Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi: Difference between revisions

'''Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi''' (26 October 1890 – 25 March 1931) was an Indian journalist, a leader of the [[Indian National Congress]]<ref name="2001book">{{cite book |last=Gooptu |first=Nandini |date=2001 |title=The Politics of the Urban Poor in Early Twentieth-Century India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wZTLEEGmZfQC&pg=PA90 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |pages=90–376 |isbn=978-0521443661 }}</ref> and an [[Indian independence movement|independence movement]] activist. He was an important figure in the [[non-cooperation movement]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Pandey |first=Gyanendra |date=2002 |title=The Ascendancy of the Congress in Uttar Pradesh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JwWX8E8Xz58C&pg=PA53 |publisher=Anthem Press |pages=37–77 |isbn=978-1843317623}}</ref> and the freedom movement of India, who once translated [[Victor Hugo]]'s novel ''[[Ninety-Three]]'',<ref>{{cite book |last1=Simon |first1=Sherry |last2=St. Pierre |first2=Paul |date=2000 |title=Changing the Terms: Translating in the Postcolonial Era  |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cmJ5O0ZOwqsC&pg=PA89 |publisher=University of Ottawa Press |page=89 |isbn=978-0776605241 }}</ref> and is mostly known as the founder-editor of the [[Hindi language]] newspaper, ''Pratap''.<ref name="1965book">{{cite book |last=Brass |first=Paul R. |date=1965 |title=Factional Politics in an Indian State: The Congress Party in Uttar Pradesh |url=https://archive.org/details/factionalpolitic0000bras|url-access=registration |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |pages=[https://archive.org/details/factionalpolitic0000bras/page/169 169]–196 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Mukul |first=Akshaya |date= 2015-11-03|title=Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BOhrCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT16 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-9351772316 }}</ref><ref name="2004book">{{cite book |last=Gould |first=William |date= 2004-04-15|title=Hindu Nationalism and the Language of Politics in Late Colonial India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XNsganXnq-oC&pg=PA61|publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=61–100 |isbn=978-1139451956 }}</ref>

Ganesh Shankar was born in a Hindu [[Kayastha]] family at Hathgaon/Hathgam in Fatehpur District it is said, this was populated by Saint Parashar. His father Jai Narain, also spelled as Jainarayan, was a teacher in a middle school namely Anglo Vernacular School<ref>{{cite book|title= Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Samajik Chetna Ke sarthi|author=Neeraj Shukla|publisher=Lokvani Prakashan Delhi|page=25|isbn=9789381487853}}</ref> in [[Mungaoli]] which is now the tehsil of Ashoknagar district of [[Madhya Pradesh]]. He was poor but a deeply religious Hindu and dedicated to high ideals. It was under him that Ganesh Shankar received his early schooling and passed the high school examination privately in 1907 after studying in [[Mungaoli]] and [[Vidisha]]. His admission register is available in this school. He could not study further due to poverty and became a clerk in the currency office and later a teacher in high school in [[Kanpur]]. At age 16, he also wrote his first book ''Hamari Atmogsargart'' and wed his wife Chandraprakashwati Vidyarthi on 4 June 1909.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.merinews.com/article/ganesh-shankar-vidyarthi-penman-in-the-battle-against-communalism/15905350.shtml|title=Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi: Penman in the battle against communalism|date=18 April 2015|publisher=merinews.com|access-date=10 September 2015}}</ref>

In 1913 Ganesh Shankar came back to Kanpur and launched his career as a crusading journalist and freedom fighter, which was only to end with his death 18 years later. He founded 'Pratap', his famous revolutionary weekly, which identified itself with the cause of the oppressed wherever they might be and ''Pratap'' would prove to be widespread as its circulation jumped from five hundred in 1913 to six hundred in 1916.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Burton |first1=Antoinette |author-link1=Antoinette Burton |last2=Hofmeyr |first2=Isabel |date=2014 |title=Ten Books That Shaped the British Empire: Creating an Imperial Commons |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZwedBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT200|publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=978-0822375920 }}</ref> It was through this paper that he waged his famous fights for the oppressed peasants of [[Rae Bareli]], the workers of the [[Kanpur]] mills and the downtrodden people of Indian states. During the course of these fights, he had to face numerous prosecutions, pay heavy fines and suffer five prison sentences. On 11 January 1915, he said the following quote:<ref>{{cite book |last=Parameshwar Gaonkar |first=Dilip |date=2007 |title=Cultures of Democracy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f3LlQZ_LErEC&pg=PA48|publisher=Duke University Press |page=48 |isbn=978-0822366720 }}</ref>  

