List of Important personalities and their contribution to the Indian History

What India is today, is because of the contribution of several leaders from the ages. These leaders contributed to various spheres of life which have been of great importance to the Indian Society.

What India is today, is because of the contribution of several leaders from the ages. These leaders contributed to various spheres of life which have been of great importance to the Indian Society. Here is the “List of Important personalities and their contribution in Indian History”.

Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray 1861-1944

• He was a pioneer of chemical research in India. His book ‘History of Hindu Chemistry’ was published in 1902.
• Research work in Ayurveda with French Chemist Berthelot.
• President of Indian Science Congress in 1920.

Achyut S Patwardhan 1905-1971

• Founder member of Congress Socialist Party and an active participant in Quit India Movement.
• He left politics after independence.

Ajit Singh

• He was a revolutionary nationalist arrested in 1907 and deported to Mandalay.
• He founded the Bharat Mata Society and launched a journal, Peshwa.
• An active member of Ghadar Party.

AK Fazlul Haq

• Founder member of All India Muslim League and its member from 1916 to 1921.
• Represented the league in the three Round Table Conferences.
• Founded the Krishak Praja Party in 1937 and worked as Chief Minister of Bengal from 1938-43.

Amir Chand 1869-1915

• He was a revolutionary activist and associate of Lala Hardayal and Ras Behari Bose.
• He was arrested in connection with Lahore Bomb and Delhi Conspiracy cases.
• He was accused of throwing a bomb on Lord Hardinge and was sentenced to death.

Amritlal Vithalal Thakkar 1869-1951

• A social activist, founder of Bhil Seva Mandal and member of Bharatiya Adamjati Sangh (tribal welfare association).
• He also served as the Secretary of the Harijan Sevak Sangh.

Anand Mohan Bose 1847-1906

• Founder member of the Indian Association of Calcutta (1876), Indian National Conference (1883) and Indian National Congress (1885).
• Presided over the Madras Session of INC (1898).

Aruna Asaf Ali 1909-1996

• Nicknamed as Aruna Ganguli, she married to Asaf Ali, Indian’s first Ambassador of the USA.
• She was imprisoned during the Civil Disobedience Movement (1930, 1932) and for participating in Individual Satyagrah (1940).
• In 1942, she hoisted the Indian National Congress Flag tricolour at Mumbai’s Gowalia Tank Grounds.
• Elected as first Mayor of Delhi, 1958.
• She was awarded the International Lenin Prize in 1964.
• Newspapers (alongwith Edanta Narayana and AV Baliga) — Link and Patriot.

Bhagat Singh 1907-1931

• Member of Hindustan Socialist Republican Army.
• He started the Militant Naujawan Bharat Sabha in Punjab.
• He killed British Official Saunders in 1928 and was involved in Lahore Conspiracy and bombed the Central Legislative Assembly.
• He was executed on March 23, 1931.

Badruddin Tyabji 1844-1906

• He was the first Barrister in Bombay.
• Appointed to the Bombay Bench in 1895 and in 1902 and also became the second Indian Chief Justice.
• He advocated Tilak’s case on seditious writings in new laters journal, Kesari.
• Founder member of Bombay Legislative Council (1882) and INC (1885).
• Presided over the third INC Session in Madras.
• He stressed upon modernization of Muslims and also served as President of the Bombay based Anjuman-i-Islam.

Baliram Keshav Rao Hedgewar 1899-1940

• He was a medical graduate and an active member of the Congress. He also participated in Tilak’s Home Rule Movement.
• He established the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on September 27, 1925.

Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay 1833- 1894

• He was a great scholar best known for the composition or the hymn Bande Mataram.
• His first novel was Durgesnandini, published in 1864. and he started the journal Bangadarsan.

Barindra Kumar Ghosh 1880-1959

• He was a revolutionary activist and founder member of the secret organization. Anushilan Samiti, started in Calcutta in 1902.
• He also helped in launching the weekly, Yugantar.
• He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 190b but w released in 1919, and then he associated himself with The Statesman and Basumati.

