Dwarka Prasad Mishra

Dwarka Prasad Mishra Biography

Dwarka Prasad Mishra was a popular poet, journalist, an Indian National Congress politician and Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. As a poet he composed Mahakavya- 'Krishnair'. He was a freedom fighter and known as a diplomat too. He preceded Ravi Shanker Shukla to become the chief minister of MP. Brajesh Mishra, former National Security Advisor of India is the son of Dwarka Prasad Mishra. Sudhir Mishra, critically acclaimed director of Bollywood known for the movies, Dharavi, Is raat ki subah nahi and Hasaarein kwahishen aise, is his grandson.

 
Mishra was born in the year 1901. He was a well known journalist and poet. He has worked as the editor of three leading Hindi journals - Lokmat, Sharda and Saarthi. A few of the books written by Mishra include – Manas ke ram aur Sita, Mere jiya hua yug and epic poem Krishnayana. His political books are also famous, of which a few have been written after Nehru’s death. His memoirs became controversial as they included a letter from Patel to Mishra dated to July 1946 criticising Nehru for "Juvenile Mistakes". His memorials include - Living an Era:India's March to freedom (till 1947), The Nehru Epoch:From Democracy to Monocracy (1947 – 1964), The Post Nehru Era:Political Memoirs (post nehru era up to 1980s). ‘The search for Lanka’ is another noted work which proposes the thesis that Ramayana's Lanka was in Madhya Pradesh instead of Srilanka.

 
In 1937, he was elected as MLA and joined cabinet in Central Provinces. He, along with Ravi Shankar Shukla and D S Mehta were sacked by the Governor in June 1938 on the recommendation of Khare. Disciplinary action against Khare by INC resulted in Mishra’s entry to the new cabinet under Ravi Shankar Shukla and served till October 1939. As a chief minister, he has served the state twice. From 31 September 1963 to 8 March 1967 and 9 March 1967 to 29 July 1967 were those periods.

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Updated: January 17, 2014