Swaraj

Wednesday, 26 December 2012

swaraj 855 Kissan Ka Power Desh ka Bharosa

SWARAJ 855 VS JOHN DEERE 5310 TRALLI BACK

Historic Speech of Smt. Sushma Swaraj in Lok Sabha: 11.06.1996

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Inflation Situation in India: Smt. Sushma Swaraj: 08.12.2011

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Battle of Plassey
Coordinates: 23°48′N 88°15′E / 23.80°N 88.25°E / 23.80; 88.25
The Battle of Plassey (Bengali: পলাশীর যুদ্ধ, Pôlashir Juddho), 23 June 1757, was a decisive British East India Company victory over the Nawab of Bengal and his French allies, establishing Company rule in South Asia which expanded over much of the Indies for the next hundred years. The battle took place at Palashi, Bengal (Plassey is the anglicised version of Palashi), on the river banks of the Bhagirathi River, about 150 km north of Calcutta, near Murshidabad, then capital of undivided Bengal. The belligerents were Siraj-ud-daulah, the last independent Nawab of Bengal, and the British East India Company.
The battle was preceded by the attack on British controlled Calcutta by Siraj-ud-daulah and the Black Hole incident. The British sent reinforcements under Colonel Robert Clive and Admiral Charles Watson from Madras to Bengal, and recaptured Calcutta. Clive then seized the initiative to capture the French fort of Chandernagar. Tensions and suspicions between Siraj-ud-daulah and the British culminated in the Battle of Plassey. The battle was waged during the Seven Years' War (1756–63) and, in a mirror of their European rivalry, the French East India Company sent a small contingent to fight against the British. Siraj-ud-Daulah had a numerically superior force and made his stand at Plassey. The British, worried about being outnumbered, formed a conspiracy with Siraj-ud-Daulah's demoted army chief Mir Jafar, along with others such as Yar Lutuf Khan, Jagat Seths (Mahtab Chand and Swarup Chand), Omichund and Rai Durlabh. Mir Jafar, Rai Durlabh and Yar Lutuf Khan thus assembled their troops near the battlefield but made no move to actually join the battle. Siraj-ud-Daulah's army was defeated by roughly 3,000 soldiers of Col. Robert Clive, owing to the flight of Siraj-ud-daulah from the battlefield and the inactivity of the conspirators.

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Gandhi Smriti
Gandhi Smriti formerly known as Birla House or Birla Bhavan, is a museum dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi, situated on Tees January Road, in New Delhi, India. It is the location where Mahatma Gandhi spent the last 144 days of his life and was assassinated on January 30, 1948. It was originally the house of the Indian business tycoons, the Birlas. It now houses the Eternal Gandhi Multimedia Museum established in 2005.
It was acquired by the Government of India in 1971 and opened for the public on August 15, 1973, renamed the Gandhi Smriti (or Gandhi Remembrance). The museum in the building houses a number of articles associated with Gandhi's life and death. Visitors can tour the building and grounds, viewing the preserved room where Gandhi lived and the place on the grounds where he was shot while holding his nightly public walk.
The Martyr's Column now marks the place where Gandhi, the "Father of the Nation" was assassinated.
The Gandhi Smriti or Birla House is located at 5 Tees January Marg, a couple of kilometres from the Connaught Place, one of the CBDs of New Delhi.

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Jamia Millia Islamia
Jamia Millia Islamia (Urdu: جامعہ ملیہ اسلامیہ, Hindi: जामिया मिलिया इस्लामिया, translation: National Islamic University^{[citation needed]}) is an Indian Central University located in Delhi. It was established at Aligarh in United Provinces, India in 1920. It became a Central University by an act of the Indian Parliament in 1988. In Urdu and Arabic, Jamia means University^{[citation needed]}, and Millia means National^{[citation needed]}. Coordinates: 28°33′41.79″N 77°16′48.54″E / 28.5616083°N 77.28015°E / 28.5616083; 77.28015
The university was established by nationalist Muslim leaders in 1920 prior to partition. Its campus is located in South Delhi. The university provides undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate courses.
The Foundation Committee met on 29 October 1920. Its members were:
On 22 November 1920, Hakim Ajmal Khan was elected the first chancellor of Jamia. Mohamed Ali Jauhar became Jamia’s first Vice Chancellor, as Allama Iqbal could not accept the offer made through Mohandas K. Gandhi. It also elected a syndicate and created a syllabus subcommittee.The known freedom fighter and Muslim theologian, Maulana Mehmud Hasan, laid the foundation stone of Jamia Millia Islamia at Aligarh on Friday, 29 October 1920.

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Kanyakumari
Kanyakumari pronunciation (help·info) is a town in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. It was also referred to as Cape Comorin earlier. Located at the southernmost tip of India, it is the geographical end of the mainland. The district in Tamil Nadu where the town is located is called Kanyakumari District. The closest major cities are Nagercoil, the administrative headquarters of Kanyakumari District, (22 km (14 mi)) and Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala (85 km (53 mi)). The town is a popular tourist place in India.
Cape Comorin was the southern limit of Tamilakam (the ancient Tamil country).
Kanyakumari takes its name from the Kumari Amman or Kanyakumari Temple, situated in the town of it`s , on the sea-shore, the very confluence of the three water-bodies – the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean. In his work on ancient India, Ptolemy had identified Kanyakumari (Cape of Comorin) along with the Gulf of Mannar as a center for pearl fishery. He also identifies Korkai, a place to the east of Kanyakumari as an emporium of pearl trade, also Travancore Census 1931 says that Paravars ruled that Coast and built the temple for their reverence to [the] Sea Goddess.

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Pietermaritzburg
Pietermaritzburg is the capital and second largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in 1838, and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. Its "purist" Zulu name is umGungundlovu, and this is the name used for the district municipality. Pietermaritzburg is popularly called Maritzburg in English and Zulu alike, and often informally abbreviated to PMB. It is a regionally important industrial hub, producing aluminium, timber and dairy products. It is home to many schools and tertiary education institutions, including a campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. It had a population of 228,549 in 1991; the estimated current population is around 500,000 (including neighbouring townships) and has one of the largest populations of Indian South Africans in South Africa.
The city was originally founded by the Voortrekkers, following the defeat of Dingane at the Battle of Blood River, and was the capital of the short-lived Boer republic, Natalia. Britain took over Pietermaritzburg in 1843 and it became the seat of the Natal Colony's administration with the first lieutenant-governor, Martin West, making it his home. Fort Napier, named after the governor of the Cape Colony, Sir George Thomas Napier, was built to house a garrison. In 1893 Natal received responsibility for their own government and an assembly building was built along with the city hall. In 1910, when the Union of South Africa was formed, Natal became a province of the union, and Pietermaritzburg remained the capital.

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Portuguese India
The Portuguese Viceroyalty of India (Portuguese: Vice-Reino da Índia Portuguesa), later the Portuguese State of India (Portuguese: Estado Português da Índia), was the aggregate of Portugal's colonial holdings in India.
The government started in 1505, six years after the discovery of a sea route to India by Vasco da Gama, with the nomination of the first Viceroy Francisco de Almeida, then settled at Cochin. Until 1752, the "State of India" included all Portuguese possessions in the Indian Ocean, from southern Africa to Southeast Asia, governed by either a Viceroy or a Governor from headquarters established in Goa since 1510. In 1752 Mozambique got its own government and in 1844 the Portuguese Government of India stopped administering the territory of Macau, Solor and Timor, being then confined to Malabar.
At the time of British India's independence in 1947, Portuguese India included a number of enclaves on India's western coast, including Goa proper, as well as the coastal enclaves of Daman (Port: Damão) and Diu, and the enclaves of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, which lie inland from Daman. The territories of Portuguese India were sometimes referred to collectively as Goa. Portugal lost the last two enclaves in 1954, and finally the remaining three in December 1961, when they were taken back by India after military action (although Portugal only recognized Indian control in 1975, after the Carnation Revolution and the fall of the Estado Novo regime).

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14th Dalai Lama

The 14th Dalai Lama (religious name: Tenzin Gyatso, shortened from Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, born Lhamo Dondrub, 6 July 1935) is the 14th and current Dalai Lama, as well as the longest lived incumbent. Dalai Lamas are the most influential figures in the Gelugpa lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, although the 14th has consolidated control over the other lineages in recent years. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, and is also well known for his lifelong advocacy for Tibetans inside and outside Tibet. Tibetans traditionally believe him to be the reincarnation of his predecessors and a manifestation of the Bodhisattva of Compassion.
The Dalai Lama was born in Taktser, Qinghai (also known to Tibetans as Amdo), and was selected as the rebirth of the 13th Dalai Lama two years later, although he was only formally recognized as the 14th Dalai Lama on 17 November 1950, at the age of 15. He inherited control over a government controlling an area roughly corresponding to the Tibet Autonomous Region just as the nascent People's Republic of China wished to assert central control over it. There is a dispute over whether the respective governments reached an agreement for a joint Chinese-Tibetan administration.

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Abbas Tyabji
Abbas Tyabji (Gujarati: અબ્બાસ તૈયબજી, Hindi: अब्बास तैयबजी; 1853 – June 9, 1936) was an Indian freedom fighter from Gujarat, who once served as the Chief Justice of the (Baroda) Gujarat High Court. Mahatma Gandhi appointed Tyabji, at age seventy-six, to replace him as leader of the Salt Satyagraha in May, 1930 after Gandhi’s arrest. Tyabji was arrested soon afterward and imprisoned by the British Indian Government. Gandhi and others respectfully called Tyabji the "Grand Old Man of Gujarat".
A Sulaimani Bohra Muslim and grandson of the merchant prince Mullah Tyab Ali Bhai Mian, Abbas Tyabji was educated in England, where he lived for eleven years. He was an early proponent of women’s rights, supporting women’s education and social reform. He broke with the prevailing custom of the times by disregarding purdah restrictions and sending his daughters to school.
His nephew, Salim Ali, states that before 1919 Tyabji:
Though a moderate nationalist at heart, he would stand no adverse criticism of the British as a people, or of the Raj, and even a mildly disparaging remark about the King-Emperor or the royal family was anathema to him. . . If he had any strong sentiments about Swadeshi he certainly didn't show it by precept or example. . . This being so, he naturally disagreed vehemently with Gandhiji and his methods of political mass agitation. . . In other respects his moderate but simmering nationalism and his absolute integrity and fairness as a judge were widely recognized and lauded, even by leftist Congressmen and anti-British extremists.

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Achyut Patwardhan
Achyut Patwardhan (Devanāgarī: अच्युत पटवर्धन; 5 February 1905 – 5 August 1992.) was an Indian independence activist and political leader and founder of the Socialist Party of India. He was also a philosopher who believed fundamental change in society begins with man himself.
Achyut's father, Hari Keshav Patwardhan, was a prosperous legal practitioner at Ahmednagar. He had six sons of whom Achyut was the second. When Achyut was a boy of four years, Sitaram Patwardhan, a retired Deputy Educational Inspector, adopted him. Sitaram died in 1917, leaving considerable property for Achyut. Patwardhans are amongst the talented Chitpavan Brahmins who migrated from the Konkan region to all parts of Maharashtra and formed mostly the English-educated gentry from the end of the last century till recent times.
After finishing his primary and secondary education at Ahmednagar, Achyut passed the B. A. and M. A. examination from the Central Hindu College of Benares. His subject was Economics and he obtained a first class. Achyut’s own and adoptive fathers were both Theosophists and, therefore, he was sent to the college founded by Dr. Annie Besant. He was in contact with Dr. G. S. Arundale, the Theosophist Principal of the college, Dr. Annie Besant and Professor Telang. Their influence made him studious, meditative and ascetic. It must also be the reason of his life-long bachelorship.

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Annie Besant
Annie Besant (/ˈbɛsənt/; née Wood, 1 October 1847 – 20 September 1933) was a prominent British Theosophist, women's rights activist, writer and orator and supporter of Irish and Indian self rule.
She was married at 19 to Frank Besant but separated from him over religious differences. She then became a prominent speaker for the National Secular Society (NCS) and writer and a close friend of Charles Bradlaugh. In 1877 they were prosecuted for publishing a book by birth control campaigner Charles Knowlton. The scandal made them famous and Bradlaugh was elected Member of Parliament for Northampton in 1880.
She became involved with Union organisers including the Bloody Sunday demonstration and the London matchgirls strike of 1888 and was a leading speaker for the Fabian Society and the Marxist Social Democratic Federation (SDF). She was elected to the London School Board for Tower Hamlets, topping the poll even though few women were qualified to vote at that time.
In 1890 Besant met Helena Blavatsky and over the next few years her interest in Theosophy grew while her interest in secular matters waned. She became a member of the Society and a highly successful lecturer in Theosophy. As part of her Theosophy-related work, she travelled to India where in 1898 she helped establish the Central Hindu College, and in 1902 she established the first overseas Lodge of the International Order of Co-Freemasonry, Le Droit Humain in England. Over the next few years she established lodges in many parts of the British Empire. In 1907 she became President of the Theosophical Society.

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Arun Manilal Gandhi
Arun Manilal Gandhi (born April 14, 1934) is the fifth grandson of Mohandas Gandhi through his second son Manilal. Following the footsteps of his grandfather, he is also a socio-political activist, although he eschews the ascetic lifestyle of his grandfather.
Born in Durban, South Africa on April 14, 1934 to Sushila and Manilal Gandhi, Arun's childhood days under South Africa's apartheid for someone of Indian heritage was difficult. Like many Indians, he was demeaned by Europeans for not being white, ostracized by Africans for not being black, and subject to racially motivated violence from extremists in both groups.
While living with his grandfather Mahatma Gandhi from 1946 until his assassination in 1948, Arun experienced the most tumultuous period in India's struggle to free itself from British rule. He saw the first-hand effects of a national campaign for liberation which was carried out through both violent and nonviolent means. Both the events and Mahatma Gandhi's teachings strongly influenced Arun.

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Aung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi MP AC (Burmese: ; MLCTS: aung hcan: cu. krany, IPA: [ʔàʊɴ sʰáɴ sṵ tɕì]; born 19 June 1945) is a Burmese opposition politician and General Secretary of the National League for Democracy (NLD) in Burma. In the 1990 general election, the NLD won 59% of the national votes and 81% (392 of 485) of the seats in Parliament. She had, however, already been detained under house arrest before the elections. She remained under house arrest in Burma for almost 15 of the 21 years from 20 July 1989 until her most recent release on 13 November 2010, becoming one of the world's most prominent (now former) political prisoners.
Suu Kyi received the Rafto Prize and the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 1990 and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. In 1992 she was awarded the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding by the government of India and the International Simón Bolívar Prize from the government of Venezuela. In 2007, the Government of Canada made her an honorary citizen of that country; at the time, she was one of only four people ever to receive the honor. In 2011, she was awarded the Wallenberg Medal.

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Baba Amte
Murlidhar Devidas Amte (December 26, 1914 – February 9, 2008), popularly known as Baba Amte (Marathi: बाबा आमटे), was an Indian social worker and social activist known particularly for his work for the rehabilitation and empowerment of poor people suffering from leprosy.
Amte was born to Devidas and Laxmibai Amte in the town of Hinganghat in Wardha District of Maharashtra. The family was a wealthy jagirdar Brahmin family. His father was also a British official with responsibilities for district administration and revenue collection. Amte had acquired his nickname Baba in his childhood.
He came to be known as Baba not because "he is a saint or any such thing, but because his parents addressed him by that name." (as explained by his wife Sadhanatai)
As the eldest son of a wealthy Brahmin landowner, Murlidhar had an idyllic childhood. By the time he was fourteen, Baba owned his own gun and hunted boar and deer. He developed a special interest in cinema, wrote reviews for the film magazine The Picture Goer and even corresponded with Greta Garbo and Norma Shearer. (Norma Shearer would become one of his first foreign donors when he began working with leprosy patients.) When he was old enough to drive, Baba was given a Singer sportscar with cushions covered with panther skin! But even then, Amte did not appreciate the restrictions that prevented him from playing with the 'low-caste' servants' children.

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Bakht Khan
Bakht Khan khan (1797–13 May 1859) was nominal commander-in-chief of Indian rebel forces in the Indian Rebellion of 1857 against the East India Company.
Bakht Khan was a Pashtun related to the family of Rohilla chief Najib-ul-Daula, from a branch of the Yusufzai tribe. He was born in Bijnor in Rohilkhand and later became a subedar in the army of the East India Company, gaining forty years of experience in the Bengal horse artillery and seeing action in the First Anglo-Afghan War.
By the time Khan arrived at Delhi on July 1, 1857, the city had already been taken by rebel forces and the Mughal ruler Bahadur Shah II had been proclaimed Emperor of India. The emperor's eldest son, Mirza Mughal, also called Mirza Zahiruddin, had been given the title of chief general, but this prince had no military experience. This was the time when Bakht Khan along with his forces arrived in Delhi on Wednesday 1 July 1857. With his arrival the leadership position did improve. Bakht Khan's superior abilities quickly became evident, and the emperor gave him actual authority and the title of Saheb-I-Alam Bhadur, or Lord Governor General. Khan was virtual commander of the sepoy forces, although Mirza Zahiruudin was still the commander in chief.

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Bal Gangadhar Tilak
Lokmanya Tilak (Marathi: लोकमान्य बाळ गंगाधर टिळक pronunciation (help·info)), born as Keshav Bal Gangadhar Tilak ((1856-07-23)23 July 1856 – 1 August 1920(1920-08-01), age 64), was an Indian nationalist, teacher, social reformer, lawyer and independence fighter who was the first popular leader of the Indian Independence Movement. The British colonial authorities derogatorily called him "Father of the Indian unrest". He was also conferred with the honorary title of "Lokmanya", which literally means "Accepted by the people (as their leader)". Tilak was one of the first and strongest advocates of "Swaraj" (self-rule) and a strong radical in Indian consciousness. His famous quote, "Swaraj is my birthright, and I shall have it!" is well-remembered in India even today.
Lokmanya Tilak was born at Chummakachu Lane (Ranjani Aaleea) in Chikhalgaon, Ratnagiri, Maharashtra to a Chitpavan Brahmin family. His father, Shri Gangadhar Tilak was a famous school teacher and a Sanskrit scholar who died when Tilak was sixteen. His brilliance rubbed off on young Tilak, who graduated from Deccan College, Pune in 1877. Tilak was among one of the first generation of Indians to receive a college education.

