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

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 ...

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