Govind Ballabh Pant

2021-12-14T18:27:10Z

122.170.51.88:

{{short description|Indian politician and freedom fighter}}
{{multiple issues|
{{COI|date=March 2016}}
{{Refimprove|date=July 2017}}
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{{Use Indian English|date=July 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2018}}
{{Infobox Officeholder
|name = Govind Ballabh Pant
|image = Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant.jpg
|caption = Pant in May 1952
|office = 5th [[Minister of Home Affairs (India)|Minister of Home Affairs]]
|primeminister = [[Jawaharlal Nehru]]
|term_start = 10 January 1955
|term_end = 7 March 1961
|predecessor = [[Kailash Nath Katju]]
|successor = [[Lal Bahadur Shastri]]
|office2 = 1st [[List of Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh|Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh]]
|governor2 = [[Homi Mody]] [[Kanaiyalal Maneklal Munshi]]
|term_start2 = 26 January 1950
|term_end2 = 27 December 1954
|predecessor2 = ''Office Established''
|successor2 = [[Sampurnanand]]
|office3 = 2nd [[List of Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh#United Provinces|Chief Minister of United Provinces]]
|governor3 = [[Francis Verner Wylie]] [[Sarojini Naidu]] B. B. Malik {{small|(Acting)}} Homi Mody
|term_start3 = 1 April 1946
|term_end3 = 25 January 1950
|predecessor3 = ''Vacant''
|successor3 = ''Office Abolished''
|governor4 = [[Harry Graham Haig]]
|term_start4 = 17 July 1937
|term_end4 = 2 November 1939
|predecessor4 = [[Muhammad Ahmad Said Khan Chhatari]]
|successor4 = ''Vacant''
|birth_date = {{birth date|1887|09|10|df=y}}
|birth_place = [[Almora district|Khoont]], [[North-Western Provinces]], [[British India]] (Present-day [[Uttarakhand]], [[India]])
|death_date = {{death date and age|1961|3|7|1887|09|10|df=y}}
|death_place = [[New Delhi]], [[India]]
|party = [[Indian National Congress]]
|spouse =
|profession = [[Lawyer]] [[Indian independence movement|Independence]] [[Activism|Activist]]
|alma_mater = [[Allahabad University]]
|nationality = [[India]]n
|children = 3, including [[Krishna Chandra Pant]]
|residence = No. 6, Maulana Azad Road, [[New Delhi]]
}}

'''Govind Ballabh Pant''' (10 September 1887 – 7 March 1961) was an Indian freedom fighter and the first chief minister of [[Uttar Pradesh]]. Alongside [[Mahatma Gandhi]], [[Jawaharlal Nehru]] and [[Vallabhbhai Patel|Vallabh Bhai Patel]], Pant was a key figure in the [[Indian independence movement|movement]] for India's Independence and later a pivotal figure in the Indian Government. He was one of the foremost political leaders of [[Uttarakhand]] (then known as [[United Provinces of Agra and Oudh|United Provinces]]) and a key player in the unsuccessful movement to establish [[Hindi language|Hindi]] as the national language of Indian Union.

Today, several Indian hospitals, educational institutions and foundations bear his name. Pant received India's highest civilian honour, the [[Bharat Ratna]], in 1957.

==Early life==
Govind Ballabh Pant was born on 10 September 1887 in Khoont village on the slopes of Shyahi Devi hill near [[Almora]]. He was born in a [[Kumaoni people|Kumaoni]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/archive/features/kumaon-remembers-its-leader-gb-pant-131018|title=Kumaon remembers its leader GB Pant}}</ref>[[Brahmin]] family.
His mother's name was Govindi Bai. His father Manorath Pant was a government official who was constantly on the move, and hence Govind was brought up by his maternal grandfather, Badri Dutt Joshi, an important government official locally, who played a significant part in moulding his personality and political views.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.liveindia.com/freedomfighters/8.html |title=Govind Ballabh Pant |website=liveindia.com |access-date=8 September 2017}}</ref>

Pant studied at [[Allahabad University]] and subsequently worked as a [[lawyer]] in [[Kashipur, Uttarakhand|Kashipur]]. Here, he began active work against the [[British Raj]] in 1914, when he helped a local ''parishad'', or village council, in their successful [[Coolie-Begar movement|challenge of ''coolie begar'']], a law requiring locals to provide free transportation of the luggage of travelling British officials. In 1921, he entered politics and was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the [[United Provinces of Agra and Oudh]].

