Freedom Fighters - D

Dadabhai Naoroji

Indian politician, scholar and writer (1825–1917)

Dadabhai Naoroji was an Indian political leader, merchant, scholar, and writer who played a role in both Indian and British public life. He was among the founding members of the Indian National Congress and served as its President on three occasions, from 1886 to 1887, 1893 to 1894 and 1906 to 1907. Naoroji's early career included serving as the Diwan of Baroda in 1874. Subsequently, he moved to England, where he continued to advocate for Indian interests. In 1892, he was elected to the House of Commons as a Liberal Party Member of Parliament, representing Finsbury Central until 1895. He was the second person of Asian descent to become a British MP following David Ochterlony Dyce Sombre, who was an Anglo Indian MP.

Datta Tamhane

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Dawn (Bengali educational society)

The Dawn Society was established in July 1902 in Calcutta, British India under the stewardship of Indian educationalist Satish Chandra Mukherjee. The organisation arose in response to agitation against the report of the Indian Universities Commission 1902 which was seen to be align more power within the Colonial settlers. At a time of rising nationalism in India, the Dawn Society, through its magazine of the same name, sought to promote Indian views, achievements, heritage and success. The members of the society included noted intellectuals and intelligentsia of Bengal of the time, including Rabindranath Tagore, Aurobindo Ghosh, Rajendra Prasad, Raja Subodh Chandra Mullick, Radha Kumud Mukherjee and Brajendra Kishore Roychowdhury and others. The work of the society saw the founding of the National Council for Education in 1905.

Dawn (Indian educationalist magazine)

Dawn was an English-language magazine launched in 1897 by Indian Bengali educationalist Satish Chandra Mukherjee. The magazine arose at a time of growing nationalism in India and particularly Bengal in the last part of the 19th century, and propagated Mukherjee's views on national education in the context of the emerging nationalist movement in India, and promoted Mukherjee's message of recalling India's cultural and philosophical heritage. The magazine achieved widespread circulation by early 1900s, and particularly criticised the movement towards colonial domination of institutes of higher education that became ratified in the Universities bill, 1904. The magazine was considered a journal of high standard and taste amongst Bengali intelligentsia. The magazine went on to lend its name to a society that arose from a conglomeration of Bengali intellectuals and eminent scientists who contributed to the magazine, and articles appeared on various subjects including Science, technology and similar subjects focussed on the needs in the society. The magazine was published monthly, in English. Each number of the journal was divided into three parts. Lal Mohan Mullick served as the publisher, Mukherjee contributed as editor in a number of Science-themed articles, and in a dedicated column entitled Indiana, he wrote on many aspects of Indian civilisation.

Day of Deliverance

1939 All-India Muslim League celebration

The Day of Deliverance was a celebration day marked by the All-India Muslim League and others on 22 December 1939 during the Indian independence movement. It was led by the Muslim League's president Muhammad Ali Jinnah and was intended to celebrate the resignation of all members of the rival Indian National Congress party from provincial and central offices in protest over their not having been consulted over the decision to enter World War II alongside Britain.

Deendayal Gupta

Indian independence activist and politician

Deendayal Gupta was an Indian independence activist and politician affiliated with the Indian National Congress (INC), who was elected to the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly in 1952. He served as Minister of Food of Madhya Pradesh in the Ravishankar Shukla government. He also served as Food, Rehabilitation & Social Welfare Minister of Bombay State from 1956 to 1957. In 1957, he was elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly and served as its Vice President.

Delhi conspiracy case

1912 assassination attempt in British India

The Delhi Conspiracy case, also known as the Delhi-Lahore Conspiracy, refers to an attempt made in 1912 to assassinate the then Viceroy of India, Lord Hardinge by throwing a local self-made bomb of Anushilan Samiti by Basanta Kumar Biswas, on the occasion of transferring the capital of British India from Calcutta to New Delhi. Hatched by the Indian revolutionaries underground in Bengal and Punjab and headed by Rash Behari Bose, the conspiracy culminated in the attempted assassination on 23 December 1912, when a homemade bomb was thrown into the Viceroy's howdah as the ceremonial procession was moving through the Chandni Chowk suburb of Delhi.

