Purushottam Das Tandon: A Legendary Son of Bharat Mata
- In History & Culture
- 01:19 PM, Jun 06, 2020
- Shrijeet Phadke
Introduction
A book written by Mani Shankar Aiyer ‘Confession of secular Fundamentalist’ is full of political overtones and more like a full hearted attempt to undermine the seminal contributions to non-accommodative ideological battle of secular brigade which always misinterpret word secularism in Indian contexts merely to take umbrage at RSS, Hindu Mahasabha and other rightwing ideologies. One of the striking features of this book is the frank admission by author that Mr. Nehru compelled Purushottam Das Tandon the then Congress president (1950) to step down and the same fact is reiterated in his article published on 13th July 2019 by the week. To be more precise Mani states “In September 1951, Nehru engineered the ouster of Purushottam Das Tandon and took over as a kind of interim president of the party”. Obvious questions crossed a mind of reader like me as to who was Purushottam Das Tandon, what was his role in Congress and what caused his demission from powerful position of all India Congress Presidentship. Thereafter I pin down myself to do some research on this person and at the end came to the conclusion that a Bharatratna awardee Purushottam Das Tandon is that golden chapter of Indian history which has not been given its due reverence for more than 70 years after freedom. He was one of the towering personalities in Congress who made to succumb to the democratic dictatorship of Jawaharlal Nehru.
Rajarshi Purushottam Das Tandon, Congress and Partition of India
Purushottam Das Tandon was born in Allahabad on 1st August 1882 in a middle-class family. He studied Law and MA History from Muir College, Allahabad and joined the Indian National Congress in 1899 as a student. In 1906, he represented Allahabad at the All India Congress Committee. Tandon entered the legal profession in 1906. The Congress Committee, which enquired into the Jallianwala Bagh 'massacre' (1919) had association with Purushottam Das Tanton. He was imprisoned in 1921 for active participation in the non-cooperation movement.
He was elected President of the Gorakhpur District Congress Committee in 1923 and the same year presided over the Provincial Congress Committee session, arrested again during the Civil Disobedience Movement, Tandon became a member of the Congress Working Committee at the 1931 Karachi session. From 1932 onwards, he was arrested several times for organising peasant movements through Kisan Sabhas. He was imprisoned for the seventh time during the 1942 movement, and upon his unconditional release on health grounds devoted himself to re-organising the Congress organisation. Tandon had been elected to the Constituent Assembly in 1946. The devotion of Tandon for the nation was such a great that he was adorned with a title of Rajarshi by Mahatma Gandhi which is normally given to a figure who is scholar and submitted himself for the society without any material expectations.
In Bhartiya Itihasa sage Vishwamitra was awarded this title because he was fine blend of Brahman (sage/scholar) and Kshtriya (warrior/protector) qualities. Likewise, Purushottam Das Tandon was also an epitome of selfless politics, social service and scholastic streak.
In 1947 when India was to be vivisected into two parts Rajarshi a selfless son of mother India excruciated a lot and opposed it to the hilt. He was not longing for any ministerial berth like his colleagues in Congress party who hastened the partition for their axe to grind. It is at this movement the differences within Congress members came to fore, on June 12, 1947. The Congress Working Committee met and passed a resolution accepting the Partition of India. When the same had to be ratified on 14 June by the AICC, one of the dissenting voices came from Tandon, when he said, acceptance of the resolution will be an abject surrender to the British and the Muslim League. Further, he added that the admission of partition proposal by the Working Committee was an admission of weakness and the result of a sense of despair. The Partition would not benefit either community the Hindus in Pakistan and the Muslims in India would both live in fear. He urged members to initiate strong action against the Muslim League and refused to accept partition of India. The voice of articulate dissent pierced through the self-proclaimed leaders in Congress party and spark of opposition flared up high in the air that compelled Jawaharlal Nehru and Acharya Kriplani to stand up in the defence of Partition of India. In those days the rightwing ideologues like Savarkar and RSS were staunchly opposing a partition as well as nefarious actions of Muslim League. Nevertheless, Mr. Nehru was always skeptic about Savarkar and RSS when Purushottam Das Tandon struck a common note with these so called right wing ideologues on the issue of partition and Muslim League, it was purported as an attempt to divide a house of Congress party in two poles and Congress which had suffered a brunt of identical split in 1905 on the issue of Bengal partition once again landed in same challenge. However, it was 1947 and not 1905 when bedrocks like Lokmanya Tilak, Aurobindo Ghosh, Bipin Chandra Pal were in the Congress. The Congress in 1947 had no place for iconoclasts, leadership of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru had systematically bundled off all hardliners like Subhash Chandra Bose long before partition.
