| Great Personalities |
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| Biographies of Great Indians & Hindus |
RAMMANOHAR LOHIA |
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Praja Socialist PartyThe first General Elections in free India were held in 1952. The
Socialist party fielded its candidates all over the country. Doctor Lohia did not contest.
He toured all the states to explain the aims of his party. He visited the erstwhile Mysore
State too and addressed many public meetings. The election did not bring much success to
the Socialist Party.
Within a year the Socialist Party and the Kisan Mazdoor Party founded by Acharya Kripalani merged. The new party was named the Praja Socialist Party. Acharya Kripalani became the President of the party. Doctor Lohia was the General Secretary. Earlier, when Acharya Kripalani was the General Secretary of the All India Congress Committee, Lohia had been the head of the External Affairs Department of the Congress Party. Lohia stayed with Kripalani's family and parctically became one of them. Thus Kripalani developed great affection for Lohia. During this period, Travancore and Cochin, the two princely states, had been merged to form a single state. The Praja Socialist Party was in power and Pattamthanu Pillai was the Chief Minister. Once there was an agitation by estate workers. The Govern- ment resorted to firing. Lohia could not condone this action of the Government headed by his own party. His contention was that the so-called people's party had no right to misuse its powers and to use repression against its own people. He demanded that the Praja Socialist Party Government should resign immediately. He even took a firm stand on the issue. Many leaders in the party did not want to accept his stand. But Lohia did not budge. Finally in 1955 the Praja Socialist Party took disciplinary action against Lohia. |
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