Pandit Ravishankar Shukla (2 August 1877 Sagar–31 December 1956 Delhi [1]), was a leader of the Indian National Congress, Indian independence movement activist, the Premier of the Central Provinces and Berar from 27 April 1946 to 25 January 1950, the first Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh state from 26 January 1950 to 31 October 1956 and then the first chief minister of the reorganized Madhya Pradesh state, the biggest state of India consisting of Mahakoshal, Madhya Bharat, Bhopal and Vindhya Pradesh from 1 November 1956 till his death on 31 December 1956.
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Pandit Ravi Shankar Shukla was born on 2 August 1877, at Sagar in the Central Provinces and Berar of British India. His father was Pandit Jagganath Shukla and mother was Shrimati Tulsi Devi. The tradition in Bundelkhand demanded that the name of the eldest son is not to be spoken of and therefore he was called “Bhaiya“ by all members of the family. Before completion of one year of age, he was taken by his parents and the grandfather for the Mundan ceremony to a still obscure and not so well known in that region, the powerful shrine of Mahadeva, a cave temple at the foothills of the Mahadev Hill Range which in those days was usually only visited by the Marathas carrying very heavy Trishools on their shoulders with the chanting of Har Har Mahadev.
When Shukla was 4 years old he was admitted to Sunderlal Guru’s Pathshala in Sagar. It was one of the six Pathshalas established by the British in Central Provinces. On every lunar fortnights of Amavasya and Purnima, the students would offer the Guru a Seedha which consisted of wheat, rice and salt for in those days the teachers were accepting only a token salary from the government. In the year 1885 at the age of 8, Ravishankar completed his primary education.
After Shukla completed middle school his father Pt. Jagganath Shukla moved to Rajnandgaon to join his elder cousin Pt. Gajadhar Shukla who was a major partner in CP Mills, owned by McBeth Brothers. Later CP Mills was sold to Shaw Wallace and the mill was renamed as Bengal Nagpur Cotton Mill. The cousins Pt. Gajadhar Shukla and Pt. Jagganath Shukla were both gifted with wrestler’s bodies and both would enjoy wrestling bouts in the Akharas. Pandit Jagganath Shukla continued to be a partner in the cotton mills, till after a few years when he moved with his son to Raipur.
Automobiles were just arriving in the country and with them the petrol of Burma-Shell. Pt. Jagganath Shukla was quick to grasp the importance of these new arrivals and knew the role it would play in the development of the country. He was the first to become the agent of Rayally Brothers for Burma-Shell fuels for the entire region i.e. Chhattisgarh inclusive of Balaghat. His son Ravishankar continued his schooling at Rajnandgaon and subsequently at Raipur High School from where he completed his schooling in the year 1894 aged 17. It will be from here that some of his schoolmates, Thakur Hanuman Singh, Govindlal Purohit and Rewati Mohan Sen would remain his lifelong friends. He then shifted to Jabalpur and joined Robertson College (whose premises then was what is today the Model High School in front of the High Court of Jabalpur) from where he completed the Intermediate in the year 1895 aged 18 years. The same year he shifted to Nagpur and joined Hislop College for the graduation course. In those days Hislop College was affiliated to Calcutta University.
Pandit Shukla joined the Hislop College Nagpur. His young mind was greatly influenced when he witnessed the Ganesh Festival which in those days was not just a religious ritual but had become a great social movement where patriotism was displayed by singing patriotic songs in the processions which took place throughout the town. The songs portrayed Shivaji’s patriotism and asked youngsters to be united for the 'national awakening'. The credit for popularising the Ganesh festival with nationalism was due to Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak.
One of the professors of the college, Pt. Shukla, had a nationalistic viewpoint. When the 13th congress took place in 1898 in the nearby town of Amrawati, the Professor decided to attend it and took along with him his student Ravishankar Shukla. This was the first contact between Pt. Shukla and the Congress. Later the authorities removed Prof. Bhageerath Prasad from the college for attending the Congress and for his anti British views. Pt. Shukla graduated in 1899 aged 22 years. Among his friends in the college were Bhagwati Charan Dubey, Moolchandra Tiwari, Pyarelal Mishra and Madhav Rao Sapre. The same year he joined Hislop College as a Fellow for six months to study Law. During this period the British Government charged Bal Gangadhar Tilak for treason and the case went into the court of British Judge Mr. Strachi. Pt Shukla and his colleagues in the law college would often delve deep in to the proceedings of the case. This combined with the articles published in ‘Kesari’ tremendously inspired young Pt. Shukla. This was also the time when he read the translation done by his colleague Madhav Rao Sapre of Geeta-Rahasya by Tilak.
