe length and breadth of the country to witnessthe atrocities of the British regime. He soonfounded the Satyagraha Ashram andsuccessfully employed the principles ofSatyagraha in uniting the peasants of Kheda andChamparan against the government. After thisvictory Gandhi was bestowed the title of Bapuand Mahatma and his fame spread far and wide.

In 1921, Mahatma Gandhi called for the non-cooperation movement against the BritishGovernment with the sole object of attainingSwaraj or independence for India. Even thoughthe movement achieved roaring success all overthe country, the incident of mob violence inChauri-Chaura, Uttar Pradesh forced Gandhi tocall off the mass disobedience movement.Consequent to this, Mahatma Gandhi took ahiatus from active politics and instead indulgedin social reforms.

The year 1930 saw Gandhi's return to thefore of Indian freedom movement and on March12, 1930 he launched the historic Dandi Marchto protest against the tax on salt. The DandiMarch soon metamorphosed into a huge CivilDisobedience Movement. The Second World


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War broke out in 1939 and as the British mightbegan to wane, Gandhi called for the Quit Indiamovement on August 8, 1942. Post World War,the Labour Party came to power in England andthe new government assured the Indianleadership of imminent independence.

The Cabinet Mission sent by the Britishgovernment proposed for the bifurcation of Indiaalong communal lines which Gandhi vehementlyprotested. But eventually he had to relent andon the eve of independence thousands lost theirlives in communal riots. Gandhi urged forcommunal harmony and worked tirelessly topromote unity among the Hindus and Muslims.But Mahatma's act of benevolence angeredHindu fundamentalists and on January 13, 1948.He was assassinated by Hindu fanatic NathuramGodse.

Philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi

The evolution of Mohandas KaramchandGandhi into the 'Mahatma' of our times verymuch hinges on the principles that were theguiding light of his life. Till his last breath,Gandhiji unflinchingly adhered to thesephilosophies often referred by the collective term'Gandhism'. Over the years the thoughts and thephilosophy of Mahatma Gandhi have inspiredgenerations across the world and they have oftenbeen the bedrock of civil rights movementswaged against oppressive regimes.

Truth

Truth or 'Satya' was the sovereign principleof Mahatma Gandhi's life. The Mahatma's lifewas an eternal conquest to discover truth andhis journey to that end was marked byexperiments on himself and learning from hisown mistakes. Fittingly his autobiography wastitled 'My Experiments with Truth.' Gandhistrictly maintained that the concept of truth isabove and beyond of all other considerations andone must unfailingly embrace truth throughoutone's life.

Satyagraha

Gandhiji pioneered the term Satyagrahawhich literally translates to 'an endeavor fortruth.' In the context of Indian freedommovement, Satyagraha meant the resistance tothe British oppression through mass civil dis-obedience. The tenets of Truth or Satya andnonviolence were pivotal to the Satyagrahamovement and Gandhi ensured that the millions

of Indians seeking an end to British rule adheredto these basic principles steadfastly.

Non-violence

The principle of non-violence or Ahimsa hasbeen integral to many Indian religions andMahatma Gandhi espoused for total non-violence in the Indian freedom struggle. He wasdetermined to purge the Satyagraha movementof any violent elements and incidents of violenceby Satyagrahis in Chauri-Chaura, Uttar Pradeshled him to call off the Civil DisobedienceMovement.

Khadi

Khadi, an unassuming piece of handspunand hand-woven cloth, embodies the simplicitysynonymous with Mahatma Gandhi's persona.After renouncing the western attire of hisadvocacy days in South Africa, Gandhiembraced the practice of weaving his ownclothes from thread he himself spun andencouraged others to follow suit. Mahatma usedthe adoption of Khadi as a subtle economic toolagainst the British industrial might and also as ameans of generating rural employment in India.

Jawaharlal Nehru

Jawaharlal Nehru was born on 14 November,1889, to a wealthy Kashmiri Brahmin family inAllahabad, Uttar Pradesh. His father MotilalNehru was a renowned advocate and also aninfluential politician. For higher education,young Nehru was sent to Harrow school andthen later to Cambridge University in England.After spending two years at the Inner Temple,London, he qualified as a barrister. During hisstay in London, Nehru was attracted by the ideasof liberalism, socialism and nationalism. In 1912,he had returned to India and joined theAllahabad High Court Bar.

In 1916, Nehru participated in the LucknowSession of the Congress. There after a very longtime, member of both the extremist and moderatefactions of the Congress party had come. All themembers equivocally agreed to the demand for"swaraj" (self rule). Although the means of thetwo sections were different, the motive was"common" - freedom. In 1921, Nehru wasimprisoned for participating in the first civildisobedience campaign as general secretary ofthe United Provinces Congress Committee. Thelife in the jail helped him in understanding thephilosophy followed by Gandhi and others


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associated with the movement. He was movedby Gandhi's approach of dealing with caste and"untouchablity". With the passing of everyminute, Nehru was emerging as a popularleader, particularly in Northern India. In 1922,some of the prominent members including hisfather Motilal Nehru had left the congress andlaunched the "Swaraj Party". The decision, nodoubt upset Jawahar but he rejected thepossibility of leaving the Congress party. He wasalso elected as the president of the Allahabadmunicipal corporation in 1920. In 1926, hetraveled to the flourished European nations likeGermany, France and the Soviet Union. Here,Nehru got an opportunity to meet variousCommunists, Socialists, and radical leaders fromAsia and Africa. Nehru was also impressed withthe economic system of the communist SovietUnion and wished to apply the same in his owncountry. In 1927, he became a member of theLeague against Imperialism created in Brussels,the capital city of Belgium.

During the Guwahati Session in 1928,Mahatma Gandhi announced that the Congresswould launch a massive movement if the Britishauthority did not grant dominion status of Indiawithin next two years. It was believed that underthe pressure of Nehru and Subhash ChandraBose, the deadline was reduced to one year.Jawaharlal Nehru criticized the famous "NehruReport" prepared by his father Motilal Nehru in1928 that favored the concept of a "dominionstatus for India within the British rule".

In 1930, Mahatma Gandhi advocated Nehruas the next president of the Congress. Thedecision was also an attempt to abate theintensity of "communism" in the Congress. Thesame year, Nehru was arrested for the violationof the Salt Law.

In 1936, Nehru was re-elected as thepresident of the Indian National Congress.Sources suggest that a heated argument betweenthe classical and young leaders had taken placein the Lucknow Session of the party. The youngand "new-gen" leaders of the party hadadvocated for an ideology, based on the conceptsof Socialism.

Fifteen years after the Guwahati Session, on15 August, 1947, the congress succeeded tooverthrow the influential British Empire. Nehruwas recognized as the first Prime Minister ofindependent India. In the year 1949, JawaharlalNehru made his first visit to the United States,

seeking a solution to India's urgent food shortage.In 1951, Jawaharlal Nehru launched thecountry's "First Five-Year Plan" emphasizing onthe increase in the agricultural output. He wasalso the chief framer of domestic andinternational policies between 1947 and 1964. Itwas under Nehru's supervision that Indialaunched its first Five-Year Plan in 1951. Nehru'spredominant roles in substantiating India's rolein the foundation of institutions like NAM hadsurprised the then stalwarts of internationalpolitics. He advocated the policy of Non-Alignment during the cold war and India,subsequently, kept itself aloof from being in theprocess of "global bifurcation".

