Mahavir Tyagi
Encyclopedia
Mahavir Tyagi
(1899 - 1980) was an India
n independence fighter and famous parliamentarian from the state of Uttar Pradesh
, India
.
Early life=
Tyagi was educated in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. He joined the British Indian Army
and was posted in Persia but resigned after the Amritsar Massacre, or Jallianwala Bagh Massacre as it was universally known, which took place on April 13, 1919. He was court martialled in Quetta
, capital of Baluchistan (then a part of India but now in Pakistan) and externed from Baluchistan with all pay deposits forfeited. Returning home, Tyagi became a staunch follower of Mahatma Gandhi.
In the Independence movement
See Also: Indian Independence Movement
Mahavir Tyagi, who was active in the Kisan (peasant) movement, remained a life-long member of the Indian National Congress
. He was imprisoned by the British eleven times. In the course of the non-co-operation movement in 1921 Mahavir Tyagi was tried, inter alia, for sedition under Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code at Bulandshahr in the United Provinces, later known as Uttar Pradesh.( See Young India, October 13, 1921, and United Provinces Legislative Council Debates, November 5, 1921). In the course of the trial he was assaulted at the behest of the British Magistrate, W.E.J.Dobbs. (See Independent, October 9, 1921, Leader, October 10, 1921 and Young India, October 13, 1921) In a series of commentaries on the incident, Mahatma Gandhi condemned the assault on Tyagi. (See Young India, October 13, 20, 27, 1921 and November 10, 1921; Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Volume 21,1966 (CWMG), pp 284–5, 310-1, 312-3, 344-6, 406-7). 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. (Young India, October 13, 1921). Describing the assault as a "crime against the nation", Gandhi asked : "Could for instance the Lord Chief Justice of England assault a prisoner being tried before him and still retain his high office?" (Young India, October 20, 1921)The editor-poet from Lahore, Zafar Ali Khan wrote a verse condemning the assault on Mahavir Tyagi. The matter of the magistrate-directed assault on Tyagi figured in the United Provinces Legislative Council on Nov 4, 1921. Initially evasive answers from the Government regarding action taken against the magistrate led to further questioning of Government on Nov 5, 16, and 17, 1921 in the course of which the Government distanced itself from the magistrate's action. 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. (See UP Legislative Council Debates, December 19, 1925)
In Uttar Pradesh politics Tyagi was known as a "Rafian", that is, an associate of Rafi Ahmad Kidwai, the famous Indian nationalist Muslim. (See M. Hashim Kidwai, Rafi Ahmad Kidwai, New Delhi, 1986, pp 215–216)
Mahavir Tyagi was close to, and had been a jail companion of, the leading Indian nationalist, Motilal Nehru
, Jawaharlal Nehru
's father. In the 1920s Tyagi helped resolve, with the help of Maulana Mohammad Ali
, a misunderstanding that had arisen between Motilal Nehru
and Jawaharlal Nehru
(See Durga Das, India From Curzon to Nehru & After,London, 1969, pp 109–110).
Mahavir Tyagi was a delegate to the All Parties National Convention held at Calcutta in December 1928-January 1929. In a statement issued along with Srinivas Iyengar, Jawaharlal Nehru and others, Tyagi supported the position that the Principles of the Constitution of India drafted by the Motilal Nehru Committee should have been based on independence rather than Dominion Status. [Selected Works of Motilal Nehru, Vol 6, New Delhi, 1995,pp. 607-609] As regards 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. (Idem)
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.(See Kanchanmoy Mojumdar, Nepal and the Indian Nationalist Movement, pp 32–33). Tyagi was already in prison by this time, having been arrested a few months earlier for his participation in the Civil Disobedience Movement of 1930.