In the year 1900 there was famine in Chhatisgarh. Pt. Shukla then a young man of 23 yrs wrote a letter to Chief Commissioner of the State expressing his desire to serve in some way the famine affected people of the area. The Chief Commissioner got this letter on Saturday and on Sunday when he met the principal Rev. Bitton of Hislop College in a YMCA meeting, the chief commissioner made up his mind and offered Pt. Shukla to work as a famine officer at Borda camp ( 44 miles from Raipur towards Saraipali and 8 miles from Sirpur. ). The young Pt. Shukla served the famine affected people with such zest and vigour that he became a hero for the people of Saraipali. The impact was such that they would remember him with gratitude for many decades to come.
In the year 1901 Pt. Shukla arrived at Jabalpur to seek guidance from his father’s friends, among them Bihari Lal Khajanchi, Devi Prasad Choudhary and Rayees Gokul Das. He decided to continue his study of law while attending law courts of Jabalpur as an apprentice and since he was always forthcoming on improving the lot of students, on invitation from management of Hitkarni Education Society, Jabalpur, he accepted to teach in their high school. Though he remained with the school for a very short span he was adored by the students and would later be remembered for decades by his students and colleagues. It was here in Jabalpur in June 1902 that he was married to Bhawani Devi. She was an extraordinary pious lady, and showed symptoms of rare Godly devotion from an early age. In fact she was a saint and combined responsibilities of family rearing with a meditative state of mind. (At the last moment of her life she would leave her body before statues of Gopal and Ganesh in her worshipping room in worshipping posture sitting with both her hands folded. ) She belonged to a prominent Dubey family of Bhaldarpura in Jabalpur.
Six months after the marriage the plague epidemic spread in the town of Jabalpur in December 1902. Pt. Shukla in those days was residing in a rented house of Dwarka Nath Sarkar in Andher Deo. It was the same house where once his uncle Pt. Gajadhar Shukla had lived while he commissioned the Perfect Pottery project for Raja Gokul Das. It was here in this house that Bhawani Devi fell a victim of the dreaded plague. It was as if plague was now testing Pt. Shukla. With courage Pt. Shukla nursed Bhawani Devi day and night. He treated her with both the Ayurvedic system and modern medicine. The doctor advised him to administer meat juice to her. Born in a stout Vaishnav family where staunch vegetarianism was practised for generations, to save her life he decided to experiment with doctor’s advise and served her Brand’s Essence of Mutton & Chicken. The Vaidya advised him to administer her the mica-ash. With the spread of the epidemic the servants and the milkman died and the entire neighborhood was empty. Pt. Shukla heartily continued nursing her on a day and night battle which lasted a full month and five days and finally saved her from the clutches of the dreaded disease. As soon as she was out of danger he decided to immediately move to Rajnandgaon. On January 20, 1903 he reached Rajnandgaon and since now she was cured he garlanded her with tin canes of Brand’s Essence and explained to her how he was compelled to resort to this treatment to save her life
Pt. Shukla was a great educationist, this combined with his liking for Chhatisgarh, prompted him to accept the offer made by the Khairagarh State to be the principal of Khairagarh High School. Though his stint was short and was of only two years, he became a very popular principal and a reputed disciplinarian, and was later remembered fondly for years in Khairagarh with highest regard and affection. He instilled the spirit of sportsmanship on Khairagharh school boys by organising and playing cricket matches at Khairagarh. He used to enjoy the game and was a left-handed all rounder.
Popularity of this educationist soon reached other states of Chhatisgarh, and the agent of the Chhatisgharh State Agency requested Pt. Shukla to accept to be tutor to Maharaja Rudra Pratap Deo of Bastar and Raja Thakur Yadunath Singh of Kawardha states during the period 1904-1906. For a brief period he also taught Raja Lal Bahadur Singh of Khairagarh. He would built the moral character and instill the best human qualities in his students by example of his own conduct. While in Khairagarh he joined Theosophical Society of India to ponder over ancient heritage of Hindu religion. He came across ‘Arya Bal Bodhni’ the monthly magazine of Theosophical Society, and soon the writings of Anne Besent greatly influenced Pt. Shukla. In 1903 he became a member of the society. Her article ‘Idea of Hindu University’ gave him a new scientific perspective of Hindu philosophy. When he read books ‘Hidden side of things’ by Lead Witter and ‘Ancient Wisdom’ by Anne Bisent, his probing mind got answers to many unanswered queries.
In 1904 he took along with him the Maharaja of Bastar to Congress session at Bombay, where he for the first time saw Barrister Mohan Das Karamchand Gandhi, who had just arrived from South Africa—there were no microphones in those days and the voice of Gandhiji was not audible. There was some disturbance and he had to close his speech. Gandhiji said, ”Now you may not listen to me but a time will come when you will have to listen to me. ”
The aura of Pt. Shukla’s personality, pure character, cultural introspection and teachings greatly benefited the royal princes of the States of Chhatisgarh. During his last days in Khairagarh Pt. Shukla privately appeared for Law exams conducted by Calcutta University at Allahabad in 1906 and in the beginning of 1907, after passing out the exams, he came back to Rajnandgaon to start legal practice.