In 1964, Jawaharlal Nehru suffered a strokeand a heart attack. On 27 May, 1964, Nehrupassed away. Nehru was cremated at theShantivana on the banks of the Yamuna River,Delhi.

Vallabhbhai Patel

Vallabhbhai Patel was born on October 31,1875 in Gujarat to Zaverbhai and Ladbai. Hecompleted his law studies in 1913 and came backto India and started his law practice. For hisExcellencies in Law, Vallabhbhai was offeredmany lucrative posts by the British Governmentbut he rejected all. Later, inspired by Gandhi'swork and philosophy Patel became a staunchfollower of him.

In 1917, Sardar Vallabhbhai was elected asthe Secretary of the Gujarat Sabha. The next year,when there was a flood in Kaira, the Britishinsisted on collecting tax from the farmers.Sardar Vallabhbhai led a massive "No Taxcampaign" that urged the farmers not to paytheir land. The peaceful movement forced theBritish authority to return the then land takenaway from the farmers. His effort to bringtogether the farmers of his area brought him thetitle of 'Sardar' to his name. In 1928, the farmersof Bardoli faced a similar problem of "tax-hike".After prolonged summons, when the farmersrefused to pay the extra tax, the government inretaliation seized their lands. The agitation tookon for more than six months and after a dealstruck between the government and farmer'srepresentatives, the lands were returned.

In 1930, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel wasimprisoned for participating in the famous SaltSatyagraha called by Mahatma Gandhi. His


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inspiring speeches during the "Salt Movement"transformed the lives of numerous people, wholater played a major role in making themovement successful.

Sardar Patel was freed in 1931 following anagreement signed between Mahatma Gandhiand Lord Irwin, the then Viceroy of India. Thetreaty was popularly known as the Gandhi-Irwinpact. The same year, Patel was elected as thepresident of Indian National Congress Party forits Karachi session.

In the Karachi session, the Indian NationalCongress Party committed itself to the defenceof fundamental rights and human rights and adream of a secular nation. An agreementregarding this was also sanctioned.

In 1934, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel led the all-India election campaign for the Indian NationalCongress. Though he did not contest a seat forhimself, Sardar Patel helped his fellow partymates during the election.

At the time of independence, Indian territorywas divided into three parts. First, the territoriesunder the direct control of the Britishgovernment, second were the territories overwhich the hereditary rulers had suzerainty. Theregions, which had been colonized by France andPortugal, formed the last. India, without theintegration of these different territories under oneroof, could not be considered as a unified andtotal country. Vallabhbhai Patel played a crucialrole during the freedom struggle of India andwas instrumental in the integration of over 500princely states into the Indian Union.

Bal Gangadhar Tilak

Bal Gangadhar Tilak was a social reformerand freedom fighter. He was one of the primearchitects of modern India and strongestadvocates of Swaraj (Self Rule). He was a greatreformer and throughout his life he emphasizedon the concepts of women education and womenempowerment. To inspire a sense of unity, heintroduced the festivals like 'Ganesh Chaturthi'and, 'Shivaji Jayanti'. Today, 'Ganesh Chaturthi'is considered as the prime festival of theMarathis.

Towards his goal, Bal Gangadhar Tilaklaunched two newspapers called 'Mahratta'(English) and 'Kesari' (Marathi). Both thenewspaper stressed on making the Indiansaware of the glorious past and empowered them

to be self-reliant. In other words, the newspaperactively propagated the cause of nationalfreedom.

Extremism

Bal Gangadhar Tilak joined the IndianNational Congress Party in 1890. Realizing thatthe constitutional agitation in itself was futileagainst the British, Tilak opposed the moderateviews of the party. This subsequently made himstand against the prominent leaders like GopalKrishna Gokhale. His movement was based onthe principles of Swadeshi (Indigenous), Boycottand Education. But his methods also raised bittercontroversies within the Indian NationalCongress Party and the movement itself.

As a result, Tilak formed the extremist wingof Indian National Congress Party. Tilak waswell supported by fellow nationalists BipinChandra Pal in Bengal and Lala Lajpat Rai inPunjab. The trio was referred to as the Lal-Bal-Pal. A massive trouble broke out between themoderate and extremist factions of the IndianNational Congress Party in the 1907 session ofthe Congress Party. As a result of which, theCongress split into two factions.

During 1908-1914, Bal Gangadhar Tilakspent six years rigorous imprisonment inMandalay Jail, Burma. He was deported becauseof his alleged support to the Indianrevolutionaries, who had killed some Britishpeople. Tilak returned to India in 1915 when thepolitical situation was fast changing under theshadow of World War I. Tilak decided to re-unitewith his fellow nationalists and founded the AllIndia Home Rule League in 1916 with JosephBaptista, Annie Besant and Muhammad AliJinnah. In mid-July 1920, his condition worsenedand on August 1, he passed away.

Gopal Krishna Gokhale

Gopal Krishna Gokhale was one of thepioneers of the Indian Independence Movement.Gokhale was a senior leader of the IndianNational Congress. He was a leader of social andpolitical reformists and one of the earliest andfounding leaders of the Indian IndependenceMovement and was respected widely in theIndian intellectual community.

In 1884, after the completion of hisgraduation in arts at the Elphinstone College,Bombay, Gokhale joined as professor of historyand political economy at the Fergusson College,


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Poona. He remained on the staff, finally asprincipal, until 1902. Becoming activelyidentified with the National Congressmovement, he was for some years the jointsecretary and in 1905 president at the Benaressession. The higher education made Gokhaleunderstand the importance of liberty, democracyand parliamentary system of the government.

In 1985-86, Gopal Krishna Gokhale met agreat scholar and a social reformer MahadevGovind Ranade. Ranade was a great leader,judge, scholar and above all social reformer. Heregarded Mahadev Govinda Ranade as his"Guru". Ranade helped Gokhale in establishingthe "Servants of India Society" in 1905. The mainobjective of this society was to train Indians toraise their voices and serve their country. Gokhalealso worked with Ranade in a quarterly Journal,called "Sarvajanik". The Journal wrote about thepublic questions of the day in frank and fearlessmanner.

Gokhale was the secretary of the "ReceptionCommittee" of the 1895 Poona session of IndianNational Congress. From this session, Gokhalebecame a prominent face of the Indian NationalCongress. For a while Gokhale was a member ofthe Bombay Legislative Council where he spokestrongly against the then Government.

Gokhale dedicated his life to theadvancement of the nation's welfare. In 1905,Gokhale was sent by the Congress on a specialmission to England to spread India'sconstitutional demands among the Britishleaders.

Gokhale was instrumental in the formationof the Minto-Morley Reforms of 1909, whichwas tabled and eventually transformed into law.But unfortunately, the Reforms Act became lawin 1909 and it was disappointing to see thatdespite Gokhale's efforts, the people were notgiven a proper democratic system. However,Gokhale's efforts were clearly not in vain.Indians now had access to seats of the highestauthority within the government, and theirvoices were more audible in matters of publicinterest.

