Ram Manohar Lohia

Ram manohar Lohia
Born	(1910-03-23)23 March 1910 Akbarpur, Uttar Pradesh, British India
Died	12 October 1967(1967-10-12) (aged 57) New Delhi, India
Nationality	Indian
Education	B.A.
Alma mater	Calcutta University
Known for	Quit India Movement
Parent(s)	Hari Lal and Chanda

Rammanohar Lohia (b: March 23,1910- d: October 12, 1967) was an Indian freedom fighter and a Nationalist political leader.

Early life

Lohia was born in a village Akbarpur in Ambedkar Nagar district, Uttar Pradesh, in India to Hira Lal, a nationalist and Chanda,a teacher. He was born to Marwari Maheshwari family. His mother died when he was very young. Ram was introduced to the Indian Independence Movement at an early age by his father through the various protest assemblies Hira Lal took his son to. Ram made his first contribution to the freedom struggle by organizing a small hartal on the death of Lokmanya Tilak.

Hari Lal, an ardent follower of Mahatma Gandhi, took his son along on a meeting with the Mahatma. This meeting deeply influenced Lohia and sustained him during trying circumstances and helped seed his thoughts, actions and love for swaraj. Ram was so impressed by Gandhiji's spiritual power and radiant self-control that he pledged to follow 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.

Lohia met Jawaharlal Nehru in 1921. Over the years they developed a close friendship. Lohia, however, never hesitated to censure Nehru on his political beliefs and openly expressed disagreement with Nehru on many key issues. Lohia organized a student protest in 1928 to protest the all-white Simon Commission which was to consider the possibility of granting India dominion status without requiring consultation of the Indian people.

Lohia attended the Banaras Hindu University to complete his intermediate course work after standing first in his school's matric examinations. In 1929, Lohia completed his B.A. from Calcutta University. He decided to attend Berlin University, Germany over all prestigious educational institutes in Britain to convey his dim view of British philosophy. He soon learned German and received financial assistance based on his outstanding academic performance.

Freedom Fighter

While in Europe, Lohia attended the League of Nations assembly in Geneva. India was represented by the Maharaja of Bikaner, an ally of the British Raj. Lohia took exception to this and launched a protest then and there from the visitors gallery. He fired several letters to editors of newspapers and magazines to clarify the reasons for his protest. The whole incident made Lohia a recognized figure in India overnight. Lohia helped organize the Association of European Indians and became secretary of the club. The main focus of the organization was to preserve and expand Indian nationalism outside of India.

Lohia wrote his PhD thesis paper on the topic of Salt Satyagraha, focusing on Gandhiji's socio-economic theory.

Return to India

Lohia joined the Indian National Congress as soon as he returned to India. Lohia was attracted to socialism and helped lay the foundation of Congress Socialist Party, founded 1934, by writing many impressive articles on the feasibility of a socialist India, especially for its journal, the Congress Socialist. When elected to the All India Congress Committee in 1936, Lohia formed a foreign affairs department for the first time. Nehru appointed Lohia as the first secretary of the committee. During the two years that he served he helped define what would be India's foreign policy.

In the onset of the Second World War, Lohia saw an opportunity to collapse the British Raj in India. He made a series of caustic speeches urging Indians to boycott all government institutions. He was arrested on May 24, 1939, but released by authorities the very next day in fear of a youth uprising.

Soon after his release, Lohia wrote an article called "Satyagraha Now" in Gandhiji's newspaper, Harijan, on June 1, 1940. Within six days of the publication of the article, he was arrested and sentenced to two years of jail. During his sentencing the Magistrate said, "He (Lohia) is a top-class scholar, civilized gentleman, has liberal ideology and high moral character." In a meeting of the Congress Working Committee Gandhi said, "I cannot sit quiet as long as Dr. Rammanohar Lohia is in prison. I do not yet know a person braver and simpler than him. He never propagated violence. Whatever he has done has increased his esteem and his honor." Lohia was mentally tortured and interrogated by his jailers. In December 1941, all the arrested Congress leaders, including Lohia, were released in a desperate attempt by the government to stabilize India internally.

