July, 2022 - About India

Surendranath Banerjee

Surendranath Banerjee (November 10, 1848 – August 6, 1925) was a Kolkata born individual who later become an Indian Political leader during British Rule. He was a founder of Indian National Association. This was one of the initial political organizations in India. He was also appointed as the senior leader of Indian National Congress.
Personal life
Surendranath Banerjee was born in a Brahmin Family. His father, Durga Charan Banerjee was a doctor. Durga Charan had a progressive thinking and Banerjee was deeply influenced by him. He was educated at Parental Academic Institution and then at Hindi College. Then, his main focus was to crack Indian Civil Services and in order to compete it, in 1868 he travelled to England.
He succeeded in clearing the exam and become the second candidate who passed the exam. He was appointed assistant magistrate in his homeland, Sylhet. But, due to racial discrimination he was dismissed from this job and he decided to protest against it. He went to England but all his efforts were useless. He started studying works of liberal philosophers, especially Edmund Burke.
These studies influenced his thinking to the extreme and guided him in protesting against British. Later, Surendranath Banerjee was also given the name Indian Burke.
Political Career
In 1875, he returned to India and became an English professor at Metropolitan Institution, and the Free Church Institution. Then, in 1882 he found the Ripon College and started lecturing there. He started delivering public speeches and his major subjects were Liberal and Nationalist Political.
He was also interested in speaking about Indian History. On July 26, 1876, he founded Indian National Association in collaboration with Anandamohan Bose.
Newspaper and protest
This organization was a remedial solution for providing age issue relaxation to Indian students who are appearing in ICS examinations. He also founded the newspaper, The Bengalee in 1879. After 4 years, in 1883 he published some remarks in his news paper and was arrested which raised protests all across Bengal.
Further, these protests rose in some Indian Cities like Agra, Amritsar, Lahore, Pune and Faizabad. INA was expanding faster than ever before and plenty of delegates all over the country came to join. INA organized an annual conference in Kolkata all these delegates attended it.
In 1885, Surendranath Banerjee founded Indian National Congress in Bombay and he merged it with INA and took his major objectives to go beyond. On his way of achieving this task, he was also elected two times as the Congress president.
First it was in 1985 at Poona and then at Ahmadabad in 1902. He was one of the main protestors in Bengal Partition protest in 1905 and proved to be one of the most influencing public leaders in India. As an Indian Pioneer Leader, Surendranath Banerjee is remembered worldwide and respected today.
‘A Nation in the Making’, he published it and was acclaimed widely. The Britishers respected him a lot and during his later years they proudly called him Surrender Not Banerjee. He was died on August 6, 1925, at Barrackpore.

Ullaskar Dutta

Ullaskar Dutta an attractive personality with an optimistic outlook, is one of the sparkling gems of the Indian freedom movement. He was a revolutionary, who did not flinch from expressing his extreme disliking for the British rule.
His determination inspired many youngsters of his era to join the freedom struggle and contribute to making India free.
Initial years
Hewas born in Brahmanbaria district (Bangladesh) on 16th April, 1885. He was a native of the village Kalikaccha. He was taught the values propounded by Raja Ram Mohan Roy. His father Dwijadas Dutta was a follower of Brahmo Samaj and had attained a degree from University Of London. Ullaskar Dutta cleared the entrance exam in 1903 and entered the Presidency College, Calcutta.
It was the time when the British nationals living in India had no respect for any Indian community and could speak derogatorily without any fear of being prosecuted for the same. Now, one of the British professors called Professor Russell blurted out certain offensive remarks about the Bengali community.
Ullaskar Dutta could not keep his cool at this insult and ended up assaulting the professor. As a result, he was suspended from the Presidency College.
Extremely tortured
He was an active participant in the activities of Jugantar party. He learnt the technique of bomb-making and one of the bombs created by him was used in an important assassination bid. On 30th April 1908, two revolutionaries Prafulla Chaki and Khudiram Bose tried to murder Magistrate Kingsford by throwing a bomb at his carriage.
The latter was notorious for giving extremely rigorous sentences to the freedom fighters. Unfortunately, the revolutionaries were not successful in hitting the right carriage and the bomb hit a different one. It fatally wounded two British women, who were the family members of barrister Pringle Kennedy. Along with other members of his party, such as Khudiram and Barindra Ghosh, Ullaskar Duttawas also arrested and given a death sentence.
The hanging was to be carried out in 1909 but it was later scrapped after an appeal was made. He was given transportation for life and hence, sent to Andaman to be imprisoned in the Cellular Jail.
He spent very agonising time during his imprisonment. The colonial authorities meted out torturous treatment to this noble revolutionary. Because of the immeasurable torture, he lost his sanity. Despite the maltreatment, he tried to keep the spirits of his fellow inmates up by narrating funny anecdotes and jokes. He attained freedom in 1920, and soon after, went back to Calcutta.
Final years
After being arrested again in 1931, Ullaskar Dutta was sent to prison for 18 months. The colonial rule ended in 1947, and only then, he went back to his native village Kalikaccha. He arrived at Kolkata in 1957 and got married. He moved to Silchar (Assam) and stayed there until his death on 17th May, 1965.
As a tribute, the state governments in Kolkata and Silchar christened two streets in his name. This courageous revolutionary also wrote two books – Amar Karajiban (My Prison Life) that was translated in English (Twelve Year in Prison Life), and Dwipantarer Katha (The Tale of Deportation).