Gokhale, during his visit to South Africa in1912, met Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi,popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi. Gokhalemade him aware of the issues confrontingcommon people back in India. In hisautobiography, Gandhi calls Gokhale his

"mentor and guide". Not only Gandhi, Gokhalealso guides Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founderof Pakistan. Jinnah later aspired to become the"Muslim Gokhale".

Subhash Chandra Bose

Subhash Chandra Bose was born into anaffluent Bengali family on January 23, 1897 inCuttack, Orissa. During the period of CivilDisobedience Movement called by MahatmaGandhi. Bose resigned from the ICS in April 1921to join his fellow countrymen in the freedomstruggle. He joined the youth wing of theCongress Party and soon rose up the partyhierarchy by virtue of his eloquence andleadership skills. At an early stage of his lifeSubhash Bose accepted Deshbandhu ChittaranjanDas as his political guru.

Over a span of 20 years, Bose was imprisonedeleven times by the British, the first one beingin 1921. In 1924, after a brief period ofincarceration, Bose was exiled to Mandalay inBurma. Subhash Bose was imprisoned again in1930 and deported to Europe. During his stayin Europe from 1933 to 1936, Subhash Bosezealously espoused the cause of Indian freedomwhile meeting a number of prominent Europeanstatesmen. In 1937, Bose married Emilie Schenklwho was his secretary.

Subhash Bose was twice elected president ofthe Indian National Congress (1938 and 1939)but following his disagreements with MahatmaGandhi he relinquished his post and formed aprogressive group known as the Forward Bloc.The principles and the philosophy of NetajiSubhash Chandra Bose were instrumentalfactors in his embracing of armed revolution inthe later part of his political career. Initially Bosewas a follower of the Gandhian way of freedommovement but years of travel in Europeancountries during exile and the ripening of mentalfaculties with age made him disenchanted withthe ways of the Indian National Congress.

Subhash Chandra's hatred for the British randeep and he vehemently called for the immediateouster of the colonial rulers from Indian soil.Disappointed with the leniency shown by someCongress leaders towards the British, Bosebecame increasingly convinced that the goal ofachieving freedom would remain a pipedreamas long as the British held sway over the landand peaceful protests would never be able tothrow the British out.


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While outlining his vision for a free India,Subhash Chandra Bose proclaimed that socialistauthoritarianism would be required to eradicatepoverty and social inequalities from a diversecountry like India. He openly espoused for anauthoritarian state on the lines of Soviet Russiaand Kemal Atatürk's Turkey. Bose was also anexponent of socialism and opined thatindustrialization and Soviet-style five-year plansheld the key to a vibrant Indian nation.

The Second World War broke out in 1939and Bose launched a campaign of mass civildisobedience to protest against the Viceroy'sdecision to declare war on India's behalf. Bosewas placed under house arrest. Takingadvantage of the laxity of the house guards andaided by his cousin Sishir Bose, Subhashmanaged to escape and traversing throughenemy territories he reached Moscow. Bose triedto garner the help Nazi Germany but due to theindifferent attitude of Hitler and other Germanleaders he left for Japan and soon assumed theleadership of Indian National Army (INA)founded by Rash Behari Bose.

Bolstered by material assistance from theJapanese forces, the INA attacked the Britishforces in Manipur and Nagaland in northeasternIndia and hosted the National Flag in the townin Moirang, in Manipur. But with the defeat ofJapan, the invasion by the INA soon petered outand Netaji was forced to retreat to Malaya. NetajiSubhash Chandra Bose allegedly died in a planecrash over Taiwan, while flying to Tokyo onAugust 18, 1945.

Lala Lajpat Rai

Lala Lajpat Rai immensely contributed inattaining independence the nation. Lajpat Raihelped to establish the nationalistic DayanandAnglo-Vedic School and became a follower ofDayanand Saraswati. In 1888 and 1889 he wasa delegate to the annual sessions of the NationalCongress. In 1895, Rai helped found the PunjabNational Bank, demonstrating his concern forself-help and enterprise. In 1897, he founded theHindu Orphan Relief Movement to keep theChristian missions from securing custody of thesechildren. In the National Congress in 1900, hestressed the importance of constructive, nation-building activity and programs for self-reliance.In October 1917, he founded the Indian HomeRule League of America in New York.

In 1920, after his return from America, Lajpat

Rai was invited to preside over the special sessionof the Congress in Calcutta, (now Kolkata). Heplunged into the non-cooperation movement,which was being launched in response to theRowlatt Act, in principle. The movement wasled by Lajpat Rai's in Punjab and he soon cameto be known as "Punjab Kesri" (The Lion ofPunjab).

Besides, a great freedom fighter and leader,Lala Lajpat Rai was also a noted writer. TheUnited States of America: A Hindu's impressionsand a study, History of the Arya Samaj, Swarajand social change, England's Debt to India: India,The Problems Of National Education In Indiawere among the books, he had written.

On October 30, 1928, he died after the policelathi-charged on the activists, protesting thearrival of Simon Commission.

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was one of theforemost leaders of Indian freedom struggle. Hewas also a renowned scholar, and poet.

Imbued with the pan-Islamic spirit, hevisited Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt, Syria andTurkey. In Iraq he met the exiled revolutionarieswho were fighting to establish a constitutionalgovernment in Iran. In Egypt, he met ShaikhMuhammad Abdullah and Saeed Pasha andother revolutionary activists of the Arab world.He had a first hand knowledge of the ideals andspirit of the young Turks in Constantinople. Allthese contacts metamorphosed him into anationalist revolutionary.

On his return from abroad; Azad met twoleading revolutionaries of Bengal-AurobindoGhosh and Sri Shyam Sundar Chakravarty,-andjoined the revolutionary movement againstBritish rule. Azad found that the revolutionaryactivities were restricted to Bengal and Bihar.Within two years, Maulana Abul Kalam Azadhelped set up secret revolutionary centers all overnorth India and Bombay. During that time mostof his revolutionaries were anti-Muslim becausethey felt that the British government was usingthe Muslim community against India's freedomstruggle. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad tried toconvince his colleagues to shed their hostilitytowards Muslims.

In 1912, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad starteda weekly journal in Urdu called Al-Hilal toincrease the revolutionary recruits amongst the


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Muslims. Al-Hilal played an important role inforging Hindu-Muslim unity after the bad bloodcreated between the two communities in theaftermath of Morley-Minto reforms. Al-Hilalbecame a revolutionary mouthpiece ventilatingextremist views. 'The government regarded Al-Hilal as propagator of secessionist views andbanned it in 1914. Maulana Abul Kalam Azadthen started another weekly called Al-Balaghwith the same mission of propagating Indiannationalism and revolutionary ideas based onHindu-Muslim unity. In 1916, the governmentbanned this paper too and expelled MaulanaAbul Kalam Azad from Calcutta and internethim at Ranchi from where he was released afterthe First World War, 1920.

After his release, Azad roused the Muslimcommunity through the Khilafat Movement. Theaim of the movement was to re-instate the Khalifaas the head of British captured Turkey. MaulanaAbul Kalam Azad supporded Non-CooperationMovement started by Gandhiji and entered IndianNational Congress in 1920. He was elected as thepresident of the special session of the Congress inDelhi (1923). Maulana Azad was again arrestedin 1930 for violation of the salt laws as part ofGandhiji's Salt Satyagraha. He was put in Meerutjail for a year and a half. Maulana Abul KalamAzad became the president of Congress in 1940(Ramgarh) and remained in the post till 1946. Hewas a staunch opponent of partition andsupported a confederation of autonomousprovinces with their own constitutions butcommon defense and economy. Partition hurthim greatly and shattered his dream of an unifiednation where Hindus and Muslims can co-existand prosper together.

