Jivatram Kripalani
Encyclopedia
Acharya Jivatram Bhagwandas Kripalani (1888–1982) was an India
n politician, noted particularly for holding the presidency of the Indian National Congress
during the transfer of power in 1947. During the election for the post of the future Prime Minister
of India
held by the Congress party, he had the second highest number of votes after Sardar Patel. However, on Gandhi's insistence, both Patel and Kripalani backed out to allow Jawahar Lal Nehru to become the first Prime Minister of India
.
Kripalani was a Gandhian Socialist, environmentalist
, mystic
and freedom fighter.
He grew close to Gandhi and became in time one of his most ardent disciples. Kripalani was a familiar figure to generations of dissenters, from the Non-Cooperation Movement
s of the 1920s through till the Emergency of the 1970s.
Jivatram (also spelled Jayant) Bhagwandas Kripalani was born in Hyderabad in Sindh
in 1888. Following his education at Fergusson College
in Pune
, he worked as a schoolteacher before joining the freedom movement in the wake of Gandhi's return from South Africa
.
Kripalani was involved in the Non-Cooperation Movement
of the early 1920s. He worked in Gandhi's ashrams in Gujarat and Maharashtra
on tasks of social reform and education, and later left for Bihar
and the United Provinces
in northern India to teach and organize new ashrams. He courted arrest on numerous occasions during the Civil Disobedience
movements and smaller occasions of organizing protests and publishing seditious material against the British raj
.
, and became its General Secretary in 1928-29.
Kripalani was prominently involved over a decade in top Congress party affairs, and in the organization of the Salt Satyagraha
and the Quit India Movement
. Kripalani served in the interim government of India (1946–1947) and the Constituent Assembly of India
.
- he was elected Congress 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. This precedent became central to the relationship between government and ruling party in subsequent decades.
Nehru, however, supported Kripalani in the election of the Congress President in 1950. Kripalani, supported by Nehru, was pitted against Patel's candidate Purushottam Das Tandon
. Tandon defeated Kripalani. Bruised by his defeat, and disillusioned by what he viewed as the abandonment of the Gandhian ideal of a countless village republics, Kripalani left the Congress and became one of the founders of the Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party
. This party subsequently merged with the Socialist Party of India to form the Praja Socialist Party
.
For a while it was even believed that Nehru, stung by the defeat, was considering abandoning the Congress as well; his several offers of resignation at the time were all, however, shouted down. A great many of the more progressive elements of the party left in the months following the election. Congress's subsequent bias to the right was only balanced when Nehru obtained the resignation of Tandon in the run up to the general elections of 1951.
, in Uttar Pradesh
. The Kripalanis were frequently at loggerheads in Parliament.
One matter they agreed on was the undesirability of vast parts of the Hindu Marriage Act
, particularly the controversial 'Restitution of Conjugal Rights' clause. By this clause a partner who had survived an unsuccessful filing for divorce could move the courts to return to the status quo ante in terms of conjugal interaction. Kripalani, horrified, made one of his most memorable speeches, saying "this provision is physically undesirable, morally unwanted and aesthetically disgusting."
Kripalani was also concerned with the privilege of parliament over the press. During Nehru's premiership, the Lok Sabha
called the Chief Editor of the weekly Blitz, the well-known Russi Karanjia
to the bar and admonished him for "denigration and defamation of a Member of Parliament" for calling Kriplani Cripple-loony. This was despite Karanjia' closeness to, and Kripalani's estrangement from, Nehru.
Kripalani moved the first-ever No confidence motion on the floor of the Lok Sabha in August 1963, immediately after the disastrous India-China War.
While remaining active in electoral politics, Kripalani gradually became more of a spiritual leader of the socialists than anything else; in particular, he was generally considered to be, along with Vinoba Bhave
, the leader of the what remained of the Gandhian faction. He was active, along with Bhave, in preservation and conservation activities throughout the 1970s.