Bhola Paswan Shastri

Jul 11 2022 Indian fighters for freedom Bhola Paswan Shastri

Bhola Paswan Shastri is one of the revolutionaries who had a major share in the freedom struggle of India. He was better known as the chief minister of the state of Bihar, thrice from 1968 to 1971. He was born in 1914 in Bairgacchi, in the district of Purnea, Bihar.
His family belonged to the Pasi community. This community, at the time of his birth and even before was considered as an untouchable community. But since birth, he was a dynamic person, full of zest, love for his motherland and keen interest in politics and social issues.
His original name was Bhola Paswan. What added Shastri to his name was due to his intellect and educational charisma. In spite of belonging to a community which was the most oppressed, he took his degree from Kashi Vidyapeeth. He gave the ‘Shastri’ exam, which considered as the highest honor at that time, and hence the title ‘Shastri’ was conferred upon him.
A brief history of Bhola Paswan Shastri’s birthplace:
Anciently known as Vihar, Bihar was the first empire of the Maurya dynasty. Once the Mauryas conquered it, they changed it to Magadha, which was their capital. It was the centre of learning, economy, cultural heritage and power for more than 1000 years.
This place came under the reign of the British Dynasty in 18th century and since then this small separate British province struggled all the time to release itself from the shackles of the British. Bhola Paswan had a lion’s share in this struggle.
The Pasi community:
The Pasi community was a Dalit community. It was a community which was considered as an untouchable community by those belonging to the upper castes. As per India’s positive discrimination of castes, this caste is now classified as Scheduled caste.
As the Pasi community’s people were also known as Chaudhary, Bhola Paswan Shastri’s father, too, was addressed to as Chaudhary. They were traditionally into toddy tapping. But in spite of a lot atrocities and a low status being inferred upon them by the society, he still was a bright student. He earned himself a respectable position by educating himself from Kashi University.
From Toddy making to being a Chief Minister:
After being educated, Bhola Paswan Shastri openly expressed his objection to the caste system and the atrocities being inflicted upon the members who belonged to the Dalit community. He was active during a lot of struggles which were instrumental in uplifting the people of this community.
He later on actively involved himself into political activities, which had been his area of interest right since school days. Paswan was an active member of a lot political movements in India’s freedom struggle. His contribution to the field of politics made him the Chief Minister of the state of Bihar in 1968.
A college called Bhola Paswan Shastri agricultural college has been established in his birthplace, Purnea, in the year 2011. He was definitely one of the most successful and dynamic personality in the history of India.