Behramji M Malabari 1853-1912

• He was an eminent scholar and social reformer.
• He worked for the cause or women and by his efforts the Age of Consent Act (1891) was passed.
• He condemned child marriage and forced widowhood in his Notes on Infant Marnage and Enforced Widowhood (1884).
• He founded a social service organization known as Seva Sadan.
• His works include Nitivinod (1875), the Indian Muse in English Garb (1876), and Gujarat and Gujarati’s.

Bhulabhai Desai 1877-1946

• He participated in the Home Rule Movement (1916) and was imprisoned during Civil Disobedience Movement.
• He represented INC in the Central Legislative Assembly for nine years.
• He formulated the Desai-Liaqat formula in 1944 for negotiations with the League.
• He advocated from the prisoners sides during the INA trials

Chandra Shekhar Azad 1906-1931

• He was a famous revolutionary activist, member of the Hindustan Republican Association and leader of the Hindustan Social Republican Army.
• He gained his title “Azad” during the Non Co-operation Movement when he was arrested and the court asked his name, he repeatedly answered “Azad”.
• He was involved in Kakori Conspiracy of 1925, Second Lahore Conspiracy, the Delhi Conspiracy, the killing of Saunders in Lahore and Central Assembly bomb episode.
• He shot himself while fighting with the police at Alfred Park in Allahabad.

Chhakravarti Rajagopalachari 1879-1972

• He was a politician and lawyer from Tamil Nadu.
• He gave up his practice during NCM.
• He held the post of the General-Secretary of the INC in 1921-1922 and was a member of Congress Working Committee from 1922 to 1924.
• He hoisted the CDM in Tamil Nadu and was arrested for leading a Salt March from Trichinopoly to Vedaranniyam on the Tanjore coast.
• He was elected as the Chief Minister of Madras in 1937 Elections.
• He resigned from INC in 1942 for not accepting the Cripp’s Proposal.
• He prepared the CR Formula for Congress-League Co-operation.
• He served as the Governor of Bengal (August-November 1947) and was the first and last Indian Governor-General of India (1948-50).
• He became the Minister of Home Affairs in the country’s first Cabinet.
• He founded the Swatantra Party in 1959.
• His rational ideas are reflected in the collection Satyameva Jayate.
• He was awarded the ‘Bharat Ratna’ in 1954.

CR Das 1870-1925

• A lawyer by profession, he defended Aurobindo in the Alipur Bomb Conspiracy case.
• He was the member of the Congress Enquiry Committee set up to look into Jallianwala Bagh Massacre.
• He founded the All India Swaraj Party in 1923.
• He was elected as the first Mayor of the Calcutta Co-operation in 1924.
• He prepared the Das Formula for Hindu-Muslim Co-operation.
• He was nicknamed as Deshbandhu Chittaranjan.
• His works include Malancha in 1895 (poems), Mala in 1904, Antaryami in 1915, Kishore-Kishoree and Sagar-Sangit in 1913.
• Newspapers/Journal-Narayana (Bengali monthly) and Forward.

Dadabhai Naoroji 1825-1917

• First to demand ‘Swaraj” in the Calcutta Session of INC, 1906.
• Title — “Indian Gladstone”, “Grand Old Man of lndia’.
• First Indian to be selected to the “House of Commons” on Liberal Party ticket.
• He highlighted the draining of wealth from India by the British and its effect in his book “Poverty and un-British Rule in India “(1901).

Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar 1891-1956

• Leader of the depressed class and an eminent jurist.
• He founded the Depressed Classes Institute (1924) and Samaj Samata Sangh (1927).
• He set up a network college in the name of Peoples Education Society.
• Participated in all the Three Round Table Conferences and signed the Poona Pact with Gandhiji in 1932.
• He was in the Governor General’s Executive Council from 1942 to 1946 and organized the Indian Labour Party and Scheduled Caste Federation.
• Chairman of the Drafting Committee of Indian Constitution.
• As the first Law Minister of Independent India, he introduced the Hindu Code Bill.
• He started ‘The Republican Party’ in 1956.
• Towards the end of his life, he embraced Buddhism.

Dr Rajendra Prasad 1884-1963

• Participated in Swadeshi Movement (established Bihari Students, Conference), Champaran Satyagrah, NCM, CDM and Quit India Movement.
• Founded the National College at Patna.
• Minister in charge or Food and Agriculture in the Interim Government (1946).
• President of the Constituent Assembly.
• First President of the Indian Republic.
• Honoured with ‘Bharat Ratna’ in 1962.
• Newspaper — Desh (Hindi weekly).

