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Important personalities of the freedom struggle
1.0 CHAKRAVARTI RAJAGOPALACHARI
Born in an orthodox Brahmin family in Salem (Tamil Nadu), C. Rajagopalachari became a lawyer, and established a lucrative practice. He entered the political forefront after meeting Gandhi in 1919. His political career is marked with a number of achievements. He was called ‘Rajaji’ with affection.
After Mahatma Gandhi returned from South Africa in 1919, Rajaji was impressed enough to make up his mind to follow him. C. Rajagopalachari was appointed the general-secretary of the Congress in 1921 and thus got opportunity to gain acquaintance with other leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel, Maulana Azad, Rajendra Prasad etc.
He gave up his practice in response to the non-cooperation call by Gandhi.
In 1921-1922, he became the General-Secretary of the Indian National Congress and from 1922 to 1924, he was a member of the Congress Working Committee. He played a prominent role in spreading the Civil Disobedience Movement in Tamil Nadu. He was arrested in April 1930 for leading a salt march from Trichinopoly to Vedaranniyam on the Tanjore coast.
He led the Congress to victory in Madras in the 1937 elections. As the Chief Minister of Madras (1937-39), he introduced
- Madras Temple Entry Act (in 1938), and
- Liquor prohibition in the State.
In 1942, he resigned from the INC on its refusal to accept the Cripps Mission plans. He, alongwith Shri Bhulabhai Desai, was in favour of recognising the rights of Muslim majority provinces to secede through plebiscite after independence had been gained (from the British).
C. Rajagopalachari's formula (or C. R. formula or Rajaji formula) was a proposal formulated by Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari to solve the political deadlock between the All India Muslim League and Indian National Congress on independence of India from the British. The League's position was that the Muslims and Hindus of British India were of two separate nations and hence the Muslims had the right to their own nation when India obtained independence. The Congress, which included both Hindu and Muslim members, was opposed to the idea of partitioning India. With the advent of Second World War British administration required both parties to agree so that Indian help could be sought for the war efforts.
The CR formula entailed
- The League was to endorse the Indian demand for independence and to co-operate with the Congress in formation of Provisional Interim Government for a transitional period.
- At the end of the War, a commission would be appointed to demarcate the districts having a Muslim population in absolute majority and in those areas plebiscite to be conducted on all inhabitants (including the non-Muslims) on basis of adult suffrage.
- All parties would be allowed to express their stance on the partition and their views before the plebiscite.
- In the event of separation, a mutual agreement would be entered into for safeguarding essential matters such as defence, communication and commerce and for other essential services.
- The transfer of population, if any, would be absolutely on a voluntary basis.
- The terms of the binding will be applicable only in case of full transfer of power by Britain to Government of India.
Rajagopalachari served as the Governor of Bengal (August- November 1947) and was a member of the Governor-General's Executive Council (1946-47). He was the first and last Indian Governor-General of India (1948-50). He became the Minister for Home Affairs in the first elected Central Government of India (1951), after the first general elections.
After Vallabhbhai Patel's death in 1950, Rajagopalachari became the home minister, but left the post after 10 months because of differences with Nehru over key policies. He later became chief minister of the Madras assembly. During his tenure, after sustained agitation by Telugu-speaking people, the state of Andhra Pradesh was carved out from Madras state. Though initially not willing to split the state on linguistic lines, Rajagopalachari had to agree as the protests intensified. His attempt to bring changes in the primary education policy as chief minister was slammed by the Dravadian parties. He eventually resigned from the post in April 1954.
In 1957 he left the Congress and two years later formed the Swatantra Party along with Murari Vaidya and Minoo Masani. The party was supported by some rulers of the erstwhile princely states. The term 'license-permit Raj' was coined by Rajagopalachari and ever since became a shorthand for business-unfriendly government policies. It would gain much wider respectability nearly two and a half decades after Rajagopalachari's death when the Congress government under P.V. Narashima Rao opened up the Indian economy in 1991.
The Swatantra Party tied up with the DMK and Forward Bloc to form a non-Congress government in Madras in 1967 and also won 45 seats in the Lok Sabha polls.
