Mahamana as a Social Reformer

"I am unable to understand which dharma prevents you from depriving crores of Hindus from religious rites and temple entry. This is the same Kashi where devouts like Rai Das and Kabir lived, where Shankar Bhagavan himself came in the form of a chandal to teach Shankaracharya about the oneness of all lives. How can the great pundits and righteous persons of this city talk of such adharma...?"

In 1938, he had a debate with Shankaracharya at Haridwar during the Kumbh Mela on the subject of the removal of untouchablity.

Educating the Depressed Classes

Malaviyaji was keen on educating the depressed classes and the poor. His work started as early as in 1909 when he stressed the need for educating them. When Banaras Hindu University was established, he helped many poor, backward and needy students to get good education there.

His encouragements to Babu Jagjivan Ram in 1925, to Dharma Prakash, who later became an MP, and also to the ex-Congress minister Giridhar Lal are worth mentioning. While Dharma Prakash said that Malaviyaji financially helped hundreds of Harijans to receive education, Giridhar Lal averred that:

"Large numbers of educated Harijans of today owe their education to Malaviyaji. there is no trace of the curse of untouchability in Malaviyaji's Saraswati Mandir …discrimination between high and low seems never to have entered his compassionate heart."

In 1925, Malaviyaji had gone to Patna for the Mahasabha Conference to Patna and on the way back, he addressed a huge gathering in Arrah. When he was getting into the car, someone brought a young boy named, Jagjivan Ram, and said that he had matriculated but had difficulty in pursuing further studies. Malaviyaji at once said: "Please bring this boy with you to the university. Let him study along with my son Govind". To housing him in the hostel and waive his fees and hostel expenses were all within his power as the Vice Chancellor, but what matters most is his invitation to a poor boy to study along with his own son, Govind. This shows the humane side of Malaviyaji. Jagjivan Ram was a minister in the central cabinet for several years and later became Prime Minister of India.