Dr. ram manohar lohia

Versatile Genius of Rare Courage

Dr Rammanohar Lohia : An Introduction

Gandhian socialist, visionary rebel, man of letters, great parliamentarian and crusader for the betterment of the poor and downtrodden of the country. The socialist leader of a fearless and dynamic personality. Both before independence and in free india he went to prison several times for the sake of the people. A man of rare scholarship and independent thought he toiled to create a society which would ensure justice to the poor, the backward and women.

Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia:

It was towards the end of the third decade of this century. A conference of the League of Nations - a body like the United Nations Organization - was in session in Geneva. An unusual incident happened. A Maharaja - an Indian delegate to the conference - was to address the gathering. As the Maharaja stood up to speak, a short bespectacled twenty- year - old boy also stood up in the spectators' gallery and began to whistle. He was sent out. The boy who protested in this telling manner was none other than Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia, later called 'the stormy petrel of Indian politics'.

 

Profile

  • Dr. Rammanohar Lohia was born on March 23, 1910 in Akbarpur in Faizabad district of Uttar Pradesh in a Marwari Vaishya community. Lohia's father, Heera Lal, was a nationalist by spirit and a teacher and businessman by profession.
  • Dr. Lohia was introduced to the Indian Independence Movement at an early age by his father through various protest assemblies. Heera Lal, an ardent follower of Mahatma Gandhi, took his son along on a meeting with the Mahatma.
  • Dr. Lohia was so impressed by Gandhiji's spiritual power and radiant self-control that he pledged to follow in the Mahatma's footsteps. He proved his allegiance to Gandhi, and more importantly to the movement as a whole, by joining a 'satyagraha' march at the age of ten and proved both, his loyalty to Mahatma Gandhi and his metal as a significant freedom fighter in the time to come.
  • In 1921, he met Jawaharlal Nehru, with whom he developed a deep bond over the years. However, the two had clash of opinions over various issues and political beliefs. Lohia, however, never hesitated to censure Nehru on his political beliefs and openly expressed disagreement with Nehru on many key issues.
  • Dr. Lohia attended Indian National Congress' plenary session in 1923 at Gaya and the 1926 session at Guwahati.
 

Education & Research


  • Dr. Lohia received his early education at Tandon Pathshala and Visheshwar Nath High School in Akbarpur.
  • After his father shifted from Akbarpur to Bombay, he continued his studies at Marwari School there and passed the Matriculation examination in the first division in 1925.
  • His Intermediate education took place at Banaras Hindu University and after a two-year course there, he joined the Vidyasagar College in Calcutta. In 1929 he passed his B.A. Honors examination in English Literature.
  • He went to Germany for higher studies.
  • Dr. Lohia wrote his doctoral thesis on 'The Taxation of Salt in India' (with special reference to Gandhiji's Salt Satyagraha).
  • He was awarded the Doctorate in Economics and Political Science.
 

Indian National Congress


  • Dr. Lohia received his early education at Tandon Pathshala and Visheshwar Nath High School in Akbarpur.
  • After his father shifted from Akbarpur to Bombay, he continued his studies at Marwari School there and passed the Matriculation examination in the first division in 1925.
  • His Intermediate education took place at Banaras Hindu University and after a two-year course there, he joined the Vidyasagar College in Calcutta. In 1929 he passed his B.A. Honors examination in English Literature.
  • He went to Germany for higher studies.
  • Dr. Lohia wrote his doctoral thesis on 'The Taxation of Salt in India' (with special reference to Gandhiji's Salt Satyagraha).
  • He was awarded the Doctorate in Economics and Political Science.
 