Tilka Manjhi

Jul 11 2022 Indian fighters for freedom Tilka Manjhi

Tilka Manjhi was a great freedom fighter and a person who rebel against the British rule even before Mangal Pandey. He became a martyr in the history of Indian due to the first tribal peasant uprising movement. He was the person who brought together the Santals and formed a group as Mukti Dal with the aim of fight against the exploitation.
In the honour of Tilka Manjhi there is a university in Bihar which is known as Tilka Manjhi Bhagalpur University and the place where he was been hanged to a banyan tree a statue is been erected after the Indian Independence and the chowk is known as Tilka Manjhi Chowk.
Life and Freedom Struggle
Tilka Manjhi was born on the date of 11th February, 1750. He was the person who fought against the British rule and became the tribal leader and peasant. He was against the wages and the taxes which was imposed to the Santals by the Britisher’s and the landlords. In his fight he even killed a British commissioner with his arrow.
Tilka Manjhi was the founder of Santal hul which is termed to be the greatest and biggest fight in the history as this fight has lost so many lives which is not been lost in any fights. The British rule in India brought a lot of change in the lives of the poor peasants and the Santals whose life began to shatter because of the money lenders.
The rate of interest charged on the farmers were so high that they were not able to pay it and that’s the reason they had to face the exploitation and cruelty done against them.
Sufferings of Jharkhand
During the British rule the people of Jharkhand especially the Santhal Huls were facing lots of problems and cruelty from the desi landlords and were being exploited by the British force. There are many events which took place in Jharkhand during the freedom struggle and against the Santhal.
Around 1860 Sidhu who was the mastermind of Santhal hul accumulated some santhals in a purpose to run a government which will run in parallel to the British rule. His main motive to create the group was to collect taxes as british government has announced money reward on Sidhu.
In the year 1995 council was been formed which has 18 districts of Santhal and Shibu was been nominated for the post of the chairman. In the year 2000 the bill which was issued to create a separate state of Jharkhand was approved.
Death of Tilka Manjhi
After the attack on the Augustus Cleveland, the Britisher’s to catch Tilka Manjhi surrounded the forest from where he operated and after many days of search Tilka Manjhi was been caught by the British police.
In 1784 when they finally caught Tilka Manjhi they tied him to the tail of the horse and dragged him throughout the way from the jungle to the collector’s office which was in Bhagalpur, Bihar where his body was hanged by a banyan tree.

Dinesh Gupta

Jul 11 2022 Indian fighters for freedom Dinesh Gupta

Dinesh Gupta was an ardent revolutionary from Bengal, who fought aggressively against the colonial rule. He was born in Josholong (Bangladesh) on 6th December, 1911. He lived only till the tender age of 19 but his patriotic activities during this short life earned him an indelible place in the hearts of his countrymen and women.
Early years that shaped him as a freedom fighter
Subhash Chandra Bose had formed a group called Bengal Volunteers. Dinesh Gupta became a member of this group in 1928 when the Calcutta session of INA (Indian National Congress) was going on. He was studying at Dhaka College at that time. Bengal Volunteers association slowly acquired a more active and aggressive nature and began to hatch plots for eliminating the repressive and ruthless British police officers.
This fiery revolutionary worked relentlessly in Midnapore to train young people in the art of using fire arms. His staunch dedication for the freedom struggle drew a large number of youths to the anti-British struggle. These young revolutionaries were being perfected in firing with the intention of killing 3 renowned district magistrates namely, Douglas, Burge and Peddy. These government officials were to be shot at one after the other.
Attack at the Writers’ building
Bengal Volunteers association put Colonel N.S. Simpson on their hit list. He was the Inspector General of Prisons and was notorious for his unspeakable maltreatment of prisoners. The members of the association realized that it would not be sufficient to murder this official for making their point.
Another extreme step was also needed to create stark terror in the minds of the colonial officers. Therefore, the revolutionaries planned to unleash an attack on the secretariat building. Hence, the Writers’ building in the Dalhousie Square, Kolkata too became the revolutionaries’ target now.
The date of the fateful attack on the Writers’ building was 8th December, 1930. Dinesh Gupta, Badal Gupta and Benoy Basu entered the edifice in disguise. The trio was wearing European clothes for staying inconspicuous in the crowd. They fired shots at Col. Simpson successfully, who was present on one of the balconies, and killed him.
The police opened fire at them immediately in retaliation. The whole place reverberated with the sound of gun shots for some time. During this crossfire, few officers like Nelson, Twynam and Prentice were badly hurt.
Sentenced to death and a martyr was born
The courageous trio could not keep fighting for long and were outnumbered. For avoiding an arrest, Badal Gupta consumed potassium cyanide. Benoy Basu and Dinesh Gupta shot themselves; while the former died in hospital, the latter survived the suicide attempt.
He was tried and given a death sentence. On 7th July, 1931, he was hanged to death. Thus, this brave heart laid down his life in an attempt to free his country from the shackles of the devastating British rule. The profound sacrifice that Dinesh Gupta made for his motherland is truly venerable.
In order to immortalize his contribution (along with that of his two associates) to the Indian freedom struggle, Dalhousie Square was rechristened as BBD (Binoy Badal Dinesh) Bagh.

