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where he did a bachelor's course in English,
economics and philosophy. He got his MA in
1920. He then made what he later described
as "the first conscious decision of my life,
perhaps the only one I have ever taken for the
rest of my life has flowed from it." He
decided to leave Aligarh, after listening to
Mahatma Gandhi at a meeting on the campus,
because the MAO was backed by the Raj and
start a nationalist institution. On October
29,1920 the Jamia Millia Islamia - the
National Muslim University - was born in
Delhi. After two years Zakir Husain left for
Germany for higher Studies. He was there for
three years during which time he obtained a
PhD for a thesis on Britain!s agrarian policy
in India and studied the philosophy of
education. In 1926 when he returned to India
at the age of 29, he became Vice-Chancellor
of the Jamia Millia. In 1930 when Gandhi
announced his Civil Disobedience programme
Zakir Husain decided that the Jamia should
continue with its normal work but that
individuals could join the movement. In 1937
he joined Gandhi in propagating the concept
of Nai Talim or Basic Education. In 1948
Zakir Husain was appointed Vice-Chancellor
of Aligarh Muslim University. In 1957 he
became Governor of Bihar and in 1962 he
was elected Vice- President of India to fill the
place left by Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. He
was elected President of India in 1967 and
passed away on May 3,1969 after a heart-
attack.
Udham Singh
(1899-1940)
The son of a poor peasant, Udham Singh
was brought up in a Sikh orphanage in
Amritsar along with his brother after his father
died leaving his two young sons as orphans.
After some time his elder brother too died.
Although Udham Singh did not directly
participate in the Indian independence
movement he attended many meetings and
rallies and listened to the speeches of leaders.
One such meeting was held at Jallianwala
Bagh on April 13, 1919 on the day of the
Baisakhi festival to protest against the Rowlatt
Act. The meeting was banned by Michael
O'Dwyer, the Governor of Punjab. When a
crowd had gathered in defiance of the ban,
troops under the command of General Dyer
opened fire killing 379 men, women and
children and wounding over 1500. Udham
Singh was among those wounded. He was
later
awarded
five
years'
rigorous
imprisonment. After his release he was so
harassed by the police that he left India and
went to England in 1937 where he made up
his mind to kill Michael O'Dwyer. An
opportunity presented itself on March 13,
1940 when O'Dwyer attended a meeting at the
Caxton Hall in London. He spoke at the
meeting and when he finished his speech, he
was shot dead by Udham Singh. He was
sentenced to death and was hanged at
Rentenville Prison on July 31,1940.
JayaprakashNarayan
(1902-1980)
He was bom in Sitab Diyara in the district
of Saran in Bihar. His father was a
government servant in the Revenue
Department. He completed his primary
education in his village and joined the Patna
Collegiate School. He then came to the Bihar
Vidyapeeth from where he took his ISc. In
May 1922 he obtained a scholarship from an
association in Calcutta and went to the USA.
He stayed there for 8 years and studied at
Iowa, Chicago, Wisconsin, California and
Ohio Universities. He obtained his MA from
Ohio. He worked on farms to earn his way
through college. It was in the US that he came
in contact with radical socialist ideas. He
studied Marxist literature and even joined the
Communist cell. On his return to India in 1929
he joined the Banaras Hindu University as a
Professor of Sociology. But the Lahore
session of the Congress and the speeches of
Jawaharlal Nehru influenced him so much that
he accepted Nehru's offer to take charge of the
Labour Portfolio of the Congress. After his
return to India. Jayaprakash also came in
touch with Gandhi. The failure of the Gandhi -
Irwin talks led to the civil disobedience
movement and Jayaprakash joined it. He was
imprisoned in Nasik jail. Here he met Achyut
Patwardhan and Minoo Masani which
reinforced his socialist leanings. Later with
Acharya Narendra Deva he organised the All
India Congress Socialist Party. After
Independence he resigned from the Praja
Socialist Party, devoting himself to Sarvodaya
and Vinoba Bhave's Bhoodan movement. In
1975 he began organising public opinion
against what he regarded as Indira Gandhi's
authoritarian rule. He was imprisoned during
the Emergency. His consolidation of the non-
communist opposition parties resulting in the
formation of the Janata Party led to the
success of the Janata Party in the March 1977
elections.
J.R.D.Tata
(1904-1993)
Bom of a Parsi father and French mother,
Jahangir Ratanji Dadaboy Tata presided over
the House of Tata for 50 years He came to
settle in India in 1924 at the age of 21. His
father R.D.Tata was a Director of Tata Steel,
where the young JRD received his training. He
became the right hand man of the Chairman of
Tata Steel, Sir Nowroji Saklatvala. When he
died in 1938, JRD was elected chairman of
Tatas by the other Directors who were all
older than himself. He had developed an
interest in flying when he was in France. In
1928
he became the first Indian to get a flying
licence. In October 1932 he inaugurated the
first air service in India by carrying mail from
Karachi to Bombay in a Puss Moth. Later the
air service was extended to Madras and Delhi
and passengers were carried when bigger
aircraft were commissioned. In 1948 Air-
India International began services to Europe.
In 1953 when the airlines was nationalised
J.R.D. Tata became chairman of Air-India and
continued in that capacity till 1978. He was
awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1992. He has
described the secret of his success in working
with others in these words :
If
I
have any merit it is getting on with individuals
according to their ways and characteristics. In
fifty years I have dealt with a hundred top
directors and I have got on well with all of
them. At times it involves suppressing
yourself. It is painful but necessary. To be a
leader you have got to lead human beings with
affection."
Lai Bahadur Shastri
(1904- 1966)
Lai Bahadur Shastri was bom on October
2,1904, the first child of his parents, Sharda
Prasad and Ramdulari Devi, who were
Kayasths of Uttar Pradesh. Sharda Prasad was
a teacher in the Kayasths Pathshala in
Allahabad. He died when his son was barely a
year and a half. The family lived in
Mughalsarai and it was there that Lai Bahadur
had his early schooling. When he passed the
sixth standard his mother sent him to Banaras
to enter the Harishcharidra High School. A
well-off cousin of hers agreed that her son
could stay with him. In 192:2 he joined the
Kasi Vidya Peeth which was headed by Dr.
Bhagavan
Das
and
had outstanding
personalities like Acharya Narendra Dev, J.B.
Kripalini, Sri Prakasa and Dr. Sampurnanand
on its staff. In 1926 Lai Bahadur took his
degree of "Shastri" in philosophy in the first
division and came out as Lai Bahadur Shastri.
He married Lalitadew in 1928. He joined the
Servants of People Society, founded by
LalaLajpatRai, in 1926 soon after he
graduated from the Vidyapeeth. He became
secretary of the Allahabad District Congress
Committee and was a frequent visitor to the
Nehru ancestral home of Anand Bhavan where
he often met Jawaharlal. In