Apart from being a statesman who possessed foresight and an ability to think rationally, C. Rajagopalachari was a great socialist and an erudite scholar. He condemned orthodox religious and social customs. The ushering in of the Madras Temple Entry Act, 1939, and the introduction of prohibition during his chief-minister ship of Madras (in the pre-independence era) reflect his zeal for social reform. He also advocated upliftment of Harijans and other depressed classes and played a leading role in the Poona settlement.
He was also an outstanding intellectual. He read English literature extensively, and was particularly influenced by the writings of Thoreau and Tolstoy. He also contributed articles, both in English and Tamil, to several journals. His views on political problems are contained in the articles in the journal Swarajya and in the collection Satyam Eva Jayate. Awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1954, 'Rajaji' (as he was fondly called) passed away in 1972.
2.0 GOPAL KRISHNA GOKHALE
Gopal Krishna Gokhale was born on May 9, 1866 in Kotaluk, Maharashtra, a state on the western coast of India that was then part of the Bombay Presidency.
Gokhale became a member of the Indian National Congress in 1889, as a protégé of social reformer Mahadev Govind Ranade. Along with other contemporary leaders like Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Dadabhai Naoroji, Bipin Chandra Pal, Lala Lajpat Rai and Annie Besant, Gokhale fought for decades to obtain greater political representation and power over public affairs for common Indians. He was a moderate in his views and attitudes, and sought to petition the British authorities by cultivating a process of dialogue and discussion which would yield greater British respect for Indian rights. Gokhale had visited Ireland and had arranged for an Irish nationalist, Alfred Webb, to serve as President of the Indian National Congress in 1894.
The following year, Gokhale became the Congress's joint secretary along with Tilak. In many ways, Tilak and Gokhale's early careers paralleled - both were Chitpavan Brahmin (though unlike Gokhale, Tilak was wealthy), both attended Elphinstone College, both became mathematics professors, and both were important members of the Deccan Education Society when they became active in the Congress, however, the divergence of their views concerning how best to improve the lives of Indians became increasingly apparent.
Gokhale's first major confrontation with Tilak centered around one of his pet projects, the Age of Consent Bill introduced by the British Imperial Government, in 1891-92. Gokhale and his fellow liberal reformers, wishing to purge what they saw as superstitions and abuses from their native Hinduism, wished through the Consent Bill to curb child marriage abuses. Though the Bill was not extreme, only raising the age of consent from ten to twelve, Tilak took issue with it; he did not object per se to the idea of moving towards the elimination of child marriage, but rather to the idea of British interference with Hindu tradition. For Tilak, such reform movements were not to be sought after under imperial rule when they would be enforced by the British, but rather after independence was achieved when Indians would enforce it on themselves. Despite Tilak's opposition, however, Gokhale and the reformers won the day and the bill became law in the Bombay Presidency.
In 1905, Gokhale became president of the Indian National Congress. Gokhale used his now considerable influence to undermine his longtime rival, Tilak, refusing to support Tilak as candidate for president of the Congress in 1906. By now, Congress was split: Gokhale and Tilak were the respective leaders of the moderates and the "extremists" (the latter now known by the more politically correct term, 'aggressive nationalists') in the Congress. Tilak was an advocate of civil agitation and direct revolution to overthrow the British Empire, whereas Gokhale was a moderate reformist. As a result, the Congress Party split into two wings and was largely robbed of its effectiveness for a decade. The two sides would later patch up in 1916 after Gokhale passed away. The formal split happened in Surat in 1907.
Servants of India Society: In 1905, when Gokhale was elected president of the Indian National Congress and was at the height of his political power, he founded the Servants of India Society to specifically further one of the causes dearest to his heart: the expansion of Indian education. For Gokhale, true political change in India would only be possible when a new generation of Indians became educated as to their civil and patriotic duty to their country and to each other. Believing existing educational institutions and the Indian Civil Service did not do enough to provide Indians with opportunities to gain this political education, Gokhale hoped the Servants of India Society would fill this need. In his preamble to the SIS's constitution, Gokhale wrote that "The Servants of India Society will train men prepared to devote their lives to the cause of country in a religious spirit, and will seek to promote, by all constitutional means, the national interests of the Indian people."