Dr Zakir Hussain 1897-1969

• An educationist and nationalist from Hyderabad, Hussain was the student of Mohammedan Anglo-Oriented College at Aligarh.
• He was appointed as the Vice-Chancellor of Jamia University at the age of 29 years.
• In 1937, he participated in the National Conference on Education in Wardha.
• He was elected to the post of vice-Chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University in 1948 and was selected to the executive board of the UNESCO.
• He served as the 3rd President of Indian Union and was honoured with Bharat Ratna in 1963.
• He translated Plato’s Republic and Edwin Cannan’s Elementary Political Economy also wrote a book titled Die Botschaft des Mahatma Gandhi in German. The Dynamic University contains his addresses during the convocation ceremonies. He also wrote a book on short stories for children, named Ruqayya Rehana.

Dhondo Keshav Karve 1858-1962

• A social reformer and educationalist who worked for the upliftment of women.
• He founded the Vidhva Vivahottejak Mandali (Society for the promotion of widow remarriage) in 1893 which was named as Vidhwa Vivaha Pratibandh Nivarak Mandali in 1895.
• Other institutions include-Mahisasuramardini (home for widows) in 1898, Mahila Vidyalaya, Nishkam Karma Math Monastery of Disinterested Work in 1908, Indian Women’s University in 1916 and Samata Sangh in 1944.
• He was awarded Padma Vibhushan’ in 1955 and ‘Bharat Ratna in 1958.

Dinbandhu Mitra 1830-1873

• He was a Bengali writer who highlighted the cause of Indigo planters through his play ‘Neel Darpan Natakam’, published in 1860.
• The play was translated in English by Madhu Sudan Dutt.

Durgabai Deshmukh 1909-1981

• She was popularly known as “Iron Lady.”
• She organized Salt Satyagrah during CDM in Madras and was imprisoned.
• She was a member of the Constituent Assembly.
• She was awarded the Tamrapatra and Paul Hoffman Award after independence in recognition to her service to the society.
• Her social works include the establishment of Andhra Mahila Sabha (1941), Andhra Education Society, Sri Venkateswar College in the Delhi University, Central Society welfare Board and she also edited the journal Andhra Mahila.

Gopal Krishna Gokhale 1886-1915

• Gandhiji regarded him as his political guru.
• President or the Banaras Session of INC, 1905, supported the Swadeshi Movement.
• Founded the Servants of Indian Society in 1905, to train people who would work as national missionaries.

Gopal Hari Deshmukh ‘Lokahitwadi’ 1823-1892

• He was a social reformer from Maharashtra.
• He founded the Punar Vivah Mandal at Ahmedabad to encourage widow remarriage.
• He wrote articles in the Maharashtra weekly, Prabhakar, under the pen name, Lokhitwadi.
• He helped in the launch of periodicals like Jhan Prakash, Indu Prakash and Lokhitwadi and also started a weekly ‘Hitechchhu’ in both Gujarati and English.

Govind Ballabh Pant 1889-1961

• He participated in the agitation against the Simon Commission, CDM and Quit India Movement.
• He was the first Chief Minister of UP and prepared the “Pant Report” on agrarian reforms in UP.
• He abolished Zamindari System in UP.
• He was elected as the Home Minister in 1955 and is a recipient of ’Bharat Ratna’.

Indulal Yagnik 1892-1972

• He was a social reformer freedom fighter and journalist from Gujarat.
• He participated in Home Rule Movement and Kaira Satyagrah.
• He was n member of Antyaj Seva Mandal and set up schools for tribal children.
• He presided over the Akhil Hindu Kisan Sabha in 1942.
• He founded the Gujarat Vidyapeeth and established Maha Gujarat Janta Parishad after independence.
• Newspapers/Journals—Navjivan Ane Satya (monthly), Nutan Gujarat (daily)

Jawaharlal Nehru 1889-1964

• General Secretary of INC in 1928 and its President in 1929.
• The Independence resolution was passed under his Presidentship at the Lahore Session.
• First Prime Minister of Republic India (from 1947 to 1964), also known as the architect of Modern India.
• He authored the Doctrine of Panchseel and believed in the policy of non-Alignment.
• Books — ‘The Discovery of India’, ‘Glimpses of world, History’, ‘A Bunch of Old Letters’, ‘The Unity of India’, ‘Independence and After’, ‘India and the world’ etc.
• His autobiography was entitled as “Autobiography”.

