1892 - Birth of Indulal Yajnik on 22 February 1892. Born at Nadiad in the present-day Kheda district of Gujarat, Indulal Yajnik was a freedom fighter and one of the finest editors. A social worker and peasant leader from Gujarat he was a gifted journalist.
He was associated with the home rule movement started by Annie Besant. Yajnik actively participated in the Kheda Satyagraha organized by Gandhi to secure exemption for the peasants from payment of land tax for the crops that had failed. He launched two Gujarati monthlies – Navjivan Ame Saty and Yugadharm and a daily Nutan Gujarat.
Indulal Yajnik established schools for the Bhil children and was the secretary of the Antyaj Seva Mandal, with Thakkar Bapa as its president. He was actively associated with the Kisan Sabha work and organsied the cooperative movement among the peasants of Gujarat. In 1942 he presided over the annual session of Akhil Hind Kisan Sabha. He was a founder of the Gujarat Vidyapeeth. In 1956 he took lead in the Maha Gujarat Movement for a separate state and became founder president of the Maha Gujarat Janta Parishad.
1856- February 22 is the birth anniversary of Swami Shraddhanand, a pioneer of Indian culture and nationalism. December 23 is the death anniversary of Swami Shraddhanand, a pioneer of Indian culture and nationalism. Born on February 22, 1856 at Talwan village in Jalandhar district in Punjab province, Shraddhanand has left an indelible mark on India’s culture which will continue to inspire future generations.
Shraddhanand was a courageous social reformer who opposed illiteracy, the prevailing caste system, untouchability, and advocated widow remarriage, national unity and integrity. On 4th April, 1919, he delivered a speech on the Hindu Muslim unity from the pulpit of Jama Masjid in Delhi.
To B R Ambedkar, Shraddhanand was ‘the greatest and most sincere champion of the Untouchables”.
In 1923, Swami Shraddhanand founded the Bharatiya Hindu Shuddhi Mahasabha (Indian Hindu Purification Council) with a view to converting the Muslims in the western United Provinces, particularly the Malkana Rajputs.
In Haridwar, Shraddhanand laid the foundation of Gurukul Kangri University which spreads the message of the Arya Samajist Dayanand Sarswati to the whole world.
He also formed ‘Dalit Uddhar Sabha’ to work for Dalit liberation. Ailing Swami was assassinated by a Muslim fanatic named Abdul Rashid on 23rd December 1926.
1958 - Death of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, an important Indian leader. He was the first Education Minister in Independent India. Born in Mecca (now in Saudi Arabia) in 1888 on 22 February, Abul Kalam Azad was an Islamic theologian and a great scholar of Arabic, Persian and Urdu. He adopted the pen-name of Azad at the age of 16. He published a number of papers such as Al-Nadwah, the Vakil, Al-Hilal (“The Crescent”) and Al-Balagh.
He was 35 when he was elected President of the Indian National Congress in its Delhi session in 1923, becoming the youngest to hold that office. He was again elected to the presidentship of Congress in 1940 and continued to hold that position until 1946.
After Indian independence in 1947, he became the Education Minister in Jawahar Lal Nehru’s cabinet. He had written autobiographical narrative, 'India Wins Freedom' which holds that religion politics was responsible for the partition of the country. Ghubar-e-Khatir is his another important work.
Azad died in 1958. In 1992, he was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award.
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