When Mountbatten plan of partition had been proposed for discussion Rajarshi opposed it vehemently. Seeds of opposition to partition had been sown by him. However, at the end a majestic struggle of Rajarshi for united India had been frittered away and Congress under the leadership of Mr. Nehru ultimately accepted partition.
Contribution in Constituent Assembly of India
Election for constituent assembly took place in 1946 and Rajarshi had been elected from United Province. Constituent Assembly fathomed on slew of issues including an issue of official language of the country, proposal to make Hindi as an official language of India actuated a fierce debate. It is not exaggeration to say that Hindi has become official language of the country due to yeoman contribution by Rajarshi through his debates in Constituent Assembly.
Acceptance of Hindi as official lingua franca was perceived as cultural attack on non-Hindi speaking belt. The grievance of non-Hindi speaking people had been vented in Constituent Assembly by G.Durgabai a member from Madras province. She said on record that “Whether rightly or wrongly, the people of non-Hindi speaking areas have been made to feel that this fight or this attitude on behalf of the Hindi speaking areas is a fight for effectively preventing the natural influence of other powerful languages of India on the composite culture of this nation. I have heard some honorable Members who are supporters of Hindi with Hindi numerals say-You have accepted nearly 90 per cent. of our thesis; therefore, why hesitate to accept the other 10 per cent? May I ask them with what sacrifice, we have accepted this? Some friends said: 'Absolutely there is no sacrifice on your part. You have to accept. You must'. This is the attitude in approaching the people of the non-Hindi speaking areas for asking them to accept their proposition in its entirety”. The tone and tenor of the words clearly denote an overwhelming exasperation against imposition of Hindi on non-Hindi speaking people and, in this backdrop, Rajarshi was one of the commanding personalities who enchanted Constituent Assembly with his erudition on the issue of acceptance of ‘Hindi’ as an official language of India. He said Hindi is not new language in South India, work of Hindi began there in 1918 and 50-60 thousand examinees sitting in Hindi examinations held by the Dakshina Bharat Hindi or Hindustani Prachar Sabha therefore several lakhs of people have learnt Hindi.
While speaking on the use of English language for the working of Supreme Court and High Court he said he was agreed to use English as language for the working of Supreme Court for fifteen years. However, the rule should not be applied blanket to all high courts and wherever it is possible Hindi should be used as working language. He further said that “When Ireland framed its constitution it adopted the Irish language, which had not much literature and which had not a sufficient vocabulary and yet Ireland adopted it. Our language, Hindi, is a powerful language”. It is however, pertinent to mention that he was not in favor of imposition of Hindi in India. It is apt to quote him here “If there is any part of the Constitution which will not be accepted by the people then it must not be accepted here. I submit in all humility that I would gladly accept a referendum to the whole country. If the provinces do not accept Hindi, I would be the last man to force it upon them. I would then say at once that Hindi must not be the national language. Why should Hindi be forced upon any province?”
Another issue whereon Rajarshi expressed himself ingeniously was a conversion spree by Christian missionaries in India. Some Christian members were batting for right to conversion for minors as well. It was bizarre yet some cryptic motivation catapulted this demand. Rajarshi canvassed opposite point of view with respect to any such conversions he said minors have no intellectual quotient to understand the scriptures and they can change their religion under some or other influence which is not fair. He said if minor transfers his home worth Rs.100 it is considered unlawful. How could the conversion by minor be having any force of law, whether value of religion is lesser than Rs.100. Congressmen do not believe in idea of conversion from one faith to another however, Congress also believes in carrying everyone with them hence propagation of religion for the conversion purpose is agreeable to the extent of major persons but it should not be allowed at any cost for minors.
Arguments by Rajarshi unequivocally establish that he was against the conversions in India, he accepted the right to propagate religion and conversion merely because he was representing Congress party.
Relationship with Jawaharlal Nehru
Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru is called by some half-baked scholars as an architect of modern India. However, true history is now coming to fore and it is required to be admitted that he tried to muzzle his opponents by using his influence and power in the party. The most unfortunate part is that the zest and dexterity with which he arm-twisted his domestic opponents could not be exhibited in his foreign policy. His doughty fight for freedom of Asian countries and friendly overtures with adversary like China had never been percolated in his politics at home turf where he acted as dictator and one of the first victims was Rajarshi.
As otherwise stated in this article Nehru and Rajarshi were poles apart on the issue of partition and Muslim League. However, Rajarshi had a genuine and frank opinion about Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), despite being a member of Congress party. He said RSS is not a political organization, their approach is rational and scientific in nature. Congress better should take a stock of bigots like jamat- e- Ulema members who have made their inroads into the party. This opinion was in pursuance of the Sardar Patel’s proposal in Congress committee to open a membership of party for RSS workers. This time Jawaharlal Nehru was out of India and as soon as he came back, the decision of Patel and his supports like Rajarshi caused a lot of furore. Ultimately Nehru choked the proposal by leveraging his stature in the party.