He first met Gandhiji in 1916 in Lucknow and threw himself whole-heartedly in the national movement. He took a leading part in the Home Rule Movement of 1917–18 and led the first strike of textile workers in Kanpur. In 1920 he launched the daily edition of ''Pratap'' and it was in this year that he was sentenced to two years rigorous imprisonment for championing the cause of peasants of Rae Bareli. He was released in 1922 and almost immediately sent to jail again, for delivering a "seditious" speech as the President of the Provincial Political Conference at Fatehgarh. In 1924, he met and protested along with [[Bhagat Singh]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Ahuja |first=M. L. |date=2008 |title=Eminent Indians: Revolutionaries |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JVtfKcs42zAC&pg=PT13|publisher=Rupa & Co |isbn=978-8129113955 }}</ref> who became a close colleague and friend.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bakshi |first=S. R. |date=2001 |title=Early Aryans to Swaraj |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7fXK3DiuJ5oC&pg=PA303 |publisher=Sarup & Sons |pages=302–304 |isbn=978-8176255370 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Massey |first=Reginald |date=2014 |title=Shaheed Bhagat Singh and the Forgotten Indian Martyrs |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p354AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA177|publisher=Abhinav Publications |page=177}}</ref> He would also later associate himself with [[Chandra Shekhar Azad]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Singh Rana |first=Bhawan |date=2005 |title=Chandra Shekhar Azad (An Immortal Revolutionary of India) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sudu7qABntcC&pg=PA53 |publisher=Diamond Pocket Books |pages=53–57 |isbn=978-8128808166 }}</ref> Singh was released in 1924, greatly shattered in health, but he knew no respite and founded a short-lived union<ref name="2001book"/> and also launched himself in the preparation for the Congress Session at Kanpur in 1925.

In 1925, when the Congress decided to contest elections of Provincial Legislative Councils and organized the Swaraj Party, Ganesh Shankar won a resounding victory on its behalf, from Kanpur and served as a Member of the U.P. Legislative Council until 1929 when he resigned at the behest of the Congress. In 1925, after Gandhi founded the Beech Wala Chowk temple in Kanpur, Vidyarthi frequently used it to host meetings.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kanpur/Midnight-flag-hoisting-at-Beech-Wala-Chowk-Mandir/articleshow/48492638.cms|title=Midnight flag hoisting at Beech Wala Chowk Manir|date=15 August 2015|newspaper=timesofindia.indiatimes.com|access-date=10 September 2015}}</ref> In 1926, Vidyarthi, who was considered an important member of Congress, encouraged [[Shiv Narayan Tandon]] to also join Congress. In 1928, he also founded the Mazdur Sabha and led it until his death in 1931.<ref name="1965book"/> In 1929 he was elected the President of the U.P. Congress Committee and was appointed the first 'dictator' to lead the Satyagrah movement in U.P. He was a supporter of the Hindi language and attended the Hindi Sahitya Sammelan conference in 1930 in [[Gorakhpur]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Kothari |first=Rita |date=1998 |title=Modern Gujarati Poetry: A Selection |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G0b71SNQ5CQC&pg=PA48|publisher=[[Sahitya Akademi]] |page=48 |isbn=978-8126002948 }}</ref> and in March 1930 at Shraddhanand Park in [[New Delhi]].<ref name="2004book" /> That same year, he was arrested and sent to jail again. He was released on 9 March 1931 under the [[Gandhi–Irwin Pact]].

Communalism swept Western Uttar Pradesh in the 1920s as the Shuddhi movement gained steam and Kanpur was no exception.<ref name="2001book" /> In February 1927, Vidyarthi and other Congress leaders had organized a demonstration to the Moolganj mosque and played music for forty minutes; this was in retaliation to a Muslim mob attacking a musical band accompanying a Hindu marriage procession.<ref name="2001book" /> Despite, Vidyarthi was known for his secular politics and sympathy for Muslims.<ref name="2001book" />

 

[[Mahatma Gandhi]] paid him the following tribute in the pages of 'Young India': "The death of Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi was one to be envied by us all. His blood is the cement that will ultimately bind the two communities. No pact will bind our hearts. But heroism such as Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi showed is bound in the end to melt the stoniest hearts, melt them into one. The poison has however gone so deep that the blood even of a man so great, so self-sacrificing and so utterly brave as Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi may today not be enough to wash us of it. Let this noble example stimulate us all to a similar effort should the occasion arise again". Author Siyaramsharan Gupta also made Vidyarthi the subject of the works ''Atmotsarg Patheya'' and ''Mrinmoyee Atmotsarg''.<ref>{{cite book |author=Premshankar |date=2006 |title=Siyaramsharan Gupta (Hindi Writer) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RdTyXSQgjeMC&pg=PA37|pages=5–94 |isbn=978-8126013401 }}</ref>

== Honors ==

* [[Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Puraskar]] is given to renowned journalists by honourable President of India every year from 1989.

* The Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Memorial ([[GSVM]]) [[Medical College Kanpur]] is named in his remembrance.

* Ganesh Chowk, a square is named after him in the heart of the city of [[Gorakhpur]].

* [[Phool Bagh]], earlier Queen's Park in Kanpur is also called as [[Ganesh Vidyarthi Udyan]].

* The Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Inter College ([[GSVIC]]) [[GSV Inter College Kanpur]] is named in his remembrance.

* Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Smarak Inter College (GSVS Inter College Maharajganj, UP) is named after his remembrance.

 

== References ==