Pt. Jagganath Shukla who wanted to launch his Burma-Shell dealership from Raipur and his son’s carrier as a barrister from there, bought in 1907 a spacious double storied rectangular shaped, fort like house with a courtyard in the middle. The house had a huge main door whose arch was elephant sized. It was located near the lake at Burhapara in Raipur. The new house, which in future would become the hectic nerve centre of the town and the entire state and from where freedom struggle against the British would be guided and fought and it will be here that some of the boys of the family would be goaded by the British and taken in to custody for long imprisonments, solitary confinement and torture for their anti-British stance. And where one and all would come for solace and advise from Pt. Shukla.
Pt. Jagganath Shukla also bought an office with stores and a retail shop opposite city Kotwali in the heart of the town. This facility was later shifted for retail dealership of petroleum and General Motors – spares to where today J. Shukla & Co. is on Great Eastern Road in Raipur.
Within a few years of starting his legal practice Pt. Shukla was a great success as a pleader in the courts of Raipur. His unfailing courtesy of conduct and expression and a clean record of legal service earned him clientage in all levels of society, all over Chhatisgarh and beyond. Soon the Bar Association of Raipur came in command of his influence. Whenever standing against other leading lawyers he would thoroughly prepare the case and would put in his arguments with tact and facts. His talent, extraordinary intellect and will to fight any obstacles, made him the leading lawyer of the state. Many times he would take up cases for resourceless, poor and needy persons and fight for them against prominent lawyers.
This was the time of beginning of the Swadeshi Andolan and the nation was plunging in to the freedom movement. Vande Matram was echoing in the air and “Lal-Bal-Pal’ with their forceful ovation were beginning a revolution. Yogi Arvind’s message “To my Fellow Countryman” deeply influenced Pt. Shukla. Vaman Rao Lakhe, Thakur Hanuman Singh and Laxman Rao Udirkar would all frequently meet Pt. Shukla and then they would all delve deep in to matters of this revolution sweeping the country. Pt. Shukla would often suggest that it was Tilak’s method that would suit most to bring change in the political situation of the country.
In the year 1910 Congress session was held at Benaras under the presidentship of Wederan a British civilian. Pt Shukla came to this Congress as a delegate. It was here then, that he met Mahamana Pandit Madanmohan Malviya and here onwards theirs would be a lifelong association. At the same time Kanyakubja Mahasabha session also took place in Benaras. Pt. Shukla participated in this session. On his return from Benaras after the Congress he established the state Kanyakubja Sabha whose first session was held in Nagpur in March 1912. In subsequent years he organised Mahasabhas at Raipur and Jabalpur. By the year 1917 Pt. Shukla was acknowledged as the leader of his community throughout the Hindi region of Central Provinces and Uttar Pradesh. These ties would later prove to be invaluable to Pt. Shukla in winning support for the Congress.
From the year 1915 Pt. Shukla would as far as possible attend every Congress Session held annually. In 1915 the Congress session took place at Bombay under the presidentship of Satyendra Prassanna Sinha (Lord Sinha). Pt. Shukla went to this Congress, and he along with other delegates of Central Province stayed at Marwari Sitaram School. In the ground floor of the same school were staying Gandhiji, Kasturba, and students of Sabarmati Ashram. During this Congress Pt. Shukla was greatly influenced by participating in Gandhiji’s morning prayers and seeing his daily routine and simple living style.
Pt. Shukla had strong conviction of the importance of the role of Hindi as a national language, for the pride of the country and the natural convenience, it could bring to the child entering the school viz a viz English as medium of teaching. He always took the lead and constantly pursued the cause of Hindi as the national language. No one had realised it then that, the impact of the zest of Pandit Shukla for incorporating Hindi in the main stream of the nation as a working language at educational, administrative and legislative wings, would in future see almost entire government offices in the country using the language and the parliament of India, left with no choice then to adopt Hindi as the national language. In 1916 was held the seventh session of Antar Bhartiya Sammelan of Hindi at Jabalpur, in which Pt. Shukla participated and after it’s success, he launched Madhya Pradesh Hindi Sahitya Sammelan and held its first session at Raipur in 1918. And it was in the fifth session of the Sahitya Sammelan held at Nagpur in March 1922 that he for the first time proposed to incorporate Hindi instead of English as Raj Bhasha.
A British Minister, Sir Montegue was sent to India in 1917 to assess the situation of unrest arising in India after the first world-war. To express the public opinion before the British government, meetings were held all over the country, one such meeting held in Raipur on 26 August 1917 was addressed by Pt. Shukla where he called upon the countrymen to make sacrifices and to fight for our rights, otherwise he said we will always remain a colony of the British.
A special session of Congress was called at Calcutta in September 1919 under the presidentship of Lala Ljpat Rai to assess political situation in the country. Pt. Shukla went to Calcutta to attend the session and there he invited the Congress to hold it’s next session at Central Provinces.
