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Acharya Narendra Deva (; also Dev; 30 October 1889 – 19 February 1956) was one of the leading theorists of the
Congress Socialist Party
The Congress Socialist Party (CSP) was a socialist caucus within the Indian National Congress. It was founded in 1934 by Congress members who rejected what they saw as the anti-rational mysticism of Gandhi as well as the sectarian attitude of th ...
in India. His
democratic socialism renounced violent means as a matter of principle and embraced the ''
satyagraha'' as a revolutionary tactic.
Dev was first drawn to nationalism around 1915 under the influence of
B G Tilak and
Aurobindo Ghosh
Sri Aurobindo (born Aurobindo Ghose; 15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian philosopher, yogi, maharishi, poet, and Indian nationalist. He was also a journalist, editing newspapers such as ''Vande Mataram''. He joined the ...
. As a teacher he became interested in
Marxism
Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
and
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
. He was active in the
Hindi language
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
movement. He was a key leader of the
Congress Socialist Party
The Congress Socialist Party (CSP) was a socialist caucus within the Indian National Congress. It was founded in 1934 by Congress members who rejected what they saw as the anti-rational mysticism of Gandhi as well as the sectarian attitude of th ...
from its founding in 1934 and was imprisoned several times during the freedom struggle. He was at times a member of the
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
legislative assembly.
He served as Vice Chancellor of
University of Lucknow
The University of Lucknow (informally known as Lucknow University, and LU) is a public state university based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Founded in 1920, the University of Lucknow is one of the oldest government owned institutions of higher ed ...
from 1947-1951 and then served as Vice Chancellor of
Banaras Hindu University
Banaras Hindu University (BHU) IAST: kāśī hindū viśvavidyālaya IPA: /kaːʃiː hɪnd̪uː ʋɪʃwəʋid̪jaːləj/), is a collegiate, central, and research university located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, and founded in 1916 ...
from December 1951 to 31 May 1954. Helped by Nirmal Chandra Chaturvedi, Executive Councillor and a prominent educationist of the state. He started a number of projects for the expansion of the university.
Narendra Dev advocated the abolition of poverty and exploitation not just through the Marxist
materialist dialectic
Dialectical materialism is a philosophy of science, history, and nature developed in Europe and based on the writings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Marxist dialectics, as a materialist philosophy, emphasizes the importance of real-world co ...
but especially on moral and humanistic grounds. He insisted that "without social democracy political democracy was a sham". Dev was active in the peasant movement and served as president of the All-India Kisan Congress.
He remained associated with the
Socialist Party
Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...
and its successor, the
Praja Socialist Party, until his death in 1956.
Legacy
Prime Minister
Rajiv Gandhi said: "Acharya Narendra 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
Acharya Narendra Deva University of Agriculture and Technology (ANDUaT), formerly Narendra Deva University of Agriculture and Technology (NDUaT), is a university located in Kumarganj, Uttar Pradesh, India, established in 1975. It is named after ...
was named in his honour in 1975.
In an emotional obituary in Rajya Sabha,
Jawaharlal Nehru
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat—
*
*
*
* and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...
said:
: "The death of Acharya Narendra Dev 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."
[Prem Singh (31 October 2017]
Acharya Narendra Deva : Life And Politics
countercurrents.org
He was also the first Principal of Lucknow Montessori Inter College
Dev had been professor at Kashi Vidyapeeth and Vice Chancellor of Lucknow University and Banaras Hindu University. He died at the age of 67 in 19 February 1956 in Madrass.
References
External links
Acharya Narendra Dev's Contribution– International Research Institute of Buddhist Studies
Lok Sabha condolence message Page 41
1889 births
1956 deaths
University of Allahabad alumni
Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Hindi
University of Lucknow faculty
Prisoners and detainees of British India
Vice Chancellors of Banaras Hindu University
Praja Socialist Party politicians
20th-century Indian politicians
{{Use Indian English, date=September 2015