NEW DELHI, Apr 24:
An international lecture on India-Pakistan friendship will be held soon to mark the 100th birth anniversary of late M C Davar, a revolutionary freedom fighter turned Gandhian, a staunch Nehruvite and devoted Congressman.
Top leaders of Pakistan have been invited to attend the lecture on the occasion of the 100th birth anniversary of late Mr Davar, which falls tomorrow, his son and former AICC secretary Praveen Davar said.
Captain Praveen Davar said the International lecture on India Pakistan friendship will be among several programmes organised during the birth centenary year of the late Gandhian.
Efforts to prevent Partition of India, refugee rehabilitation and promoting Indo-Pak amity were some of the highlights of his career, spanning half-a-century, till his demise in November 1977.
Captain Davar said that members of the Bhutto family are among the top Pakistani leaders invited to attend the international lecture on India-Pakistan friendship.
He said in memory of Davar, who was a homoeopath by profession, a conference on homoeopathy is also being organised. Also on the anvil is the release of a postage stamp in his memory.
Born on April 24, 1913, Dr M C Davar was a student revolutionary, a freedom fighter, a staunch Nehruite in his political ideology, an ardent Gandhian in his personal life, a renowned homoeopath in his professional life, a passionate crusader against partition of the country and a messiah for refugees from Pakistan.
Starting as revolutionary in his school and college life, Dr Davar embraced Congress after witnessing the ceremony of Pt Jawaharlal Nehru taking over as Congress President from his illustrious father Motilal Nehru in December 1929 at Lahore. He courted arrest during the Salt Satyagraha in April 1930 and later, from 1940 to 1946 made herculean efforts to prevent partition of India. He formed the United Party of India with the aim of removing the growing chasm between Congress and Muslim League.
Some of the records of the frantic efforts made by Dr. Davar to prevent vivisection, for which be blamed the British bureaucracy, are available in Nehru Memorial Library, New Delhi. This includes his correspondence with Pt Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajaji, M A Jinnah, Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan and Liaquat Ali Khan, then Prime Minister of United Punjab.
As President of all India Refugee Convention and member of Central Govt High Powered Committee on Refugee Rehabilitation, he contributed very substantially in rehabilitation of lakhs of refugees in Delhi and eastern parts of Punjab (now Haryana).
Dr Davar passionately promoted Indo-Pak amity, including leading a ‘Goodwill Mission’ to Pakistan in 1955 on which editorials were written in leading Pakistan papers. He mooted the idea of a confederation with Pakistan in 1956 which was later endorsed by Pt. Nehru who declared in 1960 “confederation with Pakistan remains our ultimate goal”.
In 1971, when Bangladesh came into existence, Dr Davar added the erstwhile East Pakistan to his idea to make it ‘Confederation of India Pakistan and Bangladesh’.
As President council of Indo-Pak affairs he consistently advocated a “No War Pact” between the countries.
Zulfikar Bhutto, who was Pakistan’s foreign minister in 1965 assured him in writing that “Pakistan will not be found wanting in peace”.
Dr Davar also played a major role in promoting Hindi-Chini bhai bhai, but became China’s bitter critic after the 1962 war when he coined the slogan “Jai Jawan Jai Jawahar” and poetically appealed to each Indian family to donate ‘one man and one tola gold’ and see how Chinese are easily rolled.
Dr M C Davar was a prominent Congress campaigner who was given the privilege of campaigning, in Pt Jawaharlal Nehru’s parliamentary constituency of Phulpur in 1952,1957 and 1962. He was later deputed for the byelection in Phulpur in which Vijaylakshmi Pandit was the candidate after the demise of Pt Nehru in 1964.
In the AICC he handled the task of President, Mandal Organisation which spread over 18,000 mandals (blocks) in the country in mid fifties during the presidentship of UN Dhebar. At the Kalayani session of the Congress in 1954 he strongly opposed the formation of linguistic states which he felt will adversely effect the unity and integrity of India.
A great crusader for peace, especially in South Asia, Dr Davar accompanied Pt Jawaharlal Nehru to Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) in 1954 for the meeting of South Asian Prime Ministers.
After the demise of Pt Jawaharlal Nehru with whom he had great emotional and political attachment, Dr Davar forcefully advocated the setting up of a Nehru Peace Foundation to propagate universal peace and disarmament. (UNI)
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