When the British enacted the Rowlatt Act, it was a challenge to Indian freedom movement and it was from this point that, Mahatma Gandhi started his civil disobedience movement with truth and non-violence as preambles. The Satyagrah movement as it would be known, created the atmosphere of a great revolution in the country. Pt. Shukla did not entirely gave up his legal practice but would now devote most of his time and resources on the national movement. He gave up all his stylish clothes made using English yarn and got them all consigned to fire—symbolic of emerging into a new era, and instead now the Shukla household would have only Khadi hand worn using cotton. In the year 1921 Pt Shukla became a member of the All India Congress Committee. In July that year a large public meeting was organised by Pt. Shukla at Raipur to protest against the arrest of Pt. Makhan Lal Chaturvedi the editor of Karmvir at Bilaspur. Sh. Raghvendra Rao also spoke in this meeting. In May that year, to awaken the masses and to propagate the political programme of Gandhiji, Pt. Shukla organised a political conference at Jabalpur, followed by Sagar in November and Hoshangabad in January 1922. It was in such tense atmosphere that Prince of Wales decided to visit India. There was total boycott to his visit and the non-cooperation movement was spreading like a wild fire.
While Gandhiji was planning mass civil disobedience at Bardoli, the terrible tragedy at Chouri-Choura stirred his conscience and he abruptly suspended the mass civil disobedience movement. In March 1922 the Raipur district political conference was organised by Pt. Shukla. The masses of Central Provinces and those of Chhatisgarh in particular were all enthusiastically involved in this conference. The Raipur district administration decided to have five free tickets for witnessing the conference. Pt. Shukla decided that no one would be allowed the free entry in the conference. On knowing this the Raipur district administration decided to force their entry in to the conference venue. One of the lieutenants of Pt. Shukla at Raipur, Dwarika Prasad Mishra informed him that the district administration plans to arrest him if he would oppose their forced entry in to the venue of the conference. He decided to stand guard along with his volunteers and to block the entry of the officials. Sh Waman Rao Lakhe, Madhav Rao Sapre, Sh. Raghvendra Rao and Dwarika Prasad Mishra all stood behind him at the entrance gate. The two Raipur district officials, Ali Hassan Rizvi the magistrate and the Superintendent of Police, decided to enter the meeting by force, but when blocked by Pt. Shukla, they arrested him by handcuffing him and took him to city kotwali. As soon as the news of Pt. Shukla’s arrest spread in town, it was as if the entire town had come out of their houses and surrounded the city kotwali: it was like a sea of crowd in all directions. The district administration got scared and immediately resorted to call armed police, because they had just then realised that the public has really gone wild seeing their lion in the cage. The incidence was given wide coverage in the national dailies as head lines. His arrest awakened nationalist sentiments in the police force and sixteen policeman of Raipur administration submitted their resignations.
Nagpur University was created in 1923. Before this all the colleges of the state were affiliated to Allahabad and Calcutta Universities. Sir Vipin Krishna Bose who was then the vice-chancellor of the University appointed Pandit Shukla as the member of the executive committee of the University.
Pandit Shukla had become member of the Raipur District Council in 1921. He believed that through these local bodies the freedom struggle can be best fought. Alongside this he wanted to propagate education and awakening for freedom among the masses. In 1922 the State Government handed over the management of schools to the District Council. Pandit Shukla established contacts with the teachers of these schools and to induce nationalism in them he organised teachers conferences. There were 310 schools under the district council and there were 900 teachers in these schools. Every year about 30, 000 students were studying in these schools. These conventions of teachers worked on improving teaching methods, health, cleanliness, and to arouse patriotism. Pandit Shukla remained the president of Raipur District Council from 1927 to 1937. Here is given the brief summary of the prominent works and the atmosphere created for National Awakening & Freedom Struggle taken up by the District Council under the president ship of Pandit Shukla:
1. The District Council decided to conduct all its proceedings & business in Hindi. The District Collector would return back all the proceedings of the District Council sent to him in Hindi and wrote that all proceedings be sent to him in English only. To this Pandit Shukla replied to the Collector that you have got a translator with you, please get it translated in English yourself. Despite all the difficulties created by the District Authorities the District Council continued its work in Hindi under Pandit Shukla.
2. The District Council made it a rule that in all the schools before beginning of the study session or other important events the students will necessarily unfurl the National Flag and sing "Vandemataram". The District Collector objected to this. Pandit Shukla wrote back to him that even your Governor Mr. Gavan stands up when "Vandematram" is sung, so why should you object to this.
3. As president of the District Council Pandit shukla had asked all teachers to actively participate in the freedom movement. The District Collector and the State Government strongly objected to this and demanded an explanation from the District Council. To this Pandit Shukla sent a very courageous reply saying that to participate in the national freedom movement is duty of every citizen of this country.
4. When Congress in its Lahore session decided that the country's national aim is to obtain complete freedom and to celebrate 26 January 1930 as the day of Independence, the Raipur District Council decided to celebrate this national day of freedom in all schools and accordingly all headmasters were advised to organise the Independence Day. On objections raised by district authorities Pandit Shukla wrote back to them that unfurling of our National Flag and singing of National Anthem is not a crime.
