Achyut Patwardhan
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Achyutrao Patwardhan | |
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Born | Quit India movement | 5 February 1905
Achyut Patwardhan (5 February 1905 – 5 August 1992) was an Indian independence activist and political leader and founder of the
Early life
Achyut's father, Hari Keshav Patwardhan, was a prosperous legal practitioner at Ahmednagar. He had six sons of whom Achyut was the second. When Achyut was a boy of four years, Sitaram Patwardhan, a retired Deputy Educational Inspector, adopted him. Sitaram died in 1917, leaving considerable property for Achyut.[clarification needed]
After finishing his primary and secondary education at Ahmednagar, Achyut passed the B. A. and M. A. examination from the Central Hindu College of Benares. His subject was economics and he obtained a first class. Achyut's own and adoptive fathers were both Theosophists and, therefore, he was sent to the college founded by Dr. Annie Besant. He was in contact with Dr. G. S. Arundale, the Theosophist Principal of the college, Dr. Annie Besant and Professor Telang. Their influence made him studious, meditative and ascetic. It must also be the reason of his lifelong bachelorship.
Social activities
After passing his M. A. he worked as Professor of Economics at the College till 1932. During this period he thrice visited England and other European countries and came in contact with Socialist leaders and scholars. He studied Communist and Socialist literature, resigned his Professorship and plunged in 1932 into Gandhiji's
His aim in joining the Congress, like his associates Acharya Narendra Deb, Jayaprakash Narayan and others, was to turn the Congress to Socialism. In 1934, he and his associates in jail formed the Congress Socialistic Party with a view to working for socialistic objectives from within the Congress. Achyut was taken on the CongressWorking Committee by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1936, but he resigned in a few months and thereafter resisted Nehru's invitations to join it. From 1935 to 1941 he organised Shibirs (education camps for young men), to teach them Socialism and to prepare them for socialistic activities.
He took a prominent part in the
Achyutrao personally served the activists in this movement by washing their clothes and cooking their food. After May 1946 when all activists of parallel government became visible before the public , he took part in public meetings with them.
Annual Sessions of the Congress Socialist Party were held from 1934 onwards. But it was found difficult for Achyut and his co-workers to promote Socialism from within the Congress. In 1947 they formed the
Publications
- Patwardhan, Achyut (1971). Ideologies and the perspective of social change in India. Issue 1 of Balwantrai Mehta memorial lectures. University of Bombay. p. 42.
- Mehta, Asoka; Patwardhan, Achyut (1942). The communal triangle in India. Kitabistan. p. 263.
References
- ^ SINGH, KULDIP (22 August 1992). "Obituary: Achyut Patwardhan". The Independent. Archived from the original on 9 June 2012. Retrieved 17 May 2011.