| Pandit Motilal Nehru (1861-1931)
Pandit Motilal Nehru, an eminent lawyer and
politician, was born on May 6, 1861. The Nehrus
hailed from Kashmir, but had settled in Delhi
since the beginning of the eighteenth century. He
was elected to preside over the Amritsar Congress
(December 1919). He was the only front rank
leader to lend his support to non-cooperation at
the special Congress at Calcutta in September
1920. He passed away on February 6, 1931 . (go to the top)
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| Lala Lajpat Rai (1865-1928)
Lala Lajpat Rai, popularly known as "Punjab
Kesari", was born on January 28, 1865 in
Jagraon tehsil of the Ludhiana district, Punjab,
in a Hindu Aggarwal family. Lajpat Rai's
political activity began from 1885 when he joined
the Congress session at Allahabad. At the Benares
Congress in December 1905, Lajpat Rai seconded a
resolution on the boycott of English cloth in a
forceful speech. After the advent of Gandhi,
Lajpat Rai found a different world of politics,
not really much to his liking, especially when he
was called upon to preside over the Special
Congress Session in Calcutta in 1920. Lajpat Rai
was called 'Sher-i-Punjab' (Lion of the Punjab). (go to the top)
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| C Vijayaraghavachariar (1852-1944)
Salem C. Vijayaraghavachariar, as he was
popularly known, was born on June 18, 1852 in an
orthodox Vaishnavite Brahmin family at Pon
Vilaindha Kalathur, in Chingleput district, Tamil
Nadu. When the Indian National Congress was
started in 1885 he was one of the special
invitees. He was a close associate of A. O. Hume,
the founder of the Indian National Congress. The
climax of his political career came when in 1920
he was elected to preside over the Indian
National Congress Session at Nagpur. The voice of
the Lion of South India was stilled when he
passed away on April 19, 1944. (go to the top)
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| Hakim Ajmal Khan (1863-1927)
The ancestors of Hakim Ajmal Khan came to India
in the company of Babur. Ajmal Khan was born in
1863 at Delhi into a distinguished family of
physicians. In 1921 he was elected President of
the Indian National Congress in place of the
previously elected President, C. R. Das, who was
arrested well before the session started. Heart
trouble claimed his life on December 29, 1927. (go to the top)
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| Deshbandhu Chittaranjan
Das (1870 - 1925) Chittaranjan Das, who
was endearingly called 'Deshbandhu' (Friend of
the country) was born on November 5, 1870 in
Calcutta. Deshbandhu was arrested and sentenced
to six months' imprisonment for the boycott of
the visit of the Prince of Wales (1921). After
his release in 1922, he was elected President for
the Congress Session at Gaya. Chittaranjan passed
away on June 16, 1925 at Darjeeling at the age of
55. (go to the
top)
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| Maulana Mohammad Ali (1878-1931)
Mohammad Ali was born at Rampur in U. P. on
December 10, 1878. He was arrested in 1915 for
his anti-British writings and remained a
political prisoner till December 1919. He founded
the National Muslim University known as Jamia
Millia Islamia. He died on January 4, 1931. "... For more than
twenty years I have dreamed the dream of a
federation, grander, nobler and infinitely more
spiritual than the United States of America, and
today when many a political Cassandra prophesies
a return to the bad old days of Hindu-Muslim
dissensions 1 still dream that old dream of
"United Faiths of India." - from the
Presidential Address - Maulana Mohammad Ali,
I.N.C. Session, 1923, Cocanada (Kakinada).
(go to the
top)
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| Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
(1869-1948) Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
was born at Porbandar in Gujarat on October 2,
1869. Gandhiji's triumph at the Nagpur Session of
the Congress was historic. Many of those who had
gone to oppose him were converted to his ideology
and method of action. After Nagpur he emerged as
the undisputed leaders of the Congress and Indian
national and he retained that unique position
till his death. In 1924 Gandhiji was elected
President of the Indian National Congress. On
January 30, 1948, he was assassinated by a young
Hindu while he was on his way to his prayer
meeting in the city of Delhi. (go to the top)
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Mrs Sarojini Naidu (1879-1949)
Sarojini Naidu was born in Hyderabad on February
13, 1879. She was the eldest of the eight
children of Aghorenath Chattopadhyay and
Baradasundari. The first volume of her poems
"The Golden Threshold" was published in
1905. Sarojini worked with Gandhiji and was
elected the president of INC for the Kanpur
session in 1925.
Gandhiji said during the occasion " An
Indian woman will, for the first time enjoy the
highest honour in the gift of the nation. The
unique honour will be hers this year as a matter
of right". In reply she said ".. In
electing me to be the chief among your chosen
servants, you have not created a novel precedent.