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Bhagat Singh
Bhagat Singh (IPA: [pə̀ɡət̪ sɪ́ŋɡ] ( listen); 28 September 1907 – 23 March 1931) was an Indian nationalist considered to be one of the most influential revolutionaries of the Indian independence movement. He is often referred to as Shaheed Bhagat Singh, the word Shaheed meaning "martyr" in a number of Indian languages.
Born into a Sikh Jat family which had earlier been involved in revolutionary activities against the British Raj, as a teenager Singh studied European revolutionary movements and was attracted to anarchist and marxist ideologies. He became involved in numerous revolutionary organisations, and quickly rose through the ranks of the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) to become one of its main leaders, eventually changing its name to the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) in 1928.
Seeking revenge for the death of Lala Lajpat Rai at the hands of the police, Singh was involved in the assassination of British police officer John Saunders. He eluded efforts by the police to capture him. Together with Batukeshwar Dutt, he undertook a successful effort to throw two bombs and leaflets inside the Central Legislative Assembly while shouting slogans of Inquilab Zindabad. Subsequently they volunteered to surrender and be arrested. Held on this charge, he gained widespread national support when he underwent a 116 day fast in jail, demanding equal rights for British and Indian political prisoners. During this time, sufficient evidence was brought against him for a conviction in the Saunders case, after trial by a Special Tribunal and appeal at the Privy Council in England. He was convicted and subsequently hanged for his participation in the murder, aged 23. His legacy prompted youth in India to begin fighting for Indian independence and he continues to be a youth idol in modern India, as well as the inspiration for several films. He is commemorated with a large bronze statue in the Parliament of India, as well as a range of other memorials.

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Bhikaiji Cama
Bhikaiji Rustom Cama (24 September 1861 – 13 August 1936) was a prominent figure in the Indian independence movement.
Bhikhaiji Rustom Cama was born on 24 September 1861 in Bombay (now Mumbai) into a large, well-off Parsi family. Her parents, Sorabji Framji Patel and Jaijibai Sorabji Patel, were well known in the city, where her father Sorabji—a lawyer by training and a merchant by profession—was an influential member of the Parsi community.
Like many Parsi girls of the time, Bhikhaiji attended Alexandra Native Girl's English Institution. Bhikhaiji was by all accounts a diligent, disciplined child with a flair for languages.
On 3 August 1885, she married Rustom Cama, a wealthy, pro-British lawyer who aspired to enter politics. It was not a happy marriage, and Bhikhaiji spent most of her time and energy in philanthropic activities and social work.
In October 1896, the Bombay Presidency was hit first by famine, and shortly thereafter by bubonic plague. Bhikhaiji joined one of the many teams working out of Grant Medical College (which would subsequently become Haffkine's plague vaccine research centre), in an effort to provide care for the afflicted, and (later) to inoculate the healthy. Cama subsequently contracted the plague herself, but survived. Severely weakened, she was sent to Britain for medical care in 1901.

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Bidhan Chandra Roy
Bidhan Chandra Roy, M.R.C.P., F.R.C.S. (1 July 1882 – 1 July 1962) was the second Chief Minister of West Bengal in India. He remained in his post for 14 years as a Indian National Congress candidate, from 1948 until his death in 1962. He was a highly respected physician and a renowned freedom fighter. Bidhan Roy is often considered the great architect of West Bengal, who founded three eminent cities, Durgapur, Kalyani and Bidhannagar. He was an alumnus of the Medical College Calcutta of the University of Calcutta. He is one of the few people who completed both F.R.C.S. and M.R.C.P. simultaneously within only two years and three months. In India, the National Doctor's Day is celebrated on the date of his birth (and death) July 1 every year. Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy constituted a trust for his properties at Patna for social service and made eminent nationalist Ganga Sharan Singh (Sinha) the trustee. He was awarded Bharat Ratna on 4 February 1961, India's highest civilian honour. He was also a member of the Brahmo Samaj^{[citation needed]}.

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Bipin Chandra Pal
Bipin Chandra Pal (Bengali: বিপিন চন্দ্র পাল; November 7, 1858 - May 20, 1932) was an Indian nationalist. He was among the triumvirate of Lal Bal Pal.
Bipin Chandra Pal was born in Poil Village, Habiganj District, Bangladesh, in a wealthy Hindu Vaishnava family. His father was Ramchandra Pal, a Persian scholar and small landowner. His son was Niranjan Pal, one of the founders of Bombay Talkies. B.C. Pal is known as the 'Father Of Revolutionary Thoughts' in India and was one of the freedom fighters of India. He was a radical.
Bipin Chandra Pal was a teacher, journalist, orator, writer and librarian, he was famous as one of the triumvirate of three militant patriots of the Congresses - the "Pal" of Lal Bal Pal. The trio was responsible for initiating the first popular upsurge against British colonial policy in the 1905 partition of Bengal, before the advent of Gandhi into Indian politics. Pal was also the founder of the journal Bande Mataram.

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Chittaranjan Das
Chittaranjan Das (C. R. Das) (Bengali: চিত্তরঞ্জন দাস Chittorônjon Dash) (popularly called Deshbandhu "Friend of the country") (5 November 1870 – 16 June 1925) was an Indian politician and leader of the Swaraj (Independence) Party in Bengal under British rule.
After failing the competitive entrance examination for the British-dominated Indian Civil Service, Das entered the legal profession. He defended many accused of political offenses and took an active part in nationalistic journalism.
Bitterly opposing British rule in India and rejecting all ideas of political or economic development of India along Western lines, he idealized the life of the ancient Indian village and saw a golden age in ancient Indian history. He supported the noncooperation movement launched against British rule by Mahatma Gandhi and in 1921 was imprisoned for six months as a political offender. In 1922 he became president of the Indian National Congress. Under his leadership the Congress abandoned its intentions to boycott colonially sponsored elections for provincial councils. It decided instead to participate in order to seek positions that would permit them to obstruct governmental business from within.

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Dada Dharmadhikari
Shankar Trimbak Dharmadhikari (June 18, 1899 – December 1, 1985), better known throughout the world as Acharya Dada Dharmadhikari was an Indian freedom fighter, and a leader of social reform movements in India. He was one of the strongest adherents of Mahatma Gandhi's principles.
Born on June 18, 1899 at Multapi, district Baitul, Madhya Pradesh, Dada's family was known for its learning and scholarship as also for the study of Vedanta. His father Shri T. D. Dharmadhikari was a district and sessions judge, highly-regarded for his integrity and professional acumen.
Dada studied at the Indore Christian College and later at Morris College in Nagpur. But left his studies half way to join the freedom struggle under Mahatma Gandhi. He however spent a year in studying Vedantic works of Adi Shankaracharya.
He married his wife, Damayantibai, early in life and she was his companion in the Quit India movement and in jail too. She was his partner in his work, and shared his beliefs and lifestyle.
Dada's life-long passions were human relationship, enlightenment of youth, women and total transformation of society. He lectured every section of society in Gandhian concepts of truth, love, nonviolence, trusteeship. Jaya Prakash Narayan saw him as the most outstanding commentator, crusader of his vision of revolution.

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Dadabhai Naoroji
Dadabhai Naoroji (4 September 1825 – 30 June 1917) (Hindi: दादाभाई नौरोजी), known as the Grand Old Man of India, was a Parsi intellectual, educator, cotton trader, and an early Indian political and social leader. His book Poverty and Un-British Rule in India brought attention to the draining of India's wealth into Britain. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) in the British House of Commons between 1892 and 1895, and the first Asian to be a British MP. He is also credited with the founding of the Indian National Congress, along with A.O. Hume and Dinshaw Edulji Wacha.
At the early age of 25, he was appointed leading Professor at the Elphinstone Institution in 1850, becoming the first Indian to hold such an academic position. Being an Athornan (ordained priest), Naoroji founded the Rahnumae Mazdayasne Sabha (Guides on the Mazdayasne Path) on 1 August 1851 to restore the Zoroastrian religion to its original purity and simplicity. In 1854, he also founded a fortnightly publication, the Rast Goftar (or The Truth Teller), to clarify Zoroastrian concepts. By 1855 he was Professor of Mathematics and Natural philosophy in Bombay. He travelled to London in 1855 to become a partner in Cama & Co, opening a Liverpool location for the first Indian company to be established in Britain. Within three years, he had resigned on ethical grounds. In 1859, he established his own cotton trading company, Naoroji & Co. Later, he became professor of Gujarati at University College London.

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Devdas Gandhi
Devdas Gandhi (Hindi: देवदास गाँधी) (1900–1957) was the fourth and youngest son of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. He was born in South Africa on the 2.October and returned to India with his parents as a young man. He became active in his father's movement, spending many terms in jail. He spent a lot of time with his father. He also became a prominent journalist, serving as editor of Hindustan Times.
Devdas fell in love with Lakshmi, the daughter of Rajaji, Devdas's father's associate in the Indian independence struggle. Due to Lakshmi's age at that time – she was only fifteen, whereas Devdas was twenty eight years – both Devdas's father and Rajaji asked the couple to wait for five years without seeing each other. After five years had passed, they were married with their fathers' permissions in 1933. Devdas and Lakshmi had four children, Rajmohan Gandhi, Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Ramchandra Gandhi and Tara (Bhattacharya).

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Dhondo Keshav Karve
Dr. Dhondo Keshav Karve (Marathi: महर्षी डॉ. धोंडो केशव कर्वे) (18 April 1858 - 9 November 1962) was a social reformer in India in the field of women's welfare. In honour of Karve, Queen's Road in Mumbai (Bombay) was renamed to Maharishi Karve Road
Mahatma Phule and Savitribai Phule are known as pioneers in promoting women's education . Inspired by Mahatma Phule's movement, Mr Karve decided to continue the work of promoting women's education in India. The Government of India awarded Dhondo Keshav Karve its highest civilian award, Bhārat Ratna, in 1958, the year he turned 100 years old.
The appellation Maharshi, which the Indian public often assigned to Karve, means ”a great sage”. He was also sometimes affectionately called "Annā Karve"; in the Marāthi-speaking community to which Karve belonged, the appellation "Annā" is often used to address either one's father or an elder brother.
Annasaheb Karve was born on 18 April 1858 at Sherawali, Dapoli Tālukā of Ratnāgiri district in Mahārāshtra. He was a native of Murud in the Konkan region. He was born in a lower middle-class Chitpāvan Brahmin family. His father's name was Keshav Bāpunnā Karve. In his autobiography, he wrote of his struggle to appear at a public service examination, walking 110 miles in torrential rain and difficult terrain to the nearest city of Sātārā, and his shattering disappointment at not being allowed to appear for the examination because "he looked too young".

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Gopal Ganesh Agarkar
Gopal Ganesh Agarkar [Marathi: गोपाळ गणेश आगरकर] (14 July 1856 – 17 June 1895) was a social reformer, educationist, thinker from Maharashtra, India during the British Raj. A close associate of Lokamanya Tilak, he was a co-founder of the renowned educational institutes like New English School, the Deccan Education Society and Fergusson College along with Lokamanya Tilak, Vishnushastree Chiplunkar and others. He was the first editor of the weekly Kesari and founder and editor of periodical Sudhaarak. He was the second Principal of Fergusson College and served that post from August-1892 till his death.

Throughout his short life of just about 39 years, he exemplified impeccably high moral character, utter determination to attain one's goals, sacrifice, great courage and a total lack of greediness. He is considered as a model for any one who wants to be in public service with unflinching devotion to his/her principles and a complete dedication to the work undertaken.
In his public life of just about 15 years, Agarkar made gigantic contributions to the field of social reforms and education and left an indellible mark on the social life of Maharashtra.

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Gopal Hari Deshmukh
Gopal Hari Deshmukh (Marathi: गोपाळ हरी देशमुख) (1823–1892) was a social reformer from Maharashtra, India.
Deshmukh started his career as a translator for the government then under British Raj. In 1867, the government appointed him a small cause judge in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. He retired as a sessions judge.
At age 25, Deshmukh started writing articles aimed at social reform in Maharashtra in the weekly Prabhakar (प्रभाकर) under the pen name Lokhitwadi (लोकहितवादी). In the first two years, he penned 108 articles on social reform. That group of articles has come to be known in Marathi literature as Lokhitwadinchi Shatapatre (लोकहितवादींची शतपत्रे).
He promoted emancipation (liberation) and education of women, and wrote against arranged child marriages, dowry system, and polygamy, all of which were prevalent in India in his times.
He promoted nationalistic spirit in Maharashtra.
He wrote against the evils of caste system which was strongly prevalent in India in his times, condemned harmful Hindu religious orthodoxy, and attacked the monopoly in religious matters and rituals which Brahmin priests had through a long tradition. (Noteworthily, Deshmukh belonged to the Brahmin class.) He enunciated certain 15 principles for bringing about religious reform in Hindu society.

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Gopalkrishna Gandhi
Gopalkrishna Gandhi (Bengali: গোপালকৃষ্ণ গান্ধী Gopalkrishno Gandhi; born April 22, 1945) was the Governor of West Bengal serving from 2004 to 2009. He is the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, and son of Devadas Gandhi and Lakshmi Gandhi. His maternal grandfather was C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji). Gopalkrishna Gandhi is the younger brother of Rajmohan Gandhi, and the late Ramchandra Gandhi, and Smt. Tara Bhattacharjee (Gandhi), all of whom are distinguished in their own right.
As a former member of the Indian Administrative Service, he served as Secretary to the President of India and as High Commissioner to South Africa and Sri Lanka, among other administrative and diplomatic posts.
Gandhi graduated with a master's degree in Literature from St. Stephen's College of Delhi University. He has authored one novel (Saranam - "Refuge" in English) and a play in verse (Dara Shukoh).His other books are - "Gandhi and South Africa", "Koi Acchha Sa Ladka" (translation into Hindustani of Vikram Seth's novel 'A Suitable Boy'), "Gandhi and Sri Lanka", "Nehru and Sri Lanka", "India House, Colombo - Portrait of a Residence", "Gandhi Is Gone. Who Will Guide Us Now?" (edited), "A Frank Friendship/ Gandhi and Bengal: A Descriptive Chronology" (compiled and edited).

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Har Dayal
Lala Har Dayal (Hindi: लाला हरदयाल, Urdu: لالا ہردیال; October 13, 1884, Delhi, India - March 4, 1939, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was a Indian nationalist revolutionary who founded the Ghadar Party in America. He was a polymath who turned down a career in the Indian Civil Service. His simple living and intellectual acumen inspired many expatriate Indians living in Canada and the USA to fight against British Imperialism during the First World War.
Lala Har Dayal was a model of bourgeois virtues-order, regularity, precision and industry. There is a happy display of the faculty of higher criticism which depends upon certain refined perceptions and the power of subtle analysis. His analysis was neither rough nor hasty or sweeping; his perception was healthy, robust and sound. His precision is absolute. If we conclude in a single sentence, it is just like a line drawn in one stroke by a Master of Letters. That is why most of his fellows used to call him Lala Har Dayal M.A.
He had a romantic imagination and classic insight; and both of these factors worked together. He was very particular in intonation, rhythm and tonal quality of his words. Even his prose writings gives us a pleasure of poetry. In the plain language of cricket it can be said that he was such a batsman who could very easily bat on any kind of pitch. And so far as his language is concerned it has the capacity to produce the music of sences. Moreover his style of writing has a flair of lovely letters. He had not to think or consult a book for reference as almost others do, but the appropriate word and expression used to dance on the tip of his pen.

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Harilal Gandhi
Harilal Mohandas Gandhi (Devanagari: हरीलाल गांधी), (1888 – 18 June 1948) was the first son of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.
Harilal for higher studies and hoped to become a barrister as his father had once been. His father firmly opposed this, believing that a Western-style education would not be helpful in the struggle against British rule over India. Eventually rebelling against his father's decision, in 1911 Harilal renounced all family ties.
He converted to Islam but later reverted back to Hinduism. That did not bother his father, who believed that all religions were to be respected. His mother felt he should not be publicly displaying this back-and-forth type of behavior.
Harilal was married to Gulab Gandhi. They had five children, two of whom died at an early age. Nilam Parikh, the daughter of Ramibehn, who was the eldest of Harilal's children has written a biography on him, titled Gandhiji's Lost Jewel: Harilal Gandhi.
He appeared at his father's funeral in such derelict condition that few recognized him. He died from liver disease on 18 June 1948 in a municipal hospital in Bombay, Union of India.

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Hemu Kalani
Hemu Kalani (Sindhi: هيمو ڪالاڻي) was a Sindhi revolutionary and freedom fighter.
Hemu Kalani was born at mir-ki-street old Sukkur in Sindh (now in Pakistan) on 23 March 1923. He was the son of Pesumal Kalani and Jethi Bai. As a child and young man he campaigned with his friends for boycotts of foreign goods and tried to persuade people to use Swadeshi goods. He was drawn to revolutionary activities and started participating in acts of terrorism with the aim of driving out the British. He was involved in raids and in the burning of vehicles belonging to the Raj.^{[citation needed]}

Hemu Kalani joined Mahatma Gandhi's Quit India movement when it was started in 1942. Support for the movement in the Sindh province was such that the British rulers had to send special troops consisting of European battalions. Hemu Kalani found out that a railway train of these troops and their supplies would be passing through his local town and decided to derail it by removing the fishplates from the railway track. This despite the fact that neither he nor his colleagues had the necessary tools and so had to use rope as a means to loosen the fixings.

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Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862) was an American author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, and leading transcendentalist. He is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay Civil Disobedience, an argument for individual resistance to civil government in moral opposition to an unjust state.
Thoreau's books, articles, essays, journals, and poetry total over 20 volumes. Among his lasting contributions were his writings on natural history and philosophy, where he anticipated the methods and findings of ecology and environmental history, two sources of modern day environmentalism. His literary style interweaves close natural observation, personal experience, pointed rhetoric, symbolic meanings, and historical lore, while displaying a poetic sensibility, philosophical austerity, and "Yankee" love of practical detail. He was also deeply interested in the idea of survival in the face of hostile elements, historical change, and natural decay; at the same time he advocated abandoning waste and illusion in order to discover life's true essential needs.

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Hermann Kallenbach
Hermann Kallenbach (1871–1945) was a German born Jewish South African architect who was one of the foremost friends and associates of Mahatma Gandhi. Kallenbach was introduced to the young Mohandas Gandhi while they were both working in South Africa and after a series of discussions they developed an intimate and long lasting friendship.
Kallenbach was born in 1871 in East Prussia as the third eldest out of seven children of a German-Jewish family.. His father Kalman Leib Kallenbach was a Hebrew teacher and, later, a timber merchant. Hermann's childhood centered round education, sports and friendships with the village youth and later he studied architecture in Stuttgart and Munich.^{[citation needed]} In 1896, he went to South Africa to join his uncles in Johannesburg, where he practiced as an architect and became a South African citizen. A skilled ice-skater, swimmer, cyclist and gymnast, and a successful architect, Kallenbach acquired considerable property in South Africa.^{[citation needed]} Yet a major transformation in his life took place after he met Mahatma Gandhi.

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James Bevel
James L. Bevel (October 19, 1936 – December 19, 2008) was an American minister and leader of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement who, as the Director of Direct Action and Director of Nonviolent Education of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) initiated, strategized, directed, and developed SCLC's three major successes of the era: the 1963 Birmingham Children's Crusade, the 1965 Selma Voting Rights Movement, and the 1966 Chicago Open Housing Movement. James Bevel also called for and initially organized the 1963 March on Washington and initiated and strategized the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches, SCLC's two main public gatherings of the era. For his work in the 1960s he has been referred to as the "Father of Voting Rights", the "Strategist and Architect of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement", and as half of the Bevel/King team that formulated and communicated the actions, issues, and dialogues which created the historical changes of the era.
Prior to his time with SCLC, Bevel worked in the Nashville Student Movement, where he participated in the 1960 Nashville Sit-In movement, directed the 1961 Open Theater Movement, chose the riders for the 1961 Nashville Student Movement continuation of the Freedom Rides, and initiated and directed the Mississippi Voting Rights Movement. Later, in 1967, he took a leave from SCLC to direct the Anti-Vietnam War Movement, and in 1995 co-initiated the Day of Atonement/Million Man March.

