Bhai Vaidya
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22 June 1928
Bhai Vaidya | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Mayor of Pune | |
| In office 1974 – 1975 | |
| Preceded by | Bhausaheb Sonba Anaji Chavan |
| Succeeded by | Hambirrao Moze |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Bhalchandra Vaidya 22 June 1928 |
| Died | 2 April 2018 (aged 89) |
| Party | Socialist Party (India) |
| Occupation | Revolutionary, politician |
Bhalchandra Vaidya (22 June 1928 – 2 April 2018),[1] also known as Bhai Vaidya, was an Indian politician who served as the Home Minister of the Indian state of Maharashtra, a revolutionary, Member Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, Mayor of Pune, veteran Socialist leader and head of the Socialist Party of India.[2]
Bhai was born on 22 June 1928 at Dapode village in Velhe taluka, Poona District in a Marathi Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu (popularly known as CKP) family.[3] He began his activism journey at the age of 14 as an Indian revolutionary. In his political career which spanned over 60 years, he was elected multiple times to the Municipal Corporation and later became the Mayor of Pune city during 1974–75.[4] He was the first president of All India Mayor Association. He was elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly and later became the Home Minister of Maharashtra State in 1978.[5]
He is well known for many reformative decisions during his Home Ministry, especially changing the police uniforms from half pants to full pants and refusing huge bribes from smugglers with his honest and uncompromising attitude. Bhai was at the forefront of the Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti movement with his mentor Shreedhar Mahadev Joshi and other influential leaders of the time.[citation needed]
Bhai was a vocal opponent of emergency even during his Mayorship, when he organised a rally of 20,000 people at Shaniwar Wada and got arrested. As a revolutionary and a lifelong activist who fought for the rights of Dalits, farmers and backward classes, Bhai was jailed 28 times.[6]