The Society took up the cause of promoting Indian education in earnest, and among its many projects organized mobile libraries, founded schools, and provided night classes for factory workers. Although the Society lost much of its vigor following Gokhale's death, it still exists to this day, though its membership is small.
Involvement with British Imperial Government: Gokhale, though an earlier leader of the Indian nationalist movement, was not primarily concerned with independence but rather with social reform; he believed such reform would be best achieved by working within existing British government institutions, a position which earned him the enmity of more aggressive nationalists such as Tilak. Undeterred by such opposition, Gokhale would work directly with the British throughout his political career in order to further his reform goals.
In 1899, Gokhale was elected to the Bombay Legislative Council, where he served until he was elected to the Imperial Legislative Council in 1902. He then obtained a reputation as extremely knowledgeable and contributed significantly to the annual budget debates. Gokhale developed so great a reputation among the British that he was invited to London to meet with secretary of state Lord John Morley, with whom he established a rapport. Gokhale would help during visit to shape the Morley-Minto Reforms introduced in1909. Gokhale was appointed a CIE (Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire) in the 1904 New Year's Honours List, a formal recognition by the Empire for his service.
Mentor to both Jinnah and Gandhi: Gokhale was famously a mentor to Mahatma Gandhi in his formative years. In 1912, Gokhale visited South Africa at Gandhi's invitation. As a young barrister, Gandhi returned from his struggles against the Empire in South Africa and received personal guidance from Gokhale, including a knowledge and understanding of India and the issues confronting common Indians. By 1920, Gandhi emerged as the leader of the Indian Independence Movement. In his autobiography, Gandhi calls Gokhale his mentor and guide. Gandhi also recognised Gokhale as an admirable leader and master politician, describing him as 'pure as crystal, gentle as a lamb, brave as a lion and chivalrous to a fault and the most perfect man in the political field'.
Despite his deep respect for Gokhale, however, Gandhi would reject Gokhale's faith in western institutions as a means of achieving political reform and ultimately chose not to become a member of Gokhale's Servants of India Society.
The Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (GIPE), commonly known as Gokhale Institute, is one of the oldest research and training institutes in Economics in India. It is located on BMCC Road in the Deccan Gymkhana area of Pune, Maharashtra. The Institute was founded with an endowment offered to the Servants of India Society by Shri R R Kale. The Servants of India Society are the trustees of the Institute.
Death: Gokhale continued to be politically active through the last years of his life. This included extensive travelling abroad: in addition to his 1908 trip to England, he also visited South Africa in 1912, where his protégé Gandhi was working to improve conditions for the Indian minority living there. Meanwhile, he continued to be involved in the Servants of India Society, the Congress, and the Legislative Council while constantly advocating the advancement of Indian education. All these stresses took their toll, however, and Gokhale died on Feb 19 1915 at forty-nine years of age.
Impact on Indian Nationalist Movement: Gokhale's impact on the course of the Indian nationalist movement was considerable. Through his close relationship with the highest levels of British imperial government, Gokhale forced India's colonial masters to recognize the capabilities of a new generation of educated Indians and to include them more than ever before in the governing process. Gokhale's firm belief in the need for a spiritualization of politics, social amelioration and universal education deeply inspired the next great man on the Indian political stage, Mohandas K. Gandhi; his ultimate faith in western political institutions and classical liberalism, though rejected by Gandhi, would ironically come to ultimate fruition in the Westminster model of government adopted by an independent India in 1950.
3.0 LALA LAJPAT RAI
The “Lal” in the famous Lal-Bal-Pal, Lala Lajpat Rai was one of the foremost leaders who fought against British rule in India. He was popularly known as Punjab Kesari (Lion of the Punjab).
Lala Lajpat Rai was born on January 28, 1865 in village Dhudike, in present day Moga district of Punjab. He was the eldest son of Munshi Radha Kishan Azad and Gulab Devi. His mother inculcated strong moral values in him.