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Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru (IPA: [dʒəʋaːɦərˈlaːl ˈneːɦru] ( listen), Hindi: जवाहरलाल नेहरू;‎ 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964), often referred to with the epithet of Panditji, was an Indian lawyer, politician and statesman who became the first Prime Minister of independent India (1947–64) and became noted for his “neutralist” policies in foreign affairs. He was also one of the principal leaders of India’s independence movement in the 1930s and ’40s. Nehru was elected by the Indian National Congress to assume office as independent India's first Prime Minister, and re-elected when the Congress Party won India's first general election in 1951 and 1952. Nehru contributed to the establishment of a parliamentary democracy in India and was one of the founders of the international Non-Aligned Movement.
The son of moderate nationalist leader and Congressman Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru became a leader of the left wing of the Congress when fairly young. Rising to become Congress President under the mentorship of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Nehru was a charismatic leader, advocating complete independence for India from the British Empire. Throughout his life, Nehru advocated Democratic Socialism/Fabian Socialism and a strong public sector as the means by which economic development could be pursued by poorer nations. He was the father of Indira Gandhi and the maternal grandfather of Rajiv Gandhi, who would later serve as the third and sixth Prime Ministers of India respectively.

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Jayaprakash Narayan
Jayaprakash Narayan (11 October 1902 – 8 October 1979), widely known as JP Narayan, Jayaprakash, or Loknayak, was an Indian independence activist and political leader, remembered especially for leading the opposition to Indira Gandhi in the 1970s and for giving a call for peaceful Total Revolution. His biography, Jayaprakash, was written by his nationalist friend and an eminent writer of Hindi literature, Ramavriksha Benipuri. In 1998, he was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, in recognition of his social work. Other awards include the Magsaysay award for Public Service in 1965. The airport of Patna is also named after him.
Jayprakash Narayan was born on 11 October 1902 in the village of Sitabdiara, Bihar, India. He came from a middle-class family.
Sandip Das, a biographer, says that
Returning from the US in late 1929 as a supporter of Marxist theories, Narayan joined the Indian National Congress on the invitation of Jawaharlal Nehru in 1929; Mahatma Gandhi became his mentor in the Congress. He shared the same house at Kadam Kuan in Patna with his close friend and nationalist Ganga Sharan Sinha (Shrivastava). with whom he shared the most cordial and lasting friendship.

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John Ruskin
John Ruskin (8 February 1819 – 20 January 1900) was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political economy. His writing styles and literary forms were equally varied. Ruskin penned essays and treatises, poetry and lectures, travel guides and manuals, letters and even a fairy tale. The elaborate style that characterised his earliest writing on art was later superseded by a preference for plainer language designed to communicate his ideas more effectively. In all of his writing, he emphasised the connections between nature, art and society. He also made detailed sketches and paintings of rocks, plants, birds, landscapes, and architectural structures and ornamentation.
He was hugely influential in the latter half of the 19th century up to the First World War. After a period of relative decline, his reputation has steadily improved since the 1960s with the publication of numerous academic studies of his work. Today, his ideas and concerns are widely recognised as having anticipated interest in environmentalism, sustainability and craft.

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Kasturba Gandhi
Kastürbā Gāndhi (born Kasturba Makhanji) (Gujarati: કસ્તુરબા ગાંધી, Hindi: कस्तूरबा गाँधी) (11 April 1869 – 22 February 1944) was the wife of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, marrying him in an arranged marriage in 1882.
Born to wealthy businessman Gokuladas Kapadia of Porbandar, Kasturba was arranged to be married to Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Both were thirteen years old at their wedding. When Gandhi left to study in London in 1888, she remained in India to raise their newborn son Harilal. She had three more sons: Manilal (1892), Ramdas (1897), and Devdas (1900).
Working closely with her husband, Kasturba Gandhi became a political activist fighting for civil rights and Indian independence from the British. After Gandhi moved to South Africa to practice law, she traveled to South Africa in 1897 to be with her husband. From 1904 to 1914, she was active in the Phoenix Settlement near Durban. During the 1913 protest against working conditions for Indians in South Africa, Kasturba was arrested and sentenced to three months in a hard labor prison. Later, in India, she sometimes took her husband's place when he was under arrest. In 1915, when Gandhi returned to India to support indigo planters, Kasturba accompanied him. She taught hygiene, discipline, reading and writing.

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Lala Lajpat Rai
Lala Lajpat Rai (28 January 1865 – 17 November 1928) was an Indian author, freedom fighter and politician who is chiefly remembered as a leader in the Indian fight for freedom from the British Raj. He was popularly known as Punjab Kesari (Punjabi:The Lion of Punjab) or Sher-e-Punjab (Urdu:The Lion of Punjab) meaning the same and was part of the Lal Bal Pal trio. He was also associated with activities of Punjab National Bank and Lakshmi Insurance Company in their early stages. He sustained serious injuries by the police when leading a non-violent protest against the Simon Commission and died less than three weeks later. His death anniversary (November 17) is one of several days celebrated as Martyrs' Day in India.

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Lanza del Vasto
Lanza del Vasto, (Giuseppe Giovanni Luigi Enrico Lanza di Trabia), (September 29, 1901 – January 5, 1981) was a philosopher, poet, artist, catholic and nonviolent activist.
He was born in San Vito dei Normanni, Italy and died in Elche de la Sierra, Spain.
A western disciple of Mohandas K. Gandhi, he worked for inter-religious dialogue, spiritual renewal, ecological activism and nonviolence.
In December 1936, Lanza went to India, joining the movement for Indian independence led by Gandhi. He knew of Gandhi through a book by Romain Rolland. He spent six months with the Mahatma, then in June 1937, went to the source of the Ganges river in the Himalayas, a famous pilgrimage site. There he saw a vision who told him "Go back and found!"
He left then India and went back to Europe. In 1938, he went to Palestine, then in the midst of civil war, to Jerusalem and Bethlehem, "between two lines of tanks".
He came back to Paris at the time when the Second World War started. He wrote some poetry books and in 1943 he published the story of his trip to India, Return to the Source, which became a huge success.

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Leo Tolstoy
Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (Russian: Лев Никола́евич Толсто́й, pronounced [lʲev nʲɪkɐˈlaɪvʲɪtɕ tɐlˈstoj] ( listen); known in the Anglosphere as Leo Tolstoy) (September 9, 1828 – November 20, 1910) was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist fiction. Many consider Tolstoy to have been one of the world's greatest novelists. Tolstoy is equally known for his complicated and paradoxical persona and for his extreme moralistic and ascetic views, which he adopted after a moral crisis and spiritual awakening in the 1870s, after which he also became noted as a moral thinker and social reformer.
His literal interpretation of the ethical teachings of Jesus, centering on the Sermon on the Mount, caused him in later life to become a fervent Christian anarchist and anarcho-pacifist. His ideas on nonviolent resistance, expressed in such works as The Kingdom of God Is Within You, were to have a profound impact on such pivotal twentieth-century figures as Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Mahadev Desai
Mahadev Desai (January 1, 1892 – August 15, 1942) was an Indian independence activist and nationalist writer; he was most famously known for being the personal secretary of Mahatma Gandhi.
Desai was a young lawyer in Ahmedabad when he decided to join Gandhi along with Narhari Parikh, Mohanlal Pandya and Ravi Shankar Vyas, and became his most devoted secretary for 25 years, from 1917 to 1942. The four were the earliest supporters of Gandhi.
Mahadev Desai was arrested with Gandhi during all the nationalist revolts. The chief period of interest is the time Gandhi was incarcerated in the Yeravda Jail near Pune, Maharashtra from 1931 to 1934. Desai wrote most of his important works on Gandhi during this period. He was arrested on the morning of August 9 after Gandhi's call to the British to Quit India and sent to the Aga Khan Palace for imprisonment. On August 15, 1942, Mahadev Desai died of a massive heart-attack at the age of 51.
Gandhi was devastated by Desai's death at a young age. Both Gandhi and his wife Kasturba Gandhi had seen him as their son, and his death was mourned by Gandhi's supporters across the country.

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Mangal Pandey
Mangal Pandey (19 July 1827 – 8 April 1857) was a sepoy in the 34th Bengal Native Infantry (BNI) regiment of the English East India Company. He is known for his involvement in the initial stages of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. While contemporary British reports considered him a traitor and mutineer, he is widely regarded as a freedom fighter in modern India. As such, in 1984 the Indian government issued a postage stamp to commemorate him. His life and actions have also been portrayed in several cinematic productions.
Mangal Pandey was born on 19 July 1827 in the village Nagwa, of Ballia district in Uttar Pradesh of India to Bhumihar Brahmin family.
He joined the East India Company's forces in 1849 at the age of 22. Pandey was part of the 6th Company of the 34th Bengal Native Infantry and is primarily known for his involvement in an attack on several of the regiment's officers. This incident marked an opening stage in what came to be known as the Indian Mutiny of 1857 or, recently, as the First War of Indian Independence. In line with the modern Indian perspective of his historical role, it is now claimed^{[by whom?]} that Pandey was a devout Hindu who practiced his religion diligently.

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Manilal Gandhi
Manilal Mohandas Gandhi (28 October 1892 – 4 April 1956) was the second of four sons of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Kasturba Gandhi. Manilal was born in Rajkot, India. In 1897 Manilal traveled to South Africa for the first time, where he spent time working at the Phoenix Ashram near Durban. After a brief visit to India, in 1917 Manilal returned to South Africa to assist in printing the Indian Opinion a Gujarati-English weekly publication, at Phoenix, Durban. By 1918, Manilal was doing most of the work for the press and took over in 1920 as editor. Like his father, Manilal was also sent to jail several times by the British colonial government after protesting against unjust laws. He remained editor until 1956, the year of his death. Manilal died from a cerebral thrombosis following a stroke.
In 1927, Manilal married Sushila Mashruwala, and had two daughters, Sita (1928) and Ela (1940), and one son, Arun (1934). Arun and Ela are also social-political activists. Uma D. Mesthrie, Manilal's Granddaughter (Sita's daughter), recently published a biography on Manilal.

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Mirabehn
Madeleine Slade (Mirabehn) (November 22, 1892 – July 20, 1982), daughter of the British Rear-Admiral Sir Edmond Slade, was a British woman who left her home in England to live and work with Mohandas Gandhi, the leader of the Indian independence movement. She devoted her life to human development, the advancement of Gandhi's principles and the freedom struggle in India. In doing so, Gandhi gave her the name, Mirabehn, after Meera Bai, the great devotee of Lord Krishna.
Mirabehn during her stay in India once went to Gurukul Kangri to learn Hindi. Thereafter she went to Bhagwat Bhakti Ashram of Rewari established by Swami Parmanand Maharaj in order to be blessed by him. She also wrote to Mahatma Gandhi about her experiences there in Bhagwat Bhakti Ashram.
She was awarded India's second highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan in 1982.
Actress Geraldine James portrayed her in Richard Attenborough's film, Gandhi, which premiered several months after Madeleine Slade's death in 1982.
With Gandhi at Darwen.

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Mohanlal Pandya
Mohanlal Pandya was an Indian freedom fighter, social reformer and one of the earliest followers of Mahatma Gandhi. Along with fellow Gandhians like Narhari Parikh and Ravi Shankar Vyas, Pandya was a key organizer of nationalist revolts in Gujarat, and a leading figure in the fight against alcoholism, illiteracy, untouchability, and a major proponent of women's freedoms and Gandhian values.
Pandya was a close associate of both Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel during the Indian Independence Movement.
Mohanlal Pandya was nicknamed as Onion Thief'''' (Dungli Chor)'' by Gandhiji because he has harvested onion from the land which was taken away by the British Government.

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Muhammad Ali Jinnah
Muhammad Ali Jinnah (Urdu: محمد علی جناح, Audio (help·info); 25 December 1876 – 11 September 1948) was a lawyer, politician and statesman who is known as being the founder of Pakistan. He is popularly and officially known in Pakistan as 'Quaid-e-Azam' (lit. Great Leader) and 'Baba-e-Qaum' (lit. Father of the Nation).
Jinnah served as leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until Pakistan's independence on 14 August 1947, and as Pakistan's first Governor-General from 15 August 1947 until his death on 11 September 1948. Jinnah rose to prominence in the Indian National Congress initially expounding ideas of Hindu-Muslim unity and helping shape the 1916 Lucknow Pact between the Muslim League and the Indian National Congress; he also became a key leader in the All India Home Rule League. He proposed a fourteen-point constitutional reform plan to safeguard the political rights of Muslims in a self-governing India.

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Muhammad Iqbal
Sir Muhammad Iqbal (Urdu: محمد اقبال) (November 9, 1877 – April 21, 1938), also known as Allama Iqbal (Urdu: علامہ اقبال), was a philosopher, poet and politician in British India who is widely regarded as having inspired the Pakistan Movement. He is considered one of the most important figures in Urdu literature, with literary work in both the Urdu and Persian languages.
Iqbal is admired as a prominent classical poet by Pakistani, Indian and other international scholars of literature. Though Iqbal is best known as an eminent poet, he is also a highly acclaimed "Muslim philosophical thinker of modern times". His first poetry book, Asrar-e-Khudi, appeared in the Persian language in 1915, and other books of poetry include Rumuz-i-Bekhudi, Payam-i-Mashriq and Zabur-i-Ajam. Amongst these his best known Urdu works are Bang-i-Dara, Bal-i-Jibril, Zarb-i Kalim and a part of Armughan-e-Hijaz. Along with his Urdu and Persian poetry, his various Urdu and English lectures and letters have been very influential in cultural, social, religious and political disputes over the years. In 1922, he was knighted by King George V, giving him the title "Sir".

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Narhari Parikh
Narhari Parikh was an Indian freedom fighter and social reformer, who was a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi and the chief architect of the Indian Independence Movement in Gujarat.^{[citation needed]}

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Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (Xhosa pronunciation: [xoˈliːɬaɬa manˈdeːla]; born 18 July 1918) is a South African politician who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, the first ever to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before being elected President, Mandela was a militant anti-apartheid activist, and the leader and co-founder of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC). In 1962 he was arrested and convicted of sabotage and other charges, and sentenced to life imprisonment. Mandela went on to serve 27 years in prison, spending many of these years on Robben Island. Following his release from prison on 11 February 1990, Mandela led his party in the negotiations that led to the establishment of democracy in 1994. As President, he frequently gave priority to reconciliation, while introducing policies aimed at combating poverty and inequality in South Africa.
In South Africa, Mandela is often known as Madiba, his Xhosa clan name; or as tata (Xhosa: father). Mandela has received more than 250 awards over four decades.

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Puli Thevar
Puli Thevar (Tamil: புலித் தேவர்) was a poligar (or palayakarar) who ruled Nerkattumseval situated in the Sankarankoil taluk of Tamil Nadu. Puli Thevar who belongs to the warrior Maravar community was one of the earliest freedom fighters. He is one of the first Indian kings to have fought and defeated the British in India.
He is one of the earliest opponents of the British rule in South India. He was involved in a vendetta with the Nawab of Arcot who was supported by the British. Thevar's prominent exploits were his confrontations with Marudhanayagam, who later rebelled against the British in the late 1750s and early 1760s.
Nelkatumseval was the headquarters of Puli Thevar, the first chieftain in India to resist the British.
The author of the Thirunelveli District Gazetteer, H.R. Pate, observes as follows:
Nelkatumseval is chiefly memorable as having been in the eighteenth Century stronghold of the redoubtable Puli Thevar, who figured for many years as the leader of the Marava Confederacy against the troops of the Nawab and the Company. He had a shrewd insight into the political situation of the time and was a veritable thorn against the side of the Nawab's agents.

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Rahul Sankrityayan
Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan (Hindi: राहुल सांकृत्यायन) (April 9, 1893 – April 14, 1963), who is called the Father of Hindi Travel literature, was one of the most widely-traveled scholars of India, spending forty-five years of his life on travels away from his home. He became a buddhist monk (Bauddha Bhikkhu) and eventually took up Marxist Socialism. Sankrityayan was also an Indian nationalist, having been arrested and jailed for three years for creating anti-British writings and speeches. He is referred as the Greatest Scholar (Mahapandit) for his scholarship. He was both a polymath as well as a polyglot.
He was born Kedarnath Pandey on 9 April 1893 to a Bhumihar Brahmin family in Azamgarh district, in Eastern Uttar Pradesh. His father, Govardhan Pandey, was a religious-minded farmer, a typical profession of Bhumihars, from the village Kanaila of Azamgarh district in Uttar Pradesh. His mother, Kulawanti, used to stay with her parents at the village of Kanaila, where Kedar was born. He was the eldest of four brothers. He spent part of his childhood in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar states of India. As his mother died at the age of twenty-eight and his father at the age of forty-five, he was brought up by his grandmother. His earliest memories as recorded by him were of the terrible famine in 1897. At age 9, he ran away from home in order to see the world, but later returned.

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Rajmohan Gandhi
Rajmohan Gandhi (born 1935, New Delhi, India) is a biographer and grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, and a research professor at the Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA.
Gandhi's maternal grandfather was C. Rajagopalachari, free India's first Head of State, the first Indian Governor General of independent India and one of the foremost fighters for Indian independence. His father was Devdas Gandhi, who was the Managing Editor of the Daily Hindustan Times. He attended St. Stephen's College, New Delhi, India. Associated from 1956 with Initiatives of Change (formerly known as Moral Re-Armament), Rajmohan Gandhi has been engaged for half a century in efforts for trust-building, reconciliation and democracy and in battles against corruption and inequalities. These efforts, made in India and across the world, have involved writing, speaking, public interventions, and organizing dialogues.
In the 1960s and early 1970s, he played a leading role in establishing Asia Plateau, the 80-acre (320,000 m²) conference centre of Initiatives of Change in the mountains of western India. Asia Plateau has been recognized in the Indian subcontinent for its ecological contribution. During the 1975-77 Emergency in India, he was active for democratic rights personally and through his weekly journal Himmat, published in Bombay from 1964 to 1981. He contested the Lok Sabha elections in 1989 but was defeated. He served (1990-92) in the Rajya Sabha (the upper house of the Indian Parliament) and led the Indian delegation to the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva in 1990. In the Indian Parliament he was the convener of the all-party joint committee of both houses addressing the condition of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

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Ram Mohan Roy
Ram Mohun Roy, Ram Mohun also spelled Rammohun, Rammohan, or Ram Mohan (Bengali: রাজা রামমোহন রায়; 22 May 1772 – 27 September 1833) was an Indian religious, social, and educational reformer who challenged traditional Hindu culture and indicated the lines of progress for Indian society under British rule. He is sometimes called the "father of modern India". He, along with Dwarkanath Tagore and other Bengalis, founded the Brahmo Sabha in 1828, which engendered the Brahmo Samaj, an influential Indian socio-religious reform movement during the Bengal Renaissance. His influence was apparent in the fields of politics, public administration, and education, as well as religion. He is known for his efforts to abolish the practice of sati, the Hindu funeral practice in which the widow immolated herself on her husband's funeral pyre.
Roy was born in Radhanagore, Hooghly, Bengal, in August 1772 or 22 May 1774, into the Rarhi Brahmin caste. His family background displayed religious diversity; his father Ramkanto Roy was a Vaishnavite, while his mother Tarinidevi was from a Shivaite family. This was unusual for Vaishanavites did not commonly marry Shaivites at that time. Thus, one parent wanted him to be a scholar, a sastrin, while the other wanted him to have a career dedicated to the laukik, which was secular public administration. He wandered around the Himalayas and went to Tibet.

