Famous People Born In Allahabad

The third Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi served as PM from 1966 till 1977 and then again from 1980 till her assassination in October 1984. She is considered one of India’s strongest PM and is hailed for leading India to victory over Pakistan in 1971, which resulted in the creation of Bangladesh. However, she is also categorised as authoritarian and is criticised for imposing Emergency in 1975.

Madan Mohan Malaviya was an Indian educational reformer and politician. He is best remembered for playing an important role in India's freedom struggle. He served as the president of the Indian National Congress on three occasions and founded a political party named Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha. He also co-founded Central Hindu College and worked towards promoting modern education in India.

Indian flutist Hariprasad Chaurasia, a major figure of Hindustani classical music, is known for taking the Indian bansuri to the international stage. Born in Allahabad, he hid his musical aspirations from his father, who wanted him to take up wrestling. He grew up to became a luminary of the Senia gharana.

Padma Shree- and Sangeet Natak Akademi Award-winning Hindi poet and playwright Dharamvir Bharati had penned iconic novels such as Suraj ka Satwan Ghoda and Gunaho Ka Devta. A PhD in Hindi from Allahabad University, he had also been a lecturer and the chief editor of Dharmayug.

Popularly referred as Rajarshi, Purushottam Das Tandon was an Indian lawyer, political leader and scholar. A member of the Indian National Congress, he actively participated in its various movements and vehemently opposed the partition of India. As a member of the Constituent Assembly, he not only promoted Hindi as the official language, but also the usage of Devanagari script.  .

Manindra Agrawal is an Indian computer scientist and mathematician whose creation of the AKS primality test earned him the Fulkerson Prize as well as the Gödel Prize. He also won the first Infosys Prize for Mathematics for his contributions in the field of mathematics. He is currently serving as the deputy director at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.

Indian-born poet Meena Alexander spent most of her childhood in Sudan, owing to her father’s job. She then acquired a PhD in English from the U.K. and moved to the U.S., where she wrote and taught. Known for works such as Illiterate Heart, Meena experimented with themes such as migration.

Akbar S. Ahmed is a Pakistani-American academic, author, poet, and playwright. He is a professor of international relations at the American University in Washington, D.C., and also holds the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies. He has been a professor at several North American educational institutions, including Princeton University and Harvard University. He is a recipient of the Tamgha-i-Imtiaz.  

Best known for his ghazals and nazms, Mustafa Zaidi initially wrote using the pseudonym Tegh Allahabadi. Honored with Tamgha-e-Quaid-e-Azam, he was also employed with the Pakistan Civil Services but was dismissed later. He was found dead in 1970, and though many believe it was a suicide, the case remains unsolved.