Political and Parliamentary career
Tyagi was President of the Dehra Dun District Congress Committee in 1931 (See Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru, Vol 5, p. 211n) After Tyagi had served out his sentence for participation in the Civil Disobedience Movement of 1930, he was arrested again in Dehra Dun on January 17, 1932 with the resumption of Civil Disobedience and sentenced to two and a half years' imprisonment (Garhwali, Dehra Dun, January 23, 1932) In the decade before Indian independence he became a legislator in the United Provinces. In this capacity, he was, in 1939, a member of the Jaunsar-Bawar Enquiry Committee which heralded social and land reform in the tribal area of Jaunsar Bawar
in Dehradun
district of Uttar Pradesh (an area now forming part of Uttarakhand
state). The committee recommended, inter alia, occupancy rights in land for tenants and the prohibition of forced labour. (A summary of the committee's recommendations is available in D N Majumdar, Himalayan Polyandry, Bombay,1962, pp 13–17) When arrested in the Individual Satyagraha in November 1940, Tyagi was taken to Dehra Dun Jail where Jawaharlal Nehru was already lodged. (Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru, Vol 11, p. 506)
In 1942 Tyagi and S K D Paliwal were arrested under the Defence of India Rules on June 6, that is more than two months before the Quit India movement was actually launched; Rafi Ahmad Kidwai had been arrested even earlier on May 12. (Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru, Vol 12, p. 344) In a speech at Bombay on June 18, 1942, Nehru condemned these arrests as "putting a hindrance to civil defence work".(Idem) Three years later Nehru, on being transferred from Ahmadnagar Fort Prison to jails in the United Provinces in the summer of 1945, would see Tyagi again, then a political detenu in Bareilly Central Prison. (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 Sachindra Nath Sanyal
, Prem Kishan Khanna and Vishnu Sharan Dublish.
When riots broke out in the Indian subcontinent after its partition in 1947, Tyagi, taking inspiration from Gandhi, staked his own life to help save Muslims in his home state and to bring peace.(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 it unable to control the situation and restore public order, see Ajit Prasad Jain, Rafi Ahmad Kidwai : A Memoir of his Life and Times, Bombay, 1965, pp 73–74.
Tyagi's political activities extended also to the Tehri Garhwal region. He had taken a keen interest in the movement for democratic rights there and played a prominent role also in support of the movement in Tehri State for merger with independent India.( 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
. In this capacity he is known especially for his strong stand against unsafeguarded Preventive Detention laws and against suspension of fundamental rights in emergency situations.
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 Sabha
(1952-67). Tyagi was Minister for Revenue & Expenditure in the Nehru Council of Ministers (1951-53). In this capacity he introduced the First Voluntary Disclosure Scheme, known as the Tyagi Scheme, primarily, as he put it, to bring into the open incomes which had not been revealed to the alien government prior to independence. While in the Ministry of Finance, Tyagi earned a reputation as a strict economiser.
Later Mahavir Tyagi became Minister for Defence Organisation (1953-57).General B M Kaul records in his memoirs that as Minister of Defence Organisation, Tyagi opposed policy proposals involving draconian measures in the tribal areas of India's North-East.( See B M Kaul, The Untold Story, New Delhi, 1967, p. 162 ) Tyagi also gave instructions for recruitment of Muslims in large numbers in the Indian Army
. The proportion of Muslims in the Army had fallen after Partition of India
in 1947.
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.(Indian Express, Madras, November 24, 1955) He welcomed the victory of the Communist Party of India in Kerala state in the General Elections of 1957 (Leader, Allahabad, April 2, 1957) Later Tyagi opposed the decision to dismiss the Communist government led by E M S 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". (B D. Dua, Presidential Rule in India 1950-1974 : A Study in Crisis Politics, New Delhi, 1979, p. 112) Tyagi sought also to inculcate independence in others : He was critical of the tendency among political workers obsequiously to touch their leaders' feet and lashed out also at some senior bureaucrats who, he observed, had started touching ministers' feet. (Touching of Leaders' Feet : Tyagi Deplores Tendency, The Tribune, Ambala, June 26, 1959)
Tyagi was Chairman of the Direct Taxes Administration Enquiry Committee (1958-59) and in that capacity paved the way, along with the Law Commission, for the Income Tax Act, 1961.
: Nehru commented that "Not a blade of grass grows in Aksai Chin
", attempting to explain that Aksai Chin was a barren, inhospitable land and the nation had lost little by its occupation by China. Tyagi retorted, pointing to his bald head: "Nothing grows here ..should it be cut off or given away to somebody else?". A tense situation that had been developing in the House on the subject of the border conflict was averted as the House dissolved in laughter in which Nehru also joined. Tyagi continued to enjoy an affectionate relationship with Jawaharlal Nehru. He served as Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament (1962-64).
, from Uttar Pradesh and led the Congress(O) in the House till he retired in 1976. Tyagi's being in the Congress(O) did not prevent him from being critical of the movement led by Jaya Prakash Narayan in 1974-75. He was equally critical of the Emergency
imposed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi
in 1975.