Jamnalal Bajaj 1889-1942

• An industrialist and freedom fighter from Rajasthan, he was given the title of Rai Bahadur in 1921.
• He founded Gandhi Seva Sangha, Gau Seva Sangha, Sasta Sahitya Mandal and assisted in the establishment of Satyagrah Ashram at Wardha.
• He gave Seagon village to Gandhiji who renamed it as Sevagram.
• He remained as the treasures or INC throughout his life.

Jayaprakash Narayana 1902-1979

• A freedom fighter from Bihar, he is popularly known as Loknayak.
• He was a follower of Marxist philosophy and advocated for the nationalization of heavy industries and abolition of Zamindari.
• He joined INC on Nehru’s offer and was jailed during CDM.
• He formed the All India Socialist Party in 1934.
• He actively participated in Quit India Movement and was imprisoned.
• He Joined the Bhoodan Movement of Vinoba Bhave.
• In 1975, he protested against the National Emergency and founded the Janata Party.

Jatindra Nath Das 1904-1929

• A revolutionary activist and freedom fighter from Bengal, he was arrested for his involvement in the Lahore Conspiracy Case.
• He died in imprisonment after observing 63 days fast, demanding better conditions of living for Indian prisoners.

Jyotiba Phule 1827-1890

• A social reformer from Maharashtra, he worked for the upliftment of the low castes.
• He was against the Brahmins’ organization like Prathana Samaj and Sarvajanik Sabha as they were concerned about the upper Varna only Phule wanted to replace Hindu religion with the “Sarvajanik Ishwar Pranit Satya”.
• He founded the Satyasadhak Samaj in 1873 for educating low caste people and authored the Sarvajanik Satyadharma Pustak.

Kalpana Dull 1913-1978

• A woman revolutionary from Bengal, she was influenced by Surya Sen, hence joined the Chittagong Republican Army.
• She was sentenced to transportation for life for participating in Chittagong Armoury Raids.
• After her release in 1936, she joined the Communist Party of India.

Kanahiyalal Manaklal Munshi 1887-1971

• A freedom fighter and lawyer from Gujarat, he participated in the Salt Satyagrah and CDM as Congress member.
• He was appointed as Home Minister Bombay in 1937 elections.
• He was also arrested during individual Satyagrah (1940).
• He was a member of Constituent Assembly.
• He played a significant role in merging Hyderabad with the Indian Union.
• He served as Union Food Minister in 1952 Cabinet, and Governor of UP (1953-58).
• In 1960, he joined the Swatantra Party.
• Magazines/journals- Bhargava, Gujarat, Social Welfare, Journal.
• Books—’I Follow the Mahatma’, ‘The Creative Art or Life’, ‘Akhand Hindustan, and Pilgrimage to Freedom’.

Kasturba Gandhi 1869-1944

• A freedom fighter and wife of M K Gandhi, popularly known as “Ba”.
• She supported Gandhi in all his political programmes and was the first woman to be imprisoned by the British in Transvaal.
• She was arrested during Quit India Movement in 1942 and died in Poona jail two years later.

Khudiram Bose 1889-1908

• A revolutionary from Midnapore, he participated in the Swadeshi Movement and later joined the Revolutionary Party of Bengal.
• He was arrested for organizing a bomb attack on the carriage of Kingsford, the Session Judge at Muzaffarpur (Bihar) and was sentenced to death.

Khan Ahdul Ghaffar Khan 1890-1988

• Title — Frontier Gandhi, Badshah Khan or Sarhadi Gandhi, Fakhar-e-Afghan.
• Founded an organization of non-violent revolutionaries known as ‘Red Shirts” or “Khudai Khidmatgars”. He opposed partition.
• Participated in NCM, CDM and Quit India.
• Newspaper — Pakhtoon (In Pushto), later published as Das Roza.
• Honoured with ‘Bharat Ratna’ in 1987.