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Ram Prasad Bismil
Ram Prasad Bismil (11 June 1897 - 19 December 1927) was an Indian revolutionary who participated in Mainpuri Conspiracy of 1918, and the Kakori conspiracy of 1925, both against British Empire. As well as being a freedom fighter, he was also a patriotic poet. Ram, Agyat and Bismil were known as his pen names which he used in Urdu and Hindi poetry. But, he became popular with the last name "Bismil" only. He was associated with Arya Samaj where he got inspiration from Satyarth Prakash, a book written by Swami Dayanand Saraswati. He also had a confidential connection with Lala Har Dayal through his guru Swami Somdev, who was a renowned preacher of Arya Samaj.
Bismil was one of the founder members of the revolutionary organisation Hindustan Republican Association. Bhagat Singh praised him as a great poet-writer of Urdu and Hindi, who had also translated the books Catherine from English and Bolshevikon Ki Kartoot from Bengali. Several inspiring patriotic verses are attributed to him. The famous poem "Sarfaroshi ki Tamanna" is also popularly attributed to him, although some progressive writers have remarked that 'Bismil' Azimabadi actually wrote the poem and Ram Prasad Bismil immortalized it.

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Ram Singh
Ram Singh (known by his followers as Satguru) (February 3, 1816) was a religious leader and social reformer^{[citation needed]} and the first Indian to use non-cooperation and boycotting of British merchandise and services as a political weapon. He was the religious leader of the Namdhari (Kuka) sect of Sikhism. Ram Singh launched his revolt against the British on 12 April 1857 by hoisting a white flag of freedom and announced a programme of far reaching significance.
He called for the people to boycott government services^{[citation needed]}, boycott British run educational institutions and law courts, boycott foreign made goods and defy British laws. He was the originator of the nonviolent^{[citation needed]} and civil disobedience movement in Punjab in 1872.
Ram Singh's fight for independence was a turning point in world history for it eventually sounded the death-knell of colonial rule in the British empire. Mahatma Gandhi later used the concepts of non-cooperation and civil disobedience propounded by Ram Singh as political weapons against the British^{[citation needed]}. His ideas played a key part in securing India's Independence from the British.

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Ramdas Gandhi
Ramdas Gandhi (1896–1969) was the third son of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. He was born in South Africa. He outlived his parents and all of his brothers. He and his wife Nirmal had three children; Sumitra Gandhi, Kanu Gandhi and Usha Gandhi. He was active in his father's Indian independence movement.
He had no taste for asceticism, yet participated in the grueling civil protests of the 1930s. Numerous jailings had serious effects on his health. Born and raised in South Africa, he never adjusted to the idealistic poverty imposed by his father. He had a taste for hunting. He died in the year of his father's centenary. At his fathers funeral, Ramdas Gandhi was the one who lit the fire to start the cremation, as Mahatma had wished for. He was joined by his younger brother Devdas Gandhi at the funeral.

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Rani Lakshmibai
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Lakshmi Bai, the Rani of Jhansi (c.19 November 1835 – 17 June 1858) (Marathi- झाशीची राणी लक्ष्मीबाई) was the queen of the Maratha-ruled princely state of Jhansi, situated in the north-central part of India. She was one of the leading figures of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and a symbol of resistance to the rule of the British East India Company in the subcontinent.
lakshmi Bai is born in the holy town Kashi. She was named Manikarnika and was nicknamed Manu. Her father was Moropant Tambe and her mother Bhagirathibai Tambe. Her parents hailed from Maharashtra. couple. Her mother expired when she was four. Her father worked at a court Peshwa of Bithoor district;. Peshwa did bring her up like his own daughter. The Peshwa called her as "Chhabili". The meaning of Chabili is light-heartedness. She was given education at home.
She was more independent in her childhood unlike others of her age. She studied archery, horsemanship, self-defence. Tatya Tope, was her mentor.
Lakshmibai was married to the Maharaja of Jhansi Raja Gangadhar Rao, in 1842. After her marriage she was called as Lakshmi Bai. The Raja was very friendly to her. She gave birth to a boy named Damodar Rao in 1851. However, the child died when it was four months old. After the death of their son, the Raja and Rani of Jhansi adopted a child Anand Rao. Anand Rao was the son of Gangadhar Rao's cousin, and was renamed as Damodar Rao. However, it is said that the Raja of Jhansi never recovered from his son's death, and died on 21 November 1853.

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Rash Behari Bose
Rashbehari Bose (Bengali: রাসবিহারী বসু Rashbihari Boshu) (25 May 1886 – 21 January 1945) was a revolutionary leader against the British Raj in India and was one of the key organisers of the Ghadar conspiracy and later, the Indian National Army.
Bose was born in Subaldaha village, Burdwan, in the province of Bengal. He was educated in Chandannagar, where his father, Vinodebehari Bose, was stationed.He later earned degrees in the medical sciences as well as in Engineering from France and Germany.
Though interested in revolutionary activities fro early on in his life, he left Bengal to shun the Alipore bomb casetrails of (1908). At Dehradun he worked as a head clerk at the Forest Research Institute. There, through Amarendra Chatterjee of the Jugantar led by Jatin Mukherjee(Bagha Jatin), he secretly got involved with the revolutionaries of Bengal and, thanks to Jatindra Nath Banerjee alias Niralamba Swami, the earliest political disciple of Sri Aurobindo, he came across eminent revolutionary members of the Arya Samaj in the United Provinces (currently Uttar Pradesh) and the Punjab.

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Ravi Shankar Vyas
Ravi Shankar Vyas (1884–1984) was an Indian freedom fighter and social reformer, hailing from and working in the state of Gujarat. He was one of the earliest and closest associates of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, and along with Narhari Parikh and Mohanlal Pandya, the chief organizer of nationalist revolts in Gujarat in the 1920s and 1930s. Jhaverchand Meghani wrote a novel Maansaee na deeva about the social upliftment work done by Ravi Shankar Maharaj. The novel was very well received by Gujarati readers.

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Samaldas Gandhi
Samaldas Gandhi was an Indian freedom fighter who headed the Aarzi Hukumat or Temporary Government of the erstwhile princely state of Junagadh.
Samaldas was a relative and close follower of Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of the Indian independence movement.
When the Nawab of Junagadh acceded his state to Pakistan in 1947, Samaldas headed a government-in-exile created by citizens of Junagadh to reflect the wishes of its majority population who wished the state to become part of India instead.
When Indian forces entered Junagadh and its principalities, Mangrol and Manavadar, at the invitation of the Nawab's dewan, Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto, Samaldas was invited to accept the reins of the state but deferred to the Government of India.
Samaldas Gandhi is widely remembered in Junagadh and the state of Gujarat today as a hero and patriot. There are several schools, public foundations and hospitals named after him.

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Sangolli Rayanna
Sangolli Rayanna (Kannada: ಸಂಗೊಳ್ಳಿ ರಾಯಣ್ಣ) (15 August 1798 – 26 January 1831) was a prominent freedom fighter from Karnataka, India. He fought the British till his death. He was the army chief of the Kingdom of Kittur ruled at the time by Rani Chennamma. Rayanna was born in the small village of Sangolli, he belonged to the Kuruba / Dhangar caste^{[citation needed]} and hence a warrior. A film was made on his life and achievements.
When the British wanted to secede the kingdom to their empire by putting forward the doctrine of lapse as Rani Chennamma’s son was adopted, the queen refused to secede her kingdom after her husband’s death. Aided by Rayanna, she fought British bravely but was defeated and imprisoned.
Sangolli Rayanna continued to fight the British. His land was confiscated, and of what remained of it was heavily taxed. He taxed the landlords and built up an army from the masses. He used guerrilla tactics to attack government property; burnt land records and extracted huge sums of money from notorious landlords and bureaucrats. Rayanna is considered by many historians as the pioneer of guerrilla warfare in India.^{[citation needed]} He continued this warfare till 1829.

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Sarojini Naidu
Sarojini Naidu (née Chattopadhyaya; 13 February 1879 – 2 March 1949), also known by the sobriquet The Nightingale of India (Bharatiya Kokila), was a child prodigy, Indian independence activist and poet. Naidu was the second Indian woman to become the President of the Indian National Congress and the first woman to become the Governor of Uttar Pradesh state. Her birthday is celebrated as Women's Day in India.
Sarojini Chattopadhyay, later Naidu, belonged to a Bengali family of Kulin Brahmins. She was born in Hyderabad, India as the eldest daughter of scientist, philosopher, linguist and educator Aghornath Chattopadhyaya, and Barada Sundari Devi, a Bengali poetess. After receiving a doctor of science degree from Edinburgh University, her father settled in Hyderabad State, where he founded and administered the Hyderabad College, which later became the Nizam College in Hyderabad. Her father was a linguist and thinker, and the first member of Indian National Congress in Hyderabad. Her mother, Barada Sundari Devi, was a poetess baji and used to write poetry in Bengali.

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Shrimad Rajchandra

Raychandbhai Ravajibhai Mehta, popularly known as Shrimad Rajchandra by his followers, was a prominent Jain philosopher. He is highly respected for His remarkable exposition of Bhagwan Mahavira’s teachings, great spiritual state, extraordinary personality and literary genius. He was born on November 9, 1867 in Vavania Bandar, India, and left His body on April 9, 1901 in Rajkot, India. He is especially notable for being "a guide and helper" to Mahatma Gandhi. Shrimad was also one of Gandhi's best friends, and they exchanged a series of letters about religion and philosophy until the end of Shrimad's life.
At the age of seven, on witnessing the burning pyre of a recently deceased acquaintance, He underwent unprecedented mental churning and reportedly attained 'Jatismaran jnan' (a recollection of several past lives) at the cremation ground itself. This vivid recollection of the past reportedly established continuity with his previously attained state of knowledge, meditation and penance. As a result of this purification of his consciousness, many unusual mnemonic and psychic powers reportedly manifested in him, but he chose to ignore them, focusing solely on self-realization.

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Stafford Cripps
Sir Richard Stafford Cripps (24 April 1889 – 21 April 1952) was a British Labour politician of the first half of the 20th century. During World War II he served in a number of positions in the wartime coalition, including Ambassador to the Soviet Union and Minister of Aircraft Production. After the war he served in the Attlee Ministry, firstly as President of the Board of Trade and between 1947 and 1950 as Chancellor of the Exchequer. In the latter position, Cripps was responsible for laying the foundations of Britain’s post-war economic prosperity, and was, according to the historian Eric Shaw, “the real architect of the rapidly improving economic picture and growing affluence from 1952 onwards.”
Cripps was born in London. His father was a Conservative member of the House of Commons who late in life, as Lord Parmoor, joined the Labour Party. His mother, the former Theresa Potter, was the sister of Beatrice Webb. Cripps grew up in a wealthy family and was educated at Winchester College and at University College London, where he studied chemistry. He left science for the law, and in 1912 was called to the bar as a barrister. He served in the First World War as an ambulance driver in France, and managed a factory producing armaments. He remained a barrister during the 1920s, where he specialised in patent cases, and was reported to be the highest paid lawyer in the country.

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Steve Biko
Stephen Biko (18 December 1946 – 12 September 1977) was an anti-apartheid activist in South Africa in the 1960s and 1970s.
A student leader, he later founded the Black Consciousness Movement which would empower and mobilize much of the urban black population. Since his death in police custody, he has been called a martyr of the anti-apartheid movement. While living, his writings and activism attempted to empower black people, and he was famous for his slogan "black is beautiful", which he described as meaning: "man, you are okay as you are, begin to look upon yourself as a human being".
Despite friction between the African National Congress and Biko throughout the 1970s^{[Need quotation to verify]} the ANC has included Biko in the pantheon of struggle heroes, going as far as using his image for campaign posters in South Africa's first non-racial elections in 1994.
Biko was born in King William's Town, in the present-day Eastern Cape province of South Africa. He studied to be a doctor at the University of Natal Medical School. Biko was a Xhosa. In addition to Xhosa, he spoke fluent English and fairly fluent Afrikaans.

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Subramanya Bharathi
Chinnaswami Subramanya Bharathi (Tamil: சின்னசுவாமி சுப்பிரமணிய பாரதி) (December 11, 1882 – September 11, 1921) was a Tamil writer, poet, journalist, Indian independence activist and social reformer from Tamil Nadu, India. Popularly known as Mahakavi Bharathiyar (Tamil: மகாகவி பாரதியார்), he is a pioneer of modern Tamil poetry.
Born in Ettayapuram in 1882, Subramanya Bharathi studied in Tinnevely and worked as a journalist with many newspapers, notable among them being the Swadesamitran and India. Bharathi was also an active member of the Indian National Congress. In 1908, an arrest warrant was issued against Bharathi by the government of British India for his revolutionary activities forcing him to flee to Pondicherry where he lived till 1918.
Bharathi is considered to be one of the greatest Tamil poets of the modern era. Most of his works were on religious, political and social themes. Songs penned by Bharathi have been widely used in Tamil films and Carnatic Music concert platforms.
Mahakavi Subramanya Bharathiyar was born to Chinnasami Subramanya Iyer and Elakumi Ammaal as "Subbayya" on December 11, 1882 in the Tamil village of Ettayapuram. He was educated at a local high school called "The M.D.T. Hindu College" in Tirunelveli. From a very young age he learnt music and at 11nd songs. It was here that he was conferred the title of "Bharathi" ("one blessed by Saraswati, the goddess of learning).

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Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda (pronounced: IPA: [ʂāmiː biːbeːkānoːnɗoː] listen (help·info)) (12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendra Nath Datta (IPA: [nôreːnd̪roː naːt̪ʰ d̪ôttoː] was the chief disciple of the 19th century saint Ramakrishna and the founder of the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission. He is considered a key figure in the introduction of Indian philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga to the western world, mainly in America and Europe and is also credited with raising interfaith awareness, bringing Hinduism to the status of a major world religion during the end of the 19th century CE. Vivekananda is considered to be a major force in the revival of Hinduism in modern India. He is perhaps best known for his inspiring speech which began: "Sisters and Brothers of America," through which he introduced Hinduism at the Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago in 1893.
Swami Vivekananda was born in an aristocratic Bengali Kayastha family of Calcutta on 12 January 1863. Vivekananda's parents influenced his thinking—his father by his rationality and his mother by her religious temperament. From his childhood, he showed an inclination towards spirituality and God realisation. His guru, Ramakrishna, taught him Advaita Vedanta (non-dualism); that all religions are true and that service to man was the most effective worship of God. After the Mahasamadhi of his guru, Vivekananda became a wandering monk, touring the Indian subcontinent and acquiring first-hand knowledge of conditions in India. He later travelled to Chicago and represented India as a delegate in the 1893 Parliament of World Religions. He conducted hundreds of public and private lectures and classes, disseminating Vedanta and Yoga in America, England and Europe. He also established the Vedanta societies in America and England.

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Tipu Sultan
Tipu Sultan (November 1750, Devanahalli – 4 May 1799, Seringapatam), also known as the Tiger of Mysore, was the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore. He was the son of Hyder Ali, at that time an officer in the Mysorean army, and his second wife, Fatima or Fakhr-un-Nissa. He was given a number of honorific titles, and was referred to as Sultan Fateh Ali Khan Shahab, Tipu Saheb, Bahadur Khan Tipu Sultan or Fatih Ali Khan Tipu Sultan Bahadur.
During Tipu's childhood, his father rose to take power in Mysore, and Tipu took over rule of the kingdom upon his father's death. In addition to his role as ruler, he was a scholar, soldier, and poet. He was a devout Muslim but the majority of his subjects were Hindus. At the request of the French, he built a church, the first in Mysore. He was proficient in many languages. In alliance with the French in their struggle with the British, and in Mysore's struggles with other surrounding powers, both Tipu Sultan and Hyder Ali used their French trained army against the Marathas, Sira, rulers of Malabar, Coorg, Bednur, Carnatic, and Travancore. He won important victories against the British in the Second Anglo-Mysore War, and negotiated the 1784 Treaty of Mangalore with them after his father died the previous year.

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Tushar Gandhi
Tushar Arun Gandhi (तुषार गांधी) (born 17 January 1960 near Mumbai, India) is a great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, and the son of journalist Arun Manilal Gandhi.
Born on a train between Mumbai and Kolkata, he was raised in the Mumbai suburb of Santa Cruz. He holds a degree in painting from Mithibai College.
In December 2001 he negotiated with American marketing firm CMG Worldwide to use the Mahatma’s image in an advertisement for a credit card company. The public outcry forced him to cancel the deal.
In his book Let’s Kill Gandhi, he blames Brahmins for assassinating Mahatma. Critics have claimed that the book defames all Brahmins. Gandhi has stressed that his claims relate only to "a certain group of Brahmins from Pune [who] were continuously attempting on the life of my great grandfather" rather than to Brahmins in general.
In March 2005, he led the 75th anniversary re-enactment of the Dandi March.^{[citation needed]}
In 2006, he was appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador of the Intergovernmental Institution for the use of Micro-algae Spirulina Against Malnutrition, IIMSAM that strives and advocates to make Spirulina a key driver to eradicate malnutrition, achieve food security and to bridge the health divide with special priority for the developing and the least developed countries.

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Vallabhbhai Patel
Sardar Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel (Hindi pronunciation: [ʋəlləbˈbʱaːi pəˈʈeːl] ( listen)) (31 October 1875 – 15 December 1950) was an Indian barrister and statesman, one of the leaders of the Indian National Congress and one of the founding fathers of India. He is known to be a social leader of India who played an unparalleled role in the country's struggle for independence and guided its integration into a united, independent nation.Therefore he is also regarded as "Bismarck of India". He was known as the "Iron Man of India". In India and across the world, he was often addressed as Sardar, which means Chief in Hindi, Urdu, and Persian.
He was raised in the countryside of Gujarat in a family of Gurjar Leva-Patidars Vallabhbhai Patel was employed in successful practice as a lawyer when he was first inspired by the work and philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi. Patel subsequently organised the peasants of Kheda, Borsad, and Bardoli in Gujarat in non-violent civil disobedience against oppressive policies imposed by the British Raj; in this role, he became one of the most influential leaders in Gujarat. He rose to the leadership of the Indian National Congress and was at the forefront of rebellions and political events, organising the party for elections in 1934 and 1937, and promoting the Quit India movement.

