Bishambhar Nath Pande (23 December 1906 – 1 June 1998) was a

freedom fighter A resistance movement is an organized effort by some portion of the civil population of a country to withstand the legally established government or an occupying power and to disrupt civil order and stability. It may seek to achieve its objectives ...

social work Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social wo ...

er, and parliamentarian in India. Pande devoted his life to the cause of national integration, and to the spread of the

Gandhian The followers of Mahatma Gandhi, the greatest figure of the Indian independence movement, are called Gandhians. Gandhi's legacy includes a wide range of ideas ranging from his dream of ideal India (or ''Rama Rajya)'', economics, environmentalis ...

way of life.

Life

B. N. Pande was a member of the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

and a close associate of

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian Anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India du ...

, the first prime minister of the

Republic of India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

, as well as of

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 and was al ...

Rajiv Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi (; 20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991) was an Indian politician who served as the sixth prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the 1984 assassination of his mother, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, to beco ...

and

Sonia Gandhi Sonia Gandhi (''née'' Maino; born 9 December 1946) is an Indian politician. She is the longest serving president of the Indian National Congress, a social democratic political party, which has governed India for most of its post-independen ...

. He pursued a Gandhian philosophy and was for 18 years vice-chairman of the Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti (GSDS), which aims to spread Gandhian principles and philosophy globally. Pande gave lectures in countries such as Japan, Russia, Germany and Canada on the life and ideals of

Mohandas K. Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

Awards

In 1976, Pande was awarded the

Padma Shri Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conf ...

for his achievements in the field of social work. Pande was awarded the

Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration The Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration is a prestigious award accorded by the Indian National Congress, after Indira Gandhi, a former Prime Minister of India. The award is given annually, starting from 1985, to distinguished persons/ ...

P. V. Narasimha Rao Pamulaparthi Venkata Narasimha Rao (28 June 1921 – 23 December 2004) was an Indian lawyer, statesman and politician who served as the 9th prime minister of India from 1991 to 1996. He is known for introducing various liberal reforms to Indi ...

(the Prime Minister of India) in 1996 for his lifetime achievements in the field of Hindu-Muslim unity in India. He was also awarded the Khuda Baksh Award for his work on the composite culture of India.

Political career

Member of the Legislative Assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. S ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 195 ...

*Mayor of

Allahabad Allahabad (), officially known as Prayagraj, also known as Ilahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi (Benares). It is the administra ...

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

in the

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

(upper house), 1976 to 1984 and 1989 to 1998 *President of the Pradesh Congress Committee, Uttar Pradesh, 1980 to 1983 *

Governor of Odisha The governor of Odisha is the head of state and representative of the president of India in the Indian state of Odisha. The governors have similar powers and functions at the state level as those of the President of India at centr ...

, 1984 to 1988

Books

Pande devoted a major part of his life to research on

secularism Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on secular, naturalistic considerations. Secularism is most commonly defined as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state, and may be broadened to a si ...

with the objective of promoting unity amongst all religions in India. As part of his research, he wrote several books, including: *''Centenary history of the Indian National Congress 1885–1985'' *''A Concise History of the Indian National Congress, 1947–1985'' (1986) *''Indira Gandhi'' *''Islam and Indian culture'' *''Aurangzeb''

Family

Pande was married to Shanta Pande, a former freedom fighter. He had one child, Nandita Rao (wife of

Joginder Singh Rao Rao Joginder Singh whose name was recorded incorrectly as Joginder Singh Rao throughout his career (16 October 1938 – 3 October 1994) was an Indian cricketer: a right-arm medium pace bowler who played only five first-class games, all for Serv ...

), and two grandchildren, Probir and Rahul Rao.

References

External links

* https://openlibrary.org/b/OL162611M/B.N.-Pande-messenger-of-harmony * http://www.iosworld.org/ebk7.htm * http://www.publicationsdivision.nic.in/Eng-Pub/Au-Wise/EB27.HTM * http://www.islamcan.com/islamic-history/muslim-rule-in-india.shtml {{DEFAULTSORT:Pande, Bishambhar Nath Indian National Congress politicians from Uttar Pradesh Governors of Odisha Members of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly Rajya Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh 1906 births 1998 deaths Mayors of Allahabad Indian independence activists from Uttar Pradesh Recipients of the Padma Shri in social work Nominated members of the Rajya Sabha 20th-century Indian politicians 20th-century Indian educators Educators from Uttar Pradesh Indian political writers 20th-century Indian biographers Social workers from Uttar Pradesh