Lala Lajpat Rai joined the Government College at Lahore in 1880 to study Law. While in college he came in contact with patriots and future freedom fighters like Lala Hans Raj and Pandit Guru Dutt. The three became fast friends and joined the Arya Samaj founded by Swami Dayanand Saraswati: He passed his Vakilship Examination in Second Division from Government College in 1885 and started his legal practice in Hissar. Besides practicing, Lalaji collected funds for the Dayanand College, attended Arya Samaj functions and participated in Congress activities. He was elected to the Hissar municipality as a member and later as secretary. He shifted to Lahore in 1892.
Lala Lajpat Rai was one of the three most prominent Hindu Nationalist members of the Indian National Congress. He was part of the famous Lal-Bal-Pal trio. The other two members of the trio were Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Bipin Chandra Pal. They formed the extremist faction of the Indian National Congress, as opposed to the moderate one led first by Gopal Krishna Gokhale. Lalaji actively participated in the struggle against partition of Bengal. Along with Surendra Nath Banerjee, Bipin Chandra Pal and Aurorbindo Ghosh, he galvanized Bengal and the nation in a vigorous campaign of Swadeshi. Lalaji was arrested on May 3, 1907 for creating "turmoil" in Rawalpindi. He was put in Mandalay jail for six months and was released on November 11, 1907.
Lalaji believed that it was important for the national cause to organize propaganda in foreign countries to explain India's position because the freedom struggle had taken a militant turn. He left for Britain in April 1914 for this purpose. At this time First World War broke out and he was unable to return to India. He went to USA to galvanize support for India. He founded the Indian Home League Society of America and wrote a book called "Young India". The book severely indicted British rule in India and was banned in Britain and India even before it was published. He was able to return to India in 1920 after the end of World War.
After his return, Lala Lajpat Rai led the Punjab protests against the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre and as part of the Non-Cooperation Movement. He was arrested several times. He disagreed with Gandhiji's suspension of Non-Cooperation movement due to the Chauri-Chaura incident 1922, and formed the Congress Independence Party, which had a pro-Hindu slant.
In 1928, British Government decided to send Simon Commission to India to discuss constitutional reforms. The Commission had no Indian member. This greatly angered Indians. In 1929, when the Commisssion came to India there were protests all over India. Lala Lajpat Rai himself led one such procession against Simon Commission. While the procession was peaceful, British Government brutally lathicharged the procession. Lala Lajpat Rai received severe head injuries and died on November 17, 1928. Lala Lajpat Rai was one of the foremost leaders who fought against British rule in India. His life and work proved how well he deserved the Punjab Kesari (Lion of the Punjab) title.
4.0 MAULANA ABUL KALAM AZAD
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad's real name was Abul Kalam Ghulam Muhiyuddin. He was popularly known as Maulana Azad. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was one of the foremost leaders of Indian freedom struggle. He was also a renowned scholar, and poet. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was well versed in many languages viz. Arabic, English, Urdu, Hindi, Persian and Bengali. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was a brilliant debater, as indicated by his name, Abul Kalam, which literally means "Lord of dialogue". He adopted the pen name Azad as a mark of his mental emancipation from a narrow view of religion and life.
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was born on November 11, 1888 in Mecca. His forefathers came from Herat (a city in Afghanistan) in Babar's days. Azad was a descendent of a lineage of learned Muslim scholars, or maulanas. His mother was an Arab and the daughter of Sheikh Mohammad Zaher Watri and his father, Maulana Khairuddin, was a Bengali Muslim of Afghan origins. Khairuddin left India during the Sepoy Mutiny and proceeded to Mecca and settled there. He came back to Calcutta with his family in 1890.
Because of his orthodox family background Azad had to pursue traditional Islamic education. He was taught at home, first by his father and later by appointed teachers who were eminent in their respective fields. Azad learned Arabic and Persian first and then philosophy, geometry, mathematics and algebra. He also learnt English, world history, and politics through self-study.