In 1972-3, he agitated against the increasingly authoritarian rule of Nehru's daughter Indira Gandhi
, then Prime Minister of India. Kripalani and Jayaprakash Narayan
felt that Gandhi's rule had become dictatorial and anti-democratic. Her conviction on charges of using government machinery for her election campaign galvanized her political opposition and public disenchantment against her policies. Along with Narayan and Lohia, Kripalani toured the country urging non-violent protest and civil disobedience. When the Emergency was declared as a result of the vocal dissent he helped stir up, the octogenarian Kripalani was among the first of the Opposition 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 the Janata Party
victory in the 1977 polls.
He died on 19 March 1982, at the age of 94.
In the 1982 film Gandhi by Richard Attenborough
, J.B. Kripalani was played by Indian actor Anang Desai.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n politician, noted particularly for holding the presidency of the Indian National Congress
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
during the transfer of power in 1947. During the election for the post of the future Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
held by the Congress party, he had the second highest number of votes after Sardar Patel. However, on Gandhi's insistence, both Patel and Kripalani backed out to allow Jawahar Lal Nehru to become the first Prime Minister of India
Prime Minister of India
The Prime Minister of India , as addressed to in the Constitution of India — Prime Minister for the Union, is the chief of government, head of the Council of Ministers and the leader of the majority party in parliament...
.
Kripalani was a Gandhian Socialist, environmentalist
Environmentalist
An environmentalist broadly supports the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that seeks to improve and protect the quality of the natural environment through changes to environmentally harmful human activities"...
, mystic
Mysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
and freedom fighter.
He grew close to Gandhi and became in time one of his most ardent disciples. Kripalani was a familiar figure to generations of dissenters, from the Non-Cooperation Movement
Non-cooperation movement
The non-cooperation movement was a significant phase of the Indian struggle for freedom from British rule which lasted for years. This movement, which lasted from September 1920 to February 1922 and was led by Mohandas Gandhi, and supported by the Indian National Congress. It aimed to resist...
s of the 1920s through till the Emergency of the 1970s.
Early life
Sindh
Sindh historically referred to as Ba'ab-ul-Islam , is one of the four provinces of Pakistan and historically is home to the Sindhi people. It is also locally known as the "Mehran". Though Muslims form the largest religious group in Sindh, a good number of Christians, Zoroastrians and Hindus can...
in 1888. Following his education at Fergusson College
Fergusson College
Fergusson College is a degree college in western India, situated in the city of Pune. It was founded in 1885 by the Deccan Education Society and at that time was the first privately governed college in India. It is named after Sir James Fergusson, the Governor of Bombay, who donated a then...
in Pune
Pune
Pune , is the eighth largest metropolis in India, the second largest in the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai, and the largest city in the Western Ghats. Once the centre of power of the Maratha Empire, it is situated 560 metres above sea level on the Deccan plateau at the confluence of the Mula ...
, he worked as a schoolteacher before joining the freedom movement in the wake of Gandhi's return from South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
.
Kripalani was involved in the Non-Cooperation Movement
Non-cooperation movement
The non-cooperation movement was a significant phase of the Indian struggle for freedom from British rule which lasted for years. This movement, which lasted from September 1920 to February 1922 and was led by Mohandas Gandhi, and supported by the Indian National Congress. It aimed to resist...
of the early 1920s. He worked in Gandhi's ashrams in Gujarat and Maharashtra
Maharashtra
Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...
on tasks of social reform and education, and later left for Bihar
Bihar
Bihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....
and the United Provinces
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...
in northern India to teach and organize new ashrams. He courted arrest on numerous occasions during the Civil Disobedience
Civil disobedience
Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an occupying international power. Civil disobedience is commonly, though not always, defined as being nonviolent resistance. It is one form of civil resistance...
movements and smaller occasions of organizing protests and publishing seditious material against the British raj
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
.
