Asoka Mehta (1911-1984) was an Indian freedom fighter and socialist politician. He helped organize the socialist wing of the
Indian National CongressThe Indian National Congress is a major political party in India. Founded in 1885 by Allan Octavian Hume, Dadabhai Naoroji, Dinshaw Wacha, Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee, Surendranath Banerjee, Monomohun Ghose, and William Wedderburn, the Indian National Congress became the leader of the Indian...
, along with Jaya Prakash Narayan, and was heavily involved in the politics and government of the
westernWest India or the Western region of India consists of the states of Goa, Gujarat and Maharashtra, along with the Union Territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. It is highly industrialized, with a large urban population. Most of Western India was part of the Maratha Empire and...
city of Bombay.
Mehta was arrested during the
Quit India movementThe Quit India Movement was a civil disobedience movement launched in India in August 1942 in response to Mohandas Gandhi's call for immediate independence. Gandhi hoped to bring the British government to the negotiating table...
, and after India's independence, helped organize trade unions in Bombay. He also served as
Mayor"Mayor" is a modern title used in many countries for the highest ranking officer in a municipal government....
of Bombay city from 1946 to 1947.
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Asoka Mehta (1911-1984) was an Indian freedom fighter and socialist politician. He helped organize the socialist wing of the
Indian National CongressThe Indian National Congress is a major political party in India. Founded in 1885 by Allan Octavian Hume, Dadabhai Naoroji, Dinshaw Wacha, Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee, Surendranath Banerjee, Monomohun Ghose, and William Wedderburn, the Indian National Congress became the leader of the Indian...
, along with Jaya Prakash Narayan, and was heavily involved in the politics and government of the
westernWest India or the Western region of India consists of the states of Goa, Gujarat and Maharashtra, along with the Union Territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. It is highly industrialized, with a large urban population. Most of Western India was part of the Maratha Empire and...
city of Bombay.
Mehta was arrested during the
Quit India movementThe Quit India Movement was a civil disobedience movement launched in India in August 1942 in response to Mohandas Gandhi's call for immediate independence. Gandhi hoped to bring the British government to the negotiating table...
, and after India's independence, helped organize trade unions in Bombay. He also served as
Mayor"Mayor" is a modern title used in many countries for the highest ranking officer in a municipal government....
of Bombay city from 1946 to 1947. Mehta retired from active politics in the early 1950s, and wrote several books on his experiences, on India's freedom struggle and the importance of socialist reforms.
In September,1952 the
Kisan Mazdoor Praja PartyThe Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party was a socialist political party of India. Although the party is now defunct and doesn't contest election anymore, it is logged with the Election Commission of India as having contested the very first parliamentary elections in 1951 in India...
and the
Socialist PartySocialist Party has been the name of several political parties in India, all of which have their roots in the Congress Socialist Party formed during the freedom struggle...
merged to form the
Praja Socialist PartyThe Praja Socialist Party was an Indian political party in existence from 1952 to 1972. It was founded when the Socialist Party, led by Jayprakash Narayan, Acharya Narendra Deva and Basawon Singh , merged with the Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party led by J.B. Kripalani...
(PSP) and Asoka Mehta became its general secretary. In 1963, he agreed to become deputy chairman of the Planning Commission and after the expulsion from the party in 1964, he joined
Indian National CongressThe Indian National Congress is a major political party in India. Founded in 1885 by Allan Octavian Hume, Dadabhai Naoroji, Dinshaw Wacha, Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee, Surendranath Banerjee, Monomohun Ghose, and William Wedderburn, the Indian National Congress became the leader of the Indian...
.
Major works
- Economic Planning in India