CM Samrat Choudhary pays tribute to Munshi Premchand on birth anniversary
Synopsis
Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary paid tribute to Munshi Premchand on his birth anniversary on 31 July 2026, calling the legendary novelist the voice of India's deprived and suffering, and a pioneer who made literature a tool of mass awakening.
Key Takeaways
Bihar CM Samrat Choudhary posted a tribute to Munshi Premchand on his birth anniversary, 31 July 2026 .
He described Premchand as a 'great novelist, storyteller and sahitya samrat ' who gave Hindi literature a new direction in realism.
Premchand was born on 31 July 1880 in Lamhi, near Varanasi and died in 1936 .
His major works include Godaan , Gaban , and Nirmala , focusing on rural poverty, caste, and exploitation.
CM Choudhary emphasised Premchand's role in giving voice to the deprived and making literature a medium of mass awakening.
A century after his pen gave voice to India's forgotten millions, Munshi Premchand remains the conscience of Hindi literature — and on Friday, 31 July 2026, Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary joined the nation in marking the great novelist's birth anniversary with a heartfelt tribute on X.
Posting in Hindi, CM Choudhary called Premchand a 'great novelist, storyteller and emperor of literature' (sahitya samrat) who 'gave Hindi literature a new direction in realism.' He wrote that Premchand's writing 'gave voice to the feelings of the deprived, the suffering, and the common people' and made literature 'a medium of mass awakening' (jan-jagran ka madhyam).
Who was Munshi Premchand — and why he still matters
Born Dhanpat Rai Shrivastava on 31 July 1880 in Lamhi, near Varanasi, Premchand wrote under a pen name that would become synonymous with Hindi-Urdu social realism. His novels — among them Godaan, Gaban, and Nirmala — and hundreds of short stories held a mirror to rural poverty, caste oppression, and the quiet dignity of ordinary lives in pre-independence India. He died in 1936, leaving behind a literary legacy that still anchors school curricula and cultural discourse across the subcontinent.Political tributes and the Premchand tradition
For Indian political figures, marking Premchand's birth anniversary has become a fixture of the public calendar — an acknowledgement that literature and social reform have always been intertwined in this country's political imagination. CM Choudhary's tribute fits that pattern, but the framing — emphasising Premchand's championship of the vanchit (deprived) and peedit (suffering) — carries particular resonance in Bihar, a state where questions of rural poverty and social equity remain live political terrain. Premchand belongs to no party and no ideology. That is precisely why every political tradition claims him — and why his words keep arriving, fresh, in every generation's inbox.Point of View
Projecting the ruling leadership as custodians of India's literary and cultural heritage. The emphasis on Premchand's role as a voice for the 'deprived and suffering' is a framing that cuts across caste and class lines — a useful political register in a diverse electorate.
NationPress
31 Jul 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
When is Munshi Premchand's birth anniversary?
Munshi Premchand was born on 31 July 1880 , and his birth anniversary is observed every year on 31 July.
Who is Munshi Premchand?
Munshi Premchand was a pioneering Hindi-Urdu novelist and short story writer, born in Lamhi near Varanasi in 1880. His works like Godaan and Gaban introduced social realism to Indian literature, focusing on rural poverty and caste.
What did Bihar CM Samrat Choudhary say about Premchand?
CM Choudhary called Premchand a 'great novelist, storyteller and emperor of literature' who gave Hindi literature a new direction in realism and made it a 'medium of mass awakening' for the deprived and suffering.
Why is Premchand called Sahitya Samrat?
Premchand is called Sahitya Samrat — 'Emperor of Literature' — because of his towering contribution to Hindi and Urdu fiction, his prolific output, and his role in establishing social realism as a defining tradition in Indian writing.
What are Munshi Premchand's most famous works?
Premchand's most celebrated works include the novels Godaan , Gaban , and Nirmala , along with hundreds of short stories that depicted the lives of rural and lower-caste communities in pre-independence India.