Congress leader
Kripalani joined the All India Congress CommitteeAll India Congress Committee
The All India Congress Committee is the Presidium or central decision-making assembly of the Indian National Congress Party. It is composed of members elected from State-level Pradesh Congress Committees and can have as many as a thousand members...
, and became its General Secretary in 1928-29.
Kripalani was prominently involved over a decade in top Congress party affairs, and in the organization of the Salt Satyagraha
Salt Satyagraha
The Salt March, also known as the Salt Satyagrahah began with the Dandi March on March 12, 1930, and was an important part of the Indian independence movement. It was a campaign of tax resistance and nonviolent protest against the British salt monopoly in colonial India, and triggered the wider...
and the Quit India Movement
Quit India Movement
The Quit India Movement , or the August Movement was a civil disobedience movement launched in India in August 1942 in response to Mohandas Gandhi's call for immediate independence. Gandhi hoped to bring the British government to the negotiating table...
. Kripalani served in the interim government of India (1946–1947) and the Constituent Assembly of India
Constituent Assembly of India
The Constituent Assembly of India was elected to write the Constitution of India, and following independence served as the nation's first Parliament.-Nature of the Assembly:...
.
As Congress President and the election of 1950
In spite of being ideologically at odds with both the right-wing Vallabhbhai Patel and the left-wing Jawaharlal NehruJawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru , often referred to with the epithet of Panditji, was an Indian statesman who became the first Prime Minister of independent India and became noted for his “neutralist” policies in foreign affairs. He was also one of the principal leaders of India’s independence movement in the...
- he was elected Congress President
Congress President
The President of the All India Congress Committee, and therefore of the Indian National Congress Party as a whole, is known as the Congress President.-History:...
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. This precedent became central to the relationship between government and ruling party in subsequent decades.
Nehru, however, supported Kripalani in the election of the Congress President in 1950. Kripalani, supported by Nehru, was pitted against Patel's candidate Purushottam Das Tandon
Purushottam Das Tandon
Purushottam Das Tandon पुरुषोत्तम दास टंडन , was a freedom fighter from Uttar Pradesh in India, of Punjabi Khatri descent. He is widely remembered for his efforts in achieving the Official Language of India status for Hindi. He was customarily given the title Rajarshi...
. Tandon defeated Kripalani. Bruised by his defeat, and disillusioned by what he viewed as the abandonment of the Gandhian ideal of a countless village republics, Kripalani left the Congress and became one of the founders of the Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party
Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party
The Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party was a socialist political party of India. Although the party is now defunct and doesn't contest election anymore, it is logged with the Election Commission of India as having contested the very first parliamentary elections in 1951 in India...
. This party subsequently merged with the Socialist Party of India to form the Praja Socialist Party
Praja Socialist Party
The Praja Socialist Party was an Indian political party in existence from 1952 to 1972. It was founded when the Socialist Party, led by Jayprakash Narayan, Acharya Narendra Deva and Basawon Singh , merged with the Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party led by J.B. Kripalani...
.
For a while it was even believed that Nehru, stung by the defeat, was considering abandoning the Congress as well; his several offers of resignation at the time were all, however, shouted down. A great many of the more progressive elements of the party left in the months following the election. Congress's subsequent bias to the right was only balanced when Nehru obtained the resignation of Tandon in the run up to the general elections of 1951.
Socialist Party
Kripalani remained in opposition for the rest of his life. His wife since 1938, Sucheta Kripalani, went from strength to strength in the Congress Party, with several Central ministries; she was also the first female Chief MinisterChief Minister
A Chief Minister is the elected head of government of a sub-national state, provinces of Sri Lanka, Pakistan, notably a state of India, a territory of Australia or a British Overseas Territory that has attained self-government...
, in Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...
. The Kripalanis were frequently at loggerheads in Parliament.
One matter they agreed on was the undesirability of vast parts of the Hindu Marriage Act
Hindu Marriage Act
The Hindu Marriage Act was established in 1955 as part of the Hindu Code Bills. Three other important acts were also created during this time and they include the Hindu Succession Act , the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act , and the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act...