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad served as theMinister of Education (the first EducationMinister in independent India) in PanditJawaharlal Nehru's cabinet from 1947 to 1958.

He was appointed as India's first Minister forEducation and inducted in the ConstituentAssembly to draft India's constitution. UnderMaulana Azad's tenure, a number of measureswere undertaken to promote primary andsecondary education, scientific education,establishment of universities and promotion ofavenues of research and higher studies. For hisinvaluable contribution to the nation, MaulanaAbul Kalam Azad was posthumously awardedIndia's highest civilian honor, Bharat Ratna in1992.

Rajendra Prasad

Rajendra Prasad was a great leader of theIndian Nationalist Movement and also one of thearchitects of the Indian Constitution. He waselected as the first President of Republic of India.

In 1911, during his stay in Calcutta (nowKolkata) as a legal practitioner, Rajendra Prasadjoined the Indian National Congress Party andwas subsequently elected to the AICC. Duringthe Champaran movement, Mahatma Gandhiasked Rajendra Prasad to visit Champaranalongwith the other volunteers and partisans ofthe Indian National Congress. Initially RajendraPrasad was not impressed with Gandhiji'sappearance and conversation but deeply movedby the dedication, conviction and courage ofGandhi.

Rajendra Prasad also responded to the callof Mahatma Gandhi to boycott Westerneducation. He asked his son Mrityunjaya Prasad,a brilliant student to leave the University andenroll himself in Bihar Vidyapeeth. He wouldwrite articles for magazines like "Searchlight"and "Desh". Nationalist India expressed itsadmiration by electing Rajendra Prasad as thePresident of the Bombay session of the IndianNational Congress Party in October 1934.

In July 1946, when the Constituent Assemblywas established to frame the Constitution ofIndia, Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected itsPresident. And, eventually he was also electedas the first President of Republic of India. Hewas also awarded with Bharat Ratna, India'shighest civilian award. On 28 February, 1963,following a brief illness, the great soul passedaway.

Sarojini Naidu

Sarojini Naidu was truly known by thesobriquet "The Nightingale of India" and hercontribution was not confined to the fields ofpolitics only but she was also a renowned poet.Sarojini Naidu was moved by the partition ofBengal in 1905 and decided to join the Indianfreedom struggle. She met regularly with GopalKrishna Gokhale, who later introduced her tothe stalwarts of the Indian freedom movement.She met Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit JawaharlalNehru, C.P. Ramaswami Iyer and MuhammadAli Jinnah. With such an encouragingenvironment, Sarojini later moved on to becomeleader of the Indian National Congress Party.She travelled extensively to the United States of


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America and many European countries as theflag-bearer of the Indian Nationalist struggle.

During 1915, Sarojini Naidu traveled all overIndia and delivered speeches on welfare ofyouth, dignity of labor, women's emancipationand nationalism. In 1916, she took up the causeof the indigo workers of Champaran in thewestern district of Bihar.

In March 1919, the British governmentpassed the Rowlatt Act by which the possessionof seditious documents was deemed illegal.Mahatma Gandhi organized the Non-Cooperation Movement to protest and Naiduwas the first to join the movement. Besides,Sarojini Naidu also actively campaigned for theMontague-Chelmsford Reforms, the Khilafatissue, the Sabarmati Pact, the Satyagraha Pledgeand the Civil Disobedience Movement.

In 1919, she went to England as a memberof the all-India Home Rule Deputation. InJanuary 1924, she was one of the two delegatesof the Indian National Congress Party to attendthe East African Indian Congress. In 1925, shewas elected as the President of the IndianNational Congress Party.

Besides her role and sacrifices in the IndianNationalist Movement, Sarojini Naidu is alsocommended for her contribution in the field ofpoetry. Her works were so beautiful that manywere transformed into songs. In 1905, hercollection of poems was published under the title"Golden Threshold". Later, she also publishedtwo other collections called "The Bird of Time",and "The Broken Wings".

Sarojini Naidu was the first woman Governorof Uttar Pradesh. Her chairmanship of the AsianRelations Conference in 1947 was highly-appraised. Two years later, on 02 March, 1949,Sarojini Naidu died at Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.

Lal Bahadur Shastri

Lal Bahadur Shastri (2 October, 1904-11January, 1966) was the third Prime Minister ofthe Republic of India and a leader of the IndianNational Congress party. Shastri joined theIndian independence movement in the 1920s.Deeply impressed and influenced by MahatmaGandhi, he became a loyal follower, first ofGandhi, and then of Jawaharlal Nehru.

In 1930, Lal Bahadur Shastri became thesecretary of the Congress party and later the

president of the Allahabad Congress Committee.He played a crucial role during the "SaltMovement". Lal Bahadur lead a door-to-doorcampaign, urging people not to pay land revenueand taxes to the British authority. He was one ofthe leading and prominent faces that continuedthe Quit India movement, called by MahatmaGandhi. Lal Bahadur, in 1937, was elected tothe UP Legislative Assembly.

Lal Bahadur Shastri had served in variouspositions before being elected as the Prime Min-ister. After Independence, he became the Minis-ter of police in the Ministry of Govind VallabhPanth in Uttar Pradesh. His recommendationsincluded the introduction of "water-jets" insteadof sticks to disperse the unruly mob. Impressedwith his efforts in reforming the state police de-partment, Jawaharlal Nehru, invited Shastri tojoin the Union cabinet as a Minister for railways.He was a responsible man and known for hisethics and morality. In 1956, Lal Bahadur Shastriresigned from his post, following a train acci-dent that killed around 150 passengers nearAriyalur in Tamil Nadu. Nehru, had once said,"No one could wish for a better comrade thanLal Bahadur, a man of the highest integrity anddevoted to ideas". In 1961, he became Ministerfor Home and formed the "Committee on Preven-tion of Corruption" headed by of K. Santhanam.

Jawaharlal Nehru was succeeded by a mild-mannered and soft-spoken Lal Bahadur Shastrion 9 June, 1964. He was a follower of Nehruviansocialism. Shastri tackled many elementaryproblems like food shortage, unemployment andpoverty. To overcome the acute food shortage,Shastri asked the experts to devise a long-termstrategy. This was the beginning of famous"Green Revolution". Apart from the GreenRevolution, he was also instrumental inpromoting the White Revolution. The NationalDairy Development Board was formed in 1965during Shastri as Prime Minister. The majorcross-border-problems Shastri faced was causedby Pakistan. It sent her forces across the easternborder into the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat. Shastrishowing his mettle, made it very clear that Indiawould not sit and watch. While granting libertyto the Security Forces to retaliate He said, "Forcewill be met with force".

The Indo-Pak war ended on 23 September,1965 after the United Nations passed a resolutiondemanding a ceasefire. The Russian Prime


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Minister, Kosygin, offered to mediate and on 10January, 1966, Lal Bahadur Shastri and hisPakistan counterpart Ayub Khan signed theTashkent Declaration.