Mahavir Tyagi died in New Delhi
on May 22, 1980. A popular figure, he had friends across political parties and was widely admired for his integrity, outspokenness, ready wit and sense of humour.
Writings
Prior to independence, Mahavir Tyagi had written a booklet on proportional representation. His memoirs in Hindustani
were published in the 1960s in two volumes : (i) Ve Kranti Ke Din and (ii) Meri Kaun Sunega. These volumes have now been combined in one and, along with some other unpublished articles by Tyagi, have been published under the title Azadi Ka Andolan: Hanste Huye Aansu (Kitab Ghar, 24 Ansari Road, Daryaganj, Delhi).
See also
.
Tyagi
Tyagi is a surname of North India and Pakistan. There are both Hindu and Muslim Tyagis. Tyāgī is a sanskrit word meaning the renouncer Once localized to Western Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi, they are now also found in Sindh and Punjab provinces of Pakistan due to the...
(1899 - 1980) was an India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n independence fighter and famous parliamentarian from the state of Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
.
Early life=
Tyagi was educated in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. He joined the British Indian Army
British Indian Army
The British Indian Army, officially simply the Indian Army, was the principal army of the British Raj in India before the partition of India in 1947...
and was posted in Persia but resigned after the Amritsar Massacre, or Jallianwala Bagh Massacre as it was universally known, which took place on April 13, 1919. He was court martialled in Quetta
Quetta
is the largest city and the provincial capital of the Balochistan Province of Pakistan. Known as the "Fruit Garden of Pakistan" due to the diversity of its plant and animal wildlife, Quetta is home to the Hazarganji Chiltan National Park, which contains some of the rarest species of wildlife in the...
, capital of Baluchistan (then a part of India but now in Pakistan) and externed from Baluchistan with all pay deposits forfeited. Returning home, Tyagi became a staunch follower of Mahatma Gandhi.
In the Independence movement
See Also: Indian Independence Movement
Indian independence movement
The term Indian independence movement encompasses a wide area of political organisations, philosophies, and movements which had the common aim of ending first British East India Company rule, and then British imperial authority, in parts of South Asia...
Mahavir Tyagi, who was active in the Kisan (peasant) movement, remained a life-long member of the Indian National Congress
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
. He was imprisoned by the British eleven times. In the course of the non-co-operation movement in 1921 Mahavir Tyagi was tried, inter alia, for sedition under Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code at Bulandshahr in the United Provinces, later known as Uttar Pradesh.( See Young India, October 13, 1921, and United Provinces Legislative Council Debates, November 5, 1921). In the course of the trial he was assaulted at the behest of the British Magistrate, W.E.J.Dobbs. (See Independent, October 9, 1921, Leader, October 10, 1921 and Young India, October 13, 1921) In a series of commentaries on the incident, Mahatma Gandhi condemned the assault on Tyagi. (See Young India, October 13, 20, 27, 1921 and November 10, 1921; Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Volume 21,1966 (CWMG), pp 284–5, 310-1, 312-3, 344-6, 406-7). 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. (Young India, October 13, 1921). Describing the assault as a "crime against the nation", Gandhi asked : "Could for instance the Lord Chief Justice of England assault a prisoner being tried before him and still retain his high office?" (Young India, October 20, 1921)The editor-poet from Lahore, Zafar Ali Khan wrote a verse condemning the assault on Mahavir Tyagi. The matter of the magistrate-directed assault on Tyagi figured in the United Provinces Legislative Council on Nov 4, 1921. Initially evasive answers from the Government regarding action taken against the magistrate led to further questioning of Government on Nov 5, 16, and 17, 1921 in the course of which the Government distanced itself from the magistrate's action. 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. (See UP Legislative Council Debates, December 19, 1925)
In Uttar Pradesh politics Tyagi was known as a "Rafian", that is, an associate of Rafi Ahmad Kidwai, the famous Indian nationalist Muslim. (See M. Hashim Kidwai, Rafi Ahmad Kidwai, New Delhi, 1986, pp 215–216)
Mahavir Tyagi was close to, and had been a jail companion of, the leading Indian nationalist, Motilal Nehru
Motilal Nehru
Motilal Nehru was an early Indian independence activist and leader of the Indian National Congress, who remained Congress President twice, and...
, Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru , often referred to with the epithet of Panditji, was an Indian statesman who became the first Prime Minister of independent India and became noted for his “neutralist” policies in foreign affairs. He was also one of the principal leaders of India’s independence movement in the...
's father. In the 1920s Tyagi helped resolve, with the help of Maulana Mohammad Ali
Maulana Mohammad Ali
Maulana Mohammad Ali Jouhar was an Indian Muslim leader, activist, scholar, journalist and poet, and was among the leading figures of the Khilafat Movement....
, a misunderstanding that had arisen between Motilal Nehru
Motilal Nehru
Motilal Nehru was an early Indian independence activist and leader of the Indian National Congress, who remained Congress President twice, and...
and Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru , often referred to with the epithet of Panditji, was an Indian statesman who became the first Prime Minister of independent India and became noted for his “neutralist” policies in foreign affairs. He was also one of the principal leaders of India’s independence movement in the...
(See Durga Das, India From Curzon to Nehru & After,London, 1969, pp 109–110).
Mahavir Tyagi was a delegate to the All Parties National Convention held at Calcutta in December 1928-January 1929. In a statement issued along with Srinivas Iyengar, Jawaharlal Nehru and others, Tyagi supported the position that the Principles of the Constitution of India drafted by the Motilal Nehru Committee should have been based on independence rather than Dominion Status. [Selected Works of Motilal Nehru, Vol 6, New Delhi, 1995,pp. 607-609] As regards 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. (Idem)
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.(See Kanchanmoy Mojumdar, Nepal and the Indian Nationalist Movement, pp 32–33). Tyagi was already in prison by this time, having been arrested a few months earlier for his participation in the Civil Disobedience Movement of 1930.
Political and Parliamentary career
Tyagi was President of the Dehra Dun District Congress Committee in 1931 (See Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru, Vol 5, p. 211n) After Tyagi had served out his sentence for participation in the Civil Disobedience Movement of 1930, he was arrested again in Dehra Dun on January 17, 1932 with the resumption of Civil Disobedience and sentenced to two and a half years' imprisonment (Garhwali, Dehra Dun, January 23, 1932) In the decade before Indian independence he became a legislator in the United Provinces. In this capacity, he was, in 1939, a member of the Jaunsar-Bawar Enquiry Committee which heralded social and land reform in the tribal area of Jaunsar Bawar
Jaunsar bawar
Jaunsar-Bawar is a hilly region, 85 km from Mussoorie, in Chakrata tehsil, in Dehradun district, it represents the geographical region inhabited by the 'Jaunsari' tribe, which traces its origin from the Pandavas of Mahabharata....
in Dehradun
Dehradun
- Geography :The Dehradun district has various types of physical geography from Himalayan mountains to Plains. Raiwala is the lowest point at 315 meters above sea level, and the highest points are within the Tiuni hills, rising to 3700 m above sea level...
district of Uttar Pradesh (an area now forming part of Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand , formerly Uttaranchal, is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the Land of Gods due to the many holy Hindu temples and cities found throughout the state, some of which are among Hinduism's most spiritual and auspicious places of pilgrimage and worship...
state). The committee recommended, inter alia, occupancy rights in land for tenants and the prohibition of forced labour. (A summary of the committee's recommendations is available in D N Majumdar, Himalayan Polyandry, Bombay,1962, pp 13–17) When arrested in the Individual Satyagraha in November 1940, Tyagi was taken to Dehra Dun Jail where Jawaharlal Nehru was already lodged. (Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru, Vol 11, p. 506)
In 1942 Tyagi and S K D Paliwal were arrested under the Defence of India Rules on June 6, that is more than two months before the Quit India movement was actually launched; Rafi Ahmad Kidwai had been arrested even earlier on May 12. (Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru, Vol 12, p. 344) In a speech at Bombay on June 18, 1942, Nehru condemned these arrests as "putting a hindrance to civil defence work".(Idem) Three years later Nehru, on being transferred from Ahmadnagar Fort Prison to jails in the United Provinces in the summer of 1945, would see Tyagi again, then a political detenu in Bareilly Central Prison. (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 Sachindra Nath Sanyal
Sachindra Nath Sanyal
Sachindra Nath Sanyal was a famous Indian revolutionary and the founder of Hindustan Republican Association that was created to carry out armed resistance against the British Empire in India. He was the mentor for revolutionaries like Chandrashekhar Azad and Bhagat Singh...
