Indian independence movement Due to influence of Sri Aurobindo, Munshi leaned towards a revolutionary group and got himself involved into the process of
bomb-making. But after settling in the Mumbai, he joined the
Indian Home Rule movement and became secretary in 1915. He left Congress in 1941 due to dissents with Congress, but was invited back in 1946 by Mahatma Gandhi. • Member of Working committee of Indian National Congress (1930), Member of
All India Congress Committee (1930–36,1947) Munshi presented his draft on Fundamental Rights to the Drafting and it sought for progressive rights to be made a part of Fundamental Rights. After the
independence of India, Munshi, Sardar Patel and
N. V. Gadgil visited the
Junagadh State to stabilise the state with help of the Indian Army. In Junagadh, Patel declared the reconstruction of the historically important
Somnath temple. Patel died before the reconstruction was completed. Munshi became the main driving force behind the renovation of the
Somnath temple even after
Jawaharlal Nehru's opposition. Munshi was appointed diplomatic envoy and trade agent (Agent-General) to the princely state of
Hyderabad, where he served until its accession to India in 1948. Munshi was on the ad hoc Flag Committee that selected the
Flag of India in August 1947, and on the committee which drafted the
Constitution of India under the chairmanship of
B. R. Ambedkar. Besides being a politician and educator, Munshi was also an environmentalist. He initiated the
Van Mahotsav in 1950, when he was Union Minister of Food and Agriculture, to increase area under forest cover. Since then Van Mahotsav a week-long festival of tree plantation is organised every year in the month of July all across the country and lakhs of trees are planted. Munshi served as the
Governor of Uttar Pradesh from 1952 to 1957. In 1959, Munshi separated from the Nehru-dominated (socialist)
Congress Party and started the
Akhand Hindustan movement. He believed in a strong opposition, so along with
Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, he founded the Swatantra Party, which was right-wing in its politics, pro-business, pro-free market economy and private property rights. The party enjoyed considerable success and eventually died out. In August 1964, he chaired the meeting for the founding of the
Hindu nationalist organisation
Vishva Hindu Parishad at Sandipini ashram.
Posts held • Member of constituent assembly of India and its drafting committee (1947–52) • Union minister of food and agriculture (1950–52) • Agent general to the Government of India, Hyderabad (1948) == Academic career ==