Wednesday, April 10, 2013

2. Achyut Pattawardhan (1905 - 1992)



69 Aruna Asaf Ali-Jaiprakash Narain-Ram Manohar Lohia-Achyut
Achyut Patwardhan
Born(1905-02-05)5 February 1905
Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, India
DiedAugust , 1992
Varanasi, India
Political movementIndian Independence movement, Quit India movement, Emergency movement
Achyut's father, Hari Keshav Patwardhan, was a prosperous legal practitioner at Ahmednagar. He had six sons of whom Achyut was the second. When Achyut was a boy of four years, Sitaram Patwardhan, a retired Deputy Educational Inspector, adopted him. Sitaram died in 1917, leaving considerable property for Achyut. Patwardhans are amongst the talented Chitpavan Brahmins who migrated from the Konkan region to all parts of Maharashtra and formed mostly the English-educated gentry from the end of the last century till recent times.
After finishing his primary and secondary education at Ahmednagar, Achyut passed the B. A. and M. A. examination from the Central Hindu College of Benares. His subject was Economics and he obtained a first class. Achyut’s own and adoptive fathers were both Theosophists and, therefore, he was sent to the college founded by Dr. Annie Besant. He was in contact with Dr. G. S. Arundale, the Theosophist Principal of the college, Dr. Annie Besant and Professor Telang. Their influence made him studious, meditative and ascetic. It must also be the reason of his lifelong bachelorship.
He resigned from his service of Professorship and joined the the Congress in 1932. He participated in civil disobedience called by Gandhiji.,
In 1934,  he along with Jay Prakash Narayan and Narendra Dev formed the Congress Socialist Party.
He was always in the forefront of freedom movement of India.
He took an important role in the August Biplab (42 movement).. He became known as the "Lion of Sataray".
He took a prominent part in the Quit India movement which started in 1942. In 1945–46 he went underground, and evading arrest, he ably directed the movement of a parallel government mainly in the Satara district (History of Satara district can be traced back to 200 BCE. Historical inscriptions of circa 200 BCE indicate the oldest known place in Satara district in Maharashtra is Karad (mentioned as Karhakada). It is also believed that the Pandavas stayed in Wai, then known as 'Viratnagari', in the 13th year of exile.
The empire of Chandragupta II, known as Mahendraditya Kumargupta I, extended as far as Satara district in Deccan when he ruled between 451 to 455 CE) . He was called thereafter by many as ‘सातार्याचा सिंह’ (The Lion of Satara). The parallel government was established by terrorist methods. It was called ‘Patri Sarkar’. ‘Patri’ was the name given to the terrible and torturous punishments administered to Government servants and people who dared to obstruc
t the parallel government.

These punishments disabled people for life. The ring-leader of the gangs who looted Government offices, treasuries and trains was Nana Patil (Nana Patil , pic-below, was biggest Freedom fighter popularly known assarkar' formed in Satara district of west Maharashtra[Yedemachhindragad]. He died on 6 December 1976)   Krantisinha ( lit. 'revolutionary lion') was an Indian independence activist and Member of Parliament for the Communist Party of India representing Satara. Earlier, he had been a founder of the revolutionary 'Prati- . The parallel government thus collected a loot of more than a lakh. Some of the associates in these atrocities were mere desperadoes who knew little of politics or socialism. The Government penetrated into the villages where the Government machinery broke down completely.

Achyut personally served the workers in this movement by washing their clothes and cooking their food. He became a popular hero thereafter, not so much for his Socialism as for his bravery and skill in carrying out this underground movement and establishing people’s government in the Satara district for over two years.
Annual Sessions of the Congress Socialist Party were held from 1934 onwards. But it was found difficult for Achyut and his co-workers to promote Socialism from within the Congress. In 1947 they formed the Socialist Party of India, independently of the Congress. In 1950 Achyut retired from politics and worked again as Professor in the Central Hindu College till 1966. Since then he was passing an entirely secluded and retired life in Pune, not appearing in public and not even answering correspondence.
Publication of Achyut Patwardhan

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