Mahavir Tyagi
Mahavir Tyagi (31 December 1899 – 22 May 1980)[1][2] was a prominent Indian independence fighter and parliamentarian from Dehradun, Uttar Pradesh (now in Uttarakhand) India.
Mahavir Tyagi, who was active in the Kisan (peasant) movement, remained a lifelong member of the Indian National Congress.
He was tried, inter alia, for sedition under Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code, at Bulandshahr in the United Provinces, now known as Uttar Pradesh.
A mass protest meeting presided over by Sayed Hassan Berni, Vakil against the Magistrate-directed assault on Tyagi, was held in Bulandshahr with more than 4000 persons attending.
"[6] The famous editor-poet from Lahore, Zafar Ali Khan, wrote a verse condemning the assault on Mahavir Tyagi.
The case was then transferred to the District Magistrate of Meerut, and Tyagi, on being convicted and sentenced to two years' imprisonment, was sent to Agra jail.
Even after his release from prison, the seditious Tyagi would remain a marked man for the British regime which had by now identified him as a dangerous opponent.
[7] In Uttar Pradesh politics Tyagi was known as a "Rafian", that is, an associate of Rafi Ahmad Kidwai, the famous Indian nationalist Muslim.
[9] On the settlement of communal differences, the statement endorsed the recommendations of the Nehru Report as agreed to by the Lucknow All Parties Conference, held in August 1928.
[9] In November 1930, two Nepali activists, Kharag Bahadur and Dhanpati Singh, were arrested at the Delhi Railway station with documents indicating the involvement of Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel, Mahavir Tyagi and some other Congress leaders in efforts to alienate the Gurkha soldiers from the British Indian Army.
The committee recommended, inter alia, occupancy rights in land for tenants and the prohibition of forced labour.
(Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru, Vol 13, p. 618) While he himself adhered to Gandhian non-violence, Mahavir Tyagi had close contacts even among the "revolutionaries", that is those who were not opposed to using violent means to overthrow the imperial state.
These included Ashfaqullah, Ram Prasad Bismil, Sachindra Nath Sanyal, Prem Kishan Khanna and Vishnu Sharan Dublish.
(Choudhry Khaliquzzaman, Pathway To Pakistan, Lahore, 1961, p. 400; see also Ansar Harvani, Before Freedom and After, New Delhi, 1989, p. 100 and Qazi Jalil Abbasi's account in Bipan Chandra, The Epic Struggle, New Delhi, 1992, p. 60) For a further account of how Mahavir Tyagi took over the local administration at this time after he found that it was ineffective in controlling the situation and restoring public order, see Ajit Prasad Jain, Rafi Ahmad Kidwai: A Memoir of his Life and Times, Bombay, 1965, pp 73–74.
(See, for example, Ajay Singh Rawat, Garhwal Himalayas: A Historical Survey, New Delhi, 1983, p. 205) Mahavir Tyagi was a member of the Constituent Assembly of India.
(See, for instance, D.R.Goyal, Maulana Husain Ahmad Madni: A Biographical Study, Anamika Publishers, New Delhi, 2004 and Qazi Mohammad Adil Abbasi, Aspects of Politics and Society : Memoirs of a Veteran Congressman, Marwah Publications, New Delhi, 1981)) On India's becoming a Republic in 1950, Tyagi remained a member of the Provisional Parliament (1950–52), and the Lower House of the Indian Parliament, that is, the First, Second and Third Lok Sabhas (1952–67) from Dehradun.
His practical, man-of-the-soil approach was reflected also at the first meeting of the National Development Council, held in Delhi on 8 and 9 November 1952, where Tyagi suggested that "manual work should be made part of the daily curriculum of education".
Known for his independence, Tyagi opposed, even while he was a minister, the reorganisation of Indian states on a linguistic basis which was, however, ultimately carried out in 1956.
Later Tyagi opposed the decision to dismiss the Communist government led by EMS Namboodiripad in Kerala at the end of the fifties, saying that this would establish a wrong precedent.
A political scientist records in a significant study that Tyagi warned at the time "that the Congress Party was 'digging its own grave' by aligning with caste and communal forces".
On 31 January 1959 Tyagi had written a strong letter to Jawaharlal Nehru advising him against acceding to the proposal made by some Chief Ministers that Indira Gandhi be elected President of the Indian National Congress.
A popular figure, he had friends across political parties and was widely admired for his integrity, outspokenness, ready wit and sense of humour.