Here is copy of one of the several letters written by Pandit Shukla to Dy. Commissioner Raipur Mr. Y. N. Sukhthankar ICS: 23 February 1930 I am in receipt of your D. O. letter dated the 14th inst. regarding the greeting of revenue officers by school boys with the National Flag and national songs. I feel sure you must be realising that National Flag is an embodiment of the most patriotic sentiments of the nation, whether dependent or independent or whether within British Empire or outside it. A flag is said to be the necessity for all nations. It is a dire necessity for India, where we have to cultivate in our children the same sentiments towards our National Flag which the infurling of the Union Jack evokes in the English breasts. When even the hounarable ministers of the Crown and along with highly placed European revenue officers have received such greetings and have in true English spirit stood up in all reverence when the national song was sung, it is too late in the day for you and any one else to object to such greetings by National Flag and by national song. As administrative head of the District Council I have issued instructions to greet all visitors, official or non-official with National Flag and national song. Revenue officers are not the only persons to be greeted. There is no resolution of the district Council but if you require one I shall place the matter before the District Council and send you a copy of the resolution.
5. All the schools under the District Council mounted Pictures of the Leaders on the walls in school premises. Instructions were issued to school authorities to safeguard these pictures. Several attempts were made by district officials to destroy these pictures but the school staff did not allow them to touch these pictures.
6. The District Council established a press. Besides work of District Council the press was also undertaking outside jobs including the posters etc. of the Congress for distribution in public. The District Authorities were quite unhappy with this but the press continued its work.
7. The District Council established post-offices in all rural schools where only teachers worked as post-masters. The information on national movement printed in the Council press were taken up for distribution right up to the villages through these post offices.
8. Annual education conferences were organised by the District Council where chosen educationists and intellectuals participated. A magazine "Utthaan" was published monthly where " History of Ireland" appeared as a serial.
To propagate education and patriotism the Raipur District Council had done exceptional work under its President Pandit shukla. The former state home-member and Governor Mr. raghvendra Rao wrote, " For inducing high patriotism and to educate the masses a systematic method and public morale have to be entwined together -- This belief has been very enthusiastically implemented under the devoted guidance of District Council President Pandit Shukla---I hope other districts will follow this example. "
Angry at the patriotic stance of the Raipur District Council the then Local Self Minister of the State Government, Shri Ramrao Deshmukh on 12 June 1930 dissolved the Raipur District Council and asked the District Collector to manage the Council. This special officer on taking over the District Council banned the singing of "Vandemataram" and unfurling of the National Flag. Several teachers were arrested for participating in the freedom movement.
Despite these atrocities the Raipur District Council's patriotism did not change. Because of his work Pandit Shukla had become so popular that even while being in jail he was reelected as president of the District Council. When Pandit shukla was released from the jail his first work was to reinstate all those teachers who were victimised for their participation in freedom struggle or for their nationalistic views.
Lahore Congress had resolved for total freedom and on 26 January 1930 entire nation took a pledge for total freedom. A National Week was celebrated between 6 April to 13 April 1930. The Satyagrah Andolan was started with Mahatma Gandhi's Dandi March. On this occasion Pandit Shukla, Pandit DP Mishra and Seth Govind Das together went to meet Gandhiji.
In a meeting of State Congress Committee held at Raipur, Pandit Dwarika Prasad Mishra suggested to name Hindi speaking part of Central Provinces as Mahakoshal. In the beginning of 1930 Pandit Shukla & Pt. D. P. Mishra along with Chief of Mahakoshal Congress Committee Seth Govind Das toured entire Central Provinces to propagate the importance of Satyagrah Andolan. Pandit Shukla developed a force of young man to extensively propagate the Andolan.
The song Ranbheri Baj Chuki Veervar Pahro Kesaria Bana was sung with such fervour on Lezim that listeners were mesmerized. Selected ten students putting on a Kesaria Bana travelled from Raipur to Jabalpur, singing the song at all stations where train stopped. On 28 April all prominent leaders of the State were arrested. Pandit Shukla was arrested at Gondia while returning from Balaghat. Next day he was produced before a British Magistrate Lily at Jabalpur. When the Magistrate asked him, "What is your profession?" Pandit Shukla replied, " A Law Maker, but now a Law Braker". Pandit Shukla was imprisoned for two years. This Magistrate Lily later became secretary of Pandit Shukla when the first Congress Cabinet of the State was formed.
