Yusuf Meherally

Yusuf Meherally (September 23, 1903 – July 2, 1950) was a dauntless Indian freedom fighter. a dynamic youth leader and socialist leader whose socialism had ethical and aesthetic roots because he hated cruelty and ugliness in life. His sensitive mind had a deep concern for the sorrow of man. This could have made him a poet, a philosopher, a man o religion. He was much more fortunate. It turned him into a warm human being, in whom the noble and the beautiful blended. He was elected Mayor of Bombay in 1942 while he was imprisoned in jail

He was the founder of the National Militia,Bombay Youth League and the Congress Socialist Party and played a role in several peasant and trade union movements. He coined the term 'Simon Go Back'

He was part of the Quit India Movement along with Mahatma Gandhi for India's last nationwide campaign for independence from the British Empire.

To know more about Yusuf Meherally, read the book Yusuf Meherally : Quest For New Horizons by
Madhu Dandavate

SM Joshi: A socialist movement stalwart

THE socialist movement in India found one of its most eminent forebears in Shreedhar Mahadev Joshi or S M Joshi. Born in Junnar, Pune district on November 12, 19O4.

A well-known social worker, chairman of Praja Socialist Party (PSP) and Samyukta Socialist Party (PSP) and a founder member of Janata Party.

He was a popular student in the New English School , Poona. His political longings were aroused when he took part in the Gujarat festivals and Tilak processions.
His academic career was exceptionally brilliant. He made an underlying reputation as a speaker. He bagged many prizes in the Fergusson College in oratorical contests. He contributed many articles of high literary excellence to the "Kiloskar".

Joshi got involved with the Independence movement when he was a student at Fergusson college in 1924.


In 1930 he participated in the Civil Disobedience Movement and was sentenced to one years rigorous imprisonment. After his release he was again arrested and imprisoned for two years. He was charged with sedition for his speech on "Roy's Day" and sentenced sacrifices entitled him to the high esteem of the people.

Joshi was instrumental in the formation of the Congress Socialist Party in 1934, the Rashtra Seva Dal, and actively participated in Jayaprakash Narayan’s total revolution movement.

In 1935 he was the Secretary of the Maharastra Youth Conference presided over by Swami Sampurnand. With tireless zeal he worked for the success of the Faizpur Congress Convention. He is now the Secretary of the Mass-Contact Committee.

Mr. S.M.Joshi is a Congress Socialist and is on the All-India Congress Socialist Party. Even his opponents have acknowledged that he is the most useful and devoted volunteer.

Be it uniting political parties in Maharashtra during the Samyukta Maharsahtra Samiti that fought for a unilingual state, creating worker unions in Pune, participating in Dalit movements or setting up the Mandal commission, Joshi was actively involved in it all. He was elected to the State Assembly in 1957 defeating Baburao Sanas. In 1967, Joshi won the Pune Lok Sabha seat. He passed away in 1989.

Madhu Limaye

Madhu Limaye was an Indian Socialist essayist and activist, particularly active in the 1970s. A follower of Ram Manohar Lohia and a fellow-traveller of George Fernandes, he was active in the Janata coalition that gained power at the Centre following the Emergency; he, with Krishan Kant and Raj Narain was also responsible for the collapse of the Morarji Desai government installed by that coalition, by insisting that no member of the Janata party could simulataneously be a member of an alternative social or political organisation. This attack on dual membership was directed specifically at members of the Janata party who had been members of the Jan Sangh, and continued to be members of the right-wing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the Jan Sangh's ideological parent. The issue led to fall of Morarji Desai government in 1979, and the destruction of the Janata coalition

In retirement, through the 1980s, he continued to write; he was especially caustic on Constitutional issues, where he set himself the task of defending the Constitution in the media against those who would seek to modify it to centralise power, or to replace the Westminster system with a Presidential one, fearing a 'slow slide to despotism.

He showed less antipathy to the memory of Mrs. Gandhi than could have been expected, reserving his anger for Jawaharlal Nehru, who he seemed to think "could have set a standard beyond reproach, but did not."

He was responsible for personally grooming many of the names that dominate Bihar politics today, including Laloo Prasad Yadav and Sharad Yadav.

Goa Liberation movement

He participated in the Goa liberation movement and was imprisoned in 1955. He wrote a book by name of Goa Liberation Movement and Madhu Limaye as a prison diary. The book was published in 1996 on occasion of golden jubilee of the launch of the movement in 1946.


Madhu limaye also authored many books. Fews books are as below

1. Manu Gandhi And Ambedkar And Other Essays

2.Birth Of Non-congressism Opposition Politics, 1947-1975

3.Galaxy Of The Indian Socialist Leaders

4.Janata Party Experiment: An Insider's Account Of Opposition Politics 1975-77 (vols.2 Set)

5.Last Writings

6.Mahatma Gandhi And Jawaharlal Nehru: A Historical Partnership 1916-1948 (vols.4 Set)

7.Musings On Current Problems And Past Events

8.Mahatma Gandhi And Jawaharlal Nehru : A Historic Partnership 1916-1948 In 4 Vols.

9.Decline Of A Political System : Indian Politics At Crossroads

Collection of essays of Madhu Limaye-offers a bird's eye view of Indian politics and analyses the controversies and concerns that claimed public attention in the twilight years of the last century. Part I Politics, 3 chapters-part II President's Powers 3 chapters, Part III Speaker, Defection Law and... More

10.Socialist Communist Interaction In India