He vigorously wrote articles to spread the message of toppling the British imperialist governments from countries in Asia and Africa. He also came up with a hypothetical blueprint for new Indian cities that could self-administer themselves so well that there would not be need for the police or army.(need Citation)

Quit India

See Also: Quit India Movement, Indian National Congress

Gandhi and the Indian National Congress launched the Quit India movement in 1942. Prominent leaders, including Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru and Maulana Azad, were jailed. The "secondary cadre" stepped-up to the challenge to continue the struggle and to keep the flame for swaraj burning within the people's hearts. Leaders who were still free carried out their operations from underground. Lohia printed and distributed many posters, pamphlets and bulletins on the theme of "Do or Die" on his secret printing-press. Lohia, along with freedom fighter Usha Mehta, broadcast messages in Bombay from a secret radio station called Congress Radio for three months before detection, as a measure to give the disarrayed Indian population a sense of hope and spirit in absence of their leaders. He also edited Inquilab (Revolution), a Congress Party monthly along with Aruna Asaf Ali,Abdan Shaikh and Madiha took part in the Quit India Movement.

Lohia then went to Calcutta to revive the movement there. He changed his name to hide from the police who were closing in on him. Lohia fled to Nepal's dense jungles to evade the British. There he met, among other Nepalese revolutionaries, the Koirala brothers, who remained Lohia's allies for the rest of their lives.

Lohia was captured in May 1944, in Bombay. Lohia was taken to a notorious prison in Lahore, where it is alleged that he underwent extreme torture. His health was destroyed but even though he was never as fit his courage and willpower strengthened through the ordeal. Under Gandhiji's pressure, the Government released Lohia and his comrade Jayaprakash Narayan.

As India's tryst with freedom neared, Hindu-Muslim strife increased. Lohia strongly opposed partitioning India in his speeches and writings. He appealed to communities in riot torn regions to stay united, ignore the violence surrounding them and stick to Gandhiji's ideals of non-violence. On 15 August 1947, as the rest of India's leadership gathered in Delhi for the handover of power, Lohia stayed by Gandhiji's side as he mourned the effects of Partition.

Goa & Nepal

Following his release by the British at Gandhi's intervention, Lohia decided to vacation with a communist friend in Goa, Juliao Menezes12 & 3, author of the anti-Catholic and anti-Portuguese work "Contra Roma e além de Benares" ("Against Rome And Returning To Benares"), 1939 Contra Roma e além de Benares.

Juliao Menezes has admitted that his intention in inviting Lohia to Goa was to "disturb the peace in Goa" (Ben Antao: Dr. Juliao Menezes, A Glimpse).

Moreover, Jawaharlal Nehru publicly admitted that Goa was foreign territory where Indian politicians had no business ("Eighteen years ago a Congress Committee was started in Goa by Mr. Tristao Braganza Cunha and for some years he was a member of the All-India Congress Committee. Later under the constitution of the Congress such foreign committees were not affiliated" Maharashtra State Gazeteer).

Once there, despite being an outsider and a tourist, Lohia began to meddle in local political affairs, assisting the miniscule Goan Communist movement and fostering sedition. He decided to deliver a public speech but was arrested, briefly imprisoned, then expelled to British India.

Gandhi wrote to vehemently protest the Goan Government's actions, affirming Indian irredentism vis-a-vis Goa, stating that Goa would not be allowed to remain separate from India.

Gandhi said in response to the Goan Government's arrest & expulsion of Lohia:

"The little Portuguese settlement which merely exists on the sufferance of the British Government can ill afford to ape its bad manners. In free India, Goa cannot be allowed to exist as a separate entity in opposition to the laws of the free State. Without a shot being fired, the people of Goa will be able to claim and receive the rights of citizenship of the free State. The present Portuguese Government will no longer be able to rely upon the protection of British arms to isolate and keep under subjection the inhabitants of Goa against their will. I would venture to advise the Portuguese Government of Goa to recognize the signs of the times and come to honourable terms with the inhabitants, rather than function on any treaty that might exist between them and the British Government" (H, 30-6-1946, p. 208 Source: http://www.mkgandhi.org/momgandhi/chap69.htm)

Gandhi also said:

"...it is ridiculous... to write of Portugal as the Motherland of the Indians of Goa. Their mother country is as much India as is mine. Goa is outside British India, but it is within geographical India as a whole. And there is very little, if anything, in common between the Portuguese and the Indians in Goa." (H, 8-9-1946, p. 305. Source: http://www.mkgandhi.org/momgandhi/chap69.htm)

Lohia attempted to re-enter Goa again on September 28, 1946 but was arrested at the Colem Railway Station at Colem, jailed with solitary confinement and then once again expelled with a ban on his re-entry for the next five years (http://www.navhindtimes.in/iwatch/man-behind-goa-s-revolution).