Initially Pandit Shukla was kept in Jabalpur Jail but was soon shifted to Seoni Jail. In Seoni jail Loknayak Madhav Shri Ane and Vaman Rao Joshi of Vidarbh were also serving the internment along with him. Pandit Shukla was interned in Seoni Jail for several months. During this period he had to fight against atrocities of the jail life. One of the jail regulation was to take thumb impressions of each prisoner for his identification. Shri Vaman Rao Joshi was called by jail authorities and his thumb impression was taken. When he returned the jail-mates seeing black ink marks on his palm asked him,"What was the matter?".To this Sh. Joshi replied,"They have taken my finger prints and that during his internment in 1907 also he had given his finger prints for identification".Three days later Pandit Shukla was called in to the jail superintendent's office for giving his finger prints. Pandit Shukla showed them the jail manual and made it clear to them that the superintendent of the jail isn't authorised to take the finger prints. When the news came to Pandit Shukla that the Government was contemplating filing a case against him for violating the jail rules, he consulted law experts and asked authorities to permit him to have access to a list of more than 100 law books. When Government saw that it is very difficult to deal with him, it dropped the idea of filing a case against him. He refused to talk to police officers on this matter. The Seoni administration got in touch with Jabalpur head quarter which in turn advised Collector Seoni to take action on his own. Finally a Magistrate was called but Pandit Shukla refused to appear before him without any notice being served on him. The jail warden gathered jail employees to use force on Pandit Shukla to get his thumb impression. Pandit Shukla warned them that he will not give his thumb impression willfully and if force is used the Government will be entirely responsible. But the authorities were bent upon taking his thumb impression. All of them together forcibly tried to open his fist but the strong will and the bodily strength of Pandit Shukla prevailed and despite a 40 minute effort they were unsuccessful in opening his fist. The result of this incidence was such that on fourth day after this incidence the Nagpur Head Office issued an order circulating it all over the State that unless ordered by the DIG Police no thumb impressions of any political prisoners will be taken. This was a rare incidence of courage where he fought for justice to save his self esteem against the British Administration.
In the beginning of 1931 Gandhi-Irwin pact took place. Accordingly all political prisoners who were imprisoned during 'Savinay Avangya Bhang Andolan' were released from the jails. On 13 March Pandit shukla along with other political prisoners of the State was released from the jail. The overwhelmed public in Raipur gave him a rousing reception like a Royal Prince.
In April the Congress Adhivation took place at Karachi under the presidentship of Vallabh Bhai Patel. Despite the pact with Gandhiji Sardar Bhagat Sing and two of his colleagues were hanged. The entire nation was saddened with this news. Mahatma Gandhi proceeded to London to participate in the round table conference. Just two days before his arrival the British Government had decided to humiliate Congress and in January 1932 they put ban on many Congress related organisations. Mahatma Gandhi was arrested on 4 January and arrests followed in the rest of the country. To oppose Gandhiji's arrest public meetings were held at Jabalpur, Sagar, Raipur and Nagpur. For two months Pandit Shukla had been consolidating the war committees and in April Pandit Shukla was arrested charged as dictator of the 'Andolan'.He was charged with creating rebellion against the British Government and was ordered imprisonment of two years. In the jail all facilities usually provided to political prisoners were withdrawn and he was given solitary confinement.
The British prime Minister Ramsey McDonald enacted a bill to separate Harjans from the Hindu masses. To oppose this Gandhiji in Yerveda jail went into the historical fast. The Hindus and Harijans all over the country united and Gadhiji broke his fast. Soon Gandhiji was released from jail and he decided to devote the entire year on Harijan work. For nine months Gandhiji toured all over the nation. Pandit Shukla along with his volunteers accompanied and organised Gandhiji's Mahakoshal tour. Gandhiji entered Mahakoshal in last week of November 1933.Pandit Shukla along with Gandhiji travelled for over 600 miles in Chhattisgarh, Seoni, Chhindwara, Betul, Jabalpur,Sagar and Balaghat.
While imprisoned Pandit Shukla was again elected president of Raipur District Council on 24 October 1930. Angered on this the State Government on 19 October 1930 by an extraordinary gazette took over the Raipur District Council for three years. The Government stopped all the patriotic programmes run by the District Council under Pandit Shukla. On 8 March 1934 the Council's work was again handed over to Pandit Shukla. He got all the programmes of the Council restarted which were closed by the Government.
To infuse national awakening in the State Pandit Shukla started a Weekly Hindi Magazine Mahakoshal from Nagpur in 1935. Next year this was shifted to Raipur from where it is now published as a prominent Daily.
With the emphasis of Congress on encouraging the Legislature and the Executive, Pandit Shukla decided to consolidate the Raipur District Council. On 9th, 10th and 11 December 1935 the Council organised a conference which was inaugurated by Pandit Makhan Lal Chaturvedi and the closing session was addressed by the Congress President Babu Rajendra Prasad. In the conference organised by the District Council next year on 15 December 1936, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru was the special invitee. Welcoming him Pandit shukla said,"The State Government is not liking the independent working of the Council and is trying to bring in such lagislation so as to jeoperdise the freedom and effectiveness of such institutions in the State, but very soon the public of the State will give an appropriate reply to the British Rulers".Later when Pandit Shukla joined the State Cabinet as Education & Agriculture Minister he resigned from the Raipur District Council and a devout Congressman of Raipur Mahant Laxmi Narayan Das took over the presidentship of the Council.
