ABSTRACT
Acharya Narendra Deva was one of the apostolic figures of the Indian variant of socialism since its nascent phase. He was an outstanding scholar and a true educationist who felt the plight of the masses and had strong zeal to stand beside them. He sought to commingle the socialist movement with the broader spectrum of anti-colonial nationalist struggle. He envisioned the transition of the existing social system to a socialist order where interplay among democratic values, moral principles, and socialist cultures would abolish oppression of the toiling masses and ensure freedom and equality to have-nots. To this end, in his mind, Narendra Deva formulated a socialist system with a blending of democratic spirit and socialist morality and culture. Moreover, he played a pivotal role in the conferences of the Congress Socialist Party and spearheaded the process of social transformation through the Praja Socialist Party. His ideas and efforts were regarded as worthy of appreciation as he provided an alternative framework to understand the nuances of political development and the plight of the Indian masses and came up with a new direction to bring about social change and the restructuring of the existing social order. This chapter highlights a brief biographical sketch and Narendra Deva’s political career. It identifies Narendra Deva’s sources of political philosophy as well as the way he envisaged the idea of socialism and its different aspects.
