Pt. Madan Mohan Malaviya

Context: The Prime Minister of India paid tribute to Pt. Madan Mohan Malaviya on his 158th birth anniversary (25th December, 2019).

Key facts:

1. Madan Mohan Malaviya was a freedom fighter and social reformer.
2. He had served as the President of the INC on four occasions
3. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna posthumously in 2014.
4. He was the editor of a Hindi magazine, ‘Hindosthan’.
5. He became the editor of the ‘Indian Opinion’ in 1889. He also started a Hindi weekly ‘Abhyudaya’, an English daily ‘Leader’, a Hindi newspaper ‘Maryada’.
6. Pandit Malaviya was instrumental in founding the Benares Hindu University in 1916. He also became its Vice-Chancellor till 1939.
7. He was opposed to separate electorates to Muslims and the Lucknow Pact.
8. He was also against the INC’s participation in the Khilafat Movement.
9. He was a participant in the Second Round Table Conference in 1931.
10. He started the Ganga Mahasabha to oppose construction of dams in the Ganga.
11. He was also a social reformer who opposed untouchability. He worked for the temple entry of Dalits at the Kalaram Temple at Nashik, Maharashtra.
12. He also founded the organisation Shri Mathura Vrindavan Hasanand Gochar Bhoomi in Vrindavan.