Items19The creator’s order
  1. 1Abdul Ghaffar KhanAbdul Ghaffar KhanBorn 6 Feb 1890In the North-West Frontier, Ghaffar Khan built the Khudai Khidmatgar, a non-violent Pashtun movement of tens of thousands that opposed British rule from 1929. He opposed Partition and spent much of his later life imprisoned or in exile under Pakistani governments, a reminder that independence did…0i
  2. 2A. K. Fazlul HuqA. K. Fazlul HuqBorn 26 Oct 1873Fazlul Huq's Krishak Praja Party represented Bengal's Muslim and peasant tenants, and as the province's first premier from 1937 he pushed debt relief and tenancy reform against zamindar landlords. He moved the 1940 Lahore Resolution and later led the 1954 United Front that swept the Muslim League…0i
  3. 3Huseyn SuhrawardyHuseyn SuhrawardyBorn 8 Sept 1892A Bengali lawyer, Suhrawardy was premier of Bengal during the 1946 Calcutta killings, for which critics hold him partly responsible, and later co-founded the Awami League. As Pakistan's prime minister in 1956 and 1957 he defended parliamentary government and East Bengal's equal representation…0i
  4. 4Ram Manohar LohiaRam Manohar LohiaBorn 23 Mar 1910Lohia's socialism argued that caste was as central as class in Indian politics, and his call for anti-Congress alliances produced coalition governments in several states in 1967. His followers in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar became the backward-caste parties that reshaped north Indian politics after him.0i
  5. 5K. KamarajK. KamarajBorn 15 Jul 1903A Tamil Congressman with little formal schooling, Kamaraj was chief minister of Madras State from 1954 to 1963, expanding schools across the state and extending free midday meals for pupils. As Congress president he was the "kingmaker" who chose Shastri and then Indira Gandhi as prime minister.0i
  6. 6E. M. S. NamboodiripadE. M. S. NamboodiripadBorn 13 Jun 1909In 1957 Namboodiripad led one of the world's first elected communist governments, in Kerala, introducing land reform and education bills. It was dismissed by the central government in 1959 after mass protests, a controversial use of President's Rule; his later governments completed land…0i
  7. 7Lal Bahadur ShastriLal Bahadur ShastriBorn 2 Oct 1904India's second prime minister, from a modest family in Uttar Pradesh, held office for only 19 months but led the country through the 1965 war with Pakistan and backed the dairy and Green Revolution programmes. He resigned as railway minister in 1956 over an accident, an act of ministerial…0i
  8. 8Abdul Hamid Khan BhashaniAbdul Hamid Khan BhashaniBorn 12 Dec 1880The "red Maulana" founded the Awami Muslim League in 1949, later the Awami League, and then the leftist National Awami Party, organising peasants across East Bengal and Assam. His 1957 Kagmari conference speech warned West Pakistan that East Bengal might part ways, fourteen years before…0i
  9. 9Tajuddin AhmadTajuddin AhmadBorn 23 Jul 1925With Sheikh Mujib in Pakistani custody, Tajuddin led Bangladesh's government-in-exile through the 1971 war as its first prime minister, organising the administration and the liberation forces from India. As finance minister he was later sidelined, and he was killed in Dhaka Central Jail in November…0i
  10. 10Jayaprakash NarayanJayaprakash NarayanBorn 11 Oct 1902Never holding office, JP led the 1974 Bihar student movement for "total revolution" against corruption, was jailed during the Emergency and united the opposition into the Janata Party, which defeated Indira Gandhi in 1977. The Janata government's quick collapse is the counterpoint to his success.0i