, particularly the controversial 'Restitution of Conjugal Rights' clause. By this clause a partner who had survived an unsuccessful filing for divorce could move the courts to return to the status quo ante in terms of conjugal interaction. Kripalani, horrified, made one of his most memorable speeches, saying "this provision is physically undesirable, morally unwanted and aesthetically disgusting."
Kripalani was also concerned with the privilege of parliament over the press. During Nehru's premiership, the Lok Sabha
Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha or House of the People is the lower house of the Parliament of India. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by direct election under universal adult suffrage. As of 2009, there have been fifteen Lok Sabhas elected by the people of India...
called the Chief Editor of the weekly Blitz, the well-known Russi Karanjia
Russi Karanjia
Rustom Khurshedji Karanjia was an Indian journalist and editor. He typically signed his reports as "R. K...
to the bar and admonished him for "denigration and defamation of a Member of Parliament" for calling Kriplani Cripple-loony. This was despite Karanjia' closeness to, and Kripalani's estrangement from, Nehru.
Kripalani moved the first-ever No confidence motion on the floor of the Lok Sabha in August 1963, immediately after the disastrous India-China War.
Later life
Kripalani remained a critic of Nehru's policies and administration, while working for social and environmental causes.While remaining active in electoral politics, Kripalani gradually became more of a spiritual leader of the socialists than anything else; in particular, he was generally considered to be, along with Vinoba Bhave
Vinoba Bhave
Vinoba Bhave , born Vinayak Narahari Bhave often called Acharya , was an Indian advocate of nonviolence and human rights. He is best known for the Bhoodan Andolan...
, the leader of the what remained of the Gandhian faction. He was active, along with Bhave, in preservation and conservation activities throughout the 1970s.
In 1972-3, he agitated against the increasingly authoritarian rule of Nehru's daughter Indira Gandhi
Indira Gandhi
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhara was an Indian politician who served as the third Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms and a fourth term . She was assassinated by Sikh extremists...
, then Prime Minister of India. Kripalani and Jayaprakash Narayan
Jayaprakash Narayan
Jayaprakash Narayan , widely known as JP Narayan, Jayaprakash, or Loknayak, was an Indian independence activist and political leader, remembered especially for leading the opposition to Indira Gandhi in the 1970s and for giving a call for peaceful Total Revolution...
felt that Gandhi's rule had become dictatorial and anti-democratic. Her conviction on charges of using government machinery for her election campaign galvanized her political opposition and public disenchantment against her policies. Along with Narayan and Lohia, Kripalani toured the country urging non-violent protest and civil disobedience. When the Emergency was declared as a result of the vocal dissent he helped stir up, the octogenarian Kripalani was among the first of the Opposition 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 the Janata Party
Janata Party
The Janata Party was an amalgam of Indian political parties opposed to the state of emergency imposed by the government of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her Indian National Congress...
victory in the 1977 polls.
He died on 19 March 1982, at the age of 94.
In the 1982 film Gandhi by Richard Attenborough
Richard Attenborough
Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough , CBE is a British actor, director, producer and entrepreneur. As director and producer he won two Academy Awards for the 1982 film Gandhi...
, J.B. Kripalani was played by Indian actor Anang Desai.
See also
- Indian NationalismIndian nationalismIndian nationalism refers to the many underlying forces that molded the Indian independence movement, and strongly continue to influence the politics of India, as well as being the heart of many contrasting ideologies that have caused ethnic and religious conflict in Indian society...
, GandhismGandhismGandhism is the collection of inspirations, principles, beliefs and philosophy of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , who was a major political and spiritual leader of India and the Indian Independence Movement....
, Indian Independence MovementIndian independence movementThe term Indian independence movement encompasses a wide area of political organisations, philosophies, and movements which had the common aim of ending first British East India Company rule, and then British imperial authority, in parts of South Asia... - Indian National CongressIndian National CongressThe Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
, Indian Emergency