He was also conferred with the title of "Loknayak Bapuji", which means "The People's Leader and Respected Father".
He disapproved Congress throwing itself in Khilafat Movement and warned against excessive wooing of Muslims at the cost of national interests.
[4] Bapuji Aney was born on 20 August 1880 in a family of Sanskrit pandits at Wani in Yavatmal district of Vidarbha in Maharashtra.
[6] It is said that his ancestors hailed from Telugu-speaking area with the surname "Annamraju" which was later transmuted into "Aney" (IAST: Aṇe).
After taking his law degree from Calcutta University in 1907, he joined the bar in 1910 at Yavatmal, where he built a lucrative practice.
[7] He wrote for the paper 'Harikishor' in 1910 and was prosecuted for writing against the British government and was punished with cancellation of his Sanad to practice law for 1 year.
During the time he practiced, as he was frequently imprisoned, the lawyers from Yavatmal Bar to which he belonged would give him their briefs to argue, to enable him to earn his fees.
On 1.1.1922- became President of the Varhad unit of Swatantra Party of Pandit Motilal Nehru and Chitranjan Das.
In 1923, Aney was elected to the Central Provinces Legislative Assembly Also in 1923 he established the Vidarbha Shitya Sangh.
Nehru Committee Report of 10 August 1928 was a memorandum outlining a proposed new dominion status for the constitution for India.
The final report was signed by Motilal Nehru, Ali Imam, Tej Bahadur Sapru, Madhav Shrihari Aney, Mangal Singh, Shuaib Qureshi, Subhas Chandra Bose, and G. R. Pradhan.
In 1941 he was appointed as Member on the Viceroy's Council under Lord Linlithgow, and was incharge of Overseas Indians & Commonwealth relations Portfolio.
Aney, Sir Homi Mody and N.R.Sarkar, Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar and others resigned from the Viceroy's Counsel in support of Mahatma's fast unto death in 1942.
Although bed-ridden, in 1954 Aney submitted a Memorandum to the Commission called 'Memorandum for Statehood for Vidarbha' which set out in great detail the case for statehood for Vidarbha, pointing out to its historical, geographic, socio-political and economic claim for the status of a State in the Indian Union.
After recovering from his prolonged illness, Loknayak Aney won the 1959 bye-election to Nagpur Parliamentary seat to the 2nd Lok Sabha on a Congress ticket.
However, in the 1962 general election, he refused to contest on the Congress ticket and fought as a Nag Vidarbha Andolan Samiti candidate and won Nagpur Parliamentary seat with 1,31,740 votes defeating Shri Rikhabchand Sharma (Congress) with 84,870 votes.
In 1967 he lost the Nagpur seat to N.R.Deoghare (Congress) with 1,29736, followed by A. Bhardhan (CPI) with 97,767 and Aney with 54,049 votes The forest law was defied in Berar as in other parts of the country.
[5] His eldest son Dattatraya was District Judge, and retired as Secretary, Maharashtra Legislature.
[12] Aney Marg, the street on which the chief minister of Bihar's residence is located, is named after him.