Kanhaiyalal Maniklal Munshi, popularly known as KM Munshi, was a lawyer by profession but later he turned to writing and politics. His name is known in Gujarati literature. Munshi wrote his works in three languages, Gujarati, English and Hindi. He founded an educational trust, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, in 1938. KM Munshi made significant contribution in the reconstruction of Somnath temple.
KM Munshi was born on 30 December 1887 in Bharuch, Gujarat. His early education took place in Bharuch. He went to Vadodara for further studies. In 1907, he received the ‘Kulin Puraskar’ along with the degree of Bachelor of Arts from Vadodara College by securing the highest marks in English language. In 1907, KM Munshi obtained his bar degree and started practicing in the Bombay High Court. Here, along with advocacy, he also started taking part in social activities.
Due to ideological differences, he left the Congress in 1941, although he later returned in 1946 at the behest of Mahatma Gandhi. KM Munshi also made a huge contribution in the making of the Constitution. He was part of several committees including the Drafting Committee, Consultative Committee, Sub-Committee on Fundamental Rights. He was also a member of the National Flag Committee, which selected the current Indian flag. While being the Union Food and Agriculture Minister, he started ‘Vanmahotsav’ in the country in 1950. Munshi was also the Governor of Uttar Pradesh from 1952 to 1957.
The special thing is that KM Munshi used to write under the pseudonym ‘Ghanshyam’. He also composed a work named Akhand Hindustan. In this book he wrote that the history of India has been written mostly by foreign historians in which there is a lack of Indian perspective. This history is not written from the Indian perspective but is biased and biased. It is noteworthy that KM Munshi has written 127 books in different languages. Her first story ‘Mari Kamala’ was published in Stree Buddhist magazine in 1912.
One thing for which KM Munshi is not very famous is getting the Somnath temple renovated. KM Munshi did not see the Somnath temple as a place of worship for Hindus or an ancient monument, rather he said that Somnath is a symbol of the ancient history of India, hence it is very important to reconstruct it. Some Congressmen supported this demand while some also opposed it. Jawaharlal Nehru was prominent among the protesters. Mahatma Gandhi had said that the money to be spent on the temple should not be collected from the government treasury but from the common people. When agreement was reached on the reconstruction of the temple, the responsibility was handed over to KM Munshi.
Many people may not know that the name Munshi in Munshi Premchand is Kanhaiyalal Maniklal Munshi. Actually what happened was that in 1930, Kanhaiyalal Maniklal Munshi was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, after which he along with Premchand brought out ‘Hans’ magazine. Both of them used to edit this magazine together. Kanhaiyalal Maniklal Munshi was 7 years older than Premchand, so considering his seniority he decided that his name should be before Premchand in the editorship of the magazine, due to which the name ‘Munshi-Premchand’ appeared on the cover of Hans as the editor. .This created a big misunderstanding among the readers and they assumed that Premchand was ‘Munshi-Premchand’.
In 1959, he separated from the Congress and started the Akhand Hindustan campaign. He formed the Swatantra Party along with Chakraborty Rajagopalachari. This party believed in right-wing ideology. Later Munshi joined Jan Sangh. In 1964 he also presided over the meeting of Vishwa Hindu Parishad. He also opposed the demand for a separate Pakistan. Ultimately, KM Munshi died on 8 February 1971 after making invaluable contributions to Indian culture, literature and politics.