, Prem Kishan Khanna and Vishnu Sharan Dublish.
When riots broke out in the Indian subcontinent after its partition in 1947, Tyagi, taking inspiration from Gandhi, staked his own life to help save Muslims in his home state and to bring peace.(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 it unable to control the situation and restore public order, see Ajit Prasad Jain, Rafi Ahmad Kidwai : A Memoir of his Life and Times, Bombay, 1965, pp 73–74.
Tyagi's political activities extended also to the Tehri Garhwal region. He had taken a keen interest in the movement for democratic rights there and played a prominent role also in support of the movement in Tehri State for merger with independent India.( 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
Constituent Assembly of India
The Constituent Assembly of India was elected to write the Constitution of India, and following independence served as the nation's first Parliament.-Nature of the Assembly:...
. In this capacity he is known especially for his strong stand against unsafeguarded Preventive Detention laws and against suspension of fundamental rights in emergency situations.
On India's becoming a Republic
Republic
A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
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 Sabha
Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha or House of the People is the lower house of the Parliament of India. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by direct election under universal adult suffrage. As of 2009, there have been fifteen Lok Sabhas elected by the people of India...
(1952-67). Tyagi was Minister for Revenue & Expenditure in the Nehru Council of Ministers (1951-53). In this capacity he introduced the First Voluntary Disclosure Scheme, known as the Tyagi Scheme, primarily, as he put it, to bring into the open incomes which had not been revealed to the alien government prior to independence. While in the Ministry of Finance, Tyagi earned a reputation as a strict economiser.
Later Mahavir Tyagi became Minister for Defence Organisation (1953-57).General B M Kaul records in his memoirs that as Minister of Defence Organisation, Tyagi opposed policy proposals involving draconian measures in the tribal areas of India's North-East.( See B M Kaul, The Untold Story, New Delhi, 1967, p. 162 ) Tyagi also gave instructions for recruitment of Muslims in large numbers in the Indian Army
Indian Army
The Indian Army is the land based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. With about 1,100,000 soldiers in active service and about 1,150,000 reserve troops, the Indian Army is the world's largest standing volunteer army...
. The proportion of Muslims in the Army had fallen after Partition of India
Partition of India
The Partition of India was the partition of British India on the basis of religious demographics that led to the creation of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan and the Union of India on 14 and 15...
in 1947.
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.(Indian Express, Madras, November 24, 1955) He welcomed the victory of the Communist Party of India in Kerala state in the General Elections of 1957 (Leader, Allahabad, April 2, 1957) Later Tyagi opposed the decision to dismiss the Communist government led by E M S 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". (B D. Dua, Presidential Rule in India 1950-1974 : A Study in Crisis Politics, New Delhi, 1979, p. 112) Tyagi sought also to inculcate independence in others : He was critical of the tendency among political workers obsequiously to touch their leaders' feet and lashed out also at some senior bureaucrats who, he observed, had started touching ministers' feet. (Touching of Leaders' Feet : Tyagi Deplores Tendency, The Tribune, Ambala, June 26, 1959)
Tyagi was Chairman of the Direct Taxes Administration Enquiry Committee (1958-59) and in that capacity paved the way, along with the Law Commission, for the Income Tax Act, 1961.
Aksai Chin debate
Tyagi famously criticized Nehru's statement in the Indian Parliament in the prelude to the Sino-Indian WarSino-Indian War
The Sino-Indian War , also known as the Sino-Indian Border Conflict , was a war between China and India that occurred in 1962. A disputed Himalayan border was the main pretext for war, but other issues played a role. There had been a series of violent border incidents after the 1959 Tibetan...
: Nehru commented that "Not a blade of grass grows in Aksai Chin
Aksai Chin
Aksai Chin is one of the two main disputed border areas between China and India, and the other is South Tibet, which comprises most of India's Arunachal Pradesh. It is administered by China as part of Hotan County in the Hotan Prefecture of Xinjiang Autonomous Region, but is also claimed by India...
