Political history of Sri Aurobindo
Anushilan Samiti was founded as an attempt to organize Bengali youth through a program of physical fitness and spiritual training for a nationalist program. By 1902, Calcutta had three societies working under the umbrella of Anushilan Samity, a society earlier founded by a Calcutta barrister by the name of Pramatha Mitra. These included Mitra's own group, another led by a Bengali lady by the name of Sarala Devi, and a third one led by Aurobindo Ghosh. The Anushilan Samiti had Aurobindo and Deshabandhu Chittaranjan Das as the vice-presidents, Suren Tagore the treasurer. Jatindra Nath Banerjee (Niralamba Swami), Bagha Jatin, Bhupendra Nath Datta (Swami Vivekananda's brother), Barindra Ghosh were among other initial leaders.
By 1905, the work of Aurobindo and his brother Barin Ghosh allowed Anushilan Samity to spread through Bengal.
Chunilal Vaidya
Chunibhai Vaidya was born on 2 September 1918 in a small village in Patan district, Gujarat. He was a Gandhian and a "Sarvodaya" veteran. He participated in Indian independence movement and later in Vinoba Bhave's Bhoodan Movement. He worked for peace in Assam when violence broke out in 1960s. He was an editor of "Bhumiputra". He opposed the Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi in 1975 and was imprisoned. He also founded Gujarat Lok Samiti, a voluntary organization, in 1980. During draught from 1986 to 1988 in Gujarat, he was involved in relief work and construction of check dams in Patan district irrigating 12000 hectares of land. He was also critical of 2002 Gujarat violence.