The British authorities had formed the Central Provinces and Berar in 1861 by uniting the former State of Nagpur with the Territory of Saugor-Nerbudda. In so doing they brought together the Hindi and Marathi speaking people of the former and the Hindi speaking people of the latter. The two linguistic regions which comprised the province had distinctive societies, and developed in course of time differing economies. The annexation of the Marathi territory of Berar to the Central Provinces in 1902 added to these complexities. Berar was an area of surplus revenues, and the utilisation of these revenues in the Central Provinces after 1902 aroused strong opposition from the politicians of Berar. In 1919 Marathi Congressman dominated provincial politics from the capital city of Nagpur. But subsequently they started dividing. The non-Brahmins and Harijans formed parties in opposition to the Congress, and the Congress itself got divided in to rival groups of Congressman and Tilkaites. The leader of the Gandhian faction in the Marathi Congress until 1925 was the Marwari millionaire, Jamnalal Bajaj. The Maharashtrian Brahmin community which led the Marathi Congress since 1900 regarded Lokmanya Tilak as their political guru and, for reasons of ideology, as from their unwillingness to surrender political power, they resented Gandhiji’s attempt to interfere in the politics of their region. Gandhiji overcame this difficulty by appointing Bajaj as his first lieutenant in the Marathi region. Bajaj used his social position and financial resources but by 1925 a forthright and ambitious Moreshwar Abhyankar, a barrister in Nagpur succeeded him as leader of the Gandhian Congress.
In 1935 after the Congress had agreed to enter the Council the elections for 'Kendriya Dhara Sabha' took place. In the elections Congress emerged as the largest single organisation. Congress had won all over Mahakoshal, Nagpur and Vidarbh. Soon in 1936 the elections for 'Prantiya Dhara Sabha' also took place. Like other six States, Central Provinces & Berar won with overwhelming and decisive victory for the Congress.
Using his social and economic resources Pt. Shukla won widespread support for the Congress among the urban middle, landed and labouring classes as the party pledged to replace British rule with a government that would serve the interests of all. As a result, the leaders of the Congress won an overwhelming majority of Hindi seats at the elections, and in so doing laid strong claims to help form a government under the new constitution. In the meeting of the Legislative Council Congress Party held on 14 July 1937 Pandit Shukla proposed the name of Dr. Narayan Bhaskar Khare to be the leader of the party in the Council, which was accepted. Pandit Shukla, Pt. Dwarika Prasad Mishra, Sh. Ram Rao Deshmukh, Sh. Purushottam Balwant Gole, Sh. Durga Shankar Mehta, Barrister Mohd. Yusuf Sharif were members of the Cabinet.
Pt. Shukla on taking charge of the Education Ministry proposed a new programme to bring in basic changes in the method of education. He believed that during the 150 years of the British Rule the Government had deliberately adopted such methods as to get very few educated. He believed that such an education system which was not imparting self reliance, building moral character and professionalism was of no use and has to be effectively changed. With the view that for prosperity of democracy, education of masses with emphasis on self-reliance has to be done, he introduced 'Vidya-Mandir' education programme. Mahatma Gandhi found that his own principles of basic education are embedded in 'Vidya-Mandir' education plan. Pt. Shukla appointed a committee under the presidentship of Sh. Zakir Hussain of Jamia Milia to prepare the curriculum for Vidya-Mandir scheme. Spinning, Weaving,Agriculture, Social Studies, General Science, Mathematics, Geography, Mother-Tongue, Music and Drawing were introduced for primary education. Mahatma Gandhi gave his blessings for success of the programme.
The Cabinet of Dr. Khare lacked unity from the beginning. Dr. Khare was invariably surrounded by outsiders rather than his own cabinet colleagues. The internal bickering within the cabinet rose so high that the Central Parliamentary Board had to intervene. On 24 May 1938 the Congress members of the State Legislative Assembly were invited at Pachmarhi. The chief of the Congress Parliamentary Board Sardar Patel, Moulana Azad and Sh. Jamna Lal Bajaj had come to Pachmarhi to find a solution of this problem. The members of the High Command after hearing both the factions got them to agree on a compromise formula, but Dr. Khare despite the advise of Babu Rajendra Prasad insisted on resignation of three ministers from Mahakoshal. Pt. Shukla, Pt. Mishra and Sh Mehta refused to submit their resignations without such instructions from Congress High Command. On 20 July 1938 Dr. Khare asked the British Governor of the State to dismiss these three Ministers or else he said to the Governor ,"I am submitting my resignation".The British Governor had no hesitation in dismissing the three Ministers.
This act of Dr. Khare was not taken kindly by the High Command and after taking disciplinary action on him, he was asked to resign. To review the situation a meeting of Congress High Command was held in Wardha on 21 to 23 July under the Presidentship of Subhash Chandra Bose. Moulana Azad, Sardar Patel and Babu Rajendra Prasad all were of the view that Dr. Khare should resign for the wrong he had done.
The Congress Legislative Assembly Members met at Wardha on 26 July under the Congress President Subhash Chandra Bose and elected Pandit Ravi Shankar Shukla as their leader.
