Narendra Deva


Acharya Narendra Deva 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.
Dev 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 active in the Hindi language movement. He was a key leader of the Congress Socialist Party from its founding in 1934 and was imprisoned several times during the freedom struggle. He was at times a member of the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly. From 6 December 1951 to 31 May 1954 he served as Vice Chancellor of Banaras Hindu University. Helped by Nirmal Chandra Chaturvedi, Executive Councillor and a prominent educationist of the state. He started a number of projects for the expansion of the university.
Narendra Dev advocated the abolition of poverty and exploitation not just through the Marxist materialist dialectic but especially on moral and humanistic grounds. He insisted that "without social democracy political democracy was a sham". Dev was active in the peasant movement and served as president of the All-India Kisan Congress.
He remained associated with the Socialist Party and its successor, the Praja Socialist Party, until his death in 1956.

Legacy

Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi said: "Acharya Narnedra Dev was one of the greatest sons of India and the nation owes a great debt to him."
The Narendra Dev University of Agriculture and Technology was named in his honour in 1975.
In an emotional obituary in Rajya Sabha, Jawaharlal Nehru said:
Dev had been professor at Kashi Vidyapeeth and Vice Chancellor of Lucknow University and Banaras Hindu University. He died at the age of 67 in 19 February 1956 in Madrass.