Lakshminath Bezbarua 1868-1938

• A writer from Assam, he started his journal Janaki in 1889 and also wrote the Assamese state anthem.

Lala Hardayal 1884-1939

• A revolutionary from Delhi, he took up the cause of India’s freedom to a foreign land in order to win international support for the freedom movement
• He was the first President of the Ghadar Party founded in San Francisco in 1913.
• He founded the Indian Independence Committee in Germany and an Oriental Bureau to translate the writings in the local language.
• Books – Wealth of Nations, and Hints for Self Culture.

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad 1890-1958

• Joined INC during Swadeshi Movement.
• President of Khilafat Committee. Presided over the Congress Special Session at Delhi in 1923, to become the youngest President. Also the longest-serving President of INC.
• He headed the Jamiat-ul-Ulema (1924), Nationalist Muslim Conference, Shimla Conference (1945) and negotiated with Cabinet Mission, 1946.
• Elected as the member of Constituent Assembly in 1946 and became Minister of Education and Arts in the Interim Government.
• First Education Minister of Independent India. Also given the portfolios of natural resources and scientific research.
• Contributed in the foundation of UGC, AICTE and IIT Kharagpur.
• Book – ‘India Wins Freedom’.

Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari 1880-1936

• A freedom fighter and surgeon from UP, he helped in organizing the All-India Medical Mission to Turkey in 1912-13.
• He participated in Home Rule Movement, NCM and Khilafat Movement.
• He was elected as the General Secretary of Congress in 1927 and President over the All Parties Conference and convention in 1928.
• He also helped in the establishment of Jamia Millia Islamia in 1920.

Madam Bhikaji Cama 1861-1936

• She was a freedom fighter from Mumbai.
• She participated in the Socialist Congress at Stuttgart in 1907.
• She founded the Free India Society and the Bande Mataram.

Madan Lal Dhingra 1887-1909

• A revolutionary from Punjab, he was the member of Indian Home Rule Society, the Abhinav Bharata and the India Houses.
• He was sentenced to death for assassinating Sir William Curzon Wyllie, an Advisor to the Secretary of State of India during a public function in the Imperial Institute, London.

Madan Mohan Malaviya 1861-1946

• A moderate leader and a lawyer by profession, he served the provincial and central legislature for many terms.
• Through his efforts a memorial was built at the Jallianwala Bagh site.
• He founded the Nationalist Party in 1926.
• He was appointed as the Vice-Chancellor of Banaras Hindu University.
• He served as the editor of Hindustan, Abyudaya and the Indian Union.

Margaret Elizabeth Noble (Sister Nivedita 1867-1911)

• An Irish lady, Elizabeth met Vivekananda in 1890 and inspired by him, she joined the Ramakrishna Mission and became a nun. She worked as a social-it reformer for the upliftment of women. She organized relief works during the plague epidemic in 1899 and during the Bengal famine of 1905. She wrote the articles—The Master as I Saw Him and The Web of Indian Life.

Motilal Nehru 1861-1931

• A lawyer by profession, Motilal became an active supporter of the Home Rule Movement in 1916 and started the journal ‘The Independent’.
• He headed the Congress Commission looking into the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre.
• He gave up his practice during NCM and was arrested while following the visit of Prince Wales.
• He founded the Swarajya Party along with CR Das.
• He had renamed Anand Bhawan as the Swaraj Bhawan and gifted it to the Congress.

Muhammad Iqbal 1873-1938

• He was a renowned poet and a lawyer by profession.
• He joined Muslim League and presided over its Allahabad Session in 1930.
• He was the first person to give the idea of a separate Muslim State.
• He composed the song, “Share Jahan Se Achha.”

Mohammad All Jinnah 1876-1948

• He was inspired by the ideas or Gopal Krishna Gokhale.
• In 1906, he signed a memorandum against separate electorates for Muslims.
• Joined the All-India Muslim League in 1913 and played a major role in signing or Lucknow Pact.
• In 1917, joined the Home Rule Movement of Annie Besant.
• His differences with Congress began after the entry of Gandhiji in Congress. He opposed the NCM of Gandhiji.
• In 1929, he proposed his Fourteen Point Demands.
• Lahore Session of Muslim League (194o) passed the “Pakistan Resolution” demanding for a separate state for Muslims. Jinnah stuck to League’s demand in all the negotiations with Britain, and finally, Pakistan was formed.
• He became the first Governor-General of Pakistan.

