PIB Special Historical Series

1. Sardar Patel

“Work is worship but laughter is life. Anyone who takes life too seriously must prepare himself for a miserable existence. Anyone who greets joys and sorrows
with equal facility can really get the best of life.”
Young Vallabhbhai used to accompany his father to the fields and eventually became an expert in land tilling and cattle tending, two important aspects of
cultivation. Such was his affection to his peasant ancestry that once an American journalist asked him about his cultural activities, to which he retorted, “Ask
me another. My culture is agriculture”.
Patel showed his promise as a popular leader as an elected representative of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (1917-1928). He was able to not only
outsmart the British officialdom, but took several constructive initiatives for the townspeople. While being President of the Corporation (1924-1928) he once
presented a unique example of ‘Swachh Bharat’. Patel, along with volunteers, cleaned the streets of Ahmedabad with brooms and dustcart, beginning
with Harijan Bast (Dalit quarters)
“We worked hard to achieve our freedom; we shall have to strive harder to justify it”.
It was Patel who sent Indian navy to the port of Lakshadweep at an appropriate time, as Pakistan was equally keen to occupy the strategically important
islands. He also pre-empted the relevance of Independent Tibet as a buffer state between India and China.
Sardar Patel along with his aide VP Menon designed ‘Standstill Agreements and Instrument of Accession’ accommodating requests and demands from
various rulers. Sardar Patel, the then deputy Prime Minister of India, vowed to rebuild Somnath Temple.

2. Dadabhai Naoroji

He used statistics to shape public discourse. He was the first Indian to be elected to the House of Commons (1892). He represented the Central Finsbury
constituency as a candidate of Liberal party between 1892 and 1895. He twice served as the President of Indian National Congress (1886 and 1893) besides
representing India at International Congress of Social Democrats at Amsterdam in 1905.
As a member of the Students Literary and Scientific Society formed in the Institute, he acted as a pioneer of women’s education. Dadabhai read the paper
‘England’s Dutes to India’ before a pre-dominantly British audience at East India Association on May 2, 1867. It was in that paper he accused of Britain
siphoning off wealth from India. These were based on Parliamentary Returns of Indian Accounts. He also relied upon the Second Customs Report, 1858.

3. Lala Lajpat Rai

In early age he was drawn into Arya Samaj, founded and led by Swami Dayanand Saraswati. In 1897, he had founded the Hindu Relief Movement to provide
help to the famine -stricken people and thus preventing them falling into the clutches of the missionaries. In the two articles he wrote for the Kayastha
Samachar (1901), he called for technical education and industrial self-help. In the wake of the Swadeshi movement, when “the idea of a national education
caught the imagination of the whole of India”, it was Lajpat Rai and Bal Gangadhar Tilak, who “propagated the idea”. He went to set up the National College
in Lahore, where Bhagat Singh studied. When the agitation against an increased irrigation rates and higher land-revenue began in Punjab, it was led by the
Indian Patriots Association led by Ajit Singh (uncle of Bhagat Singh) and Lajpat Rai would often address their meetings. He visited USA and Japan where he
kept in touch with the Indian revolutionaries. In England, he also became a member of the British Labour party.

In recognition of his outstanding role in the freedom movement, he was elected President of the Indian National Congress at the Calcutta session (1920).
Lajpat Rai called for “highest devotion and the greatest sacrifice from us” and “our first want, then, is to raise our patriotism to the level of religion, and to
aspire to live or die for it”. He has been seen as “a champion of moral courage than of physical courage”.
He stressed the need for unity in the Hindu society first and thus get ready for the struggle against the British. That is why, he was actively associated with
the Hindu Mahasabha. Books: “Unhappy India”, “Young India: An Interpretation”, “History of Arya Samaj”, “England’s Debt to India” and a series of popular
biographies on Mazzini, Garibaldi and Swami Dayanand. As a visionary and man with a mission, he founded the Punjab National Bank, the Lakshmi
Insurance Company and the Servants of the Peoples Society at Lahore.

4. Sister Nivedita

“I doubt whether any Indian loved India the way Nivedita loved her”, said Bipin Chandra Pal, the great freedom fighter. Tagore called her the “Lok Mata’, for
her self-sacrificing services to India. Miss Margaret Elizabeth Noble, was rechristened as Nivedita, "the dedicated" by Swami Vivekananda.

5. V K Krishna Menon 148895

6. Shaheed Kartar Singh Sarabha 148881

7. Surendranath Banerjea 148779

8. Chidambaram Pillai 148684

9. Chandrashekhar Azad 148622

10. Alluri Seetha Rama Raju 148563

 11. Subramaniya Bharathiyar

He was a poet, freedom fighter and social reformer from Tamil Nadu. He was known as Mahakavi Bharathiyar. “Kannan Pattu” “Nilavum
Vanminum Katrum” “Panchali Sabatam” “Kuyil Pattu” are examples of Bharathi’s great poetic output.
Bharathi is considered as a national poet due to his number of poems of the patriotic flavour through which he exhorted the people to join the
independence struggle. He published the sensational “Sudesa Geethangal” in 1908. “India” Journal saw the light of the day in May, 1906. It declared as its
motto the three slogans of the French Revolution, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. He also published and edited a few other journals like “Vijaya”. He was
also against caste system.

12. Ambedkar

Thesis: "The Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India", "Castes in India - Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development", "The Problem of the Rupee”
Brought out Marathi weekly whose title was 'Mook Nayak' (meaning 'Dumb Hero').
In 1927, he led the Mahad March at the Chowdar Tank at Colaba, near Bombay, to give the untouchables the right to draw water from the public tank
where he burnt copies of the 'Manusmriti' publicly. This marked the beginning of the anticaste and ant-priest movement. The temple entry movement
launched by Dr. Ambedkar in 1930 at Kalaram temple, Nasik is another landmark in the struggle for human rights and social justice.
In 1935, he publicly proclaimed," I was born a Hindu because I had no control over this but I shall not die a Hindu. After a while Dr. Ambedkar, organised the
Independent Labour Party, participated in the provincial elections and was elected to the Bombay Legislative Assembly. During these days he stressed the
need for abolition of the 'Jagirdari' system, pleaded for workers Fight to strike and addressed a large number of meetings and conferences in Bombay
Presidency. In 1939, during the Second World War, he called upon Indians to join the Army in large numbers to defeat Nazism, which he said, was another
name for Fascism.
In 1956 he embraced Buddhism along with many of his followers. The same year he completed his last writing 'Buddha and His Dharma'.

13. Gandhi

Gandhi summed up his philosophy of life with the words, “My Life is my Message”.
Gandhiji in Madurai made a momentous decision to change his attire to dhoti

14. Rani Chennamma of Kitturu

th
led a war against British forces in early part of 19 Century when not many rulers were familiar with the evil designs of the British. She was the first Indian
ruler to lead an armed rebellion against the British East India Company. The princely state of Kitturu was taken over by the British East India Company in
1824 by imposing the 'doctrine of lapse', even before it was officially articulated by Lord Dalhousie,

15. Vasudev Balwant Phadke - the father of Indian revolution

He was apparently the first Indian to tour for political propaganda. His speeches, however, did not produce desired result. Thereafter he abandoned giving
public speeches. He began to contemplate secret organization. Phadke evolved a new method of public communication. He concentrated on emotional and
spiritual connect to rouse the innate patriotism of the people.