When he began to prepare to enter Goa a third time, he desisted on the advice of Gandhi & Nehru http://www.maharashtra.gov.in/english/gazetteer/VOL-VIII-PART-I/GOA_FREEDOM_VOL_VIII_PART_I_PAGE_50_100.pdf).

In alliance with his socialist and communist friends in Nepal, Lohia then began a parallel movement to bring Nepal within the ambit of the Indian state, Indian and Congress politics. While his friends, the Koiralas and their Nepal Congress, remained personally popular, the masses of the Nepalese people reacted negatively and with hostility at this attempt to extend Indian irredentism against them, aggressively forcing Lohia on the backfoot and to precipately abandon the notion.

Post Independence

Dr. Lohia favored Hindi as the official language of India, arguing

"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."

Lohia decided to make the mass public realize the importance of economic robustness for the nation's future.

He encouraged public involvement in post-freedom reconstruction. He pressed people to construct canals, wells and roads voluntarily in their neighborhood. He volunteered himself to build a dam on river Paniyari which is standing till this day and is called "Lohia Sagar Dam." Lohia said "satyagraha without constructive work is like a sentence without a verb." He felt that public work would bring unity and a sense of awareness in the community. He also was instrumental in having 60 percent of the seats in the legislature reserved for minorities, lower classes, and women.

As a democracy, the Parliament of India was obliged to listen to citizens' complaints. 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. Lohia shook things up. He had written a pamphlet, "25000 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. 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.Member after member gave up his time to Lohia as he built his case, demolishing the Planning Commission statistics as fanciful. Not that the Commission was attempting to mislead, but the reality was that a small number of rich people were pulling up the average to present a wholly unrealistic picture. At that time, Lohia's figure was true for over 70% of the population.

Unlike the Marxist theories which became fashionable in the third world in the 1950s and 1960s, Lohia recognized that caste, more than class, was the huge stumbling block to India's progress.It was Lohia's thesis that India had suffered reverses throughout her history because people had viewed themselves as members of a caste rather than citizens of a country.

Caste, as Lohia put it, was congealed class. Class was mobile caste. As such, the country was deprived of fresh ideas, because of the narrowness and stultification of thought at the top, which was composed mainly of the upper castes, Brahmins and Baniyas, and tight compartmentalization even there, the former dominant in the intellectual arena and the latter in the business. A proponent of affirmative action, he compared it to turning the earth to foster a better crop, urging the upper castes, as he put it, "to voluntarily serve as the soil for lower castes to flourish and grow", so that the country would profit from a broader spectrum of talent and ideas.

In Lohia's words, "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".In his own party, the Samyukta (United) Socialist Party, Lohia promoted lower caste candidates both by giving electoral tickets and high party positions. Though he talked about caste incessantly, he was not a casteist—his aim was to make sure people voted for the Socialist party candidate, no matter what his or her caste. His point was that in order to make the country strong, everyone needed to have a stake in it. To eliminate caste, his aphoristic prescription was, "Roti and Beti", that is, people would have to break caste barriers to eat together (Roti) and be willing to give their girls in marriage to boys from other castes (Beti).

Lohia's views on Capitalism and Marxism

Lohia was early to recognize that Marxism and Capitalism were similar in that both were proponents of the Big Machine. It was his belief that Big Industry was no solution for the third world (he even warned Americans, back in 1951, about their lives being taken over by big corporations). He called Marxism the "last weapon of Europe against Asia". Propounding the "Principle of Equal Irrelevance", he rejected both Marxism and Capitalism, which were often presented as the only alternatives for third world nations. Nehru too had a similar view, at least insofar as he observed to Andre Malraux that his challenge was to "build a just society by just means". Lohia had a strong preference for appropriate technology, which would reduce drudgery but not put the common man at the mercy of far away forces. As early as 1951, he foresaw a time of the 'monotonic mind', with nothing much to do because the problems of living had been all addressed by technology.