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Vinoba Bhave
Vinoba Bhave (Marathi: विनोबा भावे),Vinayak Narahari Bhave (September 11, 1895 - November 15, 1982) often called Acharya (Sanskrit for teacher), was an Indian advocate of nonviolence and human rights. He is best known for the Bhoodan Andolan. He is considered as a National Teacher of India and the spiritual successor of Mahatma Gandhi.
He was born in Gagode village in Colaba (now Raigad District of Mumbai State, Maharashtra) on September 11, 1895 into a pious family of the Chitpavan Brahmin clan. He was brought-up in Baroda. He was highly inspired after reading the Bhagavad Gita, Mahabharat, Ramayan at a very early age. His father, Naraharishumbhurao Bhave was a devout Hindu and his mother, Rukmini Devi who died in 1918, was a great influence on him. In his memoir, Bhave states that, "there is nothing to equal the part my mother played in shaping my mind". Specifically, her devotion and spirituality.
His two brothers, Balkoba Bhave and Shivaji Bhave, were also bachelors devoted to social work.

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Vitthal Ramji Shinde
Mahrshi Vitthal Ramji Shinde (April 23, 1873 – January 2, 1944) was one of the most important social and religious reformers in Maharashtra, India. He was prominent among the liberal thinkers and reformists in India, prior to her independence. His greatest contribution was to remove the practice of untouchability and bring about equality to the depressed classes in Indian society.
He was born in 1873 in the princely state of Jamkhandi in Karnataka, India, a member of a Marathi-speaking Maharashtrian family. His early childhood was influenced by a liberal family environment. The family friends and acquaintances came from all religions and castes. He was brought up to think that religion was not just a matter of a blind faith and meaningless rituals or pujas, but meant getting personally and emotionally involved in the service of God.
He was influenced by the writings of many intellectuals such as Mahatma Jotiba Phule, John Stuart Mill, Herbert Spencer, and Max Müller.
In 1898 he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Fergusson College at Pune, India. He had also studied and passed the first year law and moved to Mumbai (Bombay) for the LL.B. examination; however, he gave up this course to attend to other compelling callings in his life. This same year he joined the Prarthana Samaj, where he was further inspired and influenced by G.B. Kotkar, Shivrampant Gokhle, Justice Mahadev Govinda Ranade, Sir Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar and K.B. Marathe. He became a missionary for the Prarthana Samaj.

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Yashwantrao Holkar
H. H. Maharajadhiraj Raj Rajeshwar Sawai Shrimant Yashwant Rao Holkar (Marathi: यशवंतराव होळकर) Bahadur, Nusrat Jang, one of Maharaja from Maratha Empire, was born on 3 December 1776. He was a gifted military leader and educated in accountancy as well as literate in Persian and Marathi.
In January 1799, Yashwant Rao Holkar was crowned King, as per Hindu Vedic rites and in May, 1799, he captured Ujjain. He started campaigning towards the north to expand his empire in that region. Yashwant Rao rebelled against the policies of the Peshwa Baji Rao II. On May 1802, he marched towards Pune the seat of the Peshwa. This gave rise to the Battle of Poona in which the Peshwa was defeated. After the defeat the Peshwa he fled from Pune. Conquering Pune resulted in Yashwant Rao Holkar in charge of the administration and made some constructive steps to rebuild the Maratha Empire.

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swaraj 855 Kissan Ka Power Desh ka Bharosa

swaraj 855, swaraj 744, swaraj 735,swaraj 733 FE,swaraj 724FE,swaraj 8100 harvester combin...

published: 29 Dec 2011

author: rahuldiv5634

SWARAJ 855 VS JOHN DEERE 5310 TRALLI BACK

SWARAJ 855 VS JOHN DEERE 5310 TRALLI BACK Best Result from Swaraj 855...

published: 20 Mar 2010

author: rahuldiv5634

Swaraj Tractors

swaraj 855, swaraj 744, swaraj 735,swaraj 733 FE,swaraj 724FE,swaraj 8100 harvester combin...

published: 03 May 2010

author: rahuldiv5634

Tejinder Walia: Thoughts on Swaraj

this film is part of the hind swaraj today series which seeks to explore the essence and r...

published: 14 Oct 2011

author: Manish Jain

Historic Speech of Smt. Sushma Swaraj in Lok Sabha: 11.06.1996

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published: 27 Mar 2012

author: BJP4India

A Day in the Life of Swaraj University

Rama Barhat shares how special her new university experience is... Swaraj (Freedom) Univer...

published: 10 Oct 2010

author: womenaloudindia

sushma swaraj lok sabha speech part 1

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published: 12 Jun 2009

author: Inder Kumar

Samdhong Rimpoche: Thoughts on Swaraj

some words of wisdom on Gandhi's Hind Swaraj...shot during the Learning Societies unConfer...

published: 13 Apr 2011

author: Manish Jain

Modi is fit to be PM: Sushma Swaraj - NewsX

Narendra Modi gets a big boost ahead of the Assembly elections in Gujarat. Senior BJP lead...

published: 01 Dec 2012

author: newsxlive

Swaraj in Hiware Bazar_part1

Swaraj in Hiware Bazar_part1...

published: 15 Feb 2010

author: swarajabhiyan

Inflation Situation in India: Smt. Sushma Swaraj: 08.12.2011

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published: 08 Dec 2011

author: BJP4India

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Aviva is a 68 metres (223 ft) length motor yacht, currently the 80th longest motor yacht in the world.

Steve Jobs' Mega-Yacht Free To Sail After Temporary Reprieve

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24 Dec 2012

Steve Jobs was controversial in life, and now his high-tech mega-yacht is associated with a controversy long after his death. The former Apple CEO's ship was impounded in Amsterdam in the middle of a financial battle over a disputed bill. Phillippe Starck, a French product designer and architect, has alleged that Jobs' heirs owe him 3 million euros for his work on Venus, the 256-foot yacht Jobs commissioned before his death ...   ... ....(size: 2.6Kb)

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Article by WN.com Correspondent Dallas Darling. A deadly silence immediately followed after a bullet penetrated the calf's skull. Against my wishes, Vic had decided against either amputating its leg or contacting a veterinarian-something he reasoned would have been too expensive. The unfortunate calf had slid down into a ravine where its hind leg, which was mangled and torn, became wrapped in barbed wire ... But it was more than a bellow ... 9....(size: 6.3Kb)

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From left to right, Bahraini Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, United Arab Emirates' Vice President Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, Oman's Vice President Fahad bin Mahmoud, Kuwait's Emir Sheik Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, Saudi Crown Prince Salam bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, Qatar's Crown Prince Sheik Tameem Al Thani, and Bahraini Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, pose for picture during the Gulf Cooperation Council GCC summit in Sekhir, Bahrain, Monday, Dec. 24, 2012.

GCC states slam Iran interference in region

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The six Gulf states have sharpened their tone against their neighbour Iran, demanding an immediate halt to its "interference" in their internal affairs while urging action to halt mass killings and violations of international law in Syria ... The council said they "reject and denounce" Iran's "continued interference" in their internal affairs that increase regional tension and threaten security and stability ... 419 Source .. Agencies. Share ... ....(size: 18.7Kb)

timeline:
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Amitabh Bachchan, Sushma Swaraj among national SIES award winners

DNA India

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Amitabh Bachchan, Sushma Swaraj and Sam Pitroda at the ......(size: 0.3Kb)

Top BJP leaders, Jayalalithaa to attend Narendra Modi's swearing-in

Indian Express

26 Dec 2012

Top BJP leaders, including L K Advani, Nitin Gadkari, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Rajnath Singh and Venkaiah Naidu will be present for the swearing-in ceremony of Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Gujarat BJP spokesperson I K Jadeja said ... ....(size: 1.0Kb)

Modi takes oath as Gujarat CM

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Tweet ... Among those present on the occasion were BJP leaders Nitin Gadkari and Sushma Swaraj, Chief Ministers J ... Post comments.. ) .. ). ... . . . . . .. . . .. ....(size: 1.5Kb)

Rajya Sabha prorogued

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The move comes days after BJP leader Sushma Swaraj urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to convene a special session of Parliament for amending the existing law ......(size: 0.9Kb)

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Zeenews Bureau. Ahmedabad ... According to Gujarat BJP spokesperson IK Jadeja, "Top BJP leaders, including LK Advani, Nitin Gadkari, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Rajnath Singh and Venkaiah Naidu will be present for the swearing-in ceremony of Chief Minister Narendra Modi" ... ....(size: 1.4Kb)

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Tweet. London, December 26 (ANI). Archaeologists have discovered the remains of a Bronze Age Roman theatre - dating back 2,000 years - in the back garden of an archaeological school in Faversham, Kent ... (ANI). Read More. Swaraj Paul . C.s.k.m. School ... Hindon Air Field ... ) .. ). ... . . . . . .. . . .. ....(size: 2.4Kb)

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26 Dec 2012

KOLKATA ... A Trinamool Congress leader said, "Nobody knows if the Lok Sabha will be preponed ... Trinamool Congress leaders are not willing to seriously consider the fact that Mamata had called leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, seeking her support in a no-trust motion against the UPA government ... ....(size: 1.5Kb)

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Amid the leadership tussle in the BJP, the partys top brass was there from L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and Nitin Gadkari to CMs Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh), Raman Singh (Chhattisgarh), Jagadish Shettar (Karnataka), Manohar Parrikar (Goa) and Arjun Munda (Jharkhand) ... ....(size: 1.4Kb)

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26 Dec 2012

Cheered by hundreds of thousands, Narendra Modi Wednesday took oath as Gujarat's chief minister for the fourth time, after leading the BJP to a sweeping win in assembly elections ... Among those present on the occasion were BJP leaders Nitin Gadkari and Sushma Swaraj, Chief Ministers J ... "Leaving for swearing in ceremony....(size: 1.6Kb)

Vote a disaster: Why Congress should worry

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26 Dec 2012

It has been a public relations disaster for the Congress. As the BJP analyses the Delhi gang rape fallout, they sense a “complete disconnect” of the UPA government with the larger urban electorate across the country ... But it has raised two valid demands through Sushma Swaraj, leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha . ....(size: 2.0Kb)

Live: Narendra Modi set to take oath as Gujarat CM

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Zeenews Bureau. Ahmedabad ... LK Advani, Nitin Gadkari, Sushma Swaraj, Vasundhara Raje, Rajnath Singh, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Vijay Malhotra, Jayalalitha, Arun Shourie, Gopinath Munde, Kalraj Mishra are in Ahmedabad for Modi's oath taking function. Modi's mother has reached the stadium ... Modi's mother has reached the stadium ... First Published ... ....(size: 1.7Kb)

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26 Dec 2012

AHMEDABAD. While campaigning for a hat-trick of wins in the Gujarat assembly, chief minister Narendra Modi had asked voters to ignore all other candidates and vote only for him ... Besides top BJP leaders like L K Advani, Nitin Gadkari, Sushma Swaraj, and Jaitley, spiritual leaders like Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and Morari Bapu are also expected to attend the ceremony. ....(size: 1.8Kb)

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This article is about the concept of Swaraj developed by Mohandas Gandhi. For the general usage of the term, see Self-governance. For other uses, see Swaraj (disambiguation).

Mahatma Gandhi (right)

Swaraj can mean generally self-governance or "self-rule", and was used synonymously with "home-rule" by Gandhi^[1] (Hindi: swa- "self", raj "rule") but the word usually refers to Gandhi's concept for Indian independence from foreign domination.^[2] Swaraj lays stress on governance not by a hierarchical government, but self governance through individuals and community building. The focus is on political decentralization.^[3] Since this is against the political and social systems followed by Britain, Gandhi's concept of Swaraj laid stress on India discarding British political, economic, bureaucratic, legal, military, and educational institutions.^[4]

Although Gandhi's aim of totally implementing the concepts of Swaraj in India was not achieved, the voluntary work organizations which he founded for this purpose did serve as precursors and role models for peoples movements, voluntary organisations and some of the non-governmental organisations that were subsequently launched in various parts of India.^[5] The Bhoodan movement which presaged land reform legislation activity throughout India, ultimately leading to India discarding the Zamindari system, was also inspired by the ideas of Swaraj.

1 Key concepts
2 After Gandhi
3 References
4 External links

Key concepts [link]

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Swaraj

Swaraj warrants a stateless society; according to Gandhi, the overall impact of the state on the people is harmful. He called the state a "soulless machine" which, ultimately, does the greatest harm to mankind.^[6] The raison d'etre of the state is that it is an instrument of serving the people. But Gandhi feared that in the name of moulding the state into a suitable instrument of serving people, the state would abrogate the rights of the citizens and arrogate to itself the role of grand protector and demand abject acquiescence from them. This would create a paradoxical situation where the citizens would be alienated from the state and at the same time enslaved to it which according to Gandhi was demoralising and dangerous. If Gandhi's close acquaintance with the working of the state apparatus in South Africa and in India strengthened his suspicion of a centralized, monolithic state, his intimate association with the Congress and its leaders confirmed his fears about the corrupting influence of political power and his skepticism about the efficacy of the party systems of power politics (due to which he resigned from the Congress on more than one occasion only to be persuaded back each time) and his study of the British parliamentary systems convinced him that representative democracy was incapable of meting out justice to people.^[7] So he thought it necessary to evolve a mechanism to achieve the twin objectives of empowering the people and 'empowering' the state. It was for this that he developed the two pronged strategy of resistance (to the state) and reconstruction (through voluntary and participatory social action).

Although the word Swaraj means self-rule, Gandhi gave it the content of an integral revolution that encompasses all spheres of life. "At the individual level Swaraj is vitally connected with the capacity for dispassionate self-assessment, ceaseless self-purification and growing self-reliance".^[8] Politically swaraj is self-government and not good government (for Gandhi, good government is no substitute for self government) and it means a continuous effort to be independent of government control, whether it is foreign government or whether it is national. In other words, it is sovereignty of the people based on pure moral authority. Economically, Swaraj means full economic freedom for the toiling millions. And in its fullest sense, Swaraj is much more than freedom from all restraints, it is self-rule, self-restraint and could be equated with moksha or salvation.^[9]

Adopting Swaraj means implementing a system whereby the state machinery is virtually nil, and the real power directly resides in the hands of people. Gandhi said, "Power resides in the people, they can use it at any time."^[10] This philosophy rests inside an individual who has to learn to be master of his own self and spreads upwards to the level of his community which must be dependent only on itself. Gandhi said, "In such a state (where swaraj is achieved) everyone is his own ruler. He rules himself in such a manner that he is never a hindrance to his neighbour";^[11] and also "It is Swaraj when we learn to rule ourselves."^[12]

Gandhi explained his vision in 1946:

"Independence begins at the bottom... A society must be built in which every village has to be self sustained and capable of managing its own affairs... It will be trained and prepared to perish in the attempt to defend itself against any onslaught from without... This does not exclude dependence on and willing help from neighbours or from the world. It will be a free and voluntary play of mutual forces... In this structure composed of innumerable villages, there will be ever widening, never ascending circles. Growth will not be a pyramid with the apex sustained by the bottom. But it will be an oceanic circle whose center will be the individual. Therefore the outermost circumference will not wield power to crush the inner circle but will give strength to all within and derive its own strength from it."^[13]

Gandhi was undaunted by the task of implementing such a utopian vision in India. He believed that by transforming enough individuals and communities society at large would change. He said, "It may be taunted with the retort that this is all Utopian and, therefore not worth a single thought... Let India live for the true picture, though never realizable in its completeness. We must have a proper picture of what we want before we can have something approaching it."^[14]

After Gandhi [link]

After Gandhi's assassination Vinoba Bhave formed the Sarva Seva Sangh at the national level and Sarvodya Mandals at the regional level to the carry on integrated village service - with the end purpose of achieving the goal of Swaraj. Two major nonviolent movements for socio-economic and political revolution in India: the Bhoodan movement led by Vinoba Bhave and the Total Revolution movement led by Jayaprakash Narayan were actually held under the aegis of the ideas of Swaraj. These movements had some success, but due to the socialist tendencies of Nehruvian India were not able to unleash the kind of revolution that was aimed at.

Gandhi's model of Swaraj was almost entirely discarded by the Indian government. He had wanted a system of a classless, stateless direct democracy.^[15] In what is known as his Last Will and Testament Gandhi suggested the disbanding of the Congress as a political forum. He said, "Its task is done. The next task is to move into villages and revitalize life there to build a new socio-economic structure from the bottom upwards."^[16] He wanted the Congress party to change into a constructive work organisation - Lok Sewak Sangh was the name he proposed - to conscientise and mobilise the people to work and struggle for Swaraj. However none of these objectives were achieved when India became independent. India, although a federation, got a strong central government. Representative democracy, rather than direct democracy was adopted. The Congress Party was not disbanded. Rather it went on to become one of the frontrunners in running the government of India.

Additionally, modern India has kept in place many aspects of British (and Western) influence, including widespread use of the English language, Common-law, industrialization, liberal democracy, military organisation, and the bureaucracy.

References [link]

^ Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule, Gandhi, 1909
^ What is Swaraj?. Retrieved on July 12, 2007.
^ Parel, Anthony. Hind Swaraj and other writings of M. K. Gandhi. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge, 1997.
^ What is Swaraj?. Retrieved on March 3, 2007.
^ What Swaraj meant to Gandhi. Retrieved on September 17, 2008.
^ Jesudasan, Ignatius. A Gandhian theology of liberation. Gujarat Sahitya Prakash: Ananda India, 1987, pp 236-237.
^ Hind Swaraj. M.K. Gandhi. Chapter V
^ M. K. Gandhi, Young India, June 28, 1928, p. 772.
^ "M. K. Gandhi, Young India, December 8, 1920, p.886 (See also Young India, August 6, 1925, p. 276 and Harijan, March 25, 1939, p.64.)
^ Jesudasan, Ignatius. A Gandhian theology of liberation. Gujarat Sahitya Prakash: Ananda India, 1987, pp 251.
^ Murthy, Srinivas.Mahatma Gandhi and Leo Tolstoy Letters. Long Beach Publications: Long Beach, 1987, pp 13.
^ M. K. Gandhi. Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule. Ahmedabad, Gujarat: Navajivan Publishing House, 1938.
^ Murthy, Srinivas.Mahatma Gandhi and Leo Tolstoy Letters. Long Beach Publications: Long Beach, 1987, pp 189.
^ Parel, Anthony. Hind Swaraj and other writings of M. K. Gandhi. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge, 1997, pp 189.
^ Bhattacharyya, Buddhadeva. Evolution of the political philosophy of Gandhi. Calcutta Book House: Calcutta, 1969, pp 479.
^ Jesudasan, Ignatius. A Gandhian theology of liberation. Gujarat Sahitya Prakash: Ananda India, 1987, pp 225.