Azad was trained and educated to become a clergyman. He wrote many works, reinterpreting the holy Quran. His erudition let him to repudiate Taqliq or the tradition of conformity and accept the principle of Tajdid or innovation. He developed interest in the pan-Islamic doctrines of Jamaluddin Afghani and the Aligarh thought of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. Imbued with the pan-Islamic spirit, he visited Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt, Syria and Turkey. In Iraq he met the exiled revolutionaries who were fighting to establish a constitutional government in Iran. In Egypt he met Shaikh Muhammad Abduh and Saeed Pasha and other revolutionary activists of the Arab world. He had a first hand knowledge of the ideals and spirit of the young Turks in Constantinople. All these contacts metamorphosed him into a nationalist revolutionary.
On his return from abroad; Azad met two leading revolutionaries of Bengal - Aurobindo Ghosh and Sri Shyam Shundar Chakravarty - and joined the revolutionary movement against British rule. Azad found that the revolutionary activities were restricted to Bengal and Bihar. Within two years, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad helped set up secret revolutionary centers all over north India and Bombay. During that time most of the revolutionaries were anti-Muslim because they felt that the British government was using the Muslim community against India's freedom struggle. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad tried to convince his colleagues to shed their hostility towards Muslims.
In 1912, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad started a weekly journal in Urdu called Al-Hilal to increase the revolutionary recruits amongst the Muslims. Al-Hilal played an important role in forging Hindu-Muslim unity after the bad blood created between the two communities in the aftermath of Morley-Minto reforms. Al-Hilal became a revolutionary mouthpiece ventilating extremist views. The government regarded Al- Hilal as propagator of secessionist views and banned it in 1914. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad then started another weekly called Al-Balagh with the same mission of propagating Indian nationalism and revolutionary ideas based on Hindu-Muslim unity. In 1916, the government banned this paper too and expelled Maulana Abul Kalam Azad from Calcutta and arrested him at Ranchi from where he was released after the First World War 1920.
After his release, Azad roused the Muslim community through the Khilafat Movement. The aim of the movement was to re-instate the Khalifa as the head of British captured Turkey (after the World War I). Maulana Abul Kalam Azad supporded Non-Cooperation Movement started by Gandhiji and entered Indian National Congress in 1920. He was elected as the president of the special session of the Congress in Delhi (1923). Maulana Azad was again arrested in 1930 for violation of the salt laws as part of Gandhiji's Salt Satyagraha. He was put in Meerut jail for a year and a half. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad became the president of Congress in 1940 (Ramgarh) and remained in the post till 1946. He was a staunch opponent of partition and supported a confederation of autonomous provinces with their own constitutions but common defense and economy. Partition hurt him greatly and shattered his dream of a unified nation where Hindus and Muslims can co-exist and prosper together.
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad served as the Minister of Education (the first education minister in independent India) in Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's cabinet from 1947 to 1958. He died of a stroke on February 22, 1958. For his invaluable contribution to the nation, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was posthumously awarded India's highest civilian honour, Bharat Ratna in 1992.
Thirty pages of the book India Wins Freedom written by him were published thirty years after his death. In this he blames both Nehru and Sardar Patel for the partition of India. According to the Maulana, Nehru made a mistake by refusing to take two Muslim League members as cabinet ministers after provincial elections in 1937 in U.P. It made Jinnah distrustful of the Congress leaders whom he began to describe as 'Hindu' leaders.
Second mistake committed by Jawaharlal Nehru was his statement to the press in July 1946 after taking over as president of the Congress in which he said Cabinet Mission Plan could be changed. Muslim League and Congress both had accepted the Plan and to give such statement in an atmosphere of distrust and mutual suspicion was certainly a mistake. That finally drove Jinnah to insist on partition. And British could achieve what they had wanted.
5.0 J.B. Kripalani and Sucheta Kripalani
Jivatram Bhagwandas Kripalani, popularly known as Acharya Kripalani, was born at Hyderabad (Sindh) in 1888 in an upper middle-class Hindu Kshatriya Amil family. His father, Kaka Bhagwandas, was a Tahsildar (Revenue and Judical officer) in Government service. He was a staunch Vaishnava, who lived an austere life in his cottage built in front of the main family house. He was respected by his family and his neighbours, but there was a large element of fear in that respect. For, with a venerable figure he had a quick temper that spared no one.
