When the Nation was in darkness which was created by the British establishment. “Mahavir – The Courageous”as the name speaks itself was born on 31st December 1899 in Moradabad district of Uttar Pradesh. Mahavir Tyagiwas not like any other freedom fighter, in his earlier lifeduring the initial days he was serving his duty in British Indian army at Persia but resigned after Jallianwala Bagh massacre occurred and became strong follower of Gandhiji.While serving his duty for about — years he wasimprisoned for 11 times by the British Regime. In the famous movement called “Non-co-operation” led by Gandhiji he was trailed for sedition under section 124A in IPC , he was imprisoned for 2 years and as soon as he was released British regime identified him as a real threat in UP region and was popularly known as“Rafian” an associate of “Rafi Ahmed Kidwai” the famous Indian nationalist Muslim in that region. Once while he was addressing 4000 farmers in UP, he was arrested by the British establishment and was harassed badly by the Britishers due to his popularity and followers in western UP ,which was condemned by Gandhiji in one of his articles in young India .It was due to some personal hatred of the magistrate which made him to suffer a lotduring that time but as he was the army man he decided not to bow down to any injustice and harassment. During one of his imprisonment timehe met Motilal Nehru and had good relation with him and other congress leaders. Despite of his closeness with Congressman who believed in Non -violence he was also keeping his good relations with Sachindranath Sanyal under whom Bhagat Singh, Chandrasekhar Azad, Sukhdev started their early movement for freedom.
Mahavir Tyagi was always a man of values who never saw his personal benefits or loss when its all about the nation, the concept of “Aajadi” is what was in his mind. There is a saying “Good things takes some time and when it comes all the hardships pays off ” as we all know that beautiful day came on 15th August 1947 when the Golden Bird “ The India” was out of their cage and was allowed to fly in an open sky with no limits but Mahavir Tyagi had much more role to play in future.
Even after the freedom of our country Mahavir Tyagi never stopped serving the nation as the nation was facing the troubles of partition. Its time to give his service to the people of nation who were neglected from their basic need and rights from many years. Unlike todays politics he was not a leader who will always stick to party line despite of any decision which is not appropriate for nation he was an honest, emotional and brave leader who will be always in truths court.
The first Indian government was led by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru where he was given the responsibility to take the office of finance minister, later on he also took the charge of defense minister as well as he came in limelight when in 1962 Indo-China war where China illegally occupied “Aksai china” and PM Nehru was dominated by the opposition on this matter but he never dreamt that the biggest opposition will be from his own Cabinet Minister . When Nehru said to opposition “ there is no Grass in Aksai china then why are you making noise for such place “ Tyagi replied by pulling out his hat and showed the bald to Nehru and asked “ here also there are no hair then should I remove the head from my body?” Difficult to believe it right…After seeing today’s politics where no one can take such stand whereas Mahavir Tyagi always thought of nation over anything. He always proved that either worship the person or party ,worship the country which will be make more sense. When Late Indira Gandhi became president of Indian national congress he officially wrote letter and registered his unhappiness. After recognizing the nationalism, Indira Gandhi (Prime Minister) chose Mahavir Tyagi as the chairman of 5th finance commission and sent him to upper house of Indian legislate in 1970. He served the nation in every possible way he could whether its pre freedom time or post freedom time he was really a true son of the nation. In 1976 he took the retirement from active politics and on 22nd May 1980 the man who served the nation in every possible way attains the “Moksha” and nation faced the biggest lost, I do feel historians never did the justice with him as he deserved the “Bharat Ratna”award, won’t he?None of the less Mahavir Tyagi will always be remembered as true Nationalist of the country and his sacrifices will be remembered and praised …
Jai Hind
-Nisha
