Bhaskarrao Vithojirao Jadhav (17 June 1867 – 26 June 1950) was an Indian politician, social reformer, and leader of the

Satyashodhak Samaj Satyashodhak Samaj (''Truth-seekers' Society'') was a social reform society founded by Jyotiba Phule in Pune, Maharashtra, on 24 September 1873. The society endeavoured to mitigate the distress and sufferings of Dalits and women. It espoused a m ...

, Non-Brahmin movement and the co-operative movement.

Early life

Bhaskarrao Vithojirao Jadhav was born on 17 June, 1867 in

Nagaon Nagaon is a city and a municipal board in Nagaon district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Assam. It is situated east of Guwahati. With a population of 1,16,355 as per 2011 census it is an AMRUT City and 4th biggest city ...

in a poor

Maratha The Marathi people (; Marathi: , ''Marāṭhī lōk'') or Marathis (Marathi: मराठी, ''Marāṭhī'') are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are native to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-A ...

family. His schooling was often disturbed due to his father's frequent job changes. He finally studied at

Elphinstone High School Elphinstone High School was an English-medium school established in 1824 in Bombay, India in honour of Mountstuart Elphinstone, the then Governor of Bombay (1819–1827). In 1836 the Elphinstone Institute was founded, which started the Elph ...

where he stood first in the matriculation examination. He was further educated at the Wilson College,

Elphinstone College Elphinstone College is one of the constituent colleges of Dr. Homi Bhabha State University, a state cluster university. Established in 1856, it is one of the oldest colleges in Mumbai. It played a major role in shaping and developing the edu ...

, and the Government Law College in Bombay. During his student days, he was influenced by the ideology of the

Career

Bhaskarrao Jadhav started his career as an administrator in the Kolhapur princely state in 1895. He worked as the Superintendent or administrator of

Kolhapur Kolhapur () is a city on the banks of the Panchganga River in the southern part of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Kolhapur is one of the most significant cities in South Maharashtra and has been a hub of historical, religious, and cultural a ...

municipality from 1904 to 1918 and retired as Revenue Member of the State Council in 1895. He finally retired from the Kolhapur state service in 1921 to work in the Bombay Presidency. Jadhav started the Maratha Educational Conference in 1907 and was in the Non-Brahmin movement in the Bombay Presidency since its inception. He represented the claims of the Maratha and allied Communities before the joint Parliamentary Committee in England in 1919, and secured seven reserved seats for them. Jadhav was nominated to the

Bombay Legislative Council Bombay Legislative Council was the legislature of the Bombay Province and later the upper house of the bicameral legislature of Bombay Province in British India and the Indian state of Bombay. History The Indian Councils Act 1861 set up the B ...

in 1920 and became the leader of the Non-Brahmin Party in the Bombay Legislative Council. He was subsequently elected to the Council twice from Satara constituency in 1923 and 1926. Under the system of

diarchy Diarchy (from Greek , ''di-'', "double", and , ''-arkhía'', "ruled"),Occasionally spelled ''dyarchy'', as in the ''Encyclopaedia Britannica'' article on the colonial British institution duarchy, or duumvirate. is a form of government charac ...

in Bombay Presidency, he served as a Minister of Education from 1923 to 1926 and Minister of Forest, Excise & Agriculture from 1928 to 1930. Jadhav was in favour of cooperating with the

Simon Commission The Indian Statutory Commission, also known as the Simon Commission, was a group of seven members of the British Parliament under the chairmanship of John Simon. The commission arrived in the Indian subcontinent in 1928 to study constitutional ...

and opposed its boycott which caused rifts in the Non-Brahmin Party. In September 1930, he was elected to the

Central Legislative Assembly The Central Legislative Assembly was the lower house of the Indian Legislature, the legislature of British India. It was created by the Government of India Act 1919, implementing the Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms. It was also sometimes calle ...

. He represented the Justice Party at the

Round Table Conference The three Round Table Conferences of 1930–1932 were a series of peace conferences, organized by the British Government and Indian political personalities to discuss constitutional reforms in India. These started in November 1930 and ended in De ...

. Jadhav lost the election to the Bombay Legislative Council in 1937.

Social Reform

Bhaskarrao Jadhav was the president of the

from 1920 onwards. Bhaskarrao Jadhav was also a scholar of Indian history and philosophy. He wrote scholarly articles on various topics like criticism of Ramayana, origin of the Marathas and their language, development of the Vedas, evolution of the deity Mahadeva etc.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jadhav, Bhaskarrao Bombay Presidency Members of the Bombay Legislative Council Politicians from Kolhapur Marathi-language writers Marathi politicians 1867 births 1950 deaths