[8] His real interest, however, was in journalism and public life and he came early under the influence of the nationalist upsurge, which was taking place in the country.

Mahabir Prasad Dwiwedi, the doyen of Hindi journalism who offered him the job of a sub-editor in his famous literary monthly, "The Saraswati", in 1911.

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.

[9] 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.

On 11 January 1915, he said the following quote:[10] Now the time has come for our political ideology and our movement no [to] be restricted to the English-educated and to spread among the common people [samanya janta], and for Indian public opinion [lokmat], to be not the opinion of those few educated individuals but to mirror the thoughts of all the classes of the country... the democratic rule is actually the rule of public opinion".Later on 31 May, he also said: The much-despised peasants are our true bread-givers [annadata], not those who consider themselves special and look down upon the people who live in toil and poverty as lowly beingsHe first met Gandhiji in 1916 in Lucknow and threw himself whole-heartedly in the national movement.

[14] Vidyarthi was released in 1924, greatly shattered in health, but he knew no respite and founded a short-lived union[1] and also launched himself in the preparation for the 1925 Congress session at Kanpur presided by Sarojini Naidu.

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.

[17] Despite being scheduled to proceed for the Karachi Congress Session, he chose to stay back and rescue the people before felling to the mob.

Those who laid the foundation of Hindu-Muslim unity by sacrificing their lives for communal harmony proved to be an example in the history of Indian journalism.

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.

[22] In 2006, there was a controversy involving an unauthorized unveiling of a statue in Mungawali, Madhya Pradesh honoring Vidyarthi by Member of Parliament of INC, Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia.

The police and state government claimed it was unauthorized and seized the statue despite local congressman and journalists insisting it be restored.