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Important Personalities in Indian

History
For UPSC Prelims

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Mahatma Gandhi
2. Gandhi vs. Ambedkar
3. Bhagat Singh
4. Subhash Chandra Bose
5. Rasbehari Bose
6. Sachin Sanyal
7. Raja Ram Mohan Roy (1772-1833)

Mahatma Gandhi

He was an anti-colonial nationalist and political ethicist whose non-

violent resistance led the successful campaign for India's independence
from British Rule.

In Africa

• Natal Indian Congress

• Indian Opinion newspaper

Caste

Removal of Untouchability

• He argued that, 'shastras did not sanction untouchability and, even

if they did, they should be ignored since truth cannot be confined
within the covers of a book'.
• Set up All India Anti-Untouchablity League (1932)
• Weekly Harijan (Jan 1933)
• Harijan tour of the Country starting from Wardha (Nov 1933 to July
1934)
• Harijan Sevak Sangh (Earlier Name: Depressed Classes League)
• Supported opening of temples for Dalits
• Supported Varna System (so opposed inter-marriage and inter-
dining)

Women

• He was instrumental in involving women in freedom struggle

• Patriarchal

Education

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• Opposed English system of education. Advocated free education

to all boys-girls in age 7-14. Morality has to be the part of an
education
• Nai Talim

Religion

• For Gandhiji, there is not only diversity of religions but also

diversity within them.

Polity

• Decentralization of power. More powers to local bodies

• For Gandhiji, independence was not absence of external rule, but
a deep link between political independence and personal
Empowerment

Economic Views

• Village Sarvodaya, Gram-Swaraj (self-sufficient villages)

• Promoting Labour intensive industries
• Subsistence economy

Environment

• Against the wasteful use of natural resources

Values

• Truth - Their is no religion above truth

• Non-violence
• Internationalism
• Gandhiji was a staunch vegetarian but he never stopped anyone
from consuming meat. To inflict new diet upon someone who was
habituated to meat at every meal was, in Gandhi's thinking, form
of violence.

Doctrine of trusteeship

Gandhism - Weapon against the western imperialism

Gandhi vs. Ambedkar

Gandhi Ambedkar

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Similarities

• Symbolic actions (burning of cloths/manusmruti; Salt/mahad)

• Social transformation through democratic and peaceful means
• Believed in limited sovereign power of the state
o ultimate sovereignty should lie with the people.

Differences

Purity of Means Purity of Ends

Gandhi believed freedom was

Ambedkar expected bestowing of
never to be bestowed but to be
freedom by imperial rulers
wrestled from authorities

Little respect for Parliamentary Advocated Parliamentary System of

System of Government Government

Flexible principles (except non-

Rigid principles
violence)

Gandhian politics tried to show Ambedkar's politics tried to show the

the aspect of Indian Unity aspect of Indian disunity

believed that Indian unity was a by-

Indian unity from ancient times
product of imperialism

Village denied equality, fraternity

Village democracy, Gramraj
and liberty

Reforms in Hinduism, Removal

of Untouchability, Supported Annihilation of Caste
varna system

Center of Religion between man Center of Religion between man and

and god man

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Denounced Vedas and other Hindu

Accepted Vedas
Scriptures

Believed in freedom of religion, free

Never approved the separation
citizenship, separation of state and
of religion and state
religion.

Opposed Mechanisation supported

Spoke in Plain vernacular local English

• Untouchables part of • Regarded them as religious

Hinduism minority, preferred to call them
o it was one of many political minority or minority by
problems in India force
o Considered it a o major problem that
moral stigma and caught his sole attention
wanted it to be o wanted to remove it
erased through through laws and
atonement constitutional methods

disobey laws to make them more observance of law and

just constitutionality in political process

Bhagat Singh

• Established Punjab Naujawan Bharat Sabha (1926)

o Formulated on the socialist principles
o to carry out political work among the youth, peasants and
workers
• Organised Lahore Students' Union along with Sukhdev for open,
legal work among students.
• Killed Saunders in Lahore (along with Azad and Rajguru) (Dec
1928)
• Threw bomb in Central Legislative Assembly (along with
Batukeshwar datta) (April 1929)
• Fully and consciously secular person
• Later, Bhagat Singh had moved away from belief in terrorism and
individual heroic action to Marxism and the belief that a popular