Prafulla Chaki

Jul 11 2022 Indian fighters for freedom Prafulla Chaki

Prafulla Chaki was a young revolutionary, who played a crucial role in the organization of activities, which opposed the British rule in India. He worked as a member of Jugantar (an anti-British rule group) and inspired many Bengali youngsters to join the Indian freedom struggle.
Birth and initial years
Prafulla Chaki was born on December 10, 1888 in Bogra district in a middle class family. His father was Rajnarayan, who worked for the Bogra nawab. His mother was Swarnamoyee. While still in his infancy, Prafulla lost his father and was raised by his mother. Even as a child, he showed interest in revolutionary activities. He was an active member of the Bandhab Samiti, which organized cultural activities.
While in school, he participated in a demonstration, which was against Carlisle Circular. Consequently, he was expelled from there. He soon joined another school named Rangpur National School. At this school, he became friends with youngsters like Jitendranarayan Roy, and Ishan Chandra Chakravarti.
These activists opposed British rule and were keen on working towards overthrowing it. During his studentship in this school, he met with Birendra Kumar Ghosh, who was an active anti-British revolutionary and one of the founding fathers of the group named Jugantar. Birendra was impressed with this young man’s eagerness to work as a revolutionary and took him along to Calcutta.
Activities as a revolutionary
His promising personality soon earned him the first task as the member of the Jugantar group. He was to murder Sir Fuller. As per information, Fuller was going to Darjeeling. Birendra devised a plan according to which the assassination was to take place while Fuller’s stay in Darjeeling. Nevertheless, Fuller changed his plan and the plan to kill him did not happen.
The next task was planned in 1908, which involved murdering the Muzzaffarpur magistrate called Kingsford. He was infamous for passing harsh judgments against the freedom fighters. On April 30, Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki took positions for bombing the carriage, which would be carrying Kingsford. However, due to wrong information, they bombed another carriage, which had been carrying two English women.
Right after the bombing, Prafulla Chaki made a quick escape and went to Samastipur railway station. There, he changed his appearance and with the help of railway worker, he arranged for a train ticket. Unfortunately, at the station, a police officer recognized him and he was chased.
Death and Martyrdom
Prafulla Chaki resorted to taking his life on May 1 1908 when he was close to being caught by the Police at the station. He shot himself in the head and died on the spot, as being held as a prisoner of the British Government was beneath him. After his death, the Police could not establish his identity for sure, since he was popularly known as Dinesh Ray.
Hence, his head was cut off and sent to Calcutta so that it could be identified. Khudiram, who had already been caught by the Police, confirmed the identity of the great martyr.
Chaki’s death was received with tears and anger from the revolutionaries of Bengal. They became even more determined to free India from the rule of the British government.

Bagha Jatin

Jul 11 2022 Indian fighters for freedom Bagha Jatin

Bagha Jatin is the nickname of Jatindranath Mukherjee, a popular revolutionary activist during the British rule in India. He was the chief of the Jugantar group and led many activities that aimed at weakening the British supremacy in India. His personality had a spark and he exuded such confidence that despite being anti-British, many British officials talked about him with respect.
Birth and early life
Born in Kayagram Village, a Bengal district, on January 7, 1879, Bagha Jatin had exceptional courage and was bestowed with great physical agility. He was raised by his mother; his father had passed away when he was just 5 years old. As his mother did not believe in discrimination based on caste and religion, Jatindranath grew up to be a kind and charitable person. He became quite popular for his noble deeds towards people of other castes and religions, especially Muslims.
Jatindranath had a penchant for arts and that is why in 1895, he took admission in the Calcutta Central College for studying Fine Arts. For increasing his scope of employment, he also started learning typing. It was during this period of his life that he came in contact with Swami Vivekananda, who changed his perspective about life and its goals.
He realized the impact of damage that the foreign rule was causing to India. He also helped Sister Nivedita, a prominent disciple of Swami Vivekananda, in her charity work for people affected during famines and floods. Jatindranath’s trip to Ambu Guha for gaining proficiency in wrestling proved to be life-changing.
There, he met his future mentor Sachin Bannerjee, who later guided him in his revolutionary pursuits against the British colonial rule. In 1899, Jatindranath quit his studies and went to Muzzaffarpur to assist barrister Kennedy.
Revolutionary activities
Certain reports suggest that while he was a student, Bagha Jatin led the Anushilan Samiti that killed the colonial officers and those, who favored the British rule. After coming back to Calcutta, he opened bomb-making factories in Maniktala and Deoghar.
His party Jugantor played an important role in collecting support of the Germans against the British rule. Jatindranath led the process of utilizing the aids received for promoting his revolutionary activities.
Martyrdom of the patriot
The information regarding Bagha Jatin’s association with Germany alerted the colonial authorities. They responded by cordoning off the coastal areas around Noakhali and the Ganges. Police also went to Balasore to look for him. Jatindranath was well aware of the police activities and hence, he crossed deep forests and hills of Balasore to arrive at the railway station.
He was being hounded not only by the police but also by the natives. The colonial authorities had declared a reward for making available any information related to the location of Jatindranath. It was raining heavily; and the revolutionary and his friends had to take shelter in Chashakhand. In spite of repeated requests from his friends, Jatin did not abandon them and put himself at the risk of being arrested.
The authorities soon found out about the hiding place and a firing ensued. A number of colonial officers got hurt in the crossfire and Jatindranath too was seriously injured. He succumbed to his injuries in the hospital on 10th September, 1915.