Lal Bahadur Shastri, who had earlier sufferedtwo heart attacks, died of the third cardiac arreston 11 January, 1966. He is the only Indian PrimeMinister, to have died in office, overseas. LalBahadur Shastri was the first person to beposthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna,(India's highest civilian award).

Chandrashekhar Azad

A contemporary of Bhagat Singh,Chandrasehkhar Azad too lived for a short spanbut during the 25 years that he lived, Azad wageda valiant battle against the British and inspiredthe youth of the nation with his heroics.Chandrashekhar was deeply troubled by theJalianwalabagh massacre in Amritsar in 1919.Azad, at an age of 15, got involved in therevolutionary activities. He was caught by theBritish police while participating in the non-cooperation movement and sentenced towhiplashes as punishment. When the magistrateasked him his name, he said "Azad"(independence). From that point onwards,Chandrashekhar assumed the title of Azad andcame to be known as Chandrashekhar Azad.

Following the Chauri-Chaura incident, inwhich police stations were vandalized and burntby the activists, Mahatma Gandhi called for thesuspension of the non-cooperation movement.Azad, alongwith Bhagat Singh distancedthemselves from the paths of Gandhi. They weremore attracted by the aggressive and violentrevolutionary ideals and means. Towards thisend, they formed the Hindustan SocialistRepublican Association and trained therevolutionaries like Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev,Batukeshwar Dutt, and Rajguru. Azad wasinstrumental in carrying out numerous acts ofviolence. This includes the Kakori Train Robberyin 1926, assassination of John Poyantz Saundersin 1928 at Lahore to avenge the killing of LalaLajpat Rai.

On that fateful day of February 27, 1931,surrounded by police in the Alfred Park,Allahabad and all escape routes sealed, Azadfought and ultimately took his life with the lastbullet of his pistol.

Bhagat Singh

Bhagat Singh was among the prominentrevolutionaries who shaped the base of a grandnational movement. Singh joined the HindustanRepublican Association, a radical group, laterknown as the Hindustan Socialist RepublicanAssociation. He established contact with themembers of the Kirti Kisan Party and startedcontributing regularly to its magazine, the"Kirti". In March 1926, the Naujawan BharatSabha was formed with Bhagat Singh, as itssecretary.

On 30 October, 1928, an all-partiesprocession, led by Lala Lajpat Rai, marchedtowards the Lahore railway station to protestagainst the arrival of the Simon Commission.Stopping the procession, police made a lathicharge at the activists. The confrontation left LalaLajpat Rai with severe injuries and also led tohis death. As an avenge to the death of LalaLajpat Rai, Bhagat Singh and his associatesplotted the assassination of Scott, theSuperintendent of Police, believed to haveordered the lathi charge. The revolutionaries,mistaking J.P. Saunders, an AssistantSuperintendent of Police, as Scott, killed himinstead. Bhagat Singh quickly left Lahore toescape his arrest.

In response to the formulation of Defence ofIndia Act, the Hindustan Socialist RepublicanAssociation planned to explode a bomb insidethe assembly premises, where the ordinance wasgoing to be passed. On April 8, 1929, BhagatSingh and Batukeshwar Dutt threw a bomb ontothe corridors of the assembly and shouted'Inquilab Zindabad!' The bomb was not meantto kill or injure anyone and therefore it wasthrown away from the crowded place. Followingthe blasts both Bhagat Singh and BatukeshwarDutt courted arrest.

Bhagat Singh alongwith other revolutionar-ies found responsible for the Assembly bombingand murder of Saunders. On March 23, 1931,Bhagat Singh was hanged in Lahore with hisfellow comrades Rajguru and Sukhdev.

Annie Besant

Annie Besant (1 October, 1847-20 September,1933) was a prominent British socialist,theosophist, women's rights activist, writer andorator and supporter of Irish and Indian self-


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rule. In 1890, Besant met Helena Blavatsky andbecame a member of the Theosophical Societyand a prominent lecturer on the subject. As partof her theosophy-related work, she travelled toIndia. In 1898, she helped establish the CentralHindu College and in 1922 she helped establishthe Hyderabad (Sind) National Collegiate Boardin Mumbai, India. In 1907, she became presidentof the Theosophical Society, whose internationalheadquarters were in Adyar, Madras, (Chennai).

She also became involved in politics in India,joining the Indian National Congress. WhenWorld War I broke out in 1914, she helpedlaunch the Home Rule League to campaign fordemocracy in India and dominion status withinthe Empire. This led to her election as presidentof the India National Congress in late 1917. Afterthe war, she continued to campaign for Indianindependence and for the causes of theosophy,until her death in 1933.

Along with her theosophical activities,Besant continued to actively participate inpolitical matters. She had joined the IndianNational Congress. As the name suggested, thiswas originally a debating body, which met eachyear to consider resolutions on political issues.Mostly it demanded more of a say for middle-class Indians in British Indian government. It hadnot yet developed into a permanent massmovement with local organization. About thistime her co-worker Leadbeater moved to Sydney.

In 1914, World War I broke out, and Britainasked for the support of its Empire in the fightagainst Germany. Echoing an Irish nationalistslogan, Besant declared, "England's need isIndia's opportunity". As editor of the New Indianewspaper, she attacked the colonial govern-ment of India and called for clear and decisivemoves towards self-rule. As with Ireland, thegovernment refused to discuss any changes whilethe war lasted.

In 1916, Besant launched the Home RuleLeague along with Lokmanya Tilak, once againmodelling demands for India on Irish nationalistpractices. This was the first political party in Indiato have regime change as its main goal. Unlikethe Congress itself, the League worked all yearround. It built a structure of local branches,enabling it to mobilise demonstrations, publicmeetings and agitations. In June 1917, Besantwas arrested and interned at a hill station, whereshe defiantly flew a red and green flag. TheCongress and the Muslim League together

threatened to launch protests if she were not setfree; Besant's arrest had created a focus forprotest.

The government was forced to give way andto make vague but significant concessions. It wasannounced that the ultimate aim of British rulewas Indian self-government, and moves in thatdirection were promised. Besant was freed inSeptember 1917, and in December she took overas president of the Indian National Congress fora year. She continued to campaign for India'sindependence, not only in India but also onspeaking tours of Britain.

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (14 April, 1891-6 December, 1956), popularly known asBabasaheb, was an Indian lawyer, politician andacademic who inspired the Dalit Buddhistmovement and campaigned against socialdiscrimination in India, striving for equal rightsfor the Dalit. As independent India's first lawminister, he was principal architect of theConstitution of India.

Ambedkar opined that there should beseparate electoral system for the Untouchablesand lower caste people. He also favored theconcept of providing reservations for Dalits andother religious communities.

Ambedkar began to find ways to reach tothe people and make them understand thedrawbacks of the prevailing social evils. Helaunched a newspaper called "Mooknayaka"(leader of the silent). In 1936, Ambedkar foundedthe Independent Labor Party. In the 1937,elections to the Central Legislative Assembly hisparty won 15 seats. Ambedkar oversaw thetransformation of his political party into the AllIndia Scheduled Castes Federation, although itperformed poorly in the elections held in 1946for the Constituent Assembly of India. Ambedkarwas appointed on the Defence AdvisoryCommittee and the Viceroy's Executive Councilas Minister for Labor. His reputation as a scholarled to his appointment as free India's first, LawMinister and chairman of the committeeresponsible to draft a constitution.

