Mahamana as a Statesman

"The words of Bharat Mata are being echoed in the voice of this young man!"

These words of Dadabhai Naoroji in the Congress Session, 1886 was like a prophecy than an appreciation which came true in the coming years. Today Malaviyaji is revered as a true son of the Bharat Mata by the virtue of his illustrious services rendered to the nation. Malaviyaji ventured into political world at the age of 25 when he delivered his first speech in the same Congress Session at Calcutta chaired by Dadabhai Naoroji. It was well applauded among the dignitaries of the Congress and it created a special place for Malaviyaji. Following is the oft-quoted extract from his extempore speech:
"No taxation without representation. This is the first commandment in the Englishman's political Bible. How can he falter with his conscience and tax us here, his free and educated fellow Subjects, as if we were dumb sheep or cattle? But we are not dumb any longer. India has found a voice at last in this great Congress and in it and through it. We call on England to be true to her traditions, her instincts and herself, and grant us our rights as free born British citizens."
The following year during the third session of the Congress held at Madras Malaviyaji delivered another impressive speech on the representation of Indians in the Provincial Councils. A.O Hume, the then General Secretary of the Congress remarked on Malaviyaji's speech- "It was the only single speech during the whole Congress to the tone of which even hostile critics could possibly take any objection and we considered it only just therefore to place it before the reader." The significance of Malaviyaji's speech can be estimated from the fact that Congress committee got three thousand copies of this speech printed and circulated it amongst the readers in the Britain. Impressed by Malaviyaji's work for the Congress, A.O Hume gave him two important positions at the Congress Samiti’s election First, as the member of Rules Committee of Congress he was entrusted with the responsibility of drawing and formulating the rules and regulations of the Congress and second, as the Joint Secretary of Central Association's provincial branch (North Western Province of Agra and Awadh association)
This political journey that began after a year of Indian National Congress's birth continued throughout the independence struggle and ended only with when he breathed his last. Malaviyaji's name is immortal in the echelons of the Indian National Congress as one of the strong pillars in its formative years.