Sikander Bakht

Jul 11 2022 Indian fighters for freedom Sikander Bakht

Bakht was a prominent Indian politician from the Bharatia Janata Party. He was one of the best known Muslim faces in Bharatiya Janata party. Bakht was a dedicated freedom fighter who vigorously participated in Indian freedom Movement.
He was a governor of Kerala. As a member of Bharatia janata party, Sikander Bakht’s main aim was to bring Indian Muslims into the “National Mainstream’. He was a member of the Municipal cooperation of Delhi. Bakht was also an active member of nascent janata in the year 1977.
He was one of the congress leaders. Bakht was a clerk in the supply department, Government of India. Sikander was one of the commanders of Muslim League National Guards.
Early life of Sikander Bakht
Bakht was born on 24th August 1918 in kartarpur Mohalla of Delhi. Bakht was born to a Muslim Tobacco seller by prostitute. He completed his graduation in Bachelor of Science from Zakir Husain College in Delhi. Sikander Bakht was a great hockey player when he was in school and college.
Delhi University represented Bakht in various tournaments. Bakht was a person of considerable actions. He also played for the independence hockey club. Very soon he became the captain of Independence Hockey club.
Political life of Sikander
Bakht was an active member of Bhartiya Janata party. In the year 1968, he was appointed as the chairman of Delhi Electric supply undertakings. He was elected as the member of municipal cooperation of Delhi. Sikandere Bakht disapproved the ways of Indira Gandhi in all his political activities.
On the other hand, he was extremely close to Moraji Desai. Moraji Desai was appointed as a prime minister. Moraji desai appointed bakht as the cabinet minister for housing works. When the new Bharathiya janatha party was emerged in the year 1980, Bakht chose to follow Attal Bihari Vajpayee. He was one of the leaders of Congress.
When the congress got splitted in the year 1969, bakht stayed in congress. In 1980, Bakht joined Bharatiya Janata Party as a General Secretary. Bakht was elected as a congress He was well known as the first Muslim leader in the Lokh Sabha under the Bharatiya Janatha party. In the year 1990, he was elected to Rajya Sabha.
In 1992, Bakht became the leader of opposition in Rajya sabha. Bakht was a foreign minister only for few weeks. He was compelled to resign the job as foreign minister when the Vajpayee’s Government collapsed in the year 1996. Finally he was elected as a governor of Kerala in the year 2002.
Honors of Sikander
In the year 2000, He was honored with padma Vibushan Award for his social service and dedication to political works. Sikander bakht was the second person who got the second highest Indian civilian award. Other than bakht, Atal Bihar Vajpayee was the first person who was awarded with Padma Vibushan award.
Death
At the age of 83, Bakht become the oldest Governor of Kerala. He served the people as governor of Kerala till his death. He was undergone an intestinal surgery which was performed on 19th February 2004. Sikander bakht died on 23rd February 2004 due the failure of complicated intestinal surgery.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

