Rao Bahadur __NOTOC__ Rao may refer to: Geography * Rao, West Sumatra, one of the districts of West Sumatra, Indonesia * Råö, a locality in Kungsbacka Municipality, Halland County, Sweden Transport * Dr. Leite Lopes–Ribeirão Preto State Airport , ...

Raghunath Narasinha Mudholkar (16 May 1857 – 13 January 1921), was an Indian politician who served as the President 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 ...

for one term, succeeding Pandit

Bishan Narayan Dar Pandit Bishan Narayan Dar (1864 – 19 November 1916) was an Indian politician who served as the President of the Indian National Congress for one term in 1911. Dar belonged to a prominent Kashmiri Pandit family from Lucknow. His uncle Pandit Sh ...

. He presided over 27th session of Indian National Congress at Bankipore (Patna) in 1912. Raghunath Mudholkar was born in Dhulia, Khandesh, in a respectable middle-class Deshastha Brahmin family on 16 May 1857. He had his education partly at Dhulia and partly in

Vidarbha Vidarbha (Pronunciation: �id̪əɾbʱə is a geographical region in the east of the Indian state of Maharashtra and a proposed state of central India, comprising the state's Amravati and Nagpur divisions. Amravati Division's former name is Ber ...

. Then he went to Bombay and graduated from

Elphinstone College Elphinstone College is one of the constituent colleges of Dr. Homi Bhabha State University, a state cluster university. Established in 1823, it is one of the oldest colleges in Mumbai. It played a major role in shaping and developing the ed ...

where he was granted a Fellowship. He was leading Lawyer practising at

Amravati Amravati (pronunciation ( help·info)) is the second largest city in the Vidarbha region and ninth largest city in Maharashtra, India. It is administrative headquarters of Amravati district and Amravati division which includes Akola, Buld ...

along with

G. S. Khaparde Ganesh Srikrishna Khaparde (also known as Dadasaheb Khaparde) (27 August 1854 – 1 July 1938) was an Indian lawyer, scholar, political activist and a noted devotee of Shirdi Sai Baba and saint Gajanan Maharaj. Born in a Deshastha Brahmin ...

and Moropant V Joshi. He was invested as a Companion of the

Order of the Indian Empire The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria on 1 January 1878. The Order includes members of three classes: #Knight Grand Commander (GCIE) #Knight Commander ( KCIE) #Companion ( CIE) No appoi ...

in January 1914, in recognition of his public services. He was a devout Hindu, advocated social reforms like

female education Female education is a catch-all term of a complex set of issues and debates surrounding education (primary education, secondary education, tertiary education, and health education in particular) for girls and women. It is frequently called girl ...

, widow remarriage and removal of

Untouchability Untouchability is a form of social institution that legitimises and enforces practices that are discriminatory, humiliating, exclusionary and exploitative against people belonging to certain social groups. Although comparable forms of discrimin ...

. As a follower of

Gokhale Gokhale is an Indian surname found in the Chitpawan community native to the western state of Maharashtra. People * Anupama Gokhale, Indian chess player * Ashok B. Gokhale, Indian diplomat * Bapu Gokhale, Maratha general *Chandrakant Gokhale, Yester ...

, he believed that developing nationalism required British cooperation and therefore the national movement should be constitutional and nonviolent. He was in the Congress from 1888 to 1917, and thereafter joined the Liberals. He was in the Congress delegation of 1890 sent to England to voice the grievances of the Indians. He was President of the Indian National Congress held at Bankipur in 1912. He admired Parliamentary democracy but opposed British bureaucracy. He criticised the economic policy of the Government, helped to establish a number of industries in Vidarbha and advocated technical education. He founded several social organisations and worked for the uplift of the poor. He died on 13 January 1921. His son Janardhan became Judge at the Supreme Court of India during 1960–1966.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mudholkar, Raghunath Narsinha Presidents of the Indian National Congress People from Dhule Indian National Congress politicians People from Amravati 1857 births 1921 deaths Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire Rai Bahadurs Marathi people Members of the Imperial Legislative Council of India History of Vidarbha