He had seven sons and one daughter, J. B. Kripalani being the sixth among the children. The second and the third brother of Kripalani became converts to Islam. One died as an absconder during the Khilafat movement and was believed to have intrigued with Afganistan for the invasion of India. The other died in Turkey while defending it against the Greeks before the First Great War. The eldest brother was the first Amil Hindu to open a Swadeshi shop and later a leather shop.
The seventh brother put on the robe of a Sanyasi, with so much fire in it that Kripalani feared him (if he feared anybody). Kripalani's sister Kikiben devoted herself to the national cause. It was a family of high strung individuals, with alert eyes and warm hearts. All of them slept very little, had sharp tongues, but strong likes along with dislikes. It was fundamentally a religious-minded family in a community which had little value for religion.
Having passed the Matriculation examination in Sindh, Kripalani joined Wilson College, Bombay, for higher studies. He was, however, not very serious about his studies and detested all subjects of study except English poetry. He devoted on English poets as much as he later hated the English rulers. Those were days of the Bengal partition when there was a ferment among students. Kripalani also caught the spirit and raised enough trouble for the authorities of the Wilson College to be forced to migrate to the quieter atmosphere of the D.J. Sindh College at Karachi.
Here too he got himself involved in trouble. It was in 1907 and Kripalani was then in the B.A. class. The Principal of the College made an indiscreet remark about Indians being liars. Immediately there was a strike in which Kripalani and his fellow students got their first lesson in political agitation. Kripalani was rusticated, and since he could not get admitted in any of the Colleges in Bombay, he went to Poona and joined the Fergusson College run by a group of nationalists. Kripalani was warned by the authorities of the College not to get involved in agitations.
In 1908 he graduated from the Fergusson College. Later he took his M. A. in History and Economics.
Kripalani chose teaching as his career. From 1912 to 1917 he worked as a Professor of English and History at Muzaffarpur College in Bihar. For a short period, he taught at the Benares Hindu University (1919-20) and from 1920 to 1927 he served as the Principal of the Gujarat Vidyapeeth founded by Mahatma Gandhi. From 1927 he became fully engrossed in the Ashram work and in the political movements of the Indian National Congress. It was during his days at the Gujarat Vidyapeeth that he came to be called as Acharya which stuck to his name ever since. Among his political co-workers he was known as 'Dada' or elder brother.
Kripalani first came into contact with Gandhiji in 1917 during the Champaran Satyagraha and that proved to be a turning point in his life. He had met Gandhi earlier at Shantiniketan in 1915 but did not think much of his ideas. It was the Champaran Satyagraha which completely converted him to Gandhian ideology. Since then Kripalani had been an ardent and devoted follower of Gandhi and an exponent on Gandhian philosophy.
He was, however, not a Gandhite in the ordinary sense. Probably he loved the man Gandhi more than the creed known as Gandhism. Gandhiji had many followers who had adopted his creed. Generally the followers of a great man soon reduce the living master to a dead idol. Kripalani was to live enough to keep the master living even after his death.
Another turning point in his life was his marriage with Sucheta in 1936. She was then teaching in the Women's College at the Benares Hindu University. Her cousin was the Secretary of the Gandhi Ashram at Benares started by Kripalani, and it was through him that he came to know his wife-to-be. The marriage was celebrated with the blessings of Gandhiji and there was also a special ceremony at the Anand Bhavan of the Nehru family.
It turned out to be the happiest partnership in life. For nearly four decades there had been the closest understanding between the husband and the wife; and although in the post Independence period the two differed in their political ideas and party affiliations, it did not in the least touch their home life.
From the late twenties Kripalani devoted himself wholly to Congress work. He steadily built up his position in the organisation, and from 1934 to 1945 he served as the General Secretary. He, however, always kept himself in the background and never tried to push himself into prominence like many others in the Congress. As Bapuji's disciple, he was content with being a silent worker. During the Congress rift in 1938 over the election of Subhash Chandra Bose as President, Kripalani sided with Gandhi.