Bhimrao Ambedkar was appointed as thechairman of the constitution drafting committee.He was also a noted scholar and eminent jurist.Ambedkar emphasized on the construction of avirtual bridge between the classes of the society.According to him, it would be difficult to


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maintain the unity of the country if the differenceamong the classes were not met.

In 1950, Ambedkar travelled to Sri Lanka toattend a convention of Buddhist scholars andmonks. After his return from Sri Lanka afterattending a convention of Buddhist scholars andmonks converted himself to Buddhism. In hisspeeches, Ambedkar lambasted the Hindu ritualsand caste division. Ambedkar founded theBharatiya Bauddha Mahasabha in 1955. Hisbook "The Buddha and His Dhamma" waspublished posthumously. Ambedkar wasposthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna,India's highest civilian award, in 1990.

Acharya Vinoba Bhave

Acharya Vinoba Bhave was a freedomfighter and a spiritual teacher. He is best knownas the founder of the 'Bhoodan Movement' (Giftof the Land). The reformer had an intenseconcern for the deprived masses. Vinoba Bhavehad once said, "All revolutions are spiritual atthe source. All my activities have the sole purposeof achieving a union of hearts." In 1958, Vinobawas the first recipient of the international RamonMagsaysay Award for Community Leadership.He was also conferred with the Bharat Ratna(India's highest civilian awards) posthumouslyin 1983.

Bhoodan Movement

In 1951, Vinoba Bhave started his peace-trekon foot through the violence-torn region ofTelangana. On April 18, 1951, the Harijans ofthe Pochampalli village requested him to providethem with around 80 acres of land to make aliving. Vinoba asked the landlords of the villageto come forward and save the Harijans. Alandlord, responded to the call and offered therequired amount of land. This incident added anew chapter in the history of sacrifices and non-violence. It was the beginning of the Bhoodan(Gift of the Land) movement. Following this,Vinoba Bhave traveled all across the countryasking landlords to consider him as one of theirsons and so give him a portion of their land. Hethen distributed those portions of land to thelandless poor. Not a single people around himever saw him getting angry and violent. Healways followed the path of truth and Non-violence, as shown by Mahatma Gandhi.

Sri Aurobindo

Sri Aurobindo donned the cap of a

revolutionary, poet, philosopher, writer, andspiritual master, during the course of his life. Hebecame one of the primary leaders fighting forIndian independence, from British rule. Withtime, Aurobindo drifted from his political careerand found a new motive in life - bringing a newspiritual consciousness amongst people. Yogaand meditation became his primary concerns inlife and thus, emerged the development of a newspiritual path, which he termed as Integral Yoga.It was during this time that Sri AurobindoAshram, also known as The Mother, wasformed. Started as a small unit, the organizationsoon grew is size as well as reach and isoperational till date.

In 1906, that Sri Aurobindo joined the IndianNationalist Movement in Calcutta. Working asan editor in the newspaper 'Bande Mataram, hebrought forward the idea of independence fromBritish. Though Aurobindo was arrested threetimes, for sedition or treason, he did not let thisobstruct his vision for free India. He was alsoone of the founders of the Jugantar party, anunderground revolutionary group. During aconvention of Indian nationalists, held in theyear 1907, Aurobindo was viewed as a newleader. However, though he had leadershipqualities, he preferred to work from thebackground. Apart from being a fundamentalperson in India's independence movement, SriAurobindo also exploited the spiritual disciplinesof Yoga and meditation.

Sri Aurobindo's spiritual mission commencedwhen he became a prominent figure in the worldof politics. It was, thence, that he came acrossLele Maharaj, a teacher of meditation, whotaught him the art of controlling his thoughtsand beliefs. Aurobindo was arrested for thepossession of weapons in 1908 and was held injail for a year. It was during this time only thathe became conscious about his inner self. Hepracticed meditation in his cell, read about theancient principles of yoga and realized theomnipresence of God.

Becoming aware of a divine inner guidance,Sri Aurobindo listened to his inner command,which instructed him to leave politics and workfor the renewal of sanatana dharma, 'the eternalreligion'. After coming out of the jail, he came incontact with Sister Nivedita, a disciple of SwamiVivekananda. Thereafter, he changed his abode,from Calcutta, to Pondicherry and devotedhimself completely towards spiritual disciplines.


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Sri Aurobindo also became a prolific writer,producing many articles, writings and poetry.Eventually, Pondicherry became a mecca forspiritual seekers.

Sri Aurobindo believed that every religionwas right in its own way. A poet, philosopher,writer and spiritual master, he offered a newvision of yoga and a spiritual path that could befollowed by his disciples. Out of his many works,one of the most praiseworthy is 'The Life Divine',a comprehensive explanation of his integralyoga.

Rabindranath Tagore

Rabindranath Tagore, the brilliant poet andeminent educationist was born on 6th may, 1861in Calcutta. At the time of his birth the countrywas passing through the revolutionary currentsof religious, social, moral, political and literarymovements. In 1878, he went to London andstudied law for two years, but returned to Indiawithout a degree. On the way over to Englandhe began translating, for the first time, his latestselections of poems, Gitanjali, into English.

According to him the prevailing schoolingsystem is defective and cannot favourableinfluence on his life. So he founded aneducational institution based on his ownphilosophy of life and education at Shantiniketannear Bolepur in West Bengal. He participated inthe movement on Bengal division in 1905. Hisliterary excellence, outstanding Educationalphilosophy and broad cultural outlook madehim popular and famous In 1913, he wasawarded with the prestigious Nobel Prize for hisgreat literary work "Gitanjali". He was the firstnon-westerner to be so honored. Overnight hewas famous and began world lecture tourspromoting inter-cultural harmony andunderstanding. In 1915, he was knighted by theBritish King George V. In 1919, following theAmritsar massacre of 400 Indian demonstratorsby British troops, Sir Tagore renounced hisKnighthood. Although a good friend ofMohandas Karamchand Gandhi, most of thetime Tagore stayed out of politics. He wasopposed to nationalism and militarism as amatter of principle, and instead promotedspiritual values and the creation of a new worldculture founded in multi-culturalism, diversityand tolerance.

Although Tagore is a superb representativeof his country - India - the man who wrote its

national anthem - his life and works go farbeyond his country. He is truly a man of thewhole Earth, a product of the best of bothtraditional Indian, and modern Western cultures.The School of Wisdom is proud to have him aspart of its heritage. He exemplifies the idealsimportant to us of Goodness, Meaningful Work,and World Culture.

Dadabhai Naoroji

Dadabhai Naoroji (4 September, 1825-30June, 1917), known as the Grand Old Man ofIndia, was a Parsi intellectual, educator, cottontrader, and an early Indian political and socialleader. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) inthe United Kingdom House of Commonsbetween 1892 and 1895, and the first Asian tobe a British MP.

Naoroji is also credited with the founding ofthe Indian National Congress, alongwith A.O.Hume and Dinshaw Edulji Wacha. His bookPoverty and Un-British Rule in India broughtattention to the draining of India's wealth intoBritain. He was also member of SecondInternational alongwith Kautsky and Plekhanov.Dadabhai Naoroji is regarded as one of the mostimportant Indians during the independencemovement. He viewed that the intervention ofinto India by foreigners were clearly notfavorable for the country.