Pherozeshah Mehta 1845-1915

• He was a moderate leader from Bombay.
• He had denounced the Ilbert Bill in 1883.
• He was appointed as the Vice-Chancellor of the Bombay University in 1915.
• He presided over the Lahore Session of Congress (1907) after the Surat Split.
• He was given the title of “The uncrowned king of Bombay”.
• He started a newspaper, ‘The Bombay Chronicle’ and founded the Central Bank of India.

Rabindranath Tagore 1861-1941

• He was a poet, philosopher, educationist, internationalist and a patriot.
• He has his elder brother, Satyendranath Tagore, the first Indian to become an ICS.
• His first poem was published in the ‘Amrit Bazar Patrika’ and then he wrote ‘Banaphul’ (story and ‘Bhanusinher Padavali’ (series of lyrics).
• He founded Shantiniketan near Bolpore on December 22, 1901.
• He wrote ‘Gitanjali’, which fetched him the Nobel Prize in 1913.
• He inaugurated Raksha Bandhan festival to oppose the Partition of Bengal (1905).
• He founded the Vishva Bharati University.
• In 1915, British Crown granted him a ‘knighthood’ which he renounced after the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre.
• His compositions were chosen as National Anthem by two nations

(i) India — Jana Gana Mana
(ii) Bangladesh — Amar Shonar Bangla

Raikumari Amrit Kaur 1889-1964

• A freedom fighter from Punjab, she participated as a Congress activist in the Satyagrah of 1930. She was arrested during the Quit India Movement.
• She was appointed as the first Health Minister of India, after independence.
• She founded the Indian Council of Child Welfare and was the founder member of the All India women’s Conference.

Ram Manohar Lohia 1910-1968

• He was the founder member of the Congress Socialist Party (1934) and edited the journal, The Congress Socialist’.
• He played a major role in building the foreign relations of the Congress Party.
• He founded the Socialist Party of India after Independence and worked for the development of Hindi as the National Language.

Ram Prasad Bismil 1897-1927

• A revolutionary from Uttar Pradesh, he was a member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association
• He was sentenced to death in the Kakori Mail Dacoity Case (August 9, 1925).
• His most famous composition is “Sarforoshi ki Tamanna ab hamare dil mein hai”.

Rani Gaidinliu 1915-1981

• She was a nationalist leader from Nagaland.
• She organised tribal revolts against the Britishers in Manipur. She was arrested in 1932 and was released only after independence.
• JL Nehru gave her the title of “Rani of the Nagas”.

Ras Behari Bose 1886-1945

• A revolutionary from Bengal, Bose organized several clandestine activities in UP, Delhi and Punjab at an early age.
• He was associated with Hardinge Bomb Case and Lahore Conspiracy Case after which he managed to escape to Japan.
• He founded the Indian Muslim League and organized its first session at Bangkok in 1942.
• He also served as the President of the Council of Action for the formation of INA, and later handed it over to Subash Chandra Bose.
• Bose died in Tokyo on January 21, 1945.

Sachindra Nath Sanyal 1895-1945

• An associate of Ras Behari Bose, Sanyal organized a revolt by the soldiers of 7th Rajput Regiment in the United Provinces.
• He was the founder member of Hindustan Republican Association and was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Kakori Conspiracy Case in 1925.

Sachidananda Sinha 1871-1950

• A lawyer and educationist from Bihar, Sinha joined Congress in 1899 as a moderate leader.
• He participated in the Home Rule League Movement and served as a member of Executive Council of Government of Bihar and Orissa in 1921.
• He held the post of Vice-Chancellor of Patna University from 1936 to 1944.
• He was the Interim President of the Indian Constituent Assembly.
• He published the journal, ‘Indian Nation’ and edited ‘Hindustan Review’.