==In the freedom struggle==
Known as an extremely capable lawyer, Pant was appointed by the [[Indian National Congress|Congress party]] to initially represent [[Ram Prasad Bismil|Ramprasad Bismill]], [[Ashfaqulla Khan]] and other revolutionaries involved in the [[Kakori|Kakori case]] in the mid 1920s. He participated in the protests against Simon Commission in 1928. [[Jawaharlal Nehru]], in his autobiography, mentions how Pant stood by him during the protests and his large figure made him an easy target for the police. In those protests he sustained severe injuries which prevented him from straightening his back for the rest of his life.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Govind Ballabh Pant, the first Uttar Pradesh CM and an early feminist|url=https://theprint.in/forgotten-founders/govind-ballabh-pant-the-first-uttar-pradesh-cm-and-an-early-feminist/202577/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1930, he was arrested and imprisoned for several weeks for organising a [[Salt March]] inspired by [[Gandhi]]'s earlier actions. In 1933, he was arrested along with Harsh Dev Bahuguna (Gandhi of Choukot) and imprisoned for seven months for attending a session of the then-banned provincial Congress. In 1935, the ban was rescinded, and Pant joined the new Legislative Council. During the [[Second World War]], Pant acted as the tiebreaker between Gandhi's faction, which advocated supporting the British Crown in their war effort, and [[Subhas Chandra Bose]]'s faction, which advocated taking advantage of the situation to expel the British Raj by all means necessary.
In 1934, the Congress ended its [[boycott]] of the legislatures and put up candidates, and Pant was elected to the [[Central Legislative Assembly]]. He became deputy leader of the Congress party in the Assembly.<ref name="Nanda">B. R. Nanda, ''Pant, Govind Ballabh (1887–1961), politician in India'' (2004)</ref>

In 1940, Pant was arrested and imprisoned for helping organise the [[Satyagraha]] movement. In 1942 he was arrested again, this time for signing the [[Quit India]] resolution, and spent three years in [[Ahmednagar Fort]] along with other members of the Congress working committee until March 1945, at which point [[Jawaharlal Nehru]] pleaded successfully for Pant's release, on grounds of failing health.<ref name="Nanda" />

==Premier of United Provinces 1937/ Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh 1939==
Pant took over as the [[List of Chief Ministers of Uttarakhand|Chief Minister of the United Provinces]] from 1937 to 1939.

In 1945, the British [[Labour Government 1945-1951|Labour government]] ordered new elections to the Provincial legislatures.<ref name="Nanda" /> The [[Indian National Congress|Congress]] won a majority in the 1946 elections in the United Provinces and Pant was again the Premier, continuing even after India's [[Indian independence movement|independence]] in 1947.

His judicious reforms and stable governance in the [[Uttar Pradesh]] stabilised the economic condition of the most populous State of India. Among his achievements in that position was the abolition of the [[zamindari]] system. Also he passed the [[Hindu code bills|Hindu Code Bill]] and made [[monogamy]] compulsory for [[Hindu]] men and gave the Hindu women the rights of [[divorce]] and inheritance to ancestral property. Pant moved from [[Lucknow]] to [[New Delhi]] to be sworn in as Cabinet Minister without Portfolio in the [[Union Council of Ministers|Union Cabinet]] on 3 January 1955.

==Union Home Minister of India==

Pant served as [[Minister of Home Affairs (India)|Union Home Minister]] from 1955 to 1961.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2006-09-10/india/27791764_1_floral-tributes-homage-vice-president-bhairon-singh-shekhawat | archive-url=https://archive.today/20120701135017/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2006-09-10/india/27791764_1_floral-tributes-homage-vice-president-bhairon-singh-shekhawat | url-status=dead | archive-date=1 July 2012 | work=[[The Times of India]] | title=Nation pays homage to Govind Ballabh Pant | date=10 September 2006}}</ref>
Pant was appointed Minister of Home Affairs in the Union Cabinet on 10 January 1955 in New Delhi by [[Jawaharlal Nehru]]. As Home Minister, his chief achievement was the [[States Reorganisation Act, 1956|re-organisation of States along linguistic lines]]. He was also responsible for the establishment of [[Hindi]] as an official language of the [[Government of India|central government]] and a few states.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gbpec.net/gbpant.html |title=Govind Ballabh Pant Engineering College, Pauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand |publisher=Gbpec.net |access-date=1 January 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121225073145/http://www.gbpec.net/gbpant.html |archive-date=25 December 2012 }}</ref>

During his tenure as the [[Minister of Home Affairs (India)|Home Minister]], Pant was awarded the [[Bharat Ratna]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Padma Awards Directory (1954–2007) |url=http://www.mha.nic.in/pdfs/PadmaAwards1954-2007.pdf |publisher=Ministry of Home Affairs |access-date=26 November 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090410024701/http://www.mha.nic.in/pdfs/PadmaAwards1954-2007.pdf |archive-date=10 April 2009 }}</ref> on 26 January 1957.