R.C. Dutta and Dadabhai Naoroji first citedthe drain of wealth theory. Naoroji brought it tolight in his book titled “Poverty and UnbritishRule in India”. R.C. Dutta blamed the Britishpolicies for economic ills in his book “EconomicHistory of India”. Drain of wealth refers to theportion of national product of India, which wasnot available for consumption of Indians. Drainof wealth began in 1757 after the Battle of Plasseywhen the Company’s servants began to extortfortunes from Indian rulers, zamindars,merchants and common people and send home.In 1765, the Company acquired the Diwani ofBengal and began to purchase the Indian goodsout of the revenue of Bengal and exported them.These purchases were known as Company’sinvestments. Duty free inland trade providedBritish merchants a competitive edge over theirIndian counterparts. The actual drain, as a partof the salaries and other incomes of the Englishofficials and the trading fortunes of Englishmerchants, was even more. The drain of wealthstunted the growth of Indian enterprise andchecked and retarded capital formation in India.


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Muhammad Ali Jinnah

Muhammad Ali Jinnah (25 December, 1876-11 September, 1948) was a lawyer, politician,and eminent leader during national movement.Jinnah began political life by attending theCongress's twentieth annual meeting in Bombayin December 1904. He was a member of themoderate group in the Congress, favouringHindu–Muslim unity in achieving self-government, and following such leaders asMehta, Naoroji, and Gopal Krishna Gokhale.They were opposed by leaders such as Tilak andLala Lajpat Rai, who sought quick actiontowards freedom. Jinnah served as leader of theAll-India Muslim League from 1913 until andas Pakistan's first Governor-General fromindependence until his death.

Born in Karachi and trained as a barrister atLincoln's Inn in London, Jinnah rose toprominence in the Indian National Congress inthe first two decades of the 20th century. In theseearly years of his political career, Jinnahadvocated Hindu–Muslim unity, helping toshape the 1916 Lucknow Pact between theCongress and the All-India Muslim League, aparty in which Jinnah had also becomeprominent. Jinnah became a key leader in theAll India Home Rule League, and proposed afourteen-point constitutional reform plan tosafeguard the political rights of Muslims from aunited British India to become independent. In1920, however, Jinnah resigned from theCongress when it agreed to follow a campaignof satyagraha, or non-violent resistance,advocated by the influential leader, MohandasGandhi.

By 1940, Jinnah had come to believe thatIndian Muslims should have their own state. Inthat year, the Muslim League, led by Jinnah,passed the Lahore Resolution, demanding aseparate nation. During the Second World War,the League gained strength while leaders of theCongress were imprisoned, and in the electionsheld shortly after the war, it won most of theseats reserved for Muslims. Ultimately, theCongress and the Muslim League could not reacha power-sharing formula for a united India,leading all parties to agree to separateindependence for a secular India, and for aMuslim-majority state, to be called Pakistan.

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan

Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (6 February, 1890

– 20 January, 1988) was an independence activistof Pashtun descent. He was a political andspiritual Gandhian, leader known for his non-violent opposition to the British Rule in the Sub-continent, and a lifelong pacifist and devoutMuslim. A close friend of Mahatma Gandhi,Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan has been nicknamedFrontier Gandhi. In 1910, he opened a mosqueschool at his hometown Utmanzai, and in 1911joined the freedom movement of Haji Sahib ofTurangzai. However in 1915, the Britishauthorities banned his mosque school. Havingwitnessed the repeated failure of revolts againstthe British Raj, he decided that social activismand reform would be more beneficial for thePashtuns. This led to the formation of Anjuman-e Islah al-Afghan ("Afghan Reform Society") in1921, and the youth movement Pashtun Jirga("Pashtun Assembly") in 1927. After he returnedfrom the Hajj in May 1928, he founded thePashto language monthly political journalPashtun. Finally, in November 1929, Khanfounded the Khudai Khidmatgar ("Servants ofGod") movement, whose success triggered aharsh crackdown by the British Empire againsthim and his supporters and they suffered someof the most severe repression of the Indianindependence movement. In 1962, he wasnamed the Amnesty International Prisoner ofConscience of the Year. In 1987, he became thefirst non-Indian to be awarded Bharat Ratna,India's highest civilian award. Khan is a Pashtunnational hero and a key figure of Pashtunnationalism.

Khan strongly opposed the All-India MuslimLeague's demand for the partition of India. Afterpartition, Bacha Khan pledged allegiance toPakistan and demanded an autonomous"Pashtunistan" administrative unit within thecountry.

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (28 May, 1883-26 February, 1966) was an Indian pro-independence activist, politician as well as apoet, writer and playwright. He advocateddismantling the system of caste in Hindu culture,and reconversion of the converted Hindus backto Hindu religion. Savarkar created the termHindutva, and emphasised its distinctivenessfrom Hinduism which he associated with socialand political communalism. The stated aim ofSavarkar's Hindutva was to create a divisivecollective identity. The five elements of his


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philosophy were Utilitarianism Rationalism andPositivism, Humanism and Universalism,Pragmatism and Realism. Later commentatorshave said that Savarkar's philosophy, despite itsclaims to furthering unity, was divisive in natureas it tried to shape Indian nationalism asuniquely Hindu, to the exclusion of otherreligions.

Savarkar's revolutionary activities beganwhile studying in India and England, where hewas associated with the India House andfounded student societies including AbhinavBharat Society and the Free India Society, as wellas publications espousing the cause of completeIndian independence by revolutionary means.Savarkar published The Indian War ofIndependence about the Indian rebellion of 1857that was banned by British authorities. He wasarrested in 1910 for his connections with therevolutionary group India House. Following afailed attempt to escape while being transportedfrom Marseilles, Savarkar was sentenced to twolife terms of imprisonment totalling fifty yearsand was moved to the Cellular Jail in theAndaman and Nicobar Islands.

While in jail, Savarkar wrote the workdescribing Hindutva, openly espousing Hindunationalism. He was released in 1921 underrestrictions after signing a plea for clemency inwhich he renounced revolutionary activities.Travelling widely, Savarkar became a forcefulorator and writer, advocating Hindu politicaland social unity. Serving as the president of theHindu Mahasabha, Savarkar endorsed the idealof India as a Hindu Rashtra and opposed theQuit India struggle in 1942, calling it a "QuitIndia but keep your army" movement. Hebecame a fierce critic of the Indian NationalCongress and its acceptance of India's partition.

Chakravarti Rajagopalachari

Chakravarti Rajagopalachari (10December, 1878-25 December, 1972) was alawyer, independence activist, politician, writerand statesman. Rajagopalachari was the lastGovernor-General of India. He joined the IndianNational Congress and participated in theagitations against the Rowlatt Act, joining theNon-Cooperation movement, the VaikomSatyagraha, and the Civil Disobediencemovement. In 1930, Rajagopalachari riskedimprisonment when he led the Vedaranyam SaltSatyagraha in response to the Dandi March. In1937, Rajagopalachari was elected Premier of the

Madras Presidency and served until 1940, whenhe resigned due to Britain's declaration of waron Germany. He later advocated co-operationover Britain's war effort and opposed the QuitIndia Movement. He favoured talks with bothMuhammad Ali Jinnah and the Muslim Leagueand proposed what later came to be known asthe C.R. Formula. In 1946, Rajagopalachari wasappointed Minister of Industry, Supply, Educationand Finance in the Interim Government of India,and then as the Governor of West Bengal from1947 to 1948, and Governor-General of India from1948 to 1950.

