Madan Mohan Malaviya: Visionary of Modern India

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A visionary in its true form, Malaviyaji stood tall amongst his giant contemporaries. With an unsurpassed commitment towards the welfare of the nation, he foresaw that rapid progressive steps would bear no fruit unless the socially backward, downtrodden, and disenfranchised women were brought into the mainstream society. As the founder of the Banaras Hindu University, he advocated widespread education among the masses as a prerequisite for achieving independence from colonial rule.

His focus on religious training was with the objective of instilling a sense of humility. Cooperation, tolerance, truth, brotherhood. and love towards all human beings. Malaviyaji's concepts on technological advancement for the country's progress, coupled with value orientation, are relevant ideals to imbibe even today.

This book is a quest to share Malaviyaji's wisdom with the country and his vision towards building a modern nation which is very relevant to the current situation...

DR SUDARSHAN K. MAINTIs the Founder of Maini Group of Industries, manufacturers of India's first electric car - REVA. He has pursued his Mechanical Engineering from Banaras Hindu University and was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Technology from Loughborough University. He also received the distinguished IT-BHU Alumni Life Time Achievement Award in 2009. He is the Managing Trustee of Gramothan Foundation, a Patron of 'Friends of Tribals Society' and a Member on the Board of Trustees of Ekal Vidyalaya Movement. He is also the Managing Trustee of the Mahamana Malaviyaji Trust, Bangalore.

DR VISHWANATH PANDEY is a PhD in Sociology and graduate of Law and Journalism. An author and columnist, he is well known in the corporate and business communication world. He is the Officer on Special Duty and Information and Public Relations Officer of Banaras Hindu University, and Member Secretary of the Mahamana Malaviya Heritage Complex. He has worked with Banaras Hindu University for the last three decades.

K.CHANDRAMOULI has pursued his graduation in Mechanical Engineering from Banaras Hindu University, followed by his masters from LI.T.Kharagpur. He has worked in senior executive positions in multinationals and private companies in Bihar, Belgaum, and Bombay. Before retiring as the Vice President of SIV Industries, Coimbatore. As a Rotarian, he has made commendable contributions in social service. He is the author of 19 books, including the latest on Kashi/Banaras in English.

1954, after finishing my B.Sc. (Engg), Mech from BENCO, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 1 applied for the very prestigious Loughborough Burmashell Scholarship. Thirteen of us selected for the final interview were grilled the whole day by a very select board. Five of us shortlisted finally were called together by the Board and were asked several questions, the most important being "why do you want to go to England!" My answer was, "Sit, the Founder of my University Mahamana Madan Mohan Malaviyaji had asked the engineers to export if India had to survive. I want myself so that I can learn how to export, then come back, and export" As soon as we came interview room, the other four candidates said to me, "you are going-we do not know whether one I did win the Scholarship and it changed the course of my life!

The former prime minister of India, Shri Atal Behr Vajpayee, gurating the first International Banaras Hindu University Alumni Meet said, "The Feram of BHU old students is potentially the strongest group of Indians. You can do anything you want in case you decide and get together to do it. You do not need anybody's help." I personally attended that meet and met a large number of ex BHUites living in India and abroad, either retired or holding very senior positions in all walks of life. I realized then that how virtuous and forceful this strength could be and how true Shri Vajpayee's statement is, considering that there are more than 3,00,000 ex BHUites all over the world. It is a matter of pride for us that the students of BHU have contributed immensely in the re-construction.

Of India after its independence. As per my suggestion, in the Third International BHU Alumni Meet held in January 2007 in Varanasi, half a day was spent on discussing the contributions of Malaviyaji in building modern India In the concluding session, I undertook to organize a forum of old students to take up the publication of the complete works of the builder of modern India. The next day, Dr Vishwanath Pandey, Information & Public Relations Officer of BHU, helped me in organizing a meeting of several like-minded people. "Mahamana Malaviyaji Trust" was registered in Bangalore in October 2007 with the objective of publishing the complete works of Malaviyaji.

I am extremely happy to present before you this pictorial biography of Mahamana Madan Mohan Malaviyaji. This illustrated book unfolds why Malaviyaji is considered a great visionary and builder of modern India and how his values are very much relevant in today's corrupt India with its materialistic and selfish society. The book will rekindle the emotional bond seniors have with our respected founder and also inspire the younger generation to know more about his writingsand speeches. Through this book, the Trust sends a message to BHU alumni all over the world about the urgent need to spread the ideals and values cherished by Malaviyaji. Let us get together and complete this task.

Then we decided W to write about the colossal figure of Malaviyaja, his meaningful life, rich contributions and relevance today, it was to reinterpret his contributions and deeds in relation to contemporary elements. Malaviyaji's achievements and contributions have been great and unique in every field as a journalist, a lawyer, a freedom-6ghter, during his close association with the Indian National Congress for sixty long as an educationist with a superb vision for building modern India and as a social worker for the integration of the downtrodden with the mainstream. He was a true leader of the national movement and the Indian renaissance in the late nineteenth century and the early four decades of the twentieth century. Malaviyaji's excellence in many fields and his values won him the accolades and admiration of his contemporaries, who themselves were great luminaries such as Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Gandhi, Dr Rajendra Prasad, Dr S. Radhakrishnan, Pt Jawaharlal Nehru, and Sir M Viswesvaraya, to name only a few. Gandhiji called him a 'pratah smaraniya (one whose remembrance in the morning would take anyone from the mires of mundane life). Rabindranath Tagore gave him the extraordinary title of Mahamana (one with a luminous mind and magnanimous heart), which remained with him as a great laurel.

Malaviyapi's eminence can be gauged from the importance given in the formation of a Centenary Celebration Comitittee to pay tributes to him during his birth centenary in 1961. Freedom fighters, political and social leaders and thinkers from across the country were included in the committee headed by no less than the country's president - Bharat Ratna Dr Rajendra Prasad as the patron, the vice-president and noted philosopher, Bharat Ratna Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan as its vice putron, and the prime minister, Bharat Ratna Pt Jawaharlal Nehru as its president. Bharat Ratna Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri, Shri Jagjivan Ram, Shri S.K. Patil, Shri Chandrabhanu Gupta, Dr K.L. Shrimali, Prof Humayun Kabir, Prof D.S. Kothari, Prof Suniti Kumar Chaterjee, Shri MS Aney, Maharaja Kameshwar Narayan Singh, Shri K.M. Munshi, Shri H.N. Kunjru, Shri Ghanshyam Das Birla, and Justice N.H. Bhagwati were all members of the centenary celebration committee.