He took part in all the Congress movements since 1921 and had his quota of jail-life on different occasions. During the Quit India movement in 1942 he was arrested and was released along with the other Congress leaders in 1945. He was elected President of the Indian National Congress in November 1946 and steered the organisation through the critical days of the transfer of power.
In November 1947 he presided over a very crucial meeting of the A.I.C.C. where he differed sharply from many of his former colleagues. Kripalani insisted on retaining the supremacy of the organisational wing of the Congress over the Parliamentary wing, which was resisted by Nehru, Patel and others who were now in the Government. To prevent disharmony and rift within the Congress Kripalani finally tendered his resignation as President, being succeeded by Dr. Rajendra Prasad.
Though he remained a member of the Constituent Assembly, Kripalani gradually drifted away from his old comrades until he resigned from the Congress Party itself in 1951. He then started a weekly called the Vigil and a new political party known as the Krishak Mazdoor Praja Party which subsequently merged into the Praja Socialist Party. But in 1954 he resigned and became an independent for the rest of his parliamentary life.
He had grown into an old experienced parliamentarian who was a distinguished opposition leader without being a member of any opposition party. His parliamentary career came to an end in 1971 as no party wanted to support him during elections. Kripalani had written a number of books on Gandhian philosophy, the more important being: 'Non-Violent Revolution', 'The Gandhian Way', 'The Indian National Congress', "The Fateful Years', 'The Politics of Chakra', 'The Father of the Congress' and 'The Gandhian Critique'.
Sucheta Kriplani was born in 1908 in Ambala, Haryana. She belonged to a Bengali family. Before marriage her surname was Mazumdar. She was the daughter of S.N. Majumdar, who was a government doctor and a nationalist. Sucheta Kriplani received education from Indraprastha College and St.Stephen’s College, Delhi. After that she joined Banaras Hindu University as a lecturer. In 1936 Sucheta Kriplani came into contact with great socialist leader Acharya Kriplani and married him. She also joined in the Indian National Congress and actively participated in the Indian Freedom Movement.
In 1946, on Gandhiji’s advice she was appointed Organizing Secretary of the Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust. This led to her traveling all over India all along with Thakkar Bapa, who had been appointed Secretary of the Trust. It was also in the same year that Gandhiji sent Dada Kriplani to Noakhali, following the communal holocaust that had wrought havoc there. In 1942 she took part in the Quit India Movement along with Aruna Asaf Ali and Usha Mehta. During communal violence Sucheta Kriplani went to Noakhali with Gandhiji and worked hard. Sucheta insisted on going along with him and even when Dada came back from there she stayed on and became a real mother to the victims of atrocities.
It was in 1952 that Dada Kripalani resigned as Congress President due to his differences with Jawaharlal Nehru, and set up the Krishak Mazdoor Praja Party before the first general election in 1952. In this election, Suchetaji won a seat to the Lok Sabha from New Delhi as a K.M.P.P. candidate. Before that she had been a member of the Constituent Assembly. She had also been a delegate of India to the U.N.
Sucheta Kriplani was a very good organizer and she helped J B Kriplani in organizing the various parties with which he became involved after leaving the Congress. When she joined the Congress after the split in the Congress in 1969, Dada Kriplani did not do the same. Suchetaji helped in organizing the party in Delhi and elsewhere. When the student movement started in 1974, she took an active interest in it. Since, they both were in different parties, they were very professional and Suchetaji did not go out to canvass votes for her husband, but she was with him, which was to see to his comfort and needs and to take care of his health.
She was a very good parliamentarian and was very articulate in the Lok Sabha debates. Circumstances, however, pulled her away into the provincial politics of UP, where Congress was divided into two groups, one led by Kamalapati Tripathi and the other by C.B. Gupta. Their power struggle led to C.B. Gupta urging Suchetaji to leave Delhi and assume the chief ministership of U.P., since he had lost the election. As the Chief Minister she did a very good job. She showed herself to be a very efficient administrator and an able politician. She was intelligent, hard-working, well read and had a lot of studious habits. Moreover, she was an honest and sincere person. Thus, she is still remembered by old-timers as the best Chief Minister UP ever had, since her lifestyle was also very simple, very unlikely to a CM’s position.
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