", attempting to explain that Aksai Chin was a barren, inhospitable land and the nation had lost little by its occupation by China. Tyagi retorted, pointing to his bald head: "Nothing grows here ..should it be cut off or given away to somebody else?". A tense situation that had been developing in the House on the subject of the border conflict was averted as the House dissolved in laughter in which Nehru also joined. Tyagi continued to enjoy an affectionate relationship with Jawaharlal Nehru. He served as Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament (1962-64).
Later career
In April 1964, a month before Nehru's death, Tyagi rejoined the Government as Cabinet Minister in charge of Rehabilitation. In the General Elections of 1967 which saw a popular backlash against the Congress Party, Tyagi lost to an independent candidate backed by an anti-Congress combination of parties. In 1968 he became the Chairman of the Fifth Finance Commission.After the split in the Congress in 1969, Tyagi stayed with the Congress(O), the organisational wing of the party. In 1970 he was elected to the Upper House of Parliament, the Rajya SabhaRajya Sabha
The Rajya Sabha or Council of States is the upper house of the Parliament of India. Rajya means "state," and Sabha means "assembly hall" in Sanskrit. Membership is limited to 250 members, 12 of whom are chosen by the President of India for their expertise in specific fields of art, literature,...
, from Uttar Pradesh and led the Congress(O) in the House till he retired in 1976. Tyagi's being in the Congress(O) did not prevent him from being critical of the movement led by Jaya Prakash Narayan in 1974-75. He was equally critical of the Emergency
Indian Emergency (1975 - 77)
The Indian Emergency of 25 June 1975 – 21 March 1977 was a 21-month period, when President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, upon advice by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, declared a state of emergency under Article 352 of the Constitution of India, effectively bestowing on her the power to rule by decree,...
imposed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi
Indira Gandhi
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhara was an Indian politician who served as the third Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms and a fourth term . She was assassinated by Sikh extremists...
in 1975.
Mahavir Tyagi died in New Delhi
New Delhi
New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
on May 22, 1980. A popular figure, he had friends across political parties and was widely admired for his integrity, outspokenness, ready wit and sense of humour.
Writings
Prior to independence, Mahavir Tyagi had written a booklet on proportional representation. His memoirs in Hindustani
Hindustani language
Hindi-Urdu is an Indo-Aryan language and the lingua franca of North India and Pakistan. It is also known as Hindustani , and historically, as Hindavi or Rekhta...
were published in the 1960s in two volumes : (i) Ve Kranti Ke Din and (ii) Meri Kaun Sunega. These volumes have now been combined in one and, along with some other unpublished articles by Tyagi, have been published under the title Azadi Ka Andolan: Hanste Huye Aansu (Kitab Ghar, 24 Ansari Road, Daryaganj, Delhi).
See also
- The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol 21, Publications Division, Government of India, New Delhi, 1966
- Selected Works of Motilal Nehru, Vol 6, Ravinder Kumar and Hari Dev Sharma (eds.), Vikas Publishing House, New Delhi, 1995
- India From Curzon to Nehru And After, Durga Das, Collins, London, 1969
- Nepal and the Indian Nationalist Movement, Kanchanmoy Mojumdar, Firma K L Mukhopadhyay, Calcutta, 1975
- Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru, Vols 5, 11, 12, and 13, S. Gopal (Gen. Ed.), Orient Longman, New Delhi, 1973-1980
- Pathway to Pakistan, Choudhry Khaliquzzaman, Longmans, Lahore, 1961
- Before Freedom And After, Ansar Harvani, Gian Publishing House, New Delhi, 1989
- The Epic Struggle, Bipan Chandra, Orient Longman, New Delhi, 1992
- Rafi Ahmad Kidwai, Dr. M. Hashim Kidwai (Publications Division, Government of IndiaGovernment of IndiaThe Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
, New DelhiNew DelhiNew Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
), 1986 - Rafi Ahmad Kidwai : A Memoir of His Life and Times, Ajit Prasad Jain, Asia Publishing House, Bombay, 1965
- Himalayan Polyandry : Structure, Functioning and Culture Change , D. N. Majumdar, Asia Publishing House, Bombay, 1962
- Garhwal Himalayas : A Historical Survey, Ajay S. Rawat, Eastern Book Linkers, New Delhi,1983
- Presidential Rule in India 1950-1974 : A Study in Crisis Politics, B.D.Dua, S.Chand & Company, New Delhi, 1979
- The Untold Story, Gen B.M. Kaul, Allied Publishers, New Delhi, 1967
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