Subhash Chandra Bose 1897-1945

• He passed the Indian Civil Services Examination in 1920 in England but left it on Gandhiji’s call of NCM.
• Founded the Independence for India League with JL Nehru.
• Elected as the President of INC at its Haripura Session (1938) and Tripuri Session (1939) hut resigned from Tripuri due to differences with Gandhiji.
• He founded the Forward Block (1939) and Kisan Sabha.
• He escaped to Berlin in 1941 and met Hitler. He took the charge of Indian Army (Azad Hind Fauz) in 1943 in Singapore and set up Indian Provisional Government there.
• He addressed Mahatma Gandhi as the “Father of the Nation.”
• He supposedly died in a plane crash in 1945.
• Slogans — “Dilli Chalo” and “Jai Hind”.
• Autobiography — ‘The Indian Struggle’.

Sarojini Naidu 1879-1949

• Popularly known as the “Nightingale of India”, was a nationalist and poetess from Uttar Pradesh.
• She was married to Dr Govindarajulu Naidu in 1893.
• Under the guidance of Gopal Krishna Gokhale, she became the first woman to participate in India’s struggle for independence.
• She participated in the Dandi March with Gandhiji and presided over the Kanpur Session of Congress in 1925.
• She was the first woman to become the Governor of Uttar Pradesh State.
• Her famous poetries include – The Golden Threshold (1905), The Feather of the Dawn; The Bird of Time (1912) and The Broken Wing (1917).

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan 1888-1975

• An educationalist from Tamil Nadu. Radhakrishnan was associated with many educational institutions in India.
• He served as the Vice-Chancellor of Andhra University (1931) and Banaras Hindu University (1942).
• He gave lectures on theology and philosophy in the universities of Chicago, Manchester, London and Oxford, among others.
• He was the leader of the Indian delegation to UNESCO from 1946-50, its chairman in 1948 and President of UNESCOs University Education Commission in 1952.
• He was also appointed as the Vice-President of International PEN.
• In 1962, he represented the Calcutta University at the Congress of Philosophy at Harvard University.
• He was twice elected as the Vice-President of India (1952-56 and 1957-62) and served as the President of the nation from 1962 to 1967.
• His birthday (5th September), is celebrated as ‘Teacher’s Day’.
• His works include — The Ethics of the Vedanta and its Material Presupposition (1908); The Philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore (1918): Idealistic view of Life (1932); Eastern Religion and Western Thought: Indian Philosophy and Kalki on the Future of Civilization.

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar 1883-1966

• He was a poet, scholar, social worker, historian, and one of the earliest revolutionaries from Maharashtra.
• He founded the Mitra Mela (Assembly of friends) in 1889 and renamed it as the Abhinav Bharat, Society (New India Society) in 1904.
• He founded the Free India Society in London in 1906.
• He described the Revolt of 1857 as the first war or independence in his book, ‘Indian war of Independence’.
• He was arrested for his involvement in Nasik Conspiracy Case.
• He was elected as the President of the Hindu Mahasabha in 1937.

Vallabhbhai Patel 1875-1950

• A freedom fighter and social reformer from Gujarat, he is popularly known as Sardar Pater and honoured with the title of “The Iron Man of India”.
• His father, Jhaverbhai Pate), is supposed to have fought in the army of Rani of Jhansi in the Revolt of 1857.
• He started the Kheda or Kaira Satyagrah in 1918 and fought for the rights of the peasants in Bardoli Satyagrah. Here, he was honoured with the title “Sardar”.
• He was the first national leader to be arrested during the Civil Disobedience Movement.
• He participated in Gandhi’s Individual Satyagrah and Quit India Movement.
• In the post-independence period, he was appointed as the First Deputy Prime Minister of India along with the portfolios of the Information and Broadcasting and Home Ministry.
• He played a major role in integrating the 562 states in the Indian Union.

Vithalbhai Patel 1871-1933

• A freedom fighter from Gujarat and elder brother of Vallabhbhai Patel, Vithalbhai rebelled against the leadership of Gandhiji over the abortion of the NCM and formed the Swarajya Party.
• He was elected for the Central Legislative Assembly in 1923.
• He rejoined Congress upon the declaration of Poorna Swaraj but after the end of Salt Satyagrah, he became a fierce critic of Gandhi and a strong ally of Subhas Chandra Bose.