Ram Manohar Lohia: Voice of Socialism in India’s Freedom Struggle
Ram Manohar Lohia (23 March 1910 — 12 October 1967) was an Indian freedom fighter and a socialist political leader of India.
Life and Career
Ram Manohar Lohia was born on 23 March 1910 in a Bania Family at Akbarpur today in U.P. In 1912, when he was just two years old, his mother died. In 1918, His father moved to Bombay with him, where he completed his high school education. In 1927, after completing his school’s matriculation examinations, he attended Banaras Hindu University to complete his intermediate. In 1929, he earned his B.A degree from the University of Calcutta. And, then he decided to attend Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany, where he studied economics and politics.
Political Career
After returning to India, he joined the Congress party. In 1934, he played a major role in forming the Congress Socialist Party. In 1936, he was declared the secretary of the Foreign Department of the All India Congress Committee by Jawaharlal Nehru. In June 1940, he was arrested by the Britishers and sent to jail for delivering anti-war speeches.
In 1942, Lohia took an active part in the ‘Quit India movement, which was launched by Congress and founded the Azad Hind Radio. Along with Jayprakash Narayan and others, he went to Nepal in support of freedom and democracy there. Lohia was later arrested in India and sent to Lahore jail.
In 1952, he became a member of the Praja Socialist Party and served as general secretary for a brief period, but some conflicts within the party led to his resignation in 1955. After some years, Lohia established a new Socialist Party, for which he became chairman as well as the editor of its journal, Mankind. In 1963 Lohia became a member of the Lok Sabha after a by-election in Farrukhabad and, in 1965 merged the Socialist Party into the ranks of the Samyukta Socialist Party. In 1967, Lohia played an instrumental role in the information of the first non-Congress government in Uttar Pradesh. He won the Lok Sabha general election of 1967 from Kannauj. He died on 12 October 1967, in New Delhi, India.
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