Lohia viewed capitalism as the doctrine of “people living upward of 40 degrees north of the equator'. He found capitalism as being the doctrine of individual, free enterprise, mass production and balance of power based- ‘peace.’ Capitalism imposed the peace of death on Asia and elsewhere, caused their population to grow and their economic apparatus to decay, Lohia stated. He found how population and production proceeded simultaneously among the white or pink people, but the coloured people suffered crisis in culture and crafts along with the rampant population growth. He rejected the capitalist integration of Asia as capitalism bred poverty and war. He held a staunch view that capitalism will destroy the precarious national freedom.

His view on communism was as strong. Marxism and Soviet system was a fad among the first generation political elite of independent nations of Asia. Lohia was never enamored by these prevailing trends. He found a crisis inherent at the centre of the communist system. Communism necessitates a centralized party and subsequently a centralized state to develop the forces of production. A dictatorial party and state is immoral and cannot uphold the morality of a utopia.

Dr. Lohia viewed that communism inherits from capitalism its technique of production, it only seems to smash the capitalist relations of production. He viewed both as part of a single civilization as both are driven by continuous application of science to economy and rising standard of living. An individual may be either in US or in the Soviet Russia, is impelled by “identical aims of increasing output through mass production.” Lohiaji stated that the modern civilization has split up into these two warring camps to renew itself.

Revolutionary thinker

Aside from the procedural revolution of non-violent civil disobedience, bridging the rich-poor divide, the elimination of caste and the revolution against incursions of the big-machine, other revolutions in Lohia's list included tackling Man-Woman inequality, banishing inequality based on color, and that of preserving individual privacy against encroachment of the collective.

Many of Lohia's revolutions have advanced in India, some with greater degrees of success than others. In some instances the revolutions have led to perverse results which he would have found distasteful. However,Lohia was not one to shy away from either controversy or struggle. Lohia believed that a party grew by taking up causes. He was a strong believer in popular action. In India's parliamentary system, where elections could be called even before the term was over, he once said that "Live communities don't wait for five years (the term of the parliament)", meaning that a government which misruled should be thrown out by the people. He carried out this idea by moving the first no-confidence motion against the Nehru government, which had by then been in office for 16 years!

Lohia is often called a maverick socialist, a cliched but nevertheless apt description.He gave that impression not to be controversial, but because he was always evolving his thoughts, and like his mentor, Gandhi, did not hesitate to speak the truth as he saw it. He often surprised both supporters and opponents. He astounded everyone by calling for India to produce the bomb, after the Chinese aggression of 1962.

Lohia's anti-English views

He was anti-English, saying that the British ruled India with bullet and language (bandhook ki goli aur angrezi ki boli). Full of unforgettable phrases which would characterize a point of view, he captured who was a member of India's ruling class in with near-mathematical precision that have not been bettered in three decades -- "high-caste, wealth, and knowledge of English are the three requisites, with anyone possessing two of these belonging to the ruling class". The definition still holds.

Lohia wanted to abolish private schools and establish upgraded municipal (government) schools which would give equal academic opportunity to students of all castes. This he hoped would help eradicate the divisions created by the caste system.

At the Socialist Party's Annual Convention, Lohia set up a plan to decentralize the government's power so that the general public would have more power in Indian politics. He also formed ''Hind Kisan Panchayat to resolve farmers everyday problems.

Experiment with Non-Congressism

In 1963, he propounded the strategy of Non-Congressism. He was of the opinion that in the past three general elections the Congress won with a thumping majority and there was a feeling among the masses that the Congress cannot be defeated and it has come to stay in power for ever. Lohia invited all the Opposition parties to field a single candidate against Congress nominees so that this illusion can be removed from the masses. This formula of Dr Lohia got huge success in the 1967 general elections and in nine States, the Congress party was defeated and Samyuktha Vidhayak Dal Governments were formed by the Opposition parties of that time

Lohia was a socialist and wanted to unite all the socialists in the world to form a potent platform. He was the General Secretary of Praja Socialist Party. He established the World Development Council and eventually the World Government to maintain peace in the world.

During his last few years, besides politics, he spent hours talking to thousands of young adults on topics ranging from Indian literature to politics and art.

Lohia, who was unmarried, died on October 12, 1967 in New Delhi. He left behind no property or bank balance.