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broad-based movement alone could lead to a successful

revolution.
• Tried in Lahore Conspiracy Case (killing of Saunders)
• Hanged on March 23, 1931

Subhash Chandra Bose

• Opposed Nehru report. Ardent supporter of complete

independence
• Formed Independence League
• Man of action and radical ideas.
• Instrumental in setting National Planning Committe
• Congress president for 1938-39. Resigned in April 1939 over the
ideological differences from Gandhi
• Formed Forward Bloc (at Makur, Unnao) in May 1939 as a new
party within congress
• Believed in Upanishadic teachings
• Wanted Industrial India on socialist lines
• Passed Indian Civil Service Examination
• Mayor of Calcutta (1923)
• Political Guru: Chittaranjan Das
• He conveyed Anti-Compromise Conference at Ramgarh in March
1940- So as to oppose British War Efforts
• Freedom Army (Mukti Sena): With the help of Hitler; consisting of
Indian PoW captured by Germany and Italy
• Free India Center (Germany): Gave Slogan Jai Hind
• Began regular broadcast from Berlin Radio (Jan 1942)
• People of Germany called him Netaji
• Became Supreme Commander of INA (Aug 25, 1943)
• Oct., 21, 1943- Formed Provincial government of free India at
Singapore (H.C Chatterjee: Finance) (M.A. Aiyar: Broadcasting)
(Laxmi Swaminathan: Women dept)
• INA HQ shifted to Rangoon-- "Delhi Chalo!" (Jan 1944)
• July 6, 1944: Called Gandhi Father of Nation from Azad Hind
Radio

Rasbehari Bose

• Bomb attack on Viceroy Hardinge along with Sachin Sanyal (1912)

• Leading figure in Gadr Revolution
• Zimmerman Plan along with Bagha Jatin (1913)- failed!
• Fled from India to Tokyo in 1915
• Founded India Club at Tokyo
• Created Indian Independence League (Tokyo, 1942)

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• INA placed under Indian Independence League (Chairman:

Rasbehari Bose)
• Transferred leadership of Indian Independence League and INA to
Subhash Bose (July 1943)

Sachin Sanyal

• Dec. 1912: Bomb attack on Viceroy Hardinge along with

Rasbehari Bose
o Delhi Conspiracy Case
• Formed Hindustan Republic Association/Army along with
Ramprasad Bismil, Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee (1924)

Raja Ram Mohan Roy (1772-1833)

A religious, social, and educational reformer; widely considered the

father of modern India.

Social Reforms

• Criticised idol worship and empty superstitions

• Advocated a monotheistic Hinduism in which “reason” guides
an individual
• Published his first book Tuhfat-ul-Muwahhidin (A Gift to
Monotheism) in 1803
• Sought a philosophical basis for his religious beliefs in the Vedas
and the Upanishads, translating those ancient Sanskrit treatises
into Bengali, Hindi, and English and writing summaries on them
• Published Precepts of Jesus, the Guide to Peace and Happiness
(1820), ethical teachings of Christ
• Denounced the caste system and child marriage
• Attacked the custom of sati –> played a leading role in its
prohibition in 1829
• Campaigned for rights for women, including the right for widows to
remarry, and the right for women to hold property

Institutions

• Founded Atmiya Sabha (1815) to propagate his doctrines of

monotheistic Hinduism
• Instrumental in the establishment of Hindu College in Calcutta in
1817

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• Founded the Anglo-Hindu School (1822), based on English

education
• Established the Vedanta College (1826) in order to teach his
Hindu monotheistic doctrines
• Formed Brahmo Samaj (1828) to reform Hinduism
• Helped establish the Scottish Church College in 1830

Political Reforms

• Advocated for freedom of speech and religion

• First to apply the fundamental social and political ideas of the
French and American revolutions
• Started Sambad Koumudi in 1821; the first Bengali language
weekly newspaper –> advocated reading habits, the importance of
discussion as well as the need for education for all
• Published a Persian journal, Mirat-ul-Akbar (1822)

Others

• Traveled widely outside Bengal

• Mastered several languages: Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, and
English, in addition to Bengali and Hindi
• Contributed to the popularisation of the Bengali language

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