Gangaram Tiwari (born 1920) was an Indian politician and trade unionist. Tiwari was an active organizer of the Indore Mill Mazdoor Sangh (IMMS), a union of textile workers in Indore, in the 1940s and 1950s. He was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Madhya Pradesh from 1962 to 1972, and served as Minister for Public Works and Minister of Labour and Housing in the state government.
Youth Gangaram Tiwari was born in Inayati village (Karauli State) on December 25, 1920, the son of Ramprasad Tiwari.Madhyapradeśa ke svatantratā saṅgrāma sainika: Indaura, Ujjaina, evaṃ Gvāliyara sambhāga. Bhāshā Sañcālanālaya, Madhyapradeśa Śāsana. p. 16 He hailed from a Kanyakubja Brahmin family from Uttar Pradesh. His family were kathavachaks, folk musicians who performed bhajans (hymns) and musical story-telling rooted in Hindu religious traditions. Growing up in humble conditions, he was unable to finish his secondary education.Rodney W. Jones. Urban Politics in India: Area, Power, and Policy in a Penetrated System. Univ of California Press, 2023. p. 278
He took part in the 1941 Kotawali Todo movement. Tiwari also took part in the 1942 Quit India movement. He was arrested and sentenced to 6 years of rigorous imprisonment.India Who's who. INFA Publications, 1973. p. 259 In jail Tiwari befriended trade unionists V.V. Dravid and Ramsingh Bhai Verma, who recruited Tiwari to their cause.Rodney W. Jones. Urban Politics in India: Area, Power, and Policy in a Penetrated System. Univ of California Press, 2023. p. 274 Tiwari was held at Indore and Mandleshwar jails between August 20, 1942 and November 29, 1943, being released after 15 months of imprisonment.
Indore labour leader and local Congress politician After being released from jail Tiwari helped Dravid and Verma to rebuild the Indore Mill Mazdoor Sangh trade union of textile workers in Indore. Tiwari emerged as the most important of the second-tier leaders of the IMMS, playing a key role in field organizing and political education. In his role as IMMS labour organizer he benefited from being familiar with public performances from his family upbringing. Workers appreciated his use of humour in speeches.
Tiwari was the Indian workers delegate at the 1954 International Labour Conference in Geneva.
Ahead of the 1955 municipal election, Tiwari was active in the Mohalla Sudhar Samiti movement which was an initiative to build an IMMS-linked parallel Congress organization to seize the Indore City Congress Committee.Rodney W. Jones. Urban Politics in India: Area, Power, and Policy in a Penetrated System. Univ of California Press, 2023. p. 168 Tiwari was installed as the Indore City Congress Committee president in 1955, and retained the role in 1856.Rodney W. Jones. Urban Politics in India: Area, Power, and Policy in a Penetrated System. Univ of California Press, 2023. p. 87
Tiwari contested the labour seat (Indore City East) in the 1957 Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly election.Rodney W. Jones. Urban Politics in India: Area, Power, and Policy in a Penetrated System. Univ of California Press, 2023. p. 89 Tiwari was defeated by communist candidate Homi F. Daji, finishing in second place with 10,903 votes (39.50%).Election Commission of India. STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1957 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MADHYA PRADESH Tiwari was the sole Congress Party candidate defeated in Indore. Daji won in 39 out of 58 polling stations, with similar vote-shares in both labour and non-labour areas.Rodney W. Jones. Urban Politics in India: Area, Power, and Policy in a Penetrated System. Univ of California Press, 2023. p. 295
1962 elections and split with Verma Tiwari won the Indore City East seat in the 1962 Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly election, obtaining 18,617 votes (48.80%).Election Commission of India. STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1962 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MADHYA PRADESH In parallel Verma had contested the Indore Lok Sabha (parliament) seat, and lost. Tiwari got more votes than Verma in the Indore labour area.Donald B. Rosenthal. The City in Indian Politics. Thomson Press (India), 1976. p. 86 After Verma's parliamentary bid failure, conflict emerged between Verma and Dravid-Tiwari factions in IMMS.Rodney W. Jones. Urban Politics in India: Area, Power, and Policy in a Penetrated System. Univ of California Press, 2023. pp. 302-303
An issue that aggravated conflict between Verma and Dravid-Tiwari was a secret deal struck between Verma and R.C. Jall (representing mill owner interests), whereby a 'four-loom system' would be introduced (the 'four-loom system' entailed higher pay managing more looms, but the introduction of the system also implied the dismissal of thousands of workers). Dravid and Tiwari vehemetly opposed the deal, and as Labour Minister Dravid took steps to introduce legislation that would allow fired workers to seek assistance in courts even without the assistance of the Verma-led IMMS.
After the Verma-Jall pact, Tiwari began raising concerns on Verma's behaviour. Tiwari's critique centred around alleged behavioural issues of Verma during the preparations of a June 1963 exhibition of the Mahila Vikas Mandir (a women's organization linked to IMMS). Verma responded by organizing a number of fierce public meetings, challenging the reputation of Tiwari. There were four key accusations raised against Tiwari - that he conspired with leading communists, that he mixed religion and politics (by making references to the Bhagavad Gita on morals, including in the attacks against Verma), that he had failed to pay his dues from his Member of Legislative Assembly salary to the union and that he had defamed Verma by saying the latter had consorted with girls ahead of the Mahila Vikas Mandir exhibit (and managed to circulate the claims, via communist interlocutors, to the leftist weekly newspaper Sputnik). On June 5, 1963 Verma brought a no-confidence motion to remove Tiwari as the IMMS secretary. Verma failed to get enough votes to oust Tiwari at the June 5, 1963 meeting, but managed to get a committee formed (stacked with Verma confidants) to investigate Tiwari.