Anecdotes

• While in school reading the prescribed history book, Lohia noted that the British author of the textbook referred to the great Hindu king Shivaji as a "bandit leader". Lohia researched the facts, and proved that the label "bandit leader" was an unjust description of the Maharaj. Lohia launched a campaign to have the description striken from the textbook.
• When Lohia returned to India in 1933 from abroad, a comical situation arose. He had no money to reach his hometown from the airport. He quickly wrote a nationalistic article for The Hindu, one of the most popular and widely read newspapers, and got money to pay for the fare home.
• In the midst of the 1967 Lok Sabha elections, Ram Manohar Lohia was being desperately sought by a lady from Europe. Lohia was contesting from Kannauj, but he was mostly in Phulpur, Jawaharlal Nehru's pocket borough, campaigning for the late Janeshwar Mishra, who was pitted against the formidable Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, Nehru's sister.It was a watershed election in the sense that the results would finally show that the Congress was not totally invincible, that dents could be made in its armour. So Lohia was leaving nothing to chance. But the messages from his aides about the persistent European lady just would not end. Finally, Lohia relented, put his election work aside. A meeting was fixed at Allahabad. The woman turned out to be Stalin's daughter Svetlana, desperately seeking extension of her visa to build a memorial for her late husband Brajesh Singh of the Kalkanker royal family.Since the erstwhile USSR was opposed to India entertaining Svetlana, even the fact that Singh's nephew, Dinesh Singh, was in Indira Gandhi's inner circle did not help.Lohia, the stormy petrel of Indian politics, was her last hope. As expected, he advised Svetlana to fight it out, not leave India and he promised to raise her case in Parliament. At the same time, Lohia, the fountainhead of anti-Congressism and an ardent opponent of the Nehru-Gandhi family, did all he could to capitalise on Svetlana's personal tragedy in political terms. After the Allahabad meeting, Lohia turned to his colleagues and said, "This is the difference between Europe and Asia. The daughter of Stalin is running around in circles to extend her visa while the daughter of Nehru is India's Prime Minister."

Major writings in English

• The Caste System: Hyderabad, Navahind [1964] 147 p.
• Foreign Policy: Aligarh, P.C. Dwadash Shreni, [1963?] 381 p.
• Fragments of a World Mind: Maitrayani Publishers & Booksellers ; Allahabad [1949] 262 p.
• Fundamentals of a World Mind: ed. by K.S. Karanth. Bombay, Sindhu Publications, [1987] 130 p.
• Guilty Men of India’s Partition: Lohia Samata Vidyalaya Nyas, Publication Dept.,[1970] 103 p.
• India, China, and Northern Frontiers: Hyderabad, Navahind [1963] 272 p.
• Interval During Politics: Hyderabad, Navahind [1965] 197 p.
• Marx, Gandhi and Socialism: Hyderabad, Navahind [1963] 550 p.
• Collected Works of Dr Lohia” A nine volume set edited by veteran Socialist writer Dr Mastram Kapoor in English and published by Anamika Publications, New Delhi.

Selected books on Lohia

• Socialist Thought in India: The Contribution of Rammanohar Lohia, by M. Arumugam, New Delhi, Sterling (1978)
• Dr. Rammanohar Lohia, his Life and Philosophy, by Indumati Kelkar. Published for Samajwadi Sahitya Sansthan, Delhi by Anamika Publishers & Distributors (2009) ISBN 978-81-7975-286-9
• Lohia, A Study, by N. C. Mehrotra, Atma Ram (1978)
• Lohia and Parliament, Published by Lok Sabha Secretariat (1991)
• Lohia thru Letters, Published by Roma Mitra (1983)
• Lohia, by Onkar Sharad, Lucknow, Prakashan Kendra (1972)
• Lohia and America Meet, by Harris Woofford, Sindhu (1987)
• Leftism in India: 1917-1947, by Satyabrata Rai Chowdhuri, London and New Delhi, Palgrave Macmillan (2008)

Awards and honours

Dr. Rammanohar Lohia National Law University, one of the premier law institutes in India, is located at Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.

The Willingdon Hospital of New Delhi, was renamed Dr.Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital a few decades after independence, in memory of him. Dr. Ram manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences is an upcoming medical institute for postgraduate studies in Lucknow Uttar Pradesh

• The Dr. Rammanohar Lohia College of Law, affiliated with Bangalore University, is named after him.
• "18 June Road", in Panjim, Goa is named after him. It was that date in 1946 where he launched an agitation against colonial rule.

See also

• Congress Socialist Party
• socialistpartyindia.blogspot.com

External links

• freeindia.org biography
• Dr. Rammanohar Lohia (1910-1967)
• Lohia Pictures at Kamat