Views on Women and Caste


Dr. Lohia elaborates the suggestion of class and gender interacting with caste. For him this intersectionality of caste, class and gender is a regular feature of social inequality

Views on Women

  • More than half of our population comprises women. Their condition is pathetic. Cooking food, breeding children and being a slave to her husband -this is woman's fate. A woman is not considered equal to a man
  • The law has guaranteed equality to women, but that is only on paper. Equality has not been practiced. Hence jobs must be reserved for women in all walks of life.
  • This was the firm stand of Dr. Lohia, the emancipation of women was the foundation of social revolution; without this there can be no prosperity

Views on Caste

  • "Caste restricts opportunity. Restricted opportunity constricts ability. Constricted ability further restricts opportunity. Where caste prevails, opportunity and ability are restricted to ever-narrowing circles of the people". These words from Ram Manohar truly project what he thought of ever existent caste system in India.
  • He believed that caste system impairs the thought processes and robs the country of fresh ideas. He suggested for a nullification of the caste system through "Roti and Beti (bread and daughter)". He believed that the only way to annihilate the caste barrier is by baking bread (roti) together as one (eating together) and by being willing to marry the girls (beti) despite of what caste the boy belongs to. For the same, he handed out electoral tickets to the higher positions in his United Socialist Party to the lower caste candidates and even promoted them. He also wanted to establish better government schools which would provide equal learning opportunities to everyone despite of the class.
  • This was the firm stand of Dr. Lohia. Equality of opportunity, the emancipation of women was the foundation of social revolution; without this there can be no prosperity
 

Views on Language


  • Dr. Lohia was a versatile genius. He had a sharp intellect. He wielded a sharp pen and he was a very effective and persuasive speaker. While addressing public gatherings he always spoke in Hindi. His speech used to be translated into the language of the region.
  • Dr. Lohia favored Hindi as the official language of India. He also started Jana a Hindi monthly
  • Dr. Lohia Said
    "The use of English is a hindrance to original thinking, progenitor of inferiority feelings and a gap between the educated and uneducated public. Come, let us unite to restore Hindi to its original glory."
 

As Parliamentarian


  • Dr. Lohia's association with the Indian Parliament began in 1963, when he was elected to the Third Lok Sabha in a bye-election from Farrukhabad constituency in Uttar Pradesh. He was again elected in March 1967 to the Fourth Lok Sabha from Kannauj constituency in Uttar Pradesh
  • A great thinker, Dr. Lohia believed in the ideology of democratic socialism and always stood for power to the elected representative of the people through parliamentary system and at the same time supported the non-violent direct action against every form of injustice.
  • Dr. Lohia helped create a day called "Janavani Day" on which people from around the nation would come and present their grievances to members of Parliament. The tradition continues even today.
  • When he arrived in Parliament in 1963, the country had a one-party government through three general elections. Dr. Lohia shook things up. He had written a pamphlet, "25,000 Rupees a Day", the amount spent on Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, an obscene sum in a country where the vast majority lived on 3 annas(less than one-quarter of a rupee) a day. Nehru demurred, saying that India's Planning Commission statistics showed that the daily average income was more like 15 annas (a little under a rupee) per day. Dr. Lohia demanded that this was an important issue, one that cried out for a special debate. The controversy, still remembered in India as the "Teen Anna Pandrah Anna (3 annas −15 annas)" controversy
  • August 15, 1947. India became free. But then it was divided. Dr. Lohia was unhappy on this account. Gandhi was murdered on the 30th of January 1948. The communal virus spread all over the country. The Congress Socialist Party was not happy with the way in which the Congress leaders dealt with the situation. The Socialist Party decided to bring together the peasants, the factory workers and the workers in the middle class. On the 15th of April that year, the Socialists left the Congress Party. They formed their own party. One of the top leaders of the party was Lohia.
  • Thereafter Dr. Lohia toured the whole country. He strongly criticized the policies of the Nehru Government. In his inimitable style he argued in favor of the stand and the policies of the Socialist Party. He stole the hearts of the youth of the country.
 

Humanity


While in the Shimoga jail, the inmates were not being given enough food. The food given to them sufficed only for one meal a day. The satygrahis had to depend on the food sent from outside by supporters. Lohia was deeply moved at this state of affairs. But he had little money with him. He had hardly thirty-two rupees in his purse. When the police officials came to take him to Bangalore, Lohia handed over to his jailmates all the money he had. "Please get some food with this money and distribute it among the satyagrahis" he said. His friends tried hard to dissuade him but in vain