2 April in Indian and World History is celebrated, observed, and remembered for various reasons. 2 April is the birth anniversary of Varahaneri Venkatesa Subramaniam Aiyar, Harindranath Chattopadhyay, Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Gajanan Jagirdar, Alla Venkata Rama Rao, and Bindeshwar Pathak.
2 April is also observed as the death anniversary of Ranjitsinhji and Asaf Ali.
Birth Anniversary
2 April in Indian history is celebrated as the birth anniversary of the following personalities:
Varahaneri Venkatesa Subramaniam Aiyar (2 April 1881 – 3 June 1925), also known as V. V. S. Aiyar, was an Indian revolutionary from Tamil Nadu who fought against the British occupation of India. Aiyar was also a Tamil writer and is considered as the father of modern Tamil short story. He was born on 2 April 1881 in Madras Presidency, British India.
Harindranath Chattopadhyay (2 April 1898 – 23 June 1990), an Indian English poet, a dramatist, an actor, and a musician. He was also a member of the 1st Lok Sabha from the Vijayawada constituency. He was the younger brother of Sarojini Naidu, the second woman President of the Indian National Congress. The Government of India awarded him the civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan in 1973. He was born on 2 April 1898 in Hyderabad State, British India.
Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan (2 April 1902 – 25 April 1968) was an Indian Hindustani classical vocalist, from the Patiala Gharana. At the age of five, Bade Ghulam began training in vocal music from his paternal uncle Kale Khan, and later from his father. He had three younger brothers namely Barkat Ali Khan, Mubarak Ali Khan and Amanat Ali Khan. He was born on 2 April 1902 in Punjab, British India.
Gajanan Jagirdar (2 April 1907 – 13 August 1988), a veteran Indian film director, screenwriter and actor. He worked in Hindi Cinema, also called Bollywood, as well as Marathi cinema. At the 1962 National Film Awards, his film Vaijayanta was awarded the Second-Best Marathi Feature Film. He was born on 2 April 1907 in Amravati, Central Provinces, British India
Alla Venkata Rama Rao, an Indian inventor. He is known for his research on drug technology. He is the founder of the A. V. Rama Rao Research Foundation, a nongovernmental organization promoting research and doctoral studies in chemistry. He is honoured by TWAS Technology Award, VASVIK Industrial Research Award, and Om Prakash Bhasin Award. He was conferred with Padma Shri in 1991 and Padma Bhushan in 2016. He was born on 2 April 1935 in Guntur, Madras Presidency, British India.
Bindeshwar Pathak is an Indian sociologist and social entrepreneur. He is the founder of Sulabh International, an India-based social service organisation that works to promote human rights, environmental sanitation, non-conventional sources of energy, waste management and social reforms through education. He is the Brand Ambassador for Swachh Rail Mission of Indian Railways. He was presented with the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award for Excellence in Public Administration, Academics and Management for the year 2017. He was conferred with Padma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian award in 1991. Bindeshwar Pathak was born on 2 April 1943 in Rampur, Bihar.
Read More: 1 April in Indian and World History
Death Anniversary
2 April in Indian history is observed as the death anniversary of the following personalities:
Ranjitsinhji (10 September 1872 – 2 April 1933), the ruler of the Indian princely state of Nawanagar from 1907 to 1933, as Maharaja Jam Saheb. His full title was Colonel His Highness Shri Sir Ranjitsinhji Vibhaji II, Jam Saheb of Nawanagar, GCSI, GBE. He was also a noted Test cricketer who played for the English cricket team. He also played first-class cricket for Cambridge University and county cricket for Sussex. Ranji has widely been regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time. The first-class cricket tournament in India, the Ranji Trophy, was named in his honour and inaugurated in 1935 by the Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala. He died on 2 April 1933 in Nawanagar State, British India.
Asaf Ali (11 May 1888 – 2 April 1953), an Indian independence fighter and noted Indian lawyer. He was the first Indian Ambassador to the United States. He also served as the Governor of Odisha. Asaf Ali rose to become one of the most respected lawyers in the country. He defended Shaheed Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt as a lawyer, after they threw a bomb in the Central Legislative Assembly on 8 April 1929, during the passage of a controversial ordinance. He married Aruna Asaf Ali who honoured with India’s highest civilian award- Bharat Ratna. He died on 2 April 1953 in Bern, Switzerland.
Read More: 30 March in Indian and World History
Notable events on 2 April in Indian and World history
2 April 1647 – Maria Sibylla Merian, a German entomologist, naturalist and scientific illustrator., was born.
2 April 1755 – The fortress of Suvarnadurg is captured by Commodore William James. Suvarnadurg is located in the Arabian Sea, which is west of India and south of Iran and Pakistan. Kanhoji Angre, who held the fortress before the British takeover, was dubbed a pirate by the British, but throughout his life, he was able to withstand any foreign power that attempted to take control of his island and fortress.
2 April 1788 – Francisco Balagtas, a Filipino poet and litterateur of the Tagalog language, was born.
2 April 1805 – Hans Christian Andersen, a Danish author, was born.
2 April 1862 – Nicholas Murray Butler, an American philosopher, diplomat, educator and Nobel Prize Laureate, was born.
2 April 1970 – Meghalaya becomes an autonomous state within India’s Assam state. Meghalaya was formed by carving out two districts from the state of Assam: The United Khasi Hills and Jaintia Hills, and the Garo Hills.
2 April 1912 – The ill-fated RMS Titanic begins sea trials.
2 April 1914 – Paul Heyse a German writer, translator, and Nobel Prize Laureate, died.
2 April 1917 – President Wilson asks the U.S. Congress for a declaration of war on Germany.
2 April 1928 – Theodore William Richards an American scientist, and Nobel Laureate, died.
2 April 1976 – Taos Amrouche – an Algerian writer and singer – died.
2 April 2002 – Levi Celerio – was a Filipino composer and lyricist – died.
2 April is observed as International Children’s Book Day. It is an annual event by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), an international non-profit organization. Founded in 1967. The day is observed on Hans Christian Andersen’s birthday. Activities include writing competitions, announcements of book awards and events with authors of children’s literature.
2 April is also observed as World Autism Awareness Day. It is an internationally recognised day. It aims to encourage the Member States of the United Nations to take measures to raise awareness about people with autistic spectrum disorders including autism and Asperger syndrome throughout the world.