External links [link]

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Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

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The Story of My Experiments with Truth
Swadeshi
Swaraj

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Influenced

Memorials

Physical	Gandhi Smriti Kanyakumari Martin Luther King, Jr., National Historic Site National Gandhi Museum Pietermaritzburg Rajghat

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Sushma Swaraj

Leader of Opposition (Lok Sabha)
Incumbent
Assumed office 18 December 2009
Preceded by	Lal Krishna Advani
Constituency	Vidisha (Madhya Pradesh)
Minister of Information and Broadcasting
In office 30 September 2000 – 29 January 2003
Prime Minister	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Chief Minister of Delhi
In office 13 October 1998 – 3 December 1998
Minister of Information and Broadcasting and Telecommunications
In office 19 March 1998 – 12 October 1998
Prime Minister	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Minister of Information and Broadcasting
In office 16 May 1996 – 1 June 1996
Prime Minister	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Haryana State Minister of Education, Food and Civil Supplies
In office 1987–1990
Haryana State Minister of Labour and Employment
In office 1977–1979
Personal details
Born	(1952-02-14) 14 February 1952 (age 60) Palwal, Haryana
Political party	Bharatiya Janata Party
Spouse(s)	Swaraj Kaushal
Residence	New Delhi
Alma mater	Punjab University, Chandigarh
Profession	Lawyer
Military service
Awards	Outstanding Parliamentarian Award in 2004 and 2010

Sushma Swaraj (Hindi: सुष्मा स्वराज pronunciation (help·info)) (born 14 February 1952) is an Indian politician of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)and Member of Parliament. She is currently the Leader of the Opposition in the 15th Lok Sabha. She is a former union cabinet minister of India and a former Chief Minister of Delhi. Also she served as the Chairperson of the BJP's 19 member campaign committee for the 2009 General Elections. She was the first female Chief Minister of Delhi.

1 Early life
2 Political career
- 2.1 Leader of the opposition
3 Personal life
4 Positions held
5 External links
6 References

Early life [link]

She was born in Palwal, Haryana. She was educated at Sanatan Dharma College, Ambala Cantonment and earned a B.A. degree. She studied LL.B. from the Law Department of Punjab University, Chandigarh. She is an advocate by profession.^[1]

She has been associated with many social and cultural bodies in various capacities. She was President of the Sahitya Sammelan, Haryana for four years.

Political career [link]

Sushma Swaraj began her political career as a student leader in the 1970s, organizing protests against Indira Gandhi's government. She was a member of the Haryana Legislative Assembly from 1977–82 and then from 1987–90. As a Janata Party MLA in Devi Lal's government, she was the Cabinet Minister of Labour and Employment (1977–1979). She joined the BJP in 1980. Under a combined Lok Dal-BJP government led by Devi Lal, she was the Cabinet Minister of Education, Food and Civil Supplies (1987–1990). She was judged Best Speaker of Haryana State Assembly for three consecutive years.

In 1980, 1984, and 1989, she unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha elections from Karnal in Haryana. All three times, she was defeated by the Congress Party's Chiranji Lal Sharma.

She was elected as a member of the Rajya Sabha in 1990. In 1996, she was elected to the 11th Lok Sabha from South Delhi. She was Union Cabinet Minister of Information and Broadcasting in 1996, during the 13-day Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government.

She was re-elected to 12th Lok Sabha for a 2nd term in 1998. Under the second Vajpayee government, she retained the Information and Broadcasting ministry and had additional charge of the Ministry of Telecommunications from 19 March to 12 October 1998.

She left the Union Cabinet from October – December 1998 to serve as the first woman Chief Minister of Delhi. The BJP lost the assembly elections, and she returned to national politics.

In 1999, she took on a high profile as she contested against the Congress party's President, Sonia Gandhi, from the Bellary constituency in Karnatka, which had returned Congress winners since India's independence. The fervent, high-pitched campaign came to an end with the expected loss of Sushma.

She returned to Parliament in April 2000 as a Rajya Sabha member from Uttarakhand.^[2] She was re-inducted into the cabinet as the Minister of Information and Broadcasting, which she held from September 2000 until January 2003. At that time, she was made the Minister of Health and Family Welfare, and also held the post of Minister of Parliamentary Affairs. She held these posts from January 2003 until May 2004, when the National Democratic Alliance government lost elections.

In a heavily publicized and emotionally charged episode following the elections, Sushma Swaraj threatened to shave her head, don a white saree and eat groundnuts (symbolically mourning) if Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born Congress leader, became Prime Minister of India.

She was re-elected to the Rajya Sabha in April 2006 from Madhya Pradesh. She served as the deputy leader of BJP in Rajya Sabha. Speculation ran high that Sushma Swaraj was one of the top contenders to be President of the BJP, following Advani's resignation from that role in late 2005. Rajnath Singh ultimately was elected to that post.

She won the 2009 election to the 15th Lok Sabha from the Vidisha constituency in Madhya Pradesh, on a BJP candidacy, by a highest margin of 4.01 lakh votes. This is her 10th election.

She has been awarded by Outstanding Parliamentarian Award twice.

Leader of the opposition [link]

Sushma Swaraj appointed as leader of the opposition party and replaced Lal Krishna Advani in December 2009 in the 15th Lok Sabha,^[3]

Personal life [link]

She married Swaraj Kaushal Madahar on 13 July 1975 and has a daughter.

Positions held [link]

1977–82 and 1987–90 Member, Haryana Legislative Assembly.^[1]
1977–79 Cabinet Minister, Labour and Employment, Government of Haryana.^[1]
1987–90 Cabinet Minister, Education, Food and Civil Supplies, Government of Haryana.^[1]
April 1990 Elected to Rajya Sabha
1996 Member, Eleventh Lok Sabha
16 May-1 June 1996 Union Cabinet Minister, Information and Broadcasting.^[1]
1998 Member, Twelfth Lok Sabha (2nd term)
19 March-12 Oct.1998 Union Cabinet Minister, Information and Broadcasting and Telecommunications (Additional charge)
13 Oct.-3 Dec. 1998 Chief Minister, Delhi
April 2000 Elected to Rajya Sabha (2nd term)^[4]
30 Sept. 2000–29 Jan. 2003 Minister of Information and Broadcasting
29 Jan. 2003 – 22 May 2004 Minister of Health and Family Welfare and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs
April 2006 Re-elected to Rajya Sabha (3rd term)^[5]
16 May 2009 Elected to the 15th Lok Sabha.^[1]
3 June 2009 Elected as Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.^[1]
18 Dec 2009 Sushma Swaraj appointed as leader of the opposition party and replaced Lal Krishna Advani in December 2009.

External links [link]

Official website of BJP

References [link]

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Detailed Profile – Smt. Sushma Swaraj – Members of Parliament (Lok Sabha) – Who's Who – Government: National Portal of India. India.gov.in. Retrieved on 2011-07-30.
^ SUSHMA SWARAJ (1952--)
^ "Advani quits, Sushma appointed Lok Sabha Opposition leader". The Times of India. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Advani-quits-Sushma-appointed-Lok-Sabha-Opposition-leader/articleshow/5352525.cms. Retrieved 2009-12-18. ^{[dead link]}
^ Brief Bio-data. Member of Rajya Sabha. SUSHMA SWARAJ, SHRIMATI
^ Detailed Profile – - Members of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) – Who's Who – Government: National Portal of India. India.gov.in. Retrieved on 2011-07-30.

Political offices
Preceded by Sahib Singh Verma	Chief Minister of the Delhi 1998	Succeeded by Sheila Dikshit

Persondata
Name	Swaraj, Sushma
Alternative names
Short description	Indian politician
Date of birth	14 February 1952
Place of birth	Karnal, Haryana
Date of death
Place of death

http://wn.com/Sushma_Swaraj

http://hi.wn.com/सुषमा स्वराज

http://pl.wn.com/Sushma Swaraj

This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sushma_Swaraj

This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.

Bal Thackeray

Founder and chief of the Shiv Sena
Personal details
Born	(1926-01-23) 23 January 1926 (age 86)^[1] Mumbai, Pune, Maharashtra^[2]
Political party	Shiv Sena
Spouse(s)	Mina Thackeray
Children	Bindumadhav Thackeray Jaidev Thackeray Uddhav Thackeray
Residence	Mumbai, India
As of May 4, 2008

Bal Keshav Thackeray^[1] ([ʈʰakəɾe]; born 23 January 1926^[1]), popularly known as Hinduhriday Samraat Balasaheb Thackeray, is an Indian politician, founder and chief of the Shiv Sena, a right-wing Hindu nationalist, and Marathi ethnocentric party active mainly in the western Indian state of Maharashtra.

Born in Pune, Thackeray began his professional career as a cartoonist with the English language daily the The Free Press Journal in Mumbai, but left it in 1960 to form his own political weekly Marmik. His political philosophy was largely shaped by his father Keshav Sitaram Thackeray, a leading figure in the Samyukta Maharashtra movement (United Maharashtra movement), which advocated the creation of a separate linguistic state of Maharashtra. Through Marmik, he campaigned against the growing influence of Gujaratis, Marwaris, and southern Indians in Mumbai.^[1] In 1966, Thackeray formed the Shiv Sena party to advocate more strongly the place of Maharashtrians in Mumbai's political and professional landscape. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Thackeray built the party by forming temporary alliances with nearly all of Maharashtra's political parties.^[3]

A controversial figure, Thackeray has attracted significant attention by making statements expressing admiration for Hitler as an artist and demagogue, while condemning the Holocaust, inciting violence against Muslims, expressing support for the LTTE, and taking strong stances on the aspects of popular culture, including fervent opposition to the celebration of Valentine's Day.^[3]

1 Early life and career
2 Controversies
3 Views on Muslims
4 Views on people from Uttar Pradesh & Bihar
5 Admiration of Hitler
6 Valentine's Day protests
7 Threats for the Final match of ICC World Cup Cricket Tournament
8 Cultural references
9 See also
10 References
11 External links

Early life and career [link]

He was born to Keshav Sitaram Thackeray (also known as Prabodhankar Thackeray because of his articles in his fortnightly magazine named Prabodhan or 'Enlightenment') in a lower-middle class, Marathi family. Keshav Thackeray was a progressive social activist and writer who was against caste biases and played a key role in the Samyukta Maharashtra Chalwal (literally, United Maharashtra Movement) in the 1950s to form the Marathi-speaking state of Maharashtra with Mumbai as its capital. Shiv sainiks called them 'Hindu Hriday Samrat' with love (Emperor of Hindu's heart)

Bal Thackeray started his career as a cartoonist in the Free Press Journal in Mumbai.^[4] His cartoons were also published in the Sunday edition of The Times of India. In 1960, he launched a cartoon weekly Marmik with his brother.^[4] He used it to campaign against the growing numbers of and influence of non-Marathi people in Mumbai targeting Gujaratis and South Indian labor workers.^[4]

He formed the Shiv Sena on 19 June 1966 with the intent of fighting for the rights of the natives of the state of Maharashtra (called Maharashtrians).^[5] The early objective of the Shiv Sena was to ensure job security for Maharashtrians competing against immigrants from southern India, Gujaratis and Marwaris.^[6]

In 1989, the Sena's newspaper Saamna was launched.^[7]

Politically, the Sena was anti-communist, and wrested control of major trade unions in Mumbai from the Communist Party of India and demanded protection money(extortion) from mainly Gujarati and marwari business leaders. It later allied itself with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the common issue of Hindu Nationalism which both parties believed in. The BJP-Shiv Sena combine won the 1995 Maharashtra State Assembly elections and came to power. During the tenure of the government from 1995 to 1999, Thackeray was nicknamed 'remote control' since he played a major role in government policies and decisions from behind the scenes.

On July 28, 1999 Bal Thackeray was banned from voting and contesting in any election for six years from December 11, 1999 till December 10, 2005 on the recommendations of the Election Commission.^[8] After the six-year voting ban on Bal Thackeray was lifted in 2005, he voted for the first time in the 2006 BMC elections.^[9]

Thackeray has claimed that the Shiv Sena has helped the Marathi manoos (the Marathi commoner) in Mumbai and also fought for the rights of Hindu people,Thackeray is a staunch Hindu and believes that Hindus must be organised to struggle against those who oppose their identity and religion.^[10] especially in the public sector.^[11] Opposition leftist parties allege that the Shiv Sena has done little to solve the problem of unemployment facing a large proportion of Maharashtrian youth during its tenure, in contradiction to its ideological foundation of 'sons of the soil.'^[12]

Controversies [link]

In 2002, Thackeray issued a call to form Hindu suicide squads to counter alleged Muslim violence:

If such suicide squads are formed only then can we take on perpetrators of mindless violence.^[13]

In reaction to Thackeray’s call, Maharashtra government registered a case against him for inciting enmity between different groups.^[14]

Asia Times further reported on Thackeray’s rhetoric:

'to take the Muslims head on'. 'Trouble-making Muslims should be wiped out from the country... kick out the four crore [40 million] Bangladeshi Muslims and then the country will be secure', the Shiv Sena leader said. Urging Hindus to start calling India 'Hindu rashtra' (Hindu nation), he maintained that only 'our religion Hinduism is to be honored here' and then 'we will look after other religions'.^[15]

At least two organizations founded and managed by the retired Indian Army officers namely Lt Col (retired) Jayant Rao Chitale and Lt Ge. P.N. Hoon (former commander-in-chief of the Western Command), answered Bal Thackeray’s call to set up the suicide squads in India. Lt Gen. Hoon claimed, Thackeray instructed him to set up the training camps through his writings and inflammatory articles.^[16]

Thackeray continues to publish inflammatory editorials in his party's newsletter, Saamana (Confrontation).

In February 2010, Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan's film My Name Is Khan was opposed by Bal Thackeray and his party members for the former's remarks supporting cultural interaction between Indians and Pakistanis help build friendly relations between the two nations. This especially created a furore since it was unofficially decided by most people in India to not allow Pakistanis to work in India due to the ramprant terror attacks carried out on Indian Soil by militants sponsored by Pakistani elements.^[17]^[18]

Views on Muslims [link]

Thackeray's views have typically been highly anti-Muslim. He is usually attacking them and occasionally sympathizing with them. He has declared that he is 'not against every Muslim, but only those who reside in this country but do not obey the laws of the land.... I consider such people traitors.'^[19] His party is viewed as being anti-Muslim, though Shiv Sainiks officially reject this accusation.^[20] When explaining his views on Hindutva, he has conflated Islam with violence and has called for Hindus to 'fight terrorism and fight Islam'.^[21] In an interview in Suketu Mehta's book 'Maximum City', he advocates the hanging of Indian Muslims who indulge in terrorism and mass expulsion of Bangladeshi Muslim migrants from India.

In the 1980s he had stated that:

'"They [Muslims] are spreading like a cancer and should be operated on like a cancer. The... country should be saved from the Muslims and the police should support them [Hindu Maha Sangh] in their struggle just like the police in Punjab were sympathetic to the Khalistanis.'^[22]

Balasaheb Thackeray criticized and challenged Indian Muslims through his party newspaper, Sāmna, around the time the 16th century Babri Masjid was demolished by members of the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) in the northern town of Ayodhya, on December 6, 1992. Hindus believe that the Babri Mosque was built on the demolished ruins of a Hindu temple in the 16th century, and consider it to be the Ram Janmabhoomi (birthplace of the Hindu God Rama, an avatar of Vishnu, one of the Trimurti of the Hindu Pantheon). The communal riots that followed the demolition of the mosque led to nearly a 1000 deaths and many enquiry committees constituted by the government have accused Shiv Sena and Thackeray of being involved in and coordinating the riots. Thackeray however has shown no regret and feels that he is proud of what he and his partymen did back in those days because he feels that if it was not for the Shiv Sena then no one would have been able to control the Muslims after the demolition of the mosque.

However, in an interview in 1998, he claims to have tempered his stance on many issues that the Shiv Sena had with Muslims, particularly regarding the Babri Mosque or Ram Janmabhoomi issue,^[23] saying:

'We must look after the Muslims and treat them as part of us.'^[23]

Although 10 years later in 2008, he wrote:

'Islamic terrorism is growing and Hindu terrorism is the only way to counter it. We need suicide bomb squads to protect India and Hindus'.^[24]

He has since made more inflammatory statements regarding Muslims, and reiterated his desire for Hindus to unite across linguistic barriers and to see 'a Hindustan for Hindus' and to 'bring Islam in this country down to its knees'.^[25]

However, he has also expressed admiration for Muslims in Mumbai in the wake of the 11 July 2006 Mumbai train bombings perpetrated by Islamic fundamentalists. In response to threats made by the leader of the Samajwadi Party that accusations of terrorism directed at Indian Muslims would bring about communal strife, Thackeray said that the unity of Mumbaikars (residents of Mumbai) in the wake of the terrorist attacks was 'a slap to fanatics of Samajwadi Party leader Abu Asim Azmi' and that Thackeray 'salute(s) those Muslims who participated in the two minutes' silence on July 18 to mourn the blast victims'.^[26]

Views on people from Uttar Pradesh & Bihar [link]

Main article: 2008 attacks on North Indians in Maharashtra

On March 6, 2008, Bal Thackeray issued an editorial titled Ek Bihari, Sau Bimari^[27] (One Bihari, Hundred maladies)^[28] in Saamna, Shiv Sena's political mouthpiece, saying Biharis were 'an unwanted lot' in the Maharashtra. In what was termed as an apparent bid to recapture his party's Marathi sons of soil plank, which was being hijacked by the MNS leader Raj Thackeray, Bal Thackeray wrote about Biharis,^[29]

'They [Biharis] are not wanted in southern India, Assam and also Punjab and Chandigarh. The Biharis have antagonised local population wherever they had settled. The UP-Bihari MPs have shown their ingratitude towards Mumbai and Maharashtra with an anti-Marathi tirade in Parliament.'^[29]

He also denounced Bihari MPs, saying they were 'spitting in the same plate from which they ate' by criticising Mumbaikars and Maharashtrians. He also wrote, 'They are trying to add fuel to the fire that has been extinguished, by saying that Mumbaikars have rotten brains'. Additionally, he criticized a major holiday celebrated by people from Bihar, and eastern UP which happens six days after the Hindu New Year (Diwali) known as Chath Pooja. He said that it wasn't a real holiday.^[30] The outburst was apparently in response to MPs from Bihar who had disrupted the proceedings of the Lok Sabha in protest against the attacks on North Indians.^[30]

Bihar chief minister, Nitish Kumar, upset with the remarks, demanded that the Prime Minister and the Centre intervene in the matter immediately. The Saamna editorial prompted at least 16 Lok Sabha MPs from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, belonging to the RJD, JD (U), SP and the Congress, to give notice for breach of privilege proceedings against Bal Thackeray.^[30] After the matter was raised in the Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said: 'If anybody has made any comment on our members’ functioning in the conduct of business in the House, not only do we treat that with the contempt that it deserves, but also any action that may be necessary will be taken according to procedure and well established norms. Nobody will be spared.'^[30]

On March 27, 2008 in protest against Balasaheb Thackeray's editorial, leaders of Shiv Sena in Delhi resigned citing its 'outrageous conduct' towards non-Marathis in Maharashtra and announced that they will form a separate party.^[31] Addressing a press conference Shiv Sena's North India chief Jai Bhagwan Goyal said the decision to leave the party was taken because of the 'partial attitude' of the party high command towards Maharashtrians. 'Shiv Sena is no different from Khalistan and Jammu and Kashmir militant groups which are trying to create a rift between people along regional lines. The main aim of these forces is to split our country. Like the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, the Shiv Sena too has demeaned North Indians and treated them inhumanely', he said.^[31]^[32]

Admiration of Hitler [link]

Thackeray^[33]^[34] has attracted controversy for his praise of Adolf Hitler.

