“Who is known as the ‘Grand Old Man of India’?” This type of question appears in SSC, railway and state exams every year. I have grouped the titles so you can learn them faster.
Freedom struggle and leaders
| Title | Person | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Mahatma | M.K. Gandhi | Popularly linked to Rabindranath Tagore |
| Father of the Nation | M.K. Gandhi | First used by Subhas Chandra Bose (1944 radio address) |
| Netaji | Subhas Chandra Bose | – |
| Iron Man of India; Sardar | Vallabhbhai Patel | “Sardar” after the Bardoli Satyagraha (1928) |
| Lokmanya | Bal Gangadhar Tilak | – |
| Grand Old Man of India | Dadabhai Naoroji | Also the drain theory |
| Deshbandhu | Chittaranjan Das | – |
| Frontier Gandhi | Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan | – |
| Punjab Kesari (Lion of Punjab) | Lala Lajpat Rai | – |
| Shaheed-e-Azam | Bhagat Singh | – |
| Nightingale of India | Sarojini Naidu | – |
| Deenbandhu | C.F. Andrews | – |
| Mahamana | Madan Mohan Malaviya | Founder of BHU |
| Lok Nayak | Jayaprakash Narayan | – |
| Rajaji | C. Rajagopalachari | – |
| Babasaheb | B.R. Ambedkar | – |
| Desh Ratna | Rajendra Prasad | – |
| Chacha | Jawaharlal Nehru | – |
| Father of the Indian Renaissance | Raja Ram Mohan Roy | – |
| Sher-e-Kashmir | Sheikh Abdullah | – |
| Bihar Kesari | Sri Krishna Sinha | First CM of Bihar |
| Andhra Kesari | T. Prakasam | – |
| Gurudev | Rabindranath Tagore | – |
Science and development
| Title | Person |
|---|---|
| Missile Man of India | A.P.J. Abdul Kalam |
| Father of the Indian space programme | Vikram Sarabhai |
| Father of India’s nuclear programme | Homi J. Bhabha |
| Father of the Green Revolution in India | M.S. Swaminathan |
| Father of the White Revolution | Verghese Kurien |
| Metro Man | E. Sreedharan |
Sports
| Title | Person | Sport |
|---|---|---|
| Hockey Wizard | Major Dhyan Chand | Hockey |
| Flying Sikh | Milkha Singh | Athletics |
| Payyoli Express / Golden Girl | P.T. Usha | Athletics |
| Little Master | Sunil Gavaskar | Cricket |
| Master Blaster | Sachin Tendulkar | Cricket |
| Haryana Hurricane | Kapil Dev | Cricket |
| Captain Cool | M.S. Dhoni | Cricket |
| Magnificent Mary | M.C. Mary Kom | Boxing |
Arts
| Title | Person |
|---|---|
| Nightingale of India (music) | Lata Mangeshkar |
| Showman of Indian cinema | Raj Kapoor |
| Tragedy King | Dilip Kumar |
Exam-ready one-liners
- Dadabhai Naoroji is the Grand Old Man of India.
- Subhas Chandra Bose first called Gandhi the “Father of the Nation”.
- Vallabhbhai Patel got the title “Sardar” after the Bardoli Satyagraha.
- Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan is the Frontier Gandhi.
- Verghese Kurien is the Father of the White Revolution.
Related reading
Quiz: test yourself
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Compiled from standard history references.
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