Amarnath Vaishnavi was a Social activist , a Kashmiri Pandit , born in the state of Jammu & Kashmir on August 24,1925. He was a teacher by profession and joined Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in the year 1945 as swayamsevak and later he became the Sanghchalak of Kashmir and Ladakh . He was a teacher by choice as he visualized that a positive change in the society was possible only by influencing the youth. He was also the Vice President of J & K State BJP in 1990 and contested election in 1996 from Srinagar Constituency. He was born to Sarvanand Vaishnavi and Divyamali. He had an elder brother, Shri. Gopinath Vaishnavi.

He played an important role in the Praja Parishad movement from 1949 to 1953 and Laddakh Buddhist movement of 1968, which saved Buddhists from forced conversions to Shia faith. He played a leading role in Kashmiri Pandit agitation in 1967.His slogan “Jaikara, Har Har Mahadev”, remained a motivation for Kashmiri Pandits till recently.

Kashmiri Pandits were forced to leave their homeland in 1990 as the terrorism began in the valley. Amarnath Vaishnavi set up ” Sahayata Samiti “, an organization which rehabilitated homeless Kashmiri Pandits, with support from Bhartiya Janata Party and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Under the ambit of this organization, Pandit Vaishnavi was the front face of Kashmiri Pandits , who negotiated with the government to provide financial assistance to those who had lost their livelihood, started makeshift colleges and schools for the displaced community, provided tents where people could reside and later they convinced the government to replace the tents with two room apartments.

His major contribution to Kashmiri Pandits was to negotiate with Shiv Sena in Maharashtra to provide reservations to students in educational institutions. Later he and his team travelled all over India to convince all state governments to create a reserved quota of seats over and above the existing seats for the displaced Kashmiri students.