Chunibhai Vaidya (2 September 1917 – 19 December 2014), popularly called Chunikaka, was an Indian activist, author and a

Gandhian The followers of Mahatma Gandhi,one of the prominent 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, environ ...

ideologue from

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

, India.

Life

Chunibhai Vaidya was born on 2 September 1918 in a small village in

Patan district Patan district is one of the 34 districts of Gujarat state in western India. Its main city is Patan. This district is located in northern Gujarat and bounded by Vav-Tharad district in the north, Banaskantha district in the northeast, Mehsana dis ...

, Gujarat. He was a

and a ''

Sarvodaya Sarvōdaya ( ''wikt:सर्व, sarv-'' "all", ''wikt:उदय, uday'' "rising") is a Sanskrit term which generally means "universal uplift" or "progress of all". The term was used by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi as the title of ...

'' veteran. He participated in

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic ...

and later in

Vinoba Bhave Vinayak Narahar Bhave, also known as Vinoba Bhave (; 11 September 1895 – 15 November 1982), was an Indian advocate of nonviolence and human rights. Often called ''Acharya'' (Teacher in Sanskrit), he is best known for the Bhoodan Movement. He ...

Bhoodan Movement The Bhoodan movement (Land Gift movement), also known as the Bloodless Revolution, was a voluntary land reform movement in India. It was initiated by Gandhian Vinoba Bhave in 1951 at Pochampally village, Pochampally. The Bhoodan movement attem ...

. He worked for peace in

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

when violence broke out in 1960s. He was an editor of ''Bhumiputra''. He opposed the

Emergency An emergency is an urgent, unexpected, and usually dangerous situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or environment and requires immediate action. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening ...

imposed by

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 un ...

in 1975 and was imprisoned. He also founded Gujarat Lok Samiti, a voluntary organization, in 1980. During draught from 1986 to 1988 in Gujarat, he was involved in relief work and construction of check dams in

irrigating 12000 hectares of land. He was also critical of

2002 Gujarat violence The 2002 Gujarat riots, also known as the 2002 Gujarat violence or the Gujarat pogrom, was a three-day period of inter-communal violence in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The burning of a train in Godhra on 27 February 2002, which ca ...

. Vaidya wrote ''Assassination of Gandhi : Facts and Falsehood'' which was translated and published in eleven languages. He died on 19 December 2014 at

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...

aged 97. He was cremated at Dadhichi crematorium in Vadaj area of the city.

Awards

He received Sane Guruji Nirbhay Patrakarita Award for his journalism. He also received Vishva Gujarati Pratibha award by Vishva Gujarati Samaj. He was awarded the

Jamnalal Bajaj Award Jamnalal Bajaj Award is an Indian award, for promoting Gandhian values, community service and social development. Established in 1978, by the Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation of Bajaj Group, it is given annually in four categories, and usually pres ...

in 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaidya, Chunibhai 1917 births 2014 deaths Indian civil rights activists Community activists Writers from Ahmedabad Gandhians Indian nonviolence advocates Prisoners and detainees of British India Indian independence activists from Gujarat Indian people imprisoned during the Emergency (India) People from Patan district Social workers from Gujarat 20th-century Indian educational theorists Scholars from Ahmedabad