On June 23, 1963 Verma organized an IMMS Pratinidhi Mandal (Delegates Meeting), seeking to oust Tiwari as IMMS secretary. Tiwari himself was allowed to be present at the meetings, but others seen as Tiwari confidants were blocked from participating. Fourteen accusations against Tiwari were read out at the meeting, with Tiwari's personal diary (which had been stolen the previous week) being used as evidence. The meeting decided to expel Tiwari from the union.Rodney W. Jones. Urban Politics in India: Area, Power, and Policy in a Penetrated System. Univ of California Press, 2023. pp. 304-305, 308, 312 Tiwari responded by going to the Industrial Court, which issued a stay order on Tiwari's expulsion from the IMMS. The court ordered that Tiwari remain as the IMMS secretary until the Court had taken a decision.
During the ensuing months there were violent clashes between Verma and Tiwari supporters. Initially it appeared that Verma had the upper hand in the conflict, and Verma controlled Shram Shibir (the IMMS headquarters). But Tiwari's influence among the Indore textile workers gradually grew. On December 13, 1963 Tiwari led a public rally of 5,000 workers to the gates of Shram Shibir, demanding the payment of a bonus and shouting anti-Verma slogans.
The central leadership of the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) sought to mediate between the warring Indore factions, sending Kashi Nath Pandey as the arbitrator. On January 19, 1964, the day that Pandey was set to arrive, the Verma faction was organizing a Pratinidhi Sabha (Assembly of Delegates). Tiwari on the other hand mobilized 7,000 workers to the streets, blocking traffic. The rally was the largest public gathering of the IMMS factional conflict. The Dravid-Tiwari faction besieged Shram Shibir, which Pandey had reportedly entered through a rear door. Pandey came out of the gates to speak with the protestors. The January 19, 1964 showed to the INTUC central leadership that it was Dravid and Tiwari that had a real mass base in Indore, which tipped the scales to their favour. The central leadership intervened, and Verma resigned from his post as IMMS president.Rodney W. Jones. Urban Politics in India: Area, Power, and Policy in a Penetrated System. Univ of California Press, 2023. p. 317 In February 1964 the central leadership of INTUC dissolved the INTUC Madhya Pradesh and IMMS committees. Dravid was installed as the new president of INTUC Madhya Pradesh State Committee and Tiwari was installed as the new president of IMMS.
From 1963 onward Tiwari emerged as the protégé of the new Chief Minister Dwarka Prasad Mishra (also a Kanyakubja Brahmin) within the Indore labour movement. As Mishra side-lined Dravid in favour of Tiwari, tensions would gradually grow between Dravid and Tiwari (eventually leading to the pro-Congress Indore labour movement being divided into three factions - Verma, Dravid and Tiwari factions).Rodney W. Jones. Urban Politics in India: Area, Power, and Policy in a Penetrated System. Univ of California Press, 2023. pp. 320-321 After the ousting of Verma from the IMMS leadership and Tiwari having become an ally of Mishra, Tiwari was made a trustee of the Indore Improvement Trust in 1963 (and remained in this role until 1967).Rodney W. Jones. Urban Politics in India: Area, Power, and Policy in a Penetrated System. Univ of California Press, 2023. pp. 245-246 Tiwari was the first sitting Member of Legislative Assembly to hold this position.
During his tenures as Member of Legislative Assembly Tiwari studied to complete his high school and college credits, eventually obtaining a M.A. degree in Hindi literature from the University of Indore.
On November 9, 1966, in the wake of the anti-cow slaughter riot in Delhi, Tiwari and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh prant sanghchalak Ram Narayan Shastri led 5,000 strong gauraksha ('cow protection') rally in Indore.Christophe Jaffrelot. The Hindu Nationalist Movement and Indian Politics: 1925 to the 1990s : Strategies of Identity-building, Implantation and Mobilisation (with Special Reference to Central India). Penguin Books India, 1999. p. 210
Minister Tiwari was the sole Indore INTUC faction candidate in the 1967 Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly election.Rodney W. Jones. Urban Politics in India: Area, Power, and Policy in a Penetrated System. Univ of California Press, 2023. pp. 91-92 Tiwari won the Indore labour seat (Indore-II), obtaining 19,735 votes (43.87%).Election Commission of India. STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1967 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MADHYA PRADESH Tiwari narrowly defeated the prominent communist Mill Mazdoor Union leader Harisingh. Notably, Tiwari had wished for a safer seat to contest. He ended up being the sole Congress Party candidate winning in Indore. Tiwari was sworn in as Minister of Public Works Department (Buildings and Roads) on March 8, 1967.Indian Recorder and Digest, Vol. 13. 1967. p. 23
Tiwari held various leadership roles in the Indian National Congress and INTUC - He served as general secretary of INTUC in Madhya Pradesh, and was a member of the District Congress Committee, Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee and the All India Congress Committee. Tiwari became the Indore City Congress Committee president again in 1968 and 1969.Rodney W. Jones. Urban Politics in India: Area, Power, and Policy in a Penetrated System. Univ of California Press, 2023. p. 87 He would go on to be named Minister of Labour and Housing in the Madhya Pradesh state cabinet. The relationship between Dravid and Tiwari worsened after the latter was named Labour Minister. Reportedly Tiwari gathered INTUC leaders at his ministerial residence in Bhopal for an informal meeting to plot the removal of Dravid from the post as president of INTUC in Madhya Pradesh.
Fall from grace