You have only reverted to an old tradition and
returned to India woman the classic position she
once held …"
She passed away on March 2, 1949(go to the top)
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| S Srinivasa lyengar (1874-1941)
Srinivasa was born on September 11, 1874 in
Ramanathapuram (Ramnad) district, Madras. He
actively participated in the Congress sessions
from Ahmedabad (1921) to Lahore (1929) and gave
an unparalleled lead to the Congress in Madras
for about ten years. Srinivasa lyengar presided
over the Gauhati session of the Indian National
Congress (December 1926). He died suddenly on May
19, at his residence in Madras. (go to the top)
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| Dr Mukhtar Ahmad Ansari (1880
- 1936) The ancestors of Mukhtar Ahmad Ansari
came to India during the reign of Sultan Muhammad
Bin Tughlaq. Mukhtar Ahmad Ansari was born on
December 25, 1880. He qualified for M.D. and M.S.
in 1905. Dr. Ansari held a high position in the
Congress. For almost all through his life he was
member of its Working Committee. He was its
General Secretary in the years 1920, 1922, 1926,
1929, 1931 and 1932, and President in 1927
(Madras Session). On the night of May 10, 1936
when he was returning from Mussoorie where he had
gone to pay a professional visit to the Nawab of
Rampur, Dr. Ansari heart beat for the last time
and he passed away in the railway compartment. (go to the top)
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| Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964)
Jawaharlal Nehru was born at Allahabad on
November 14, 1889, the son of Pandit Motilal
Nehru and Swarup Rani. When he was only 40 he was
elected to preside over the momentous Lahore
session of the Congress in 1929. He became the
Prime Minister of Independent India. Nehru died
on May 27, 1964. (go to the top)
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| Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (1875-1950)
Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel, one of the six
children of Jhaverbbai Patel and Ladbai was born
at Nadiad in Gujarat. There is no record of his
date of birth. The generally accepted date,
October 31, 1875. In March 1931 Vallabhbhai
presided over the 46th session of the Indian
National Congress which was called upon to ratify
the Gandhi-lrwin Pact, which had just then been
concluded. He died on December 15, 1950. He was
given the title of "Sardar" by the
nation. (go to the
top)
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Ranchhodlal Amritlal (?-?)
Ranchhodlal Amritlal was elected president for
the INC seesion at Delhi on April 24, 1932. The
British broke up this meeting and 400 congress
party workers were arrested. Ranchhodlal was
sentenced to 9 months rigorous imprisonment.
I have not been able to collect any further
information about him. Any help in this regard
will be most welcome.(go to the top)
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| Mrs Nellie Sen Gupta (1886-1973)
Daughter of Frederick William and Edith Henrietta
Gray, Nellie was born in 1886 at Cambridge,
England. When Madan Mohan Malaviya was elected
President of the Calcutta session of the Indian
National Congress 1933 and was arrested, Nellie
was chosen as the Congress President. After the
partition of India in 1947, she chose to live in
East Pakistan. She returned to India for medical
treatment, and was treated with great respect by
the Indira Gandhi Government. She died in
Calcutta in 1973. (go to the top)
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| Dr Rajendra Prasad (1884-1963)
In an obscure village in the Saran district of
North Bihar, Rajendra Prasad was born on December
3, 1884. He was in jail when on January 15, 1934
the devastating earthquake struck Bihar. Though
ailing, he set himself immediately to the task of
raising funds and organising relief. Nationalist
India expressed its admiration by electing him to
be the President of the Bombay session of the
Indian National congress. His elevation to the
Presidentship of the Republic in 1950 came as a
matter of course. He passed away on February 28,
1963. (go to the
top)
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| Subhas Chandra Bose (1897-1945)
Subhas Chandra Bose was born on January 23, 1897
into the family of a well- to-do lawyer of
Cuttack. Subhas first proved his mettle in the
thorough manner in which he worked for the total
boycott of the Prince of Wales in Calcutta in
1921. He was unanimously elected President of the
Haripura Congress Session in 1938. Contrary to
the popular notion regarding Jawaharlal Nehru's
role in Planning, it was Subhas Bose who, as
Congress President in 1938, talked of planning in
concrete terms, and set up a National Planning
Committee in October that year. He organised the
Azad Hind Fauj (the Indian National Army), and
become its Supreme Commander on August 25,
proclaimed the Provisional Government of Azad
Hind on October 21. He was hailed as Netaji by
the Army. Netaji was reportedly killed in an air
crash over Taipeh, Taiwan (Formosa) on August 18,
1945. However, even Government spokesmen have
confessed that there is no 'irrefutable proof' of
his death in the air crash. (go to the top)
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