Jul 09 2022 Indian fighters for freedom Mohandas Gandhi

Gandhi known for his simplistic lifestyle and high moral standards in minimal dress ingratiated him to the people not only in India but all over the world. He is the one who has created the “Satyagraha concept”, the non-violent way of protesting against injustices. He is rightly known as the “Father of the Nation” as he worked meticulously for removing the British rule of India and also to bettering the lives of the people of India.
Early life of Mahatma Gandhi
He was born as Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in Porbandar on October 2nd 1869 in Gujarat. His parents were Karamchand Gandhi who was the Diwan of Porbandar and Putlibai. The stories of the king Harishchandra and Shravana had a great impact on him in his childhood, which had left a permanent intuition of his mind. He had child marriage with Kasturibai Makhanji when he was 13 years old. They had four children, namely Harilal, Manilal, Ramdos and Devdas
He left for London at the age of 18 for becoming a barrister and studied Indian law and jurisprudence (study and theory of law) and got trained as a barrister.
His Special traits
Self belief
He is considered as one of the greatest persons to have ever walked on earth absolutely for his special qualities and traits. His faith in self is the excellent trait as he always believed in himself and believed that it is his responsibility to free India from the British rule. His faith in self triggered the faith of millions of Indians.
Truthfulness
He always believed truth which is his strongest weapon and promoted truth throughout his life.
Non Violence
The principle of non-violence made him renowned all over the world and he has won independence for India only through non-violence. The International Day of Nonviolence is observed worldwide today in his memory and honor and millions of lives can be saved if humans resolve their problems peacefully without any wars.
Forgiveness
He forgave all of them who threw him to the jail; beat him upon the roads or the ones who tried to assassinate him. This is one of his best traits and always forgave people who have hurt him too.
His struggle for freedom
He is the one who gave character and shape to India’s freedom struggle and sacrificed his own life for the sake of his country’s freedom. His major movements include Non-Co-operation movement, Civil Disobedience Movement, Quit India Movement and India Independence. The Salt March is also known as Salt Satyagrah is his noteworthy movement which began with the Dandi March on 12th of March, 1930. This is one of the most significant movements of his which was related to tax resistance and nonviolent protest and organized challenge to the British.
His Assasination
Nathuram Godse was the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi, the prominent leader of Indian nationalism in British-ruled India and the follower of non-violence. He shot Gandhi three times in the chest fired from very close range on 30th January, 1948 in New Delhi.

Indian Silver coin 10 rupees – 100 years of Birth of Mahatma Gandhi

Shankar Dayal Sharma

Jul 09 2022 Indian fighters for freedom Shankar Dayal Sharma

SharmaDayal Sharma was the 9th president of republic of india. He rendered his service as president from 1992 to 1997. Shankar Dayal Sharma was a prominent Indian lawyer and politician. He was a scholar with extraordinary educational qualifications. Sharma was the eight vice president of India. He was a famous journalist who wrote on diverse topics from History to literature, Philosophy to comparative religions and many more articles.
He was a great freedom fighter who actively participated for the Indian Independence. To be a part of Indian freedom movement, he joined the Indian national congress as a member. He was dedicated politician who handled many portfolios including education, law and public works. He held high positions in Indian politics.
Family background of Shankar Dayal Sharma
Sharma was born on19th August 1918 in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. His father’s name was Khushilal Sharma. Shankar Dayal Sharma’s mother was Subhadra Sharma. He obtained his education from various institutions. Starting with St. John’s College, he studied at Agra College. After which he got educated from Allahabad University. He took his M.A. Degree in English literature, Hindi and Sanskrit in the university. Sharma obtained LL.M from Lucknow University.
He was brilliant boy in his school and college days who always stands first. He obtained his Ph. D in law from Cambridge University. He was awarded with Diploma in Public Administration from London University. Sharma taught law for 9 years at lucknow university and later on he taught law in Cambridge University. At the time of studying and teaching, Sharma was vigorously involved in India’s Freedom Movement against the British.
Political achievements of Shankar
Sharma started his political career during 1940s. He was actively involved in Indian freedom movement by participating in historical Quit India Movement which was held in 1942.
As soon as he started participating in political activities, Shankar Dayal Sharma joined the Indian National Congress. Under Indian national congress party, he fought against the British rule in India. From the year 1950-1952, He served as a president of the Bhopal congress committee.
Very soon he became the Chief Minister of Bhopal. As a chief minister of Bhopal, he put all his efforts to abolish the Jagirdar system prevalent in India. He served as chief Minister till the year 1956. From the year 1956 to 1971, Shankar served as a member of the Madhya Pradesh Legislative assembly.
In between He supported Indira Gandhi’s effort to obtain leadership of congress Party. Finally he became the Union Minister of Communications under the leadership of Indira Gandhi and served till 1977.
Achievements of Shankar
He was elected as Honorary Bencher and Master of Lincoln’s Innn and honorary fellow, Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. The University of Cambridge has honored Shankar Dayal Sharma with degree of doctor of law.
Lucknow University awarded Dr. Sharma with Chakravathi Gold Medal for his dedicated social service. For his striking contribution to legal profession, he was presented with “The living legends of Law” award from the International Association.
Death
Dr. Sharma died on 26th December 1999 in New Delhi due to major heart attack. Shankar Dayal Sharma was a great personality who dedicated his entire life to do service for the nation and the people.

Month: July 2022