LEADERS WHO CHANGED INDIA
Is it possible to pick just 70 people and say that they were the most influential politicians in the seven decades of our Independence?
Probably not. But I’ve given it a shot anyway, drawing up a list (in order of dates of birth) that I regard as fair and comprehensive but which others may well find contentious or controversial. But then, one man’s hero is often another man’s nonentity.
Not that this list is packed only with heroes. My criteria were simple: restrict the list to politicians who played a major role in the post-Independence period ( so that ruled out Gandhiji, Netaji and many others) and then assess their influence and legacies. So, there are some villains here, people who did damage to India but who belong on this list because that damage was so great that we still suffer its consequences.
There are some surprising omissions. Many big-name politicians from the last two decades are not listed because I do not believe they left any legacy or changed India in any significant sense. And there is one entry that breaks my own rules. Dr APJ Abdul Kalam was not really a politician. But he changed our view of the Presidency so radically that I couldn’t possibly have left him out.
As for the rest, well, all such lists are subjective. So, go ahead and disagree!
SARDAR PAT October 31, 1875
The architect of a uni India, he made the princely states agree t join the Indian union an an outstanding home ministe , ng the RSS for a year. He would be surprised to learn that he is now a Sangh Parivar icon.
RAJAGOPALACHARI December 10, 1878
A former Congressman who was the first Indian Governor General, Rajaji belongs on this list because he founded the Swatantra Party and broke with the socialist politics of the era. Long before India turned right, he showed us the way.
PERIYAR September 17, 1879
Born EV Ramaswamy he founded the Dravidian movement which continues to dominate the policies of Tamil Nadu. He complained about the marginalisation of south Indians by “Indo-Aryan” north India and attacked Brahmin dominance of Indian society, especially in Tamil Nadu.
BC ROY July 1, 1882
The architect of post-Partition Bengal, he took the job in 1948, restored communal harmony, resettled Hindu refugees from East Bengal and founded many new towns including Durgapur.
JAWAHARLAL NEHRU November 14, 1889
An obvious choice. Prime Minister from 1947 to 1964, it was his vision that shaped India and held together a nation that many believed could not last.
TRISTAO DE BRAGANZA April 2, 1891
Died in 1958, having spent most of his life battling the Portuguese colonial regime for the independence of Goa. Three years later, Goa was liberated. And though De Braganza never saw that happy day, it would never have come about but for the spark he lit.
DR AMBEDKAR April 14, 1891
An extraordinarily brilliant man, he should be on this list because of his role in framing the Constitution of India, but even that major achievement has been overshadowed by his emergence, decades after his death, as the new icon of Dalit politics, one that all political parties pay homage to.
MORARJI DESAI February 29, 1896
Chief minister of Bombay, finance minister of India and then eventually Prime Minister, Morarji represented an anti-leftist, inflexible strand in Indian politics which he combined with a Gujarati love of businessmen. His legacy clearly endures.
VK KRISHNA MENON May 3, 1896
Largely forgotten now, Menon represented the leftist stream within the Congress, which Mrs Gandhi adapted to create her own version of the party, recasting herself as a socialist. Menon was defence minister during the 1962 China war and the defeat finished him off and badly damaged Nehru.
DP MISHRA 1901
A giant in Madhya Pradesh politics, Mishra’s greatest achievement may not have come as chief minister but in his Chanakya-like role as Indira Gandhi’s chief advisor when she successfully broke the Congress. His son Brajesh Mishra played a similar Chanakya-like role for AB Vajpayee.
POTTI SREERAMULU March 16, 1901
Probably the most influential politician you have never heard of. In 1952, he fasted unto death for the creation of the state of Andhra. Three days after his death, Nehru announced the creation of Andhra and established the principle of linguistic states.
SHYAMA PRASAD MUKHERJEE July 6, 1901
He broke with the Hindu Mahasabha, became close to the RSS and founded the Jan Sangh, which later morphed into today’s BJP. He died in custody in Srinagar (he had gone there to protest Article 370), and his death caused his successors to be deeply suspicious of Kashmiri politicians.
PARTAP SING KAIRON October 1, 1901
The man who created post-Partition Punjab encouraging the Green Re tion, laying the foundation of the state’s industrial sector and building Chandigarh and Faridabad. The industrial infrastructure in Haryana (which broke away from Punjab in 1966) is largely Kairon’s creation.
CHARAN SINGH December 23, 1902
The first farmer to become Prime Minister, he broke the hold of the Congress over the kulaks of northern India and created a new kind of politics, based on caste and agrarian interests.
