V. G. Deshpande

Vishnu Ghanashyam Deshpande was an Indian politician. He was born in Mehkar, Vidarbha, Maharashtra. V.G. Deshpande was the general secretary of the Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha.[1]

V.G. Deshpande took part in the civil resisters' mission of the Hindu Mahasabha to the Hyderabad state in March 1939, to protest against the Nizam's rule.[2]

During the period of 1948 to 1952, V.G. Deshpande was repeatedly targeted by preventive arrests.[3] On 27 January 1948 he had denounced Mohandas Gandhi, claiming Gandhi was responsible for the Partition of India.[4] After the murder of Gandhi three days later by a Hindu Mahasabha member, Deshpande was arrested.[5]

In the 1951 general election, V.G. Deshpande managed to get elected from two Lok Sabha constituencies (Gwalior and Guna).[6] In Guna he obtained 56,518 votes (40.70% of the votes in the constituency), defeating the Indian National Congress candidate Gopi Krishna Vijayvargiya. In Gwailor he got 65,695 votes (45.49%), defeating the Vaidehi Charan Parashar.[7] He renounced his Gwailor seat, to enable Hindu Mahasabha president N. B. Khare to contest it in a by-election.[6]

V.G. Deshpande lost his parliamentary seat in the 1957 general election to Rajmata Vijayraje Scindia of the Indian National Congress.[8] He finished second with 58,521 votes (33.04% of the votes in Guna).[9] He later joined the Bharatiya Jana Sangh.[10]

In early 1964, V.G. Deshpande called for on the Indian and Pakistani governments to initiate a population exchange, transporting the Hindu minority of Pakistan to India and expelling the Muslims of West Bengal and Assam to Pakistan.[11]

V. G. Deshpande took part in the foundation of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad in 1964.[12]

His brother, N.G. Deshpande (1909-2000), was a noted Marathi poet. His cousin, Sumati-bai Sukalikar, was also a leader of Bharatiya Jana Sangh in Nagpur, who contested a couple of elections unsuccessfully.