Being elected leader of the Congress Party in the Legislative Assembly, Pt. Shukla was invited by the Governor to form his Government. Pt. Dwarika Prasad Mishra, Pt. Durga Shankar Mehta, Sambhaji Rao Gokhle, Chhagan Lal Bharuka were members of his Cabinet. From August 1938 to November 1939 this Cabinet remained in office. During this period of one year at the time of Haripura Congress Adhivation, Pt. Shukla had suggested Tripuri ( Jabalpur ) as the next venue of Congress Adhivation under the Presidentship of Subhash Chandra Bose. Tripuri Congress proceeded under quite unusual circumstances. Mahatma Gandhi had announced Pattabhi Sitaramaya as his nominee but Subhash Chandra Bose stood against him and won the Presidentship under all odds. Gandhiji had taken up fast-un-to-death at Rajkot, therefore he couldn't come to Tripuri. Subhash Chandra Bose was in a high fever. A resolution by Pt. Panth when moved in Congress Working Committee, it was felt that the majority in the Working Committee has faith in Mahatma Gandhi. Under these unusual circumstances Subhash Chandra Bose decided to resign from the Presidentship and Babu Rajendra Prasad came in as a trouble-shooter and assumed charge of interim President of the Congress.
So far there was no popular Congress minded English daily news paper published in the Central Provinces and Berar. With this in view Pandit Shukla formed a Limited Company and started " Nagpur Times" to propagate Congress views of national importance. This paper had to later face ire of the Government in subsequent years of Andolan. The paper was severely penalised several times and had to face difficult financial situation, but undauntingly it maintained its propagation of national policy of Congress.
On 1 September 1939 Germany declared war on Poland. Within two days this war took shape of World War. Without taking the opinion of Indian Constituent Assembly or Legislative Assemblies of the States the then British Viceroy enjoined India in the World War. Congress opposed this and like other Congress ruled states the Cabinet in CP & Berar submitted its resignation in November 1939 and reverted back to the task of opposing the War.
Until independence the locus of power in the Indian National Congress clearly rested with the Congress President and his Working Committee. With the formation of the Interim Government, however, the Congress was faced with the critical problem of determining how the Congress movement could be adopted to it’s dual role in the new republic. Specifically what was to be the relation between the Congress in its new function as ruling party and the Congress in its other function as mass organisation ? In the process of evolving a workable relationship between the two, the Congress was confronted by demands from the mass movement for the direct control of the parliamentary leadership and the government policy-making process.
In 1946 Nehru was elected President of the Congress. One month later, as the leader of the party, he was asked by the Viceroy to form an Interim Government. The decision to join the Interim Government placed upon the Congress the responsibility of working out its policy in regard to certain fundamental issues. What should be the relationship between the Congress organisation and the new Government?More specifically, should Nehru continue as Congress President as well as the leader of the Interim Government, or should the two roles be separately allotted? If separate, what was to be the relationship between the leader of the Interim Government and the Congress President ?
All these problems were discussed by the Congress Working Committee at a meeting late in August on the eve of the assumption of power by the Interim Government. Pandit Shukla attended the meeting The majority agreed that Nehru, as leader of the Interim Government, should resign from the Congress presidency.
Nehru decided to resign as Congress president in order to head the Interim Government and his decision to appoint most of the inner circle of Working Committee members to the cabinet forced Gandhiji to turn to the second echelon of Congress leaders in order to find a Congress president. Two possible candidates emerged: Acharya J B Kriplani and Dr. Pattabhi Sitaramayya. Gandhiji, without stating his reasons, decided to entrust Kriplani with the position of Congress President.
In course of time the interim government members became disillusioned with Kriplani. Nehru decided to set down his views on patterns of coordination between working committee and the government in the future. He drafted a top secret memorandum for circulation only to Kriplani, Sardar Patel, Rajendra Prasad, Pt. Ravi Shankar Shukla, C. Rajgopalachari, and Gandhiji – a procedure which illustrates quite vividly the power distribution existing in the Congress. Gandhiji knew that Kriplani has lost the confidence of his colleagues in the government and agreed that he would eventually have to step down.
The selection of the Kriplani’s successor was complicated by the inability of the big three of the Congress – Nehru, Patel, and Gandhiji—to agree on a single candidate.
Pandit Shukla proved to be a successful administrator.During his Chief Ministership there was an all round development of Madhya Pradesh.The introduction of various schemes, establishment of industries, commissioning of Bhilai Steel Plant and starting of many Universities were amongst the great achievements.The state of Madhya Pradesh remained fully peaceful during his regime.Shuklaji had played the leading role in the merger of states, particularly the merger of Hyderabad into the Republic which Vallabh Bhai Patel appreciated whole heartedly. In spite of being very religious minded, he was very liberal to other religions.He laid special emphasis on the upliftment of women.He was a staunch opponent of illiteracy, purdah and dowry system.
He died on 31 December 1956, at the age of eighty at New Delhi.