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Jivatram Bhagwandas Kripalani | |
|---|---|
 Kripalani on a 1989 stamp of India | |
| Born | (1888-11-11)11 November 1888 |
| Died | 19 March 1982(1982-03-19) (aged 93) |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Political party | Indian National Congress, Praja Socialist Party |
| Movement | Indian Independence Movement |
| Spouse | Sucheta Kripalani |
Jivatram Bhagwandas Kripalani (11 November 1888 – 19 March 1982), popularly known asAcharya Kripalani, was anIndian politician, noted particularly for holding the presidency of theIndian National Congress during the transfer of power in 1947 and the husband ofSucheta Kripalani.Kripalani was an environmentalist,mystic andindependence activist who was long aGandhian socialist. He himself founded theKisan Mazdoor Praja Party in 1951, that merged with theSocialist Party to form thePraja Socialist Party the following year. He joined the economically right wingSwatantra Party later in life.
He grew close toGandhi and at one point, he was one of Gandhi's most ardent disciples. He had served as the General Secretary of the INC for almost a decade. He had experience working in the field of education and was made the president to rebuild the INC. Disputes between the party and the Government over procedural matters affected his relationship with the colleagues in the Government. Kripalani was a familiar figure to generations of dissenters, from theNon-Cooperation Movements of the 1920s to theEmergency of the 1970s.
He was the first member to address theConstituent Assembly of India.[1]
Jivatram (also spelledJiwatram) Bhagwandas Kripalani was born inHyderabad inSindh in 1888. Following his education atFergusson College inPune, he worked as a school teacher before joining the freedom movement in the wake ofGandhi's return fromSouth Africa.From 1912 to 1917 Kripalani worked as a lecturer of English and history atL.S. College (then known as Grier BB College),Muzaffarpur,Bihar.[2]Kripalani was involved in theNon-Cooperation Movement of the early 1920s. He worked in Gandhi's ashrams inGujarat andMaharashtra on tasks of social reform and education, and later left forBihar andthe United Provinces in northern India to teach and organise new ashrams. He courted arrested on numerous occasions during theCivil Disobedience movements and smaller occasions of organising protests and publishing seditious material against theBritish Raj.[3]
Kripalani joined theAll India Congress Committee and became its general secretary in 1928–29.
Kripalani was prominently involved for over a decade in top Congress party affairs, and in the organisation of theSalt Satyagraha and theQuit India Movement. Kripalani served in the interim government of India (1946–1947) and theConstituent Assembly of India. During this time he rejected the proposal ofUnited Bengal fromAbul Hashim andSarat Bose and called for the division ofBengal andthe Punjab.[4][5]
He had served as the General Secretary of the INC for 12 years. He had experience working in the field of education and was made the president to rebuild the INC. Disputes between the party and the Government over procedural matters affected his relationship with the colleagues in the Government.[6][7]
In spite of being ideologically at odds with bothVallabhbhai Patel andJawaharlal Nehru – he was electedCongress President for the crucial years around Indian independence in 1947. After Gandhi's assassination in January 1948, Nehru rejected his demand that the party's views should be sought in all decisions. Nehru, with the support of Patel, told Kripalani that while the party was entitled to lay down the broad principles and guidelines, it could not be granted a say in the government's day-to-day affairs.[7]
In 1972-73, he agitated against the increasingly authoritarian rule of Nehru's daughterIndira Gandhi, thenPrime Minister of India. Kripalani andJayaprakash Narayan felt that Gandhi's rule had become dictatorial and anti-democratic. Her conviction on charges of using government machinery for her election campaign galvanised her political opposition and public disenchantment against her policies. Along withJayaprakash Narayan, Kripalani toured the country urging non-violent protest and civil disobedience. When theEmergency was declared as a result of the vocal dissent he helped stir up, the octogenarian Kripalani was among the first of theOpposition leaders to be arrested on the night of 26 June 1975. He lived long enough to survive the Emergency and see the first non-Congress government since Independence following theJanata Party victory in the 1977 polls. He and Jayaprakash Narayan, two senior guiding lights, were requested to choose the parliamentary leader of the new party who would be the prime minister, and they chooseMorarji Desai. Jayaprakash Narayan, in wheel-chair, administered a pledge at Raj Ghat to new members of parliament that they will honour the mandate and remain united.[8]
Acharya Kripalani died on 19 March 1982 at the Civil Hospital inAhmedabad,[9] at the age of 93.
A stamp was issued on 11 November 1989 by theIndian Postal Department to commemorate the 101st anniversary of his birth.[10]
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