Deshbandhu Gupta

Indian freedom fighter and legislator and journalist (1901–1951)

Deshbandhu Gupta, also known as Lala Deshbandhu Gupta, was an Indian freedom fighter, politician, and journalist. He served as a member of the Punjab Provincial Assembly, having won the 1937 election representing the Indian National Congress. He was also a member of the Constituent Assembly of India.

Devdas Gandhi

Son of Mahatma Gandhi and Indian activist

Devdas Mohandas Gandhi was the fourth and youngest son of Mahatma Gandhi and Kasturba Gandhi. He was born in the Colony of Natal and came to India with his parents as a grown man. He became active in his father's movement, spending many terms in jail. He also became a prominent journalist, serving as editor of Hindustan Times. He was also the first pracharak of the Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha (DBHPS), established by Mohandas Gandhi in Tamil Nadu in 1918. The purpose of the Sabha was to propagate Hindi in southern India.

Devidutt Pant

Devidutt Pant was an Indian freedom fighter and founder of Bikaner Khadi Bhandar in Bikaner city of Rajasthan state in India. He was born in Khantoli in the middle Himalayan range of Kumaun district located at 5000’ altitude. He moved to Rajasthan around 1927 from Kumaon.

Dharam Singh

Sikh saint

Dharam Singh, born as Dharam Das, was one of the original Panj Pyare or the Five Beloved, the forerunners of the Khalsa.

Dhari Hambir Malla Dev

Raja of Mallabhum from 1620 to 1626

Dhari Hambir Malla Dev, also known as Dhari Hambeera was the fiftieth king of the Mallabhum. He ruled from 1620 to 1626 CE.

Dhirajlal Desai

Indian diplomat and independence activist

Dhirajlal B. Desai, popularly known as Dhirubhai, was an Indian diplomat and independence activist. He served as India's first ambassador and plenipotentiary minister to Switzerland. He also served as the President of the Bombay Provincial Congress Committee (BPCC) in 1941. He was born in Bombay, British India and was the son of lawyer and leader, Bhulabhai Desai.

Dilip Bagchi

Indian Bengali politician

Dilip Bagchi was a Bengali mass singer, educationist and political activist. He was an active member of Indian People's Theatre Association of West Bengal.

Doreen Young Wickremasinghe

British leftist who became a prominent Communist politician

Doreen Wickremasinghe was a British leftist who became a prominent Communist politician in Sri Lanka and a Member of Parliament (MP). She was one of the handful of European Radicals in Sri Lanka.

Dudu Miyan

Bengali Muslim leader (1819–1862)

Muḥsin ad-Dīn Aḥmad (1819–1862), better known by his nickname Dudu Miyān, was a leader of the Faraizi Movement in Bengal. He played an active role in the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

Durgawati Devi

Indian female revolutionary 1907 – 1999)

Durgavati Devi, popularly known as Durga Bhabhi, was an Indian revolutionary and freedom fighter. She was one of the few women revolutionaries who actively participated in armed revolution against the ruling British Raj. She is best known for having accompanied Bhagat Singh on the train journey in which he made his escape in disguise after the killing of John P. Saunders. Since she was the wife of another Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) member Bhagwati Charan Vohra, other members of HSRA referred to her as Bhabhi and became popular as "Durga Bhabhi" in Indian revolutionary circles.

Durjan Singh

Leader of Chuar Rebellion

Durjan Singh was a great leader of Chuar Rebellion of Bengal. Singh was a zamindar of Raipur in the Bishnupur district of Bengal. He led the Chuar Rebellion in 1798–99 in Midnapore district against the British East India Company, but it was brutally crushed at its peak..