JAYAPRAKASH NARAYAN October 11, 1902 He has many legacies. He led the campaign against Indira Gandhi in 1973/4, many of today’s politicians cut their teeth in the movement he founded, and most important, he fought to bring the RSS into the mainstream, clearing the way for the rise of the Sangh Parivar. K KAMARAJ July 15, 1903
The man at the heart of the Congress organisation, he was powerful enough to persuade Nehru to get senior ministers to resign and four years later, installed Indira Gandhi as Prime Minister, only to see her turn against him.
LAL BAHADUR SHASTRI October 2, 1904
For years, the West speculated that India would collapse once Nehru died. As his chosen successor, Shastri proved them wrong, leading India wisely and fighting off a Pakistani military adventure in 1965. He died in 1966 before he could achieve much more.
SHEIKH ABDULLAH December 5, 1905
The greatest leader of Kashmir, he first helped with accession of the state to India, was imprisoned for his separatist beliefs and finally came round to a full integration with India, engineering peace that lasted from 1976 to 1989.
MS GOLWALKAR February 19, 1906
An RSS thinker, his, not Mahatma Gandhi’s, is the dominant voice in much of Indian political discourse today. Sample quote: “In this land, Hindus have been the owners, Parsis and Jews the guests and Muslims and Christians the dacoits.” You will hear versions of this sentiment today.
JAGJIVAN RAM April 5, 1908
For many decades, the leader of India’s Dalits, he worked tirelessly to give them the dignity that was their due. In 1977, by revolting against the Emergency, he engineered the downfall of Indira Gandhi.
FRANK ANTHONY September 25, 1908
The unchallenged leader of the Anglo-Indian community, he lobbied and got two reserved seats for Anglo-Indians in the Lok Sabha and occupied one of them for much of his life. He was also Indira Gandhi’s barrister when she appeared before the Shah Commission to defend her role in the Emergency.
EMS NAMBOODIRIPAD June 13, 1909
The first communist to become chief minister (in Kerala in 1957), Namboodripad was not unsympathetic to China during the 1962 war and helped in the creation of the CPM which broke away from the original Communist Party. A giant in Kerala politics and still remembered with affection.
ANNADURAI September 15, 1909
Part of the Dravidian movement, Annadurai dropped its secessionist position when he created the DMK and later became chief minister of Tamil Nadu in 1969. Tamil politics is still dominated by the political legacy of the original DMK.
RAM MANOHAR LOHIA March 23, 1910
A former Congressman who went on to be called the “father of anti-Congressism”, launched his own party and became a hero to a new generation of socialist politicians like George Fernandes. Nearly all non-BJP anti-Congress sentiment can be traced back to Lohia.
YB CHAVAN March 12, 1913
A brilliant administrator, he ran Maharashtra so successfully that Nehru called him to Delhi to take over the defence portfolio after the 1962 China defeat. A whole generation of Maharashtra politicians — chiefly, Sharad Pawar — was brought up under Chavan’s influence.
JYOTI BASU July 8, 1914
Taciturn, unsmiling Communist supremo created the West Beng we know today. Towards end, he swapped Marxism for pragmatism. But it may have been too late for Bengal’s economy.
DEVI LAL September 25, 1914
It is hard to believe but this rustic intriguer nearly became Prime Minister of India in 1989. Eventually, he contented himself with being deputy prime minister while plotting against everyone else. His cynicism typified the policies of the late 1980s.
DEVRAJ URS August 20, 1915
A two-term chief minister of Karnataka, he came to national prominence when he backed Indira Gandhi after the Emergency. He was nominal head of her new party and relaunched her in public life.
BIJU PATNAIK March 5, 1916
A buccaneer of the kind they don’t make any more, Patnaik founded an airline, ran many industries and built the port of Paradip. As a pilot, he escorted the Indonesian Prime Minister from Java to India, eluding Dutch colonialists, and piloted the first plane that took Indian soldiers to Srinagar to fight Pakistani intruders in 1947. A giant of his time.
MOHANLAL SUKHADIA July 31, 1916
The builder of modern Rajasthan, Sukhadia became chief minister in 1954 when he was 38 and served in that post for 17 years, implementing land reforms and ending the feudal structure of Rajasthan’s society.
MG RAMACHANDRAN January 17, 1917
God come to earth, if his followers were to be believed. This former film star divided the Dravidian movement and created a political party that used Dravidian rhetoric but was based on mainly personality cults; first his own and then the cult of his protégé, Jayalalithaa.
VIJAYARAJE SCINDIA October 12, 1919
The Rajmata of Gwalior kept the Jan Sangh going through its lean days, propping up such protégés as AB Vajpayee (who is from Gwalior) and using family money to fund the party. It is no exaggeration to say that without Scindia money, the Jan Sangh may have frittered away.
SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR ROY October 20, 1920
The former Chief Minister of Bengal will be remembered for two things. One: he crushed the Naxalite movement and ended all talk of a revolution. And two; as Mrs Gandhi’s friend and advisor, he pushed her to declare the Emergency, drafting the declaration himself.