He also served as Minister for Home Affairsof the Indian Union and Chief Minister of Madrasstate. Rajagopalachari founded the SwatantraParty and was one of the first recipients of India'shighest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna. Hevehemently opposed the use of nuclear weaponsand was a proponent of world peace anddisarmament.

Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya

Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya (1861–1946)was an Indian educationist and politician notablefor his role in the Indian independencemovement and his espousal of Hindunationalism (being one of the initial leaders ofthe far-right party Hindu Mahasabha). Later inlife, he was also addressed as 'Mahamana'.

He was the President of the Indian NationalCongress on four occasions and is mostremembered as the founder of the largestresidential university in Asia and one of thelargest in the world, Banaras Hindu University(BHU) at Varanasi in 1916, of which he alsoremained the Vice Chancellor, 1919–1938.Pandit Malviya was one of the founders ofScouting in India. He also founded a highlyinfluential, English-newspaper, The Leaderpublished from Allahabad in 1909.

Ram Manohar Lohia

Ram Manohar Lohia, a socialist politicalleader as well as a noted freedom fighter of Indiawas born in the village of Akbarpur, UttarPradesh on 23rd March, 1910. “Rammanoharwas highly influenced by Mahatma Gandhi ideaswhich instigated the feeling of Swaraj (freedom)into him. 'Salt Satyagraha' was his subject in thePh.D. thesis paper. Though he had a good affinitywith Jawaharlal Nehru but dissented with himon many political issues. His first contribution


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as a nationalist leader was organizing a 'hartal'on Bal Gangadhar Tilak's death. In 1928, hejoined protests against the Simon Commission.

Achievements and notable incidents:

• In Europe he organized 'Association ofEuropean Indians' .

• Joined Indian National Congress andestablished Congress Socialist Party, 1934.

• He was elected the Secretary of All IndiaCongress Committee (1936).

• He was arrested on 7th June, 1940 andsentenced to two years imprisonment forwriting an article 'Satyagraha Now' inGandhiji's newspaper Harijan.

• He published and circulated posters andpamphlets on 'Do or Die' during the 'QuitIndia Movement', 1942. He alongwithAruna Asaf Ali edited a Congress Partymonthly newspaper called 'Inquilab'.

“Post-independence period’’:

• Lohia took the leadership of building a damon river Paniyari called 'Lohia Sagar Dam'.

• Founded 'Hind Kisan Panchayat' to providesolution to the farmers.

• Set up World Development Council andWorld Government to retain peace.

Aruna Asaf Ali

Aruna Asaf Ali played a leading role duringQuit India Movement; elected as Delhi’s firstMayor; awarded the Lenin Prize for peace in1975 and the Jawaharlal Nehru award forInternational understanding for 1991; honoredwith Bharat Ratna in 1998. Her moment ofreckoning came in 1942 during Quit IndiaMovement and she rose to the occasion.

As Asaf Ali was deeply involved withfreedom struggle, after marriage Aruna Asaf Alitoo plunged into it. Her first major political actionwas during the Salt Satyagraha in 1930 whenshe addressed public meetings and ledprocessions. In 1942, she attended the BombayCongress Session, where the historic Quit Indiaresolution was passed on 8th August. When theCongress leaders were arrested on the day afterthis resolution was passed, Aruna presided overthe flag-hoisting ceremony at Gowalia TankMaidan in Bombay. She provided the spark thatignited the movement. She became a full-timeactivist in the Quit India movement.

Mahadev Govind Ranade

Mahadev Govind Ranade, (18 Jan, 1842-16Jan, 1901), a Citpavan Brahmans of Maharashtrawho was a judge of the High Court of Bombay,a noted historian, and an active participant insocial and economic reform movements.

During his seven years as a judge in Bombay,Ranade worked for social reform in the areas ofchild marriage, widow remarriage, and women’srights. After his appointment as instructor ofhistory at Elphinstone College, Bombay (1866),he became interested in the history of theMarathas, a militaristic Hindu ethnic group thatestablished the independent kingdom ofMaharashtra (1674–1818). The publication of hisRise of the Maratha Power followed in 1900.

Ranade has been called the father of Indianeconomics for urging (unsuccessfully) the Britishgovernment to initiate industrialization and statewelfare programs. He was an early member ofthe Prarthana Samaj (“Prayer Society”), whichsought to reform the social customs of orthodoxHinduism. He regularly voiced views on socialand economic reform at the annual sessions ofthe Indian National Social Conference, whichhe founded in 1887. Ranade inspired many otherIndian social reformers, most notably theeducator and legislator Gopal Krishna Gokhale,who carried on Ranade’s reform work after hisdeath.

Chittaranjan Das

Chittaranjan Das (5 November, 1870-16June 1925) was a politician and leader of theSwaraj (Independence) Party in Bengal underBritish rule. He was a leading figure in Bengalduring the Non-Cooperation Movement of 1919-1922, and initiated the ban on British clothes,setting an example by burning his own Europeanclothes and wearing Khadi clothes.

He brought out a newspaper called Forwardand later changed its name to Liberty to fightthe British Raj. When the Calcutta Corporationwas formed, he became its first Mayor. Heresigned his presidency of the Indian NationalCongress at the Gaya session after losing a motionon "No Council Entry" to Gandhi's faction. Hethen founded the Swaraj Party, with veteranMotilal Nehru and young Huseyn ShaheedSuhrawardy, to express his immoderate opinions.

He was a believer of non-violence andconstitutional methods for the realisation of


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national independence, and advocated Hindu-Muslim unity, cooperation and communalharmony and championed the cause of nationaleducation. His legacy was carried forward byhis disciples, and notably by Subhash ChandraBose. He is generally referred to by the honorificDesh Bandhu. In 1925, Das's health began to failand on 16 June, 1925, with a severe fever, hedied.

Jayaprakash Narayan

Jayaprakash Narayan (11 October, 1902-8October, 1979), popularly referred to as JP or LokNayak, was an Indian independence activist,social reformer and political leader, rememberedespecially for leading the mid-1970s oppositionagainst Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Narayan joined the Indian NationalCongress on the invitation of Jawaharlal Nehruin 1929; Mahatma Gandhi became his mentorin the Congress.

He actively participated in non cooperationmovement and Quit India Movement. Afterindependence , Narayan faded away from activepolitics. Instead, he continue with the strugglefor social reforms and joined Vinoba Bhave’sBhoodan movement. Hence again activelyparticipated in politics against Indira Gandhi’sEmergency tenure.

In 1999, he was posthumously awarded theBharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, inrecognition of his social work. Other awardsinclude the Magsaysay award for Public Servicein 1965.

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Documents

EMINENT ORGANIZATIONS & PERSONALITIES · the party and H.V. Kamath the general secretary. Arrest and exile of Bose Soon thereafter, on July 2, Bose was arrested and detained in Presidency