Narendra Deva

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Acharya Narendra Deva (1889-1956) was one of the leading theorists of the Congress Socialist Party in India. His democratic socialism renounced violent means as a matter of principle, and embraced the satyagraha as a revolutionary tactic.

Deva was first drawn to nationalism around 1915 under the influence of B G Tilak and Aurobindo Ghosh. As a teacher he became interested in Marxism and Buddhism. He was also active in the Hindi language movement. He was a key leader of Congress Socialist Party from its founding in 1934, and was imprisoned several times during the freedom struggle. He was at various times a member of the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly, and after 1948 served as vice-chancellor of Lucknow University.

Narendra Deva advocated the abolition of poverty and exploitation not just through his belief in the Marxist materialist dialectic, but especially on moral and humanistic grounds. Furthermore, he insisted that "without political democracy social democracy was a sham". Deva was active in the peasant movement and served as president of the All-India Kisan Congress. He was also an atheist, rejecting the glorification of God which, he argued, by implication denigrated humankind.

He remained associated with the Socialist Party and its successor, the Praja Socialist Party, until his death in 1956.

The Narendra Deva University of Agriculture and Technology was named in his honour in 1975.

Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi has said: "Acharya Narnedra Dev was one of the greatest sons of India nad the nation owes a great debt to him."

In an address to the All-India congress, Jawaharlal Nehru said:

The death of Acharya Narendra Deva is something much bigger for many of us and, I think, for the country than just the passing away of an important person. He was a man of rare distinction--distinction in many fields--rare in spirit, rare in mind and intellect, rare in integrity of mind and otherwise. Only his body failed him. I do not know if there is any person present here in this House who was associated with him for a longer period than I was. Over 40 years ago we came together and we shared innumerable experiences together in the dust and heat fo the struggle for independence and in the long silence of prison life where we spent--I forget now--four or five years together at various places, and inevitably got to know each other intimately; and so, for many of us, it is a grievous loss and a grievous blow, even as it is a grievous loss for our country. There is the public sense of loss and there is the private sense of loss and a feeling that somebody of rare distinction has gone and it will be very difficult to find his like again.

[edit] References

• Satyabrata Rai Chowdhuri, 1976. Leftist Movements in India: 1917-1947. Calcutta: Minerva Associates.
• Asha Gupta, 1987. Socialism in Theory and Practice: Narendra Deva’s Contribution. New Delhi: Gitanjali Publishing House.
• Jagdish Chandra Dikshit, 1989. "Acharya Narendra Dev: His Age and Ideals." Lucknow: Ashok Priyadarshi, Information & Public Relaitons Department, UP.