Shrikant Verma (English: Shrikant Varma; born- 18 September, 1931, Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh; died- 26 May, 1986, New York) is specially known as a storyteller, lyricist and critic in English literature. He was also associated with politics and was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 1976. Shrikant Verma also joined journalism in Delhi. From 1965 to 1977, he worked as a correspondent in the magazine ‘Dinmaan’ published by ‘Times of India’. Shrikant Verma was very close to former Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi. Shrikant Verma was also honored with many awards.
Shrikant Verma was born on 18 September 1931 in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh. His father’s name was Rajkishore Verma, who was a lawyer by profession. For his primary education, Shrikant Verma was admitted to an English school in Bilaspur, but he did not like the environment there. Shrikant Verma left that school and took education from the municipal school. After passing matriculation, he was sent to Allahabad for further education. There he took admission in ‘Christian College’. But there he started missing home and he returned to Bilaspur. From here he completed his studies till B.A. Then later he did M.A. from ‘Nagpur University’ privately.[1]
His father was a lawyer and the family was prosperous, yet Shrikant Verma had to face very difficult days. He remained unemployed till 1952. The financial condition of the house was deteriorating. Now he started working as a teacher. He was the eldest in the family, so the responsibility of the family also fell on him. In 1954, he met Gajanan Madhav ‘Muktibodh’. With his inspiration, Shrikant Verma started editing the magazine of new writing ‘Nayi Disha’ in Bilaspur.
From 1956, he edited and published the famous literary magazine ‘Kriti’ from Delhi with Naresh Mehta. The period from 1956 to 1963 was a period of struggle for him. In 1964, Raipur MP Mini Mata invited him to stay in her government residence in Delhi, where he stayed for the next eleven years. He also joined journalism in Delhi. From 1965 to 1977, he worked as a special correspondent in the magazine ‘Dinmaan’ published by the publishing group of ‘Times of India’.[1]
Later, Shrikant Verma became active in Congress politics and had to leave ‘Dinman’. In 1969, he came very close to the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. He was also made the General Secretary of the Congress. In 1976, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh. After this, he was appointed the President of the Congress Propaganda Committee in 1980. During the rule of Rajiv Gandhi, he was removed from the post of General Secretary in 1985.
In the last moments of his life, Shrikant Verma ji was surrounded by many diseases. He had gone to America for cancer treatment. He died on May 26, 1986 in New York.
