Acharya Narendra Deva
The name, Acharya Narendra Deva , may be familiar to the senior citizens of India , but not to the present day youngsters. I fondly remember the name always because of my close association with (Late ) Mr.V.R.Radhakrishnan , a freedom fighter, Tamra Patra holder, a senior member of Praja Socialist party in Madras, in 1960s and later he served as PRO to the then Chief Minister,Mr.Bhakthavatchalam( last Congress CM ).
VRR , as he was known among the PSP and Congress party members , ran a library in a separate room adjacent to his rental house in Mylapore, 1,Thiruvalluvar Koil Street. Name of the library is in Acharya’s name – Narendra Deva Library. It shows his affection , devotion and respect towards the great leader and to spread the name among youngsters and popularize the sacrifice, Acharaya made for the freedom fight. When I was young ( 15 year ) , the library was opened just in front of my hereditary parental house in Mylapore . We lived just opposite to VRR’s house.
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| VRR with Mr.Kamaraj |
In those days I was a regular visitor to the library , as a member , and later attached to VRR. His selfless duties in spreading Gandhian thoughts and deeds among school and college students cannot be forgotten by many students . A living example is one, Mr,S.Kulandhaisamy , Secretary , Gandhi Peace Foundation, Alwarpet, Madras . He was an Engineering student at that time and has dedicated his life like VRR, in the same path shown to him by VRR and continuing the activity for the youngsters. I have posted his activities in my earlier blogs.
Let me share some information about Acharya Narendra Deva, compiled from internet.
His interest in Indian politics was aroused at an early age when, at the age of ten, he attended the Lucknow session of the Congress. He also attended the Calcutta session of the Congress in 1906 when Dadabhai Naoroji described the goal of India as "Swaraj". When Gandhiji in began the non-cooperation movement, Narendra Dev left his lucrative legal practice to join it.
Deva was first drawn to nationalism around 1915 under the influence of B G Tilak and Aurobindo Ghosh. Later, he also participated in the civil disobedience movement in 1930. During the freedom struggle he was imprisoned several times.
It was in 1932, during a long-term imprisonment at Nasik, that Acharya Narendra Dev conceived the idea of forming a socialist group inside the Congress. He recognized the importance of the role that farmers played in a predominantly agricultural country like India. He presided over the All India Kisan Sabha at Gaya in 1939 and later in Muzaffarpur in 1942. After independence and Gandhiji's death, Acharya Narendra Dev left the Congress and in 1948 he formed the Socialist Party. Later, the Socialist Party merged with the Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party in 1952 to become the Praja Socialist Party and Acharya Narendra Dev become its first Chairman. Elected to the Rajya Sabha in 1952, Acharya Narendra Dev spoke on issues largely concerned with land reforms, labour welfare, civil liberties and education.
Narendra Deva advocated the abolition of poverty and exploitation not just through the Marxist materialist dialectic but especially on moral and humanistic grounds. Furthermore, he insisted that "without political democracy social democracy was a sham".
Besides his considerable contribution in the political field, Acharya Narendra Dev was a well-reputed scholar. He passed his Matriculation examination from Faridabad. He secured a Ist class at the B.A. level with History, English and Sanskrit as his subjects. After completing his post-gradudation in Sanskrit he went on to take a degree in law at Orient College, Banaras. He was a linguist and had a good command of Bengali, Pali, Prakrit, Sanskrit, Hindi, Urdu, English, French and German. An authority on Indian history and far eastern politics, he translated books on Buddhism written in French and German into Hindi and English. He also wrote a book on Buddhist philosophy titled Boudha Dharma Darshan. His most significant work in English is titled Socialism and National Revolution. He founded a socialist Hindi weekly "Sangharsh" and wrote a book in Hindi titled Rashtriyata aur Samajwad.
Acharya Narendra Dev's political interests did not stand in the way of his academic pursuits. After the non co-operation movement, Acharya Narendra Dev worked at the Kashi Vidyapeeth. It was here that the sobriquet "Acharya" became attached to his name. In 1926 Acharya Narendra Dev was made Chairman of the Vidyapeeth. Post-Independence, he was the Vice-Chancelor of Lucknow and Banaras Universities and made significant contribution in the field of education. He espoused the cause of universalisation of education and knowledge with a balanced integration of technical education along with studies in humanities. He provided financial assistance to several deserving but impoverished students by paying their college fees.
Though a chronic asthma patient, Acharya Narendra Dev's ill health did not deter him from putting in long hours of work every day. He passed away on 19th Feb., 1956 after several asthma attacks. However, his rich legacy, in the form of his writings and speeches, lives to serve as inspiration to the coming generations.
Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi has said: "Acharya Narnedra Dev was one of the greatest sons of India and the nation owes a great debt to him."
The Narendra Dev University of Agriculture and Technology was named in his honour in 1975.
In an emotional obituary in Rajya Sabha, Jawaharlal Nehru said:
The death of Acharya Narendra Deva is something much bigger for many of us and, I think, for the country than just the passing away of an important person. He was a man of rare distinction--distinction in many fields--rare in spirit, rare in mind and intellect, rare in integrity of mind and otherwise. Only his body failed him. I do not know if there is any person present here in this House who was associated with him for a longer period than I was. Over 40 years ago we came together and we shared innumerable experiences together in the dust and heat of the struggle for independence and in the long silence of prison life where we spent--I forget now--four or five years together at various places, and inevitably got to know each other intimately; and so, for many of us, it is a grievous loss and a grievous blow, even as it is a grievous loss for our country. There is the public sense of loss and there is the private sense of loss and a feeling that somebody of rare distinction has gone and it will be very difficult to find his like again.
1889: Narendra Dev was born.
1899: Attended, with his father, a session of Indian National Congress at Lucknow.
1904: Got married at the age of fifteen.
1911: Completed his graduation as a B.A.
1913: Completed his post graduation as an M.A.
1915: Successfully completed L.L.B.
1921: Started teaching at Kashi Vidyapeeth in Benares.
1926: Became the Acharya or Principal of Kashi Vidyapeeth in Benares.
1928: Joined the Independence of India League as its secretary.
1947-1951: Served as the Vice Chancellor of the Lucknow University.
1951-1953: Served as the Vice Chancellor of the Benares University.
1956: Narendra Dev died at the age of 67
Acharya Narendra Dev Nagar Railway Station is in Faizabad.
“ Chander’s Memory Lane “ travels back to such many good memories and wish to share the youngsters about forgotten freedom fighter – Acharya Narendra Deva , through this blog.
I have a very old edition of a book titled “ Robinson Crusoe” in Tamil , belongs to “Narendra Deva Library “ with the seal , as a fond remembrance of the vanished library after VRR’s demise . My close association with the first library , i got connected , may be one of the reason to start building my own library at home .
Long live the memories of our freedom fighters and martyrs.
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