Dhananjay Mahato (8 August 1919 – 2 January 2014) was a freedom fighter and social activist who turned politician and later chairman of Adityapur Industrial Area Development Authority, Jamshedpur. He was elected as

Member of the Legislative Assembly A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected to sit in a legislative assembly. The term most commonly refers to members of the legislature of a federated state or an autonomous region, but is also used for several nation ...

from Ichagarh constituency and Member of Bihar Legislative Council. He was a member of

All India Congress Committee The All India Congress Committee (AICC) is the presidium or the central decision-making assembly of the Indian National Congress. It is composed of members elected from States and union territories of India, state-level Pradesh Congress Commit ...

Early life

Dhananjay Mahato was born on 8 August 1919 in a

Kudmi Mahato The Kudmi Mahato are a tribal community in the states of Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha of India. They are primarily agriculturalist. Classification Kudmi were classified as a Notified Tribe by the British Raj under the terms of the Indian S ...

family to Kshetra Mohan Mahato and Ratuli Devi in Gunda, a small village located in the

Singhbhum Singhbhum was a district of India during the British Raj, part of the Chota Nagpur Division of the Bengal Presidency. It was located in the present-day Indian state of Jharkhand. Chaibasa was the district headquarters. Located in the southern l ...

District of

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in East India, eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north ...

(erstwhile

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

, British India). Since childhood he was sagacious towards education. He completed his primary education in the village school and later for higher education he attended Lakhanpur High School in

Purulia Purulia, officially Purulia Sadar, is a city and a municipality in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Purulia district. It is located on the north of the Kangsabati River. Geography Location Purulia is locate ...

District of

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

. Soft-Spoken Dhananjay was gentle amongst the schoolmates and his fellow countrymen but at the same time he was a strong protester of the

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

Revolutionary

During the school days he came under the influence of well renowned freedom fighter of the region Bheem Chandra Mahato who gave him initiation and motivated towards the freedom struggle. In 1935, at the age of 16 he joined the Freedom struggle movement. Together with his revolutionary team he started campaigning for the awareness among the people to launch an agitation against the British government. In April, 1936 he sustained serious injuries by the police while preparing for the rally to boycott the British products in

Town (West Bengal).This incident didn’t shattered him instead he turned more seditious and participated with more energy and enthusiasm in the freedom struggle movement. In September 1942, when the Quit India Movement was already launched, a group of 21 revolutionaries led by Bheem Chandra Mahato and Dhananjay Mahato set ablaze the British flag and later the

BaraBazar Barabazar is a census town in the Barabazar CD block in the Manbazar subdivision of the Purulia district in the state of West Bengal, India. Before Indian independence in 1947, it was the capital of an expensive zamindari of Barabhum in Br ...

police station. Held on this charge he got arrested by the British on 3 October 1942 and remained imprisoned until 17 April 1943 in Purulia Jail. In 1943 with dozens of his colleague, he marched from Patamda to Ramgarh to attend

All-India Congress Committee The All India Congress Committee (AICC) is the presidium or the central decision-making assembly of the Indian National Congress. It is composed of members elected from state-level Pradesh Congress Committees and can have as many as a thousa ...

’s convention chaired by

Netaji Subash Chandra Bose Subhas Chandra Bose (23 January 1897 – 18 August 1945) was an Indian nationalist whose defiance of British authority in India made him a hero among many Indians, but his wartime alliances with Nazi Germany and Fascist Japan left a le ...

Post-Independence

After the independence of India he totally devoted himself towards the social service for the region. In 1956 Dhananjay Mahato led a large movement against the

States Reorganisation Act The States Reorganisation Act, 1956 was a major reform of the boundaries of India's States and union territories of India, states and territories, organising them along linguistic lines. Although additional changes to India's state boundaries ...

when

Manbhum Manbhum District was one of the districts of the East India during the British Raj. After India's independence, the district became a part of Bihar State. Upon the reorganization of the Indian states in the mid-1950s, the Manbhum district was ...

district was partitioned between Bihar and West Bengal. After joining Indian National Congress Party, in 1957 he was elected as MLA from

Ichagarh Ichagarh is a village in the Ichagarh block, Ichagarh Community development block in India, CD block in the Chandil subdivision of the Seraikela Kharsawan district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Jharkhand. Geography ...

Vidhan Sabha and in 1976 he became member of

Bihar Legislative Council Bihar Legislative assembly also known as Bihar Vidhan Parishad is the upper house of the bicameral Bihar Legislature of the state of Bihar in India. History A new Province of Bihar and Odisha was created by the Government of India on 12 Decem ...

. In 1977, he called the attention of the revenue and land reforms minister Upendra Verma for an inclusive and sustainable developmental model for the Resettlement and rehabilitation of the displaced people due to the Subernarekha Dam which was being constructed in

Chandil Chandil is a census town in the Chandil CD block in the Chandil subdivision of Seraikela Kharsawan district in the state of Jharkhand, India. Geography Location Chandil is located at . It has an average elevation of 246 metres (807&nbs ...

which would inundate hundreds of villages and displace lakhs of people. Later, from 1984 to 1990 he was the chairman of Adityapur Industrial Area Development Authority. During the tenure of then Chief Minister of Bihar

Jagannath Mishra Jagannath Mishra (24 June 1937 – 19 August 2019) was an Indian politician who served as Chief Minister of Bihar and as Union Council of Ministers, Minister in the Union Cabinet. He was also Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha between 1988 - 1990 ...

, he built the Gunda Bihar Railway Station. He was the Founding Member of Singhbhum College Chandil, Raghunathpur High School and many other educational institutes.

Death

Dhananjay Mahato died at the age of 94 on 2 January 2014 in his Chandil residence.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahato, Dhananjay 1919 births 2014 deaths Indian independence activists from Bihar Jharkhand politicians Members of the Bihar Legislative Council Bihar MLAs 1957–1962 People from Seraikela Kharsawan district Indian National Congress politicians from Jharkhand