It is said that Nehru and Rajarshi were at loggerheads to such an extent that Lal Bahadur Shastri happened to act as a conduit between them. The letters written by Mr. Nehru or Rajarshi addressing each other had been frequently interpolated by Shastriji to water down a bitterness between them.
In 1950 Rajarshi’s name had been proposed for Presidentship of All India Congress Committee (A.I.C.C) by Sampurnanand. Nehru was not in favor of Tandon’s candidature for Congress Presidentship and tried to dissuade him from contesting an election for the post. The only contention of Nehru was that Rajarshi had expressed communal ideas in his approach towards refugee problem. He therefore according to Nehru was not suitable candidate for Congress Presidentship. The same fear he expressed to Patel. However, Patel refused to accept that Rajarshi was communal and he pointed out to Nehru that his opinion about Rajarshi is misconceived. However, by that time Nehru’s opinion had become conviction. He was not ready to accept any opposition to his views and in case someone dares to do so he became communalist. Nehru had been vocal among his colleagues about his displeasure to work with Tandon as president of Congress and he never accepted the fact that Tandon could be more sagacious than him as far as communal problems were concerned.
Sardar Patel had very good relations with Tandon and Nehru-Patel relationship was not as smooth as it is depicted rather it was smoldering. Nehru had several differences with Patel. Tandon shared similar views with Patel on several issues which triggered a tension in mind of Nehru about the another split in Congress as it happened in 1905. Hence an attempt to create any other ideological options before people of India especially among Congressmen was painted as an opposition to Secular, Socialist, Democratic moorings of India. Central Investigation Agency (CIA) a secret agency of U.S.A published one report titled ‘Establishment of a "Democratic" Group of Indian Congressmen', dated November 10, 1950. It is mentioned in the report that “At Nehru's suggestion Acharya Kriplani, ex-Congress President and a sharp critic of Sardar Patel, has organised a "democratic" group of Congressmen. Kriplani is being sided by Dr Praffula Ghose, ex-premier of West Bengal, and by some of Gandhi's faithful lieutenants.”
In this political firmament elections took place on 2nd September 1950 wherein the actual fight was evidently fought between Acharya Kriplani and Rajarshi Tandon. Nehru threw his entire weight behind Acharya Kriplani. However, Rajarshi emerged as winner by garnering more than half of total valid votes in the election and became a president of Congress. It was like adding insult to injury for Nehru. It was time to get rid of Rajarshi from Congress at earliest opportunity. However, the same was not easy task as stalwart Congress leader Saradar Patel was standing by him.
Sardar Patel died in December 1950 and Nehru became a lone face of Congress party. From there Nehru leveraged his entire stature in the party for deracination of Tandon from Congress Presidentship. He did not waste a single opportunity to reiterate his hatred against Tandon. Time and again Nehru branded Tandon as communalist and pressurized him to step down from the Presidentship of the Congress Party. Ultimately Tandon stepped down from his position in party. Rajarshi became another victim of intolerance of Nehru.
Conclusion
The discourse in Indian society has changed to a great extent. Unpublished chapters of history are coming in limelight and people becoming more and more curious about the personalities who played key role for India, its cultural protection and prosperity. The narrow interpretation of history limited to particular cult personalities; ideologies is now becoming shibboleth. Young generation of India is refusing to accept the distorted version of history and with equal force refusing to genuflect any particular ideology or person.
New studies are showing that under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru, Congress became a fossilised party, new ideologies which were drifting away from philosophy of Jawaharlal Nehru had been considered as anathema.
India is originator of Knowledge and all endeavors of Indian sages were to attain an ultimate truth. In order to attain ultimate truth, free exchange of thoughts is inevitable, exactly this bedrock of India came under assault during Nehruvian era. The very idea that there can be several ways for welfare of India had been nipped in the bud and only school of Nehruvian thoughts remained open. It was against the essence of nation like India.
Purushottam Das Tandon, Sardar Patel, Veer Savarkar, Subhash Chandra Bose and their tragic shunt from history nudged us to delve deeper in the annals of history to find out further systematic perditions carried out with malicious intentions. It is a duty of every political party, group, organization in India to strive to give a due place to each great soul who has contributed for the country without any predilections. Ultimately the best guarantee of democracy is its informed generation.
References
https://www.theweek.in/columns/Mani-Shankar-Aiyar/2019/07/12/Congress-after-the-gandhis.html
https://www.inc.in/en/leadership/past-party-president/purushottam-das-tandon
https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.13298/page/n7/mode/2up
https://www.constitutionofindia.net/constitution_assembly_debates/volume/9/1949-09-14
Image Credits: Firstpost Hindi
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