Chunibhai Vaidya (2 September 1917 – 19 December 2014), popularly called Chunikaka, was an Indian activist, author and a
Gandhian The followers of Mahatma Gandhi, the greatest figure of the Indian independence movement, are called Gandhians.
Gandhi's legacy includes a wide range of ideas ranging from his dream of ideal India (or ''Rama Rajya)'', economics, environmentalism, ...
ideologue from
Gujarat
Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...
, India.
Life
Chunibhai Vaidya was born on 2 September 1918 in a small village in
Patan district, Gujarat. He was a
Gandhian The followers of Mahatma Gandhi, the greatest figure of the Indian independence movement, are called Gandhians.
Gandhi's legacy includes a wide range of ideas ranging from his dream of ideal India (or ''Rama Rajya)'', economics, environmentalism, ...
and a ''
Sarvodaya
Sarvōdaya ( hi, सर्वोदय '' sarv-'' "all", '' uday'' "rising") is a Sanskrit term which generally means "universal uplift" or "progress of all". The term was used by Mahatma Gandhi as the title of his 1908 translation of John Ruskin ...
'' veteran. He participated in
Indian independence movement
The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947.
The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...
and later in
Vinoba Bhave
Vinayak Narahari, also known as Vinoba Bhave (; 11 September 1895 – 15 November 1982), was an Indian advocate of nonviolence and human rights. Often called ''Acharya'' (Sanskrit teacher), he is best known for the Bhoodan Movement. He is cons ...
's
Bhoodan Movement
The Bhoodan movement (Land Gift movement), also known as the Bloodless Revolution, was a voluntary land reform movement in India. It was initiated by Gandhian Vinoba Bhave in 1951 at Pochampally village, Pochampally
The Bhoodan movement attempted ...
. He worked for peace in
Assam
Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...
when violence broke out in 1960s. He was an editor of ''Bhumiputra''. He opposed the
Emergency
An emergency is an urgent, unexpected, and usually dangerous situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or environment and requires immediate action. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening ...
imposed by
Indira Gandhi
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...
in 1975 and was imprisoned. He also founded Gujarat Lok Samiti, a voluntary organization, in 1980. During draught from 1986 to 1988 in Gujarat, he was involved in relief work and construction of check dams in
Patan district irrigating 12000 hectares of land. He was also critical of
2002 Gujarat violence
The 2002 Gujarat riots, also known as the 2002 Gujarat violence, was a three-day period of inter-communal violence in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The burning of a train in Godhra on 27 February 2002, which caused the deaths of 58 Hin ...
.
Vaidya wrote ''Assassination of Gandhi : Facts and Falsehood'' which was translated and published in eleven languages.
He died on 19 December 2014 at Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad ( ; Gujarati: Amdavad ) is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 (per t ...
aged 97. He was cremated at Dadhichi crematorium in Vadaj area of the city.
Awards
He received Sane Guruji Nirbhay Patrakarita Award for his journalism. He also received Vishva Gujarati Pratibha award by Vishva Gujarati Samaj. He was awarded the Jamnalal Bajaj Award
Jamnalal Bajaj Award is an Indian award, for promoting Gandhian values, community service and social development. Established in 1978, by the Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation of Bajaj Group, it is given annually in four categories, and usually presented ...
in 2010.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaidya, Chunibhai
1917 births
2014 deaths
Indian civil rights activists
Community activists
Writers from Ahmedabad
Gandhians
Indian nonviolence advocates
Prisoners and detainees of British India
Indian independence activists from Gujarat
Indian people imprisoned during the Emergency (India)
People from Patan district
Social workers from Gujarat
20th-century Indian educational theorists
Scholars from Ahmedabad