==Death==

In 1960, he suffered a [[Myocardial infarction|heart attack]]. He was treated by top doctors in India, including his friend Dr [[Bidhan Chandra Roy]], the then [[List of Chief Ministers of West Bengal|Chief Minister of West Bengal]]. His health started deteriorating and he died on 7 March 1961 at the age of 74, from a [[Stroke|cerebral stroke]]. At that time he was still in office as the [[Home Minister of India]].

Mourning him, [[Rajendra Prasad|Dr Rajendra Prasad]], the then [[President of India]] was quoted as saying,"I had known Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant since 1922 and in this long period of association it had been my privilege to receive from him not only consideration but also affection. This is no time to assess his labour and his achievements. The grief is too intense for words. I can only pray for peace to his soul and strength to those who loved and admired him".

== Institutions and monuments ==
{{div col|colwidth=35em}}
*[[Govind Ballabh Pant Social Science Institute]], [[Allahabad]]
*[[Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology]], [[Pantnagar]]
*[[Govind Ballabh Pant Engineering College]], [[Pauri Garhwal]], [[Uttarakhand]]
*[[G. B. Pant Engineering College, New Delhi|Govind Ballabh Pant Engineering College, Delhi]]
*[[Govind Ballabh Pant Sagar]] is an [[Artificial lake]] at [[Sonebhadra]], [[Uttar Pradesh]]
{{div col end}}
<gallery mode="packed" widths="230px" heights="260px">
Govind Ballabh Pant 1965 stamp of India.jpg|Pant on a 1965 stamp of India
Govind Ballabh Pant 1988 stamp of India.jpg|Pant on a 1988 stamp of India
Statue of Govindballabh Pant, at Mall Road, Nainital.jpg|Statue of Pant at Mall Road, [[Nainital]]
Govind Ballabh Pant dawn - IMG 2053.JPG|Statue of Pant near Sansad Bhavan, New Delhi
</gallery>

==Family==
Govind Ballabh Pant's son, [[Krishna Chandra Pant]], was also a politician.

==See also==
*[[K. C. Pant]]
*[[Ila Pant]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book | last = Bakshi | first = S. R. | title = Govind Ballabh Pant: The True Gandhian | publisher = South Asia Books| year = 1991 | isbn = 9788170414308 }}
* 18 volumes on the Selected Works of Govind Ballabh Pant authored by Dr. B. R. Nanda

==External links==
{{Commons category}}

* [http://www.sirfsach.in/cutting-edge/bharat-ratna-govind-ballabh-pant/10044/ Read the complete biography of Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant, why he married trice?]

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090117023342/http://www.peopleforever.org/nfhomepage.aspx?nfid=2063 View Profile/Photos and Videos of Govind Ballabh Pant]
*[http://www.gbpant.org Govind Ballabh Pant Memorial Site]

{{S-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{succession box
| before=Nawab Sir [[Muhammad Ahmad Said Khan Chhatari]]
| title=[[List of Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh#United Provinces|Chief Minister of United Provinces]]
| years=17 July 1937 – 2 November 1939
| after=Vacant
}}
{{succession box
| before=Vacant
| title=[[List of Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh#United Provinces|Chief Minister of United Provinces]]
| years=1 April 1946 – 25 January 1950
| after=Post abolished United Provinces renamed to Uttar Pradesh
}}
{{succession box
| before=New Creation
| title=[[List of Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh|Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh]]
| years= 26 January 1950 – 27 December 1954
| after=[[Sampurnanand]]
}}
{{succession box
| before=[[Kailash Nath Katju]]
| title=[[Minister for Home Affairs (India)|Union Home Minister]]
| years=10 January 1955 – 7 March 1961
| after=[[Lal Bahadur Sastri]]
}}
{{S-end}}

{{Bharat Ratna}}
{{Home Ministry (India)}}
{{Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh}}
{{Chief Ministers of United Provinces}}
{{Indian independence movement}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pant, Govind Ballabh}}
[[Category:1887 births]]
[[Category:1961 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian independence activists from Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:Prisoners and detainees of British India]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Bharat Ratna]]
[[Category:University of Allahabad alumni]]
[[Category:Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:Members of Central Legislative Assembly of India]]
[[Category:People from Kashipur, Uttarakhand]]
[[Category:People from Almora district]]
[[Category:Members of the Constituent Assembly of India]]
[[Category:Ministers of Internal Affairs of India]]
[[Category:Chief ministers from Indian National Congress]]
[[Category:Rajya Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:Pantnagar]]
[[Category:Indian National Congress politicians from Uttar Pradesh]]
[[Category:State funerals in India]]

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Govind Ballabh Pant