Shrikant Verma

Shrikant Verma Biography

Shrikant Verma was a leading journalist, poet and politician who served in Member of Parliament. His wife Veena Verma was also a politician and Member of Parliament from Madhya Pradesh. His son Abhishek Verma is a controversial arms dealer from New Delhi, prime suspect of many high profile cases such as Navy War Room Leak Case, Scorpene submarines deal, Agusta Westland VVIP helicopters bribery scandal etc. As a writer, he has received numerous awards and honours including Sahitya Academy Award for Magadh, Tulsi Samman 1976 for his work, Jalsagar and also Shiksha Samman in 1981, both from Madhya Pradesh. He has authored around 20 books.

Shrikant Verma was born on 18 September 1931 in Bilaspur city of Madhya Pradesh. Now this city belongs to Chhattisgarh. He graduated from Nagpur University with a Master of Arts degree in Hindi. A prolific writer in Hindi, most of his works belong to poetry genre, and he published 20 books in total. In 1982, he presided over the Afro-Asian Writer's Conference hosted in New Delhi. During his lifetime he has been honoured numerous times for his literal achievements, and was also given Sahitya Academy Award, but posthumously.

He was introduced to the world of politics by Indira Gandhi, who brought him to Congress party. She also made him a member of the 1976 Indian Parliament. Verma’s wife Veena Verma too was a politician associated with state politics. She was elected to the Rajya Sabha three consecutive six year terms, from 1986 to 2000. She is also associated with Indian National Congress. Verma died of cancer in 1986 in New York. Till death he was fully active in his literal and social life.

Published: August 30, 2018

Updated: August 30, 2018