Apparently he was quoted by Asiaweek as saying:

'I am a great admirer of Hitler, and I am not ashamed to say so! I do not say that I agree with all the methods he employed, but he was a wonderful organizer and orator, and I feel that he and I have several things in common.... What India really needs is a dictator who will rule benevolently, but with an iron hand.' [2]

In an interview with the Indian Express that was printed on January 29, 2007, Thackeray remarked,

Hitler did very cruel and ugly things. But he was an artist, I love him (for that). He had the power to carry the whole nation, the mob with him. You have to think what magic he had. He was a miracle.... The killing of Jews was wrong. But the good part about Hitler was that he was an artist. He was a daredevil. He had good qualities and bad. I may also have good qualities and bad ones. [3]

However, in the Star Talk talk show on channel Star Plus, he claimed himself not to admire Hitler.^[35]

Valentine's Day protests [link]

Boycotting shops and restaurants that allow young people to celebrate the Western holiday of Valentine's Day, interpreted as bestial, indecent and a-Bharatiya (un-Indian) by Thackeray, is one of his recent actions. These boycotts have often culminated in violence and the destruction of those shops.

On February 14, 2006, Balasaheb Thackeray condemned and apologized for the violent attacks of Shiv Sena members upon a private Valentine's Day celebration in Mumbai. 'It is said that women were beaten up in the Nallasopara incident. If that really happened, then it is a symbol of cowardice', Thackeray said, 'I have always instructed Shiv Sainiks that in any situation women should not be humiliated and harassed.'[4] Thackeray and the Shiv Sena remain opposed to Valentine's Day celebrations, although they may support an 'Indian alternative'.[5] However, in some cases, the Sena has been more tolerant during Valentine's Day celebrations and consider itself self appointed cultural pride ^[36]

Threats for the Final match of ICC World Cup Cricket Tournament [link]

Just before the "ICC World Cup Cricket Tournament" begins, Manohar Joshi, a senior leader of Shiv Sena, announced that, if the Pakistan team reaches the final (scheduled in Mumbai), Bal Thackeray will decide whether to allow them to play or not.^[37]

Cultural references [link]

Thackery is satirized in Salman Rushdie's novel The Moor's Last Sigh as 'Raman Fielding'. Suketu Mehta interviews Thackeray in his critically acclaimed, Pulitzer-nominated, non-fiction 2004 book Maximum City. The Sarkar (film) series is reportedly based on the Thackeray family and this idea was furthered in the second film in which the character of Sanjay Somji was expected to represent Raj Thackeray.

References [link]

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Roar of the Tiger". Daily News and Analysis (DNA). http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/slideshow_roar-of-the-tiger_1497754#top. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
^ "‘Pune Ratna’ award for Thackeray". The Indian Express. 22 May 2010. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/pune-ratna-award-for-thackeray/622143/. Retrieved 24 September 2011.
^ ^a ^b Kaminsky, Arnold P.; Long, Roger D. (2011). India Today: An Encyclopedia of Life in the Republic (illustrated ed.). ABC-CLIO. pp. 693–4. ISBN 978-0-313-37462-3.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Roar of the Tiger - DNA". Dnaindia.com. http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/slideshow_roar-of-the-tiger_1497754#top. Retrieved 2012-03-31.
^ Know your party: Shiv Sena - Rediff
^ "Roar of the Tiger - DNA". Dnaindia.com. http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/slideshow_roar-of-the-tiger_1497754-2#top. Retrieved 2012-03-31.
^ "Roar of the Tiger - DNA". Dnaindia.com. http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/slideshow_roar-of-the-tiger_1497754-4#top. Retrieved 2012-03-31.
^ "Banned from voting". The Hindu. http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/revents/01/19990199.htm#jul. Retrieved 1999-07-28.
^ "Thackeray ke Bal par...". Mid Day. http://www.mid-day.com/news/2009/oct/141009-Bal-Thackeray-Uddhav-Aditya-polling-booth-Election.htm. Retrieved 2009-10-14.
^ "On the wrong track". The Hindu. http://www.hinduonnet.com/2003/11/24/stories/2003112400851000.htm. Retrieved 2006-08-11.
^ "Sena fate: From roar to meow". The Times of India. 2005-11-29. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1311115,prtpage-1.cms. Retrieved 2006-08-11.
^ "Diversionary tactics". The Hindu Frontline Magazine. http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2025/stories/20031219008601500.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-08.
^ "Thackeray for Hindu suicide squads". Times of India. 2002-10-15. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/articleshow?artid=25248436. Retrieved 2007-08-25.
^ "Case filed against Thackeray for urging anti-terror suicide-squads". ExpressIndia.com. http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=15895. Retrieved 2007-08-25.
^ "India: The politics of passion". Asia Times. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/DJ31Df02.html. Retrieved 2007-08-25.
^ "Sena land sires suicide camps". The Telegraph. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1021115/asp/frontpage/story_1387146.asp. Retrieved 2007-08-30.
^ "Despite Sena threat, 'MNIK' opens to packed theatres across country". TOI. 2010-02-12. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Despite-Sena-threat-MNIK-opens-to-packed-theatres-across-country/articleshow/5564410.cms. Retrieved 2010-02-28.
^ . IBN. http://ibnlive.in.com/blogs/rajdeepsardesai/1/61523/an-open-letter-to-uddhav-thackeray.html. Retrieved 2010-02-28.
^ Britannica.com
^ "Know your party: Shiv Sena - Lok Sabha Election news 2009 - Rediff.com". In.rediff.com. 2004-04-23. http://in.rediff.com/election/2004/apr/23espec3.htm. Retrieved 2012-03-31.
^ Thackeray lashes out at Prez again,ibnlive
^ Bal Thackeray in India Today, June 15, 1984.
^ ^a ^b The Rediff Election Interview/Bal Thackeray,Rediff.com
^ [ibnpolitics|http://ibnlive.in.com/news/politicians-indulge-in-hate-speech-with-impunity/89623-37-64.html]
^ http://www.expressindia.com/election/fullestory.php?type=ei&content_id=80435 Hindustan of Hindus my dream: Thackeray, expressindia.com
^ "Mumbai's unity a slap to fanatics: Thackeray". The Times Of India. 2006-07-20. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1783408.cms.
^ Ganesh Kanate; Shubhangi Khapre. "Now, it’s Bal Thackeray’s turn to rail against Biharis". Daily News & Analysis. http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1154619. Retrieved 2008-04-04.
^ "Biharis are an affliction, says Bal Thackeray". Bihar Times. 2008-03-05. Archived from the original on 2008-05-10. http://web.archive.org/web/20080510232211/http://bihartimes.com/newsbihar/2008/march/newsbihar05march6.html. Retrieved 2008-06-06.
^ ^a ^b "Biharis an unwanted lot: Bal Thackeray". The Times of India. 2008-03-05. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2839844.cms. Retrieved 2008-04-04.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Rattled by Raj, Thackeray abuses Biharis news". The Indian Express. http://www.indianexpress.com/story/281062.html. Retrieved 2008-02-02.
^ ^a ^b "Shiv Sena’s North Indian leaders quit". The Times of India. 2008-03-27. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com//Shav_Senas_North_Indian_leaders_quit/articleshow/2902796.cms?. Retrieved 2008-04-04.
^ "Delhi Shiv Sena chief resigns". Chennai, India: The Hindu. 2008-03-28. http://www.hindu.com/2008/03/28/stories/2008032851310300.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-04.
^ P. 90 India and the International System By Sisir Gupta, Mannaraswamighala Sreeranga Rajan, Shivaji Ganguly
^ P. 201 Jawaharlal Nehru on Communalism By Nand Lal Gupta
^ Star Talk 08/09/11/
^ [1]^{[dead link]}
^ "Sena leader announces veiled threat on World Cup final involving Pakistan". Mumbai, India: The Hindu. 2011-02-17. http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article1464606.ece. Retrieved 2011-02-17.

External links [link]

Profile by BBC dated July 19, 2000 referring to him as the "uncrowned monarch of Maharashtra"
"Bal Thackeray: The Tiger who can't be tamed" - HindustanTimes.com article dated September 8, 2004
Shiv Sena Informational piece circulated during the 2004 election year
[6]

Persondata
Name	Thackeray, Bal
Alternative names	Hindu hriday samrat
Short description	Politician
Date of birth	1926-01-23
Place of birth	Pune, Maharashtra, India
Date of death
Place of death

http://wn.com/Bal_Thackeray

http://de.wn.com/Bal Thackeray

http://hi.wn.com/बाल ठाकरे

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Narendra Modi નરેન્દ્ર મોદી

Chief Minister of Gujarat
Incumbent
Assumed office 7 October 2001
Governor	Dr. Kamla Beniwal
Preceded by	Keshubhai Patel
Constituency	Maninagar
Personal details
Born	(1950-09-17) 17 September 1950 (age 61) Vadnagar, Gujarat, India
Political party	Bharatiya Janata Party
Residence	Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India
Alma mater	Gujarat University^[1]
Religion	Hinduism
Website	Narendra Modi
As of 9 March, 2009 Source: Government of Gujarat

Narendra Damodardas Modi (Gujarati: નરેન્દ્ર મોદી; born 17 September 1950^[1]) is the current Chief Minister of the Indian state of Gujarat. Born in a middle class family in Vadnagar, he was the third of six children born to Damodardas Mulchand Modi and his wife Heeraben.^[2] He has been a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) since childhood also having interest in politics since adolescence. He holds a master's degree in political science. In 1998, he was chosen by L. K. Advani, the leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), to direct the election campaign in Gujarat as well as Himachal Pradesh.

He became Chief Minister of Gujarat in October 2001, promoted to the office at a time when his predecessor Keshubhai Patel had resigned, following the defeat of BJP in the by-elections. His tenure as chief minister of Gujarat began on 7 October 2001, and he is the longest serving Chief Minister of the state of Gujarat.^[3] In July 2007 he became the longest serving Chief Minister in Gujarat's history when he had been in power for 2063 days continuously.^[4] He was elected again for a third term^[5] on 23 December 2007 in the state elections, which he had cast as a "referendum on his rule".^[6]^[7]

1 Personal life
2 Early activism and politics
3 Tenure as Chief Minister of Gujarat
4 Views and opinions
- 4.1 Modi's position on terrorism
- 4.2 Views on criticism of Modi's governance
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

Personal life [link]

Modi was born in a middle class family in Vadnagar in Mehsana district of what was then Bombay State, India.^[8] During the Indo-Pak war in the mid sixties, even as a young boy, he volunteered to serve the soldiers in transit at railway stations.^[9] As a young man, he joined the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, a student organisation and was involved in the anti-corruption Nav Nirmāṇ ("Reconstruction") Movement. After working as a full time organiser for the organisation, he was later nominated as its representative in the Bharatiya Janata Party.^[10] As a teenager Modi used to run a tea stall with his brother.^[11] Modi completed his schooling in Vadnagar. He earned a masters degree in political science from Gujarat University.^[12]

Early activism and politics [link]

Modi was a pracharak (campaigner) in the RSS during his university years.^[12]^[13] He took up the challenging task of energising the party cadres in right earnest. In partnership with Shankersinh Vaghela, Modi set about creating a strong cadre base in Gujarat. In the initial period, Vaghela was seen as a mass leader, while Modi was recognised as a master strategist.

The party started gaining political mileage and formed a coalition government at the centre in April 1990. This partnership fell apart within a few months, but the BJP came to power with a two-thirds majority on its own in Gujarat in 1995. During this period, Modi was entrusted with the responsibility of organising two crucial national events, the Somnath to Ayodhya Rath Yatra (a political rally through India on a converted Toyota van) of L.K. Advani and a similar march from Kanyakumari (the southernmost part of India) to Kashmir in the North. After the exit of Shankarsingh Vaghela from the BJP, Keshubhai Patel was made Chief Minister while Narendra Modi was sent to New Delhi as a General Secretary of the Party.

In 1995, Modi was appointed the National Secretary of the party and given the charge of five major states in India. In 1998, he was promoted as the General Secretary (Organization), a post he held until October 2001. In 2001, Narendra Modi was chosen by the party to be the Chief Minister of Gujarat after the removal of chief minister Keshubhai Patel.

Tenure as Chief Minister of Gujarat [link]

Personality [link]

Modi is known for leading a frugal lifestyle. He has a personal staff of just three. He is known to be a workaholic Chief Minister and an introvert.^[14] He ordered the demolition of many Hindu temples that were built without proper government sanction which earned him the ire of VHP^[11] He is a crowd puller as a speaker. Modi has also tried to turn his image from an Hindu Nationalist politician to an image of able administrator. He wears business suits and is improving his command over the English language.^[15]

Awards and recognitions [link]

Modi was awarded Gujarat Ratna by Shri Poona Gujarati Bandhu Samaj at Ganesh Kala Krida Manch on celebration of centenary year.^[16]

Development of Gujarat [link]

As a Chief Minister, Modi started various 'yojanas' or plans. This includes:

Panchamrut Yojana,^[17]^[18]^[19] a five-pronged strategy for an integrated development of the state,
Sujalam Sufalam, a scheme to create a grid of water resources in Gujarat in an innovative step towards water conservation and its appropriate utilisation.
Krishi Mahotsav – agricultural research labs for the land
Chiranjeevi Yojana – To reduce infant mortality rate
Matru Vandana – Providing preventive and curative services under the Reproductive and Child Health Programme
Beti Bachao – Campaign against female infanticide to improve sex ratio
Jyotigram Yojana – Provide electricity to every village
Karmayogi Abhiyan – To educate and train government employees
Kanya Kelavani Yojana – To encourage female literacy and education
Balbhog Yojana – Midday meal scheme for students to encourage school attendance from poor backgrounds.^[20]

Vibrant Gujarat [link]

Main article: Vibrant Gujarat

Vibrant Gujarat is a biennial Global Investors' Summit held by the Government of Gujarat in Gujarat, India. The event is aimed at bringing together business leaders, investors, corporations, thought leaders, policy and opinion makers; the summit is advertised as a platform to understand and explore business opportunities in the State of Gujarat. the event has been held continuously since 2003.

Gujarat earthquake [link]

Main article: 2001 Gujarat Earthquake

The biggest challenge which he had to face when he took over as the Chief Minister, was the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the areas affected by the massive Gujarat Earthquake of January 2001.

Gujarat violence [link]

Main article: 2002 Gujarat violence

On 27 February 2002, a train was burned by a Muslim mob in the town of Godhra leading to 59 deaths, most of them Hindu pilgrims and activists returning from the holy city of Ayodhya.^[21] Riots broke out in the state after it was suspected to be caused by Muslims, leading to 1180 deaths, many of them Muslims. Modi administration was accused of inaction over the riots and for encouraging them.^[15] As an aftermath of the riots, there were calls for Modi to resign from his position as chief minister of Gujarat. The opposition parties stalled the national parliament over the issue. Even Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and Telugu Desam Party (TDP), allies of the BJP, asked for Modi's resignation.^[22]^[23] Modi submitted his resignation to the Governor and recommended the dissolution of the 10th Gujarat Legislative Assembly.^[24]^[25] In the following state re-elections the BJP, led by Modi, won 127 seats in the 182-member assembly.

In April 2009, the Supreme Court of India appointed a special team of investigators to look into the role Modi had played in the alleged anti-Muslim conspiracy.^[15] The team was appointed in response to the complaint of zakia Jafri, the widow of ex-Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, who was murdered in the riots.^[26] In December 2010, a Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) in its report to the Supreme Court seeking answers pertaining to the Ehsan Jafri case, submitted that they had found no evidence against Narendra Modi.^[27]

However in February 2011, the Times of India reported that a confidential report from the SIT indicted Modi on several counts of alleged complicity in the Gujarat riots of 2002.^[28] Most other sources have noted that the SIT report does not indict Modi for the riots due to lack of evidence.^[29]^[30] The Indian Express too said the report did not find any Modi involvement in the violence, though it did accuse him of watering down the seriousness of the situation.^[31] According to the Hindu, the report not only found that Modi tried to water down the seriousness of the situation, but Modi also implicitly justified the killings of Muslims, and failed to condemn the attacks on them.^[32] The Bharatiya Janata Party demanded an investigation into the publication of the report, claiming the leak was politically motivated.^[33]

The apex court refused to pass any order on the case and referred it to the Ahmedabad magistrate for a decision.^[34] In April 2012, a Special Investigation Team found absolved Modi of any involvement in the Gulberg massacre, arguably the worst episode of the riots.^[35]. On 7 May 2012, a Supreme Court-appointed amicus curiae, Raju Ramachandran observed that Modi can be prosecuted under sections 153 A (1) (a) & (b), 153 B (1), 166 and 505 (2) of the Indian Penal Code for promoting enmity among different groups during the 2002 Gujarat riots.^[36]. However the amicus report has been criticised by the Special Investigation Team for relying heavily on the testimony of a perjurer^[37].

2007 elections [link]

Modi made a speech at Mangrol in which he justified the alleged fake encounter of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, During the election campaign In response to Sonia Gandhi's speech calling him a "merchant of death",^[38] and referred to Sohrabuddin's killing. For this speech the Election Commission of India, a constitutional body governing election proceedings in India, cautioned Modi as it considered it as indulging in an activity which may aggravate existing differences between different communities.^[39] Modi won the election and continued his post as the Chief Minister Of Gujarat, he won with majority of votes of 122 seats out of 182 total assembly seats.^[40]

Conflicts with Governor Kamla Beniwal [link]

On 25 August 2011 Gujarat Governor Kamla Beniwal appointed Justice R A Mehta to the post of Lokyukta of Gujarat, a critical anti-corruption post that had been lying vacant since 2003. Justice R A Mehta was recommended for the post by the Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court in June. Since Governor Beniwal had made this decision without consulting and getting the approval of the chief minister and his council of ministers, the action angered Narendra Modi and his BJP party.^[41]

This marked the beginning of a strained relationship between Modi and the Governor. On 25 September 2011, Narendra Modi accused the Governor of running a parallel government in the state supported by the Congress. He demanded that she be recalled back.^[42] He also later accused her of delaying the progress of bills by not passing them.

The decision of the governor in the appointment of R A Mehta was challenged in the high court by the Modi government. The two member high court bench gave a split verdict on 10 October 2011. Later, a third member upheld the governor's decision in January 2012.^[43]

Foreign visits [link]

As the Chief Minister of the Gujarat State, to attract foreign investment in the state, Narendra Modi has made visits to foreign countries, including China and Singapore.

