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With the death of Justice V. M. Tarkunde at the age of 95, a life full of rich achievement and active commitment to Humanism has passed into history. Known as the father of the modern human rights movement in India, Tarkunde was a close associate of the revolutionary and Humanist philosopher M.N. Roy and played a crucial role in India’s independence struggle. He was synonymous with the Humanist movement in the Indian subcontinent.

After taking a degree in the agricultural sciences, Tarkunde trained as a lawyer, and became a judge of Bombay High Court, earning a reputation for brilliance. But in 1969, he resigned in order to devote himself fully to human rights activism, and the Humanist movement.

Widely admired for his clear exposition of issues through speeches and editorials in the Radical Humanist, and for his fearless defence of the oppressed in the subcontinent which is home to one-fifth of humanity and where deprivation and state-sponsored human rights violations are rampant, Tarkunde rendered unmatched services to the cause of human freedom and welfare. He was President of the Indian Radical Humanist Association, Chairman of the Indian Renaissance Institute, and Working President of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties and of Citizens for Democracy. Throughout his life, he campaigned for harmony between India’s Hindus and Muslims, and promoted contacts at the individual level between people in India and Pakistan.

IHEU recognized Tarkunde’s courageous opposition to Indira Gandhi’s oppressive dictatorship in India by awarding him its highest honour, The International Humanist Award, which found pride of place in his study along with the Indian nation’s high civic honour of Padma Bhushan. Tarkunde was President of IHEU’s India Congress and a keynote speaker at many IHEU World Humanist Congresses. His book, Radical Humanism: Philosophy of Freedom and Democracy, has become essential reading in Humanist circles.

Tarkunde was the member secretary of the Committee of Radical Humanists who proposed the widely circulated and quoted People’s Plan II as a new model of development for India. The reports of the various Tarkunde Committees on the problem of Kashmir, on the terrorist problems in Punjab, and on electoral reform, have been a source of inspiration for NGOs and human rights activists. The National Human Rights Commission and State Human Rights Commissions, which are constitutional bodies, owe their establishment to the public pressure created by Tarkunde and his colleagues.

When a team of IHEU leaders visited him in Delhi in January 2004, a lucid Justice Tarkunde reiterated his resolve to help create a viable people’s movement to oppose the communal BJP (currently heading the coalition in the Central government) which he declared a decade and a half ago to be his ‘public enemy number one’. Tarkunde’s last battle was against the fast- growing Hindu right.

A man of immense personal generosity, honesty and integrity, Tarkunde’s loss is a personal loss to the many Humanist leaders from various countries who visited him and sought guidance on international affairs. IHEU salutes the life of a giant – a legal luminary, an advocate of democracy, and a defender of human freedoms.

Babu Gogineni