New Delhi, October 11 (Daily Kiran) : Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia, a fearless freedom fighter, prominent thinker, and pioneer of socialism, is remembered on his death anniversary on October 12. Born on March 23, 1910, in Ambedkar Nagar, Uttar Pradesh, Lohia’s life exemplified the remarkable blend of thought and action. After losing his mother, Chanda Devi, at a young age, he was raised by his grandmother and family. His father, Heeralal, a teacher and Gandhian, took him to Congress sessions from an early age.
Lohia began his education at Tandon School and Visheshwar Nath High School. In 1920, following the death of Lokmanya Tilak, he led his first school strike. At just ten years old, he left school in response to Gandhi’s call. He met Jawaharlal Nehru during the farmers’ movement in Faizabad in 1921. He completed his intermediate studies at Kashi University, where he also adopted khadi. In 1927, he moved to Kolkata’s Vidyasagar College and became active in student politics, playing a significant role in the Simon Commission boycott movement.
In 1930, he traveled to England for higher education, later moving to Berlin. He quickly learned German and earned a doctorate from Berlin University in 1932, focusing on the topic of the Salt Satyagraha under the guidance of renowned economist Prof. Berner Jembart. While in Berlin, he famously protested against Bhagat Singh’s execution by causing a commotion at a League of Nations meeting.
Upon returning to India in 1933, Lohia laid the groundwork for the socialist movement. He played a pivotal role in establishing the Congress Socialist Party in Patna on May 17, 1934, and in Bombay on October 21-22, 1934. By 1935, he became the minister for the Congress’s foreign affairs department.
During World War II, he openly opposed war conscription and war loans, leading to a two-year prison sentence in 1940. In the 1942 Quit India Movement, when major leaders were arrested, Lohia continued to lead the movement underground. Alongside Achyut Patwardhan and Usha Mehta, he operated a clandestine radio station and wrote pamphlets like “Jang Aage Badho.” After his arrest in 1944, he was held in the same dark cell in Lahore Fort where Bhagat Singh had been executed fourteen years earlier.
After being released from prison on April 11, 1946, Lohia led his first Satyagraha against Portuguese rule in Goa on June 18, 1946, igniting the Goa liberation movement. After India’s independence, he distanced himself from Congress, steering the socialist movement in a new direction. At the Patna conference in 1949, he proposed the concept of a “Chowkhamba State,” advocating equal power for villages, districts, states, and the center. He was instrumental in forming the Praja Socialist Party in 1952 and later the Socialist Party in 1955.
Lohia is often referred to as the “architect of anti-Congressism.” He believed that Congress had become authoritarian after holding power for too long. This perspective contributed to Congress’s losses in nine states during the 1967 elections, paving the way for India’s first non-Congress government in 1977. His debate in the Lok Sabha about “three annas versus fifteen annas” remains historically significant, highlighting the contrast between national poverty and government spending.
In 1957, he initiated the “Remove English” movement, clarifying that it meant “bring in the mother tongue,” not just Hindi. He argued that if government work was conducted in a language millions did not understand, it was akin to sorcery. He envisioned a nation where every Indian took pride in their language.
Dr. Lohia was admitted to Willingdon Hospital in Delhi for surgery on September 30, 1967, where he passed away on October 12, 1967, at the age of 57. A symbol of the unity of thought and action, Lohia remains one of the greatest inspirations for integrity and indigenous thought in Indian politics today.
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