Narendra Modi made his first China visit in 2007 to invite investors Vibrant Gujarat Global Investor Summit,^[44] and second visit in November 2011. One month after the second visit to China, the Chinese Government released 13 Diamond traders from India jailed by the Shenzhen Customs, which the Chief Minister described as the consequece of his diplomatic efforts and statesmanship.^[45]

In 2005 Narendra Modi was denied of diplomatic visa to the United States, in addition to this visa denial, he was also revoked from his already granted B-1/B-2 visa.^[46]

Sadbhavna Mission [link]

In the late 2011-early 2012 Narandra Modi practised a series of fasts in the name of Sadbhavna Mission. The mission started on 17 September 2011 in Ahmedabad with 3 day fast with a view to strengthen the atmosphere of peace, unity and harmony in the state. He observed total 36 fasts in 26 districts, 8 cities including Ahmedabad.^[47]

Views and opinions [link]

Modi's position on terrorism [link]

On 18 July 2006 Modi delivered a speech criticising Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh "for his reluctance to revive anti-terror legislations" like the Prevention of Terrorism Act. He asked the Centre to empower states to invoke tougher laws in the wake of the blasts in Mumbai.^[48] Quoting Modi:

“

Terrorism is worse than a war. A terrorist has no rules. A terrorist decides when, how, where and whom to kill. India has lost more people in terror attacks than in its wars.^[48]

”

Narendra Modi has frequently commented that if the BJP came to power at the Centre, they will honour the 2004 Supreme Court judgement to hang Afzal Guru.^[49] Afzal was convicted of terrorism in the 2001 Indian Parliament attack in 2004 by the Supreme Court of India and is in Tihar Jail.^[50]

On account of the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, on Thursday 27 November, Narendra Modi held a meeting to discuss waterfront security along the coastline.^[51] The meeting decided to ask the Central government to urgently sanction the following:

Increase the number of police stations along the coast to 50 (from 10)
Increase the number of police to 1500 from 250
30 modern high-speed surveillance boats.

The 30 coastal boats, under construction at Goa's shipbuilding yard, will have the capacity to run at the speed of 25 nautical miles per hour. These are being manufactured under the Centre's Rs 58-crore grant for coastal security.^[51]

Views on criticism of Modi's governance [link]

In 2003, when Narendra Modi was asked about the conflict of his dreams for Gujarat's future with international criticism of his past activities, Modi said,^[52]

“

Yet, no one has asked this question to the USA after 9/11. Delhi is developing fast – no one has asked this question to Delhi after 1984. If it does not matter to Delhi and USA, why should it matter to Gujarat?

”

Modi's decision to link Gujarat's violence with the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the US drew criticism from some observers, who contrasted it with the then Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani's unpleasant apology for Gujarat in London a year ago.^[52] Modi responded to this criticism by The Guardian,^[52]

“

I have not read and I would not like to read. But thank you for people spending time on me

”

References [link]

^ ^a ^b "Narendra Modi – Biography". Moneycontrol. Archived from the original on 27 April 2009. http://web.archive.org/web/20090427085814/http://www.moneycontrol.com/biography/Narendra_Modi/550. Retrieved 5 April 2009.
^ Jose, Vinod. "The Emperor Uncrowned". Delhi Press. http://caravanmagazine.in/Story.aspx?Storyid=1315&StoryStyle=FullStory. Retrieved 17 March 2012.
^ "Narendra Modi". http://legislativebodiesinindia.nic.in/States/Gujarat/loh.htm. Retrieved 28 March 2010.
^ Agencies. "Modi becomes longest serving CM of Gujarat". The Indian Express. http://www.expressindia.com/news/fullstory.php?newsid=87512. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
^ "Modi begins new term in Gujarat". London: BBC News. 25 December 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7159756.stm. Retrieved 7 May 2008.
^ "Hindu Leader Begins 3rd Term in Gujarat". ABC News. http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=4049443. Retrieved 7 May 2008. ^{[dead link]}
^ "Narendra Modi begins third innings as Gujarat CM". The Times of India. 25 December 2007. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Modi_begins_third_innings_as_Gujarat_CM/articleshow/2650589.cms. Retrieved 7 May 2008.
^ Why fasting is no big deal for Narendra Modi, Rediff, 16 September 2011, accessed on 4 February 2012
^ Life and Career: An Overview Official Website
^ "Biography – Narendra Modi". http://www.narendramodi.org/bio.htm. Retrieved 8 May 2008.
^ ^a ^b On Race Course road? Times of India, 18 Sep 2011, 05.46 am IST
^ ^a ^b "Modi proves to be an astute strategist". The Hindu (Chennai, India). 23 December 2007. http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/000200712231550.htm.
^ "Profile: Narendra Modi". BBC News. 23 December 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1958555.stm. Retrieved 19 May 2010.
^ The Hawk In Flight, Outlook India, 24 Dec 2007, http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?236315
^ ^a ^b ^c Sengupta, Somini (28 April 2009). "Shadows of Violence Cling to Indian Politician". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/29/world/asia/29india.html. Retrieved 25 August 2009.
^ "Narendra Modi to be presented 'Gujarat Ratna' today". The Times of India. 18 March 2012. http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-03-18/pune/31207124_1_gujarati-community-centenary-year-kondhwa. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
^ "Modi invites investment in Gujarat". Press Trust of India. Expressindia. 11 January 2003. http://www.expressindia.com/news/fullstory.php?newsid=18327. Retrieved 5 April 2009.
^ "Modi Steals The Show At Pravasi Divas". The Financial Express. 12 January 2003. http://www.financialexpress.com/news/modi-steals-the-show-at-pravasi-divas/67951/0. Retrieved 5 April 2009.
^ "With Panchamrut, Modi targets 10.2% Growth". The Financial Express. 9 June 2003. http://www.financialexpress.com/news/with-panchamrut-modi-targets-10.2-growth/81673/. Retrieved 5 April 2009.
^ Patel, Parbat. "Message By Hon. State Minister of Health and Family Welfare". http://www.gujhealth.gov.in/minister-parbatbhai-patel.htm. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
^ "Godhra train fire accidental: Report". Rediff.com. http://www.rediff.com/news/2005/jan/17godhra.htm. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
^ "Gujarat Cabinet puts off decision on elections". The Tribune (India). 2002. http://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20020418/main1.htm. Retrieved 9 May 2006.
^ "Congress demands Modi's resignation over Bannerjee report". United News of India. http://www.rediff.com/news/2006/mar/03godhra.htm. Retrieved 17 November 2007.
^ "Modi resigns; seeks Assembly dissolution". The Hindu. 2002. http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2002/07/20/stories/2002072002640100.htm. Retrieved 9 May 2006.
^ "Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi resigns; assembly dissolved". Rediff.com. http://www.rediff.com/news/2002/jul/19guj.htm. Retrieved 17 November 2007.
^ Mahapatra, Dhananjay (31 July 2009). "SC rejects Modi govt's plea to stall SIT probes". Times of India. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/India/SC-not-to-stall-probe-on-02-riots/articleshow/4839947.cms. Retrieved 25 August 2009.
^ Mahapatra, Dhananjay (3 December 2010). "SIT clears Narendra Modi of wilfully allowing post-Godhra riots". The Times Of India. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/SIT-clears-Narendra-Modi-of-wilfully-allowing-post-Godhra-riots/articleshow/7031569.cms#ixzz1721JAJuI.
^ "SIT findings ensure Narendra Modi can't shake off riot taint". The Times Of India. 4 February 2011. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/SIT-findings-ensure-Narendra-Modi-cant-shake-off-riot-taint/articleshow/7421365.cms.
^ "BJP demands probe into SIT report leak | Ahmedabad, World Snap News". News.worldsnap.com. http://news.worldsnap.com/india/bjp-demands-probe-into-sit-report-leak-100008.html. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
^ The rise and rise of tomorrow’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday Guardian – 7 November 2011
^ Narendra Modi not involved in Gujarat riots: SIT report Indian Express – 4 February 2011
^ Subrahmaniam, Vidya (4 February 2011). "SIT: Modi tried to dilute seriousness of riots situation". The Hindu (Chennai, India). http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article1154007.ece.
^ BJP wants leak of SIT report investigated The Hindu – 5 February 2011
^ 'God is Great!' Tweets a Relieved Modi Outlook – 12 September 2011
^ It's official: Modi gets clean chit in Gulberg massacre Daily Pioneer – 10 April 2012
^ Proceed against Modi for Gujarat riots: amicus The Hindu - 7 May 2012
^ SIT rejects amicus curiae's observations against Modi Hindu -10 May 2012
^ Agencies (8 December 2007). "Sonia's 'merchants of death' was aimed at Modi: Cong". The Indian Express. http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Sonias-merchants-of-death-was-aimed-at-Modi-Cong/248175/. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
^ "Election Commission Official Notice to Mr.Narendra Modi" (PDF). http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/press/current/NOTICETO%20CM%20GUJARAT.pdf. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
^ "BJP adds 5 seats in Gujarat Assembly by-polls". Deccan Herald. 14 September 2009. http://www.deccanherald.com/content/25090/banner-300x250.swf. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
^ Delhi, New (2 September 2011). "Gujarat Lokayukta controversy hots up". The Hindu (Chennai, India). http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2418006.ece. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
^ Dasgupta, Manas (25 September 2011). "Beniwal helping Congress run parallel government in Gujarat, says Modi". The Hindu (Chennai, India). http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2484805.ece. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
^ "Lokayukta: Modi in apex court after HC upholds Guv decision". The Indian Express. 18 January 2012. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/lokayukta-modi-in-apex-court-after-hc-upholds-guv-decision/901067. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
^ Modi, Narendra. "Foreign Visits". narendramodi.in. http://www.narendramodi.in/pages/foreign-visits. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
^ "China frees 13 diamond traders, Narendra Modi pats his own back". Mumbai Mirror. http://www.mumbaimirror.com/index.aspx?page=article&sectid=3&contentid=201112082011120802471534470e816ce. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
^ Indiatimes, News Network (18 March 2005). "No entry for Modi into US: visa denied". The Times of India. http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2005-03-18/india/27866126_1_business-visa-gujarat-riots-immigration-and-nationality-act. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
^ "CM thanks people of Gujarat for giving huge support to Sadbhavna Mission". deshgujarat.com. http://www.narendramodi.in/news/news_detail/1970. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
^ ^a ^b "Mahatma on lips, Modi fights Centre". The Telegraph (Kolkota, India). 19 July 2006. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060719/asp/nation/story_6496620.asp. Retrieved 9 May 2008.
^ "Now, Amar Singh says Afzal Guru must be hanged". The Indian Express. 4 November 2008. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Now--Amar-Singh-says-Afzal-Guru-must-be-hanged/380948. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
^ Indo-Asian News Service – Afzal Guru's guilty verdict^{[dead link]}
^ ^a ^b "Modi wants 3-layer ring to secure coast". The Times of India. 28 November 2008. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Ahmedabad/Modi_wants_3-layer_ring_to_secure_coast/articleshow/3766781.cms. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Modi views on 9/11". The Times Of India. 19 August 2003. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/Violence-wont-matter-to-Gujarat-Modi/articleshow/137933.cms. Retrieved 5 October 2011.

External links [link]

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Preceded by Keshubhai S. Patel	Chief Minister of Gujarat 6 October 2001 – present	Succeeded by incumbent

Current Chief Ministers of Indian states (list)

Persondata
Name	Modi, Narendra
Alternative names
Short description	Indian politician
Date of birth	1950-09-17
Place of birth	Vadnagar, Gujarat, India
Date of death
Place of death

http://wn.com/Narendra_Modi

http://de.wn.com/Narendra Modi

http://hi.wn.com/नरेन्द्र मोदी

This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narendra_Modi

This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.

For other people named Ananth Kumar, see Ananth Kumar (disambiguation).

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (August 2010)

H N Ananth Kumar
BJP National General Secretary
MP
In office 1996 onwards
Preceded by	K.Venkatagiri gowda, BJP
Constituency	Bangalore South
Personal details
Born	(1959-07-22) 22 July 1959 (age 52) Bangalore, Karnataka
Political party	BJP
Spouse(s)	Tejaswini
Children	2 daughters
Residence	Bangalore
Religion	Hindu
Website	ananth.org
As of August 19, 2010

Ananth Kumar, (born 22 July 1959) is a member of the 15th Lok Sabha. ^[1] He represents the Bangalore South Lok Sabha constituency of Karnataka^[1] and is an influential leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka.^[1]

1 Early life
2 Public Life
3 Controversies
4 Positions held
5 References
6 External links

Early life [link]

Ananth Kumar was born on 22 July 1959 in Bangalore, Karnataka to Sri.H.N. Narayan Sastry and Smt.Girija.^[2] He hails from a traditional Telugu speaking Brahmin family of the Mulukanadu subcaste.^[3] He graduated in the faculty of Arts (B.A) from K.S.Arts College at Hubli which is affiliated to the Karnatak University and later, completed his bachelors in law (L.L.B) from J.S.S. Law College affiliated to the Mysore University. He married Smt.Tejaswini and the couple have 2 daughters - Aishwarya, who is an accomplished law student currently pursuing law in Pune and Vijeta.

Public Life [link]

Having been influenced by the ideology of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh from his childhood, he naturally chose Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the students wing of the Sangh Parivar to begin his public life. As an important office bearer of the ABVP, he became one of the most popular and influential Student's union leader in Karnataka. During the Emergency, he was imprisoned along with thousands of other student activists. Very early in his life, he was elected as the State Secretary of the ABVP and later, became its National Secretary in 1985.

Later, He moved from the ABVP and joined its political counterpart the Bharatiya Janata Party. His first important role in politics was when he was nominated as the State President of BJP Yuva Morcha. He then, increased his activity in the national politics and was soon made the National Secretary of the party in 1996. He was one of the most important leaders of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement in Karnataka.

He rose to prominence when he was elected from the Bangalore South Lok Sabha constituency to the 11th Lok Sabha in 1996. In 1998 he was re elected with a higher margin and was inducted into the Union Cabinet headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee as the Minister for Civil Aviation. In 1999, he was re elected to a 3rd Consecutive term and became one of the most important Cabinet ministers in the NDA government. He handled various ministries like Tourism, Sports & Youth Affairs, Culture, Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation. He did a commendable job as Cabinet minister and was praised for his achievements in the field of Urban development.

He became the President of the Karnataka state unit of BJP in 2003 and was widely credited with the good performance of the BJP in the 2004 general elections in Karnataka. In that elections, the BJP not only won a large number of Lok Sabha seats from Karnataka but also emerged as the single largest party in the State assembly. In 2004, he was appointed as the National General Secretary of the BJP and has held that post ever since. He is recognised as a good organiser and has handled various assignments given to him with a good track record.

A good orator, He played a major role in transforming the BJP from a party on the fringes to become the ruling party in the state. He is often referred to as one of the two most important leaders and pillars of the BJP in Karnataka, the other being B.S. Yeddyurappa.

Controversies [link]

In August 2005, the Centre for Public Interest Litigation had alleged that as the Urban Development Minister, Ananth Kumar misused the funds for paying his mobile bills and other private affairs.^[4]^[5] The actions of Mr. Anantha Kumar had caused considerable loss to the public exchequer. The petitioner Prashant Bhushan submitted that he wanted to bring to the notice of the Court, the mala fide and arbitrary use of power and sanctioning of loans by HUDCO to the tune of Rs. 14,500 crores and release of Rs. 8,500 crores subscription in privately placed debentures of Rs. 1,250 crores and writing off of Rs. 550 crores in 2002-2003 resulting in grave loss to the exchequer.^[6]

Positions held [link]

Secretary, Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarathi Parishad (A.B.V.P.), Karnataka : 1982-85^[7]
National Secretary, A.B.V.P. : 1985-87^[7]
Secretary, Bharatiya Janata Party (B.J.P.), Karnataka : 1987-88^[7]
General Secretary, B.J.P., Karnataka : 1988-95^[7]
National Secretary, B.J.P. : 1995 -98^[7]
Elected to the 11th Lok Sabha (1st term): 1996^[7]
Member of the Governing Council Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, 1996–97^[7]
Member of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee, Ministry of Industry : 1996-97^[7]
Member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee, Ministry of Railways : 1996-97^[7]
Elected to the 12th Lok Sabha (2nd term) : 1998^[7]
Union Cabinet Minister, Civil Aviation : March 1998- October 1999^[7]
Additional charge, Ministry of Tourism : January 1999 -October 1999^[7]
Elected to the 13th Lok Sabha (3rd term) : 1999^[7]
Union Cabinet Minister, Culture, Youth Affairs and Sports : October 1999- 2 February 2000^[7]
Union Cabinet Minister, Tourism and Culture : February 2000 -September 2001^[7]
Union Cabinet Minister, Urban Development & Poverty Alleviation with additional charge of Rural Development : September 2001- July 2003^[1]
President, Bharatiya Janata Party, Karnataka : 2003-2004^[1]
Elected to the 14th Lok Sabha (4th term) : 2004^[1]
Chairman, Committee on Coal & Steel : August 2004^[1]
Member of the Parliamentary General Purposes Committee : 2004^[1]
National General Secretary, Bharatiya Janata Party : Since 2004^[1]
Chairman, Parliamentary standing committee on Finance: 2007^[1]
Member, Business advisory committee: 2007^[1]
Elected to the 15th Lok Sabha (5th term) : 2009^[1]
Chairman, Committee on Chemicals and Fertilizers(31 Aug 2009-5 May 2010)^[1]
Member, Committee of Privileges(23 Sept 2009)^[1]
Member, Rules CommitteeChairman, Committee on External Affairs( 7 May 2010)^[1]

References [link]

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o Detailed Profile - Shri Ananth Kumar - Members of Parliament (Lok Sabha) - Who's Who - Government: National Portal of India
^ "Ananth Kumar's profile". India.gov.in. http://india.gov.in/govt/loksabhampbiodata.php?mpcode=20. Retrieved =2005.
^ "Ananth Kumar's mother tongue". Yahoo India. http://in.news.yahoo.com/blogs/boxpopuli/karnataka-cm-probables-062519286.html. Retrieved =29 July 2011.
^ "Hudco scam". The Hindu. http://hindu.com/2005/08/30/stories/2005083008241200.htm. Retrieved =30 August 2005.
^ "Hudco scam". The Times of India. http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2005-01-03/india/27832444_1_cvc-report-hudco-central-vigilance-commission. Retrieved =3 January 2005.
^ "Hudco scam". The Hindu. http://www.hindu.com/2004/01/24/stories/2004012402581000.htm. Retrieved =24 January 2004.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o Biographical Sketch of Member of 13th Lok Sabha

External links [link]

v t e Members of the 15th Lok Sabha from Karnataka

Bharatiya Janata Party (19)	Katti Ramesh Vishwanath Suresh Angadi Gaddigoudar P.C. Ramesh Jigajinagi Pralhad Joshi Ananthkumar Hegde Siddeswara G. M. B. Y. Raghavendra D. V. Sadananda Gowda Nalin Kumar Kateel Janardhana Swamy Ananth Kumar S. Pakkirappa Shivaramagouda Shivanagouda J. Shantha Udasi Shivkumar Chanabasappa G.S. Basavaraj D. B. Chandre Gowda P. C. Mohan

Indian National Congress (6)	Mallikarjun Kharge N. Dharam Singh Adagur H. Vishwanath M. Veerappa Moily K.H. Muniyappa R.Dhruvanarayana

Janata Dal (Secular) (3)	H. D. Devegowda H.D. Kumaraswamy N Cheluvaraya Swamy

Persondata
Name	Kumar, Ananth
Alternative names
Short description	Indian politician
Date of birth	22 July 1959
Place of birth	Bangalore, Karnataka
Date of death
Place of death

http://wn.com/Ananth_Kumar

This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ananth_Kumar

This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.

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