U. N. Dhebar

U. N. Dhebar (fourth from right), then Chief Minister with Council of rulers and ministers of Saurashtra Union

Uchharangrai Navalshankar Dhebar (1905–1977) was an Indian Independence activist who later served as the Chief Minister of Saurashtra State from 1948 to 1954 and the President of the Indian National Congress from 1955 to 1959. In 1962, he was elected to the third Lok Sabha from Rajkot.

Life

He was born on 21 September 1905 in the hamlet of Gangajala, eleven miles from Jamnagar in Gujarat to Navalshankar.^[1] After his university education, he started a legal practice and became renowned lawyer. Under the influence of Mahatma Gandhi he left his legal career in 1936 and joined Indian independence movement.

He served as the President of Rajkot Mill Kamdar Mandal in 1936. He was a Secretary of Kathiawar Political Conference in 1937-38. He also served as the President of Rajkot Praja Mandal in 1938-39.^[1]

In 1941, Dhebar was selected by Gandhi to offer individual Satyagraha at Viramgam. He was arrested and sentenced to six months imprisonment. In 1942 he was again arrested during the Quit India Movement. On the attainment of independence, Dhebar played a prominent role in the integration of the princely states of Kathiawad in the Indian Union and the formation of United State of Kathiawar, later renamed to Saurashtra State. He was appointed as Chief Minister of Saurashtra State in 1948 and served until 1954.^[1] During his administration several reform were introduced in Saurashtra for the uplift of villages.

In 1955 he was elected the President of the Indian National Congress and served till 1959. His first act as the President was to assemble the top leaders of the Congress for a week in a conference to decide how the Congress could best serve the nation. He served as the Chairman of Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes Commission in 1960-61. In 1962 he was elected to the third Lok Sabha from Rajkot.^[1] Dhebar was connected with several institutions rendering social and educational services. He was awarded Padma Vibhushan in 1973. Rajkot Airport is named after him.

He died in 1977.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to U. N. Dhebar.

External links

• Indian national Congress

Indian National Congress
Seva Dal Mahila Congress Youth Congress National Students Union of India (NSUI) Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) Congress Karma Parishad
History	Statewise Election history of Congress Party Nehru–Gandhi family Congress Radio 10 Janpath The Emergency Bofors scandal INA Defence Committee Indian National Congress (Organisation) Breakaway parties
Internal Organisations	Congress President Working President Congress Working Committee Central Election Committee All India Congress Committee
Pradesh Congress Committees (PCC)	Andhra Pradesh CC Assam PCC Bihar PCC Chhattisgarh PCC Core group Gujarat PCC Karnataka PCC Kerala PCC Maharashtra PCC Mizoram PCC Mumbai PCC Punjab PCC Tamil Nadu PCC Telangana PCC Uttarakhand PCC West Bengal PCC
Presidents	Banerjee Naoroji Tyabji Yule Wedderburn Mehta Charlappa Banerjee Naoroji Webb Banerjee Sayani Nair A. M. Bose Dutt Chandavarkar Wacha Banerjee L. Ghosh H. Cotton Gokhale Naoroji R. Ghosh (1907–1908) Malaviya Wedderburn Dar Mudholkar Bahadur B. N. Bose Sinha Mazumdar Besant Malaviya Imam M. Nehru Rai C. Vijayaraghavachariar Khan Das M. Ali A. K. Azad Mahatma Gandhi Naidu Iyengar Ansari Motilal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru S. V. Patel Malaviya (1932–1933) Nellie Sengupta Rajendra Prasad (1934–1935) Jawaharlal Nehru (1936–1937) S. C. Bose (1938–1939) A. K. Azad (1940–1946) J. B. Kripalani Sitaramayya (1948–1949) Tandon Jawaharlal Nehru (1951–1954) Dhebar (1955–1959) Indira Gandhi Neelam Sanjiva Reddy (1960–1963) K. Kamaraj (1964–1967) S. Nijalingappa (1968–1969) Jagjivan Ram (1970–1971) S. D. Sharma (1972–1974) Baruah (1975–1977) Indira Gandhi (1978–1984) Rajiv Gandhi (1985–1991) Narasimha Rao (1992–1996) Kesri (1996–1998) Sonia Gandhi (1998–present)
Category