RAMMANOHAR LOHIA

Lohia contested the 1962 General Elections to the Lok Sabha from Phulpur constituency in Uttar Pradesh. His rival was the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Lohia lost the election. But such was his courage that he would challenge even the mightiest men of the land.

In May 1963 there was a by election from Farookabad constituency in Uttar Pradesh. Lohia contested and Won, and entered the Lok Sabha. It was his desire that the Lok Sabha should mirror public opinion. His maiden speech itself was historic. The daily income of twenty-seven crore people of this country is a meagre twenty-one paise, declared Lohia in the Lok Sabha, to the utter astonishment of government spokesmen. He argued that top priority should be given to the improvement of the condition of such poor people. Every one was astonished when Lohia disclosed that this poor country spent as much as twenty-five thousand rupees a day on the security of the Prime Minister. He wrote a book elaborating his statements. He argued that popular leaders should not alienate themselves from the common man.