Purushottam Das Tandon |
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Date of Birth | : | Aug 1, 1882 |
Date of Death | : | Jul 1, 1962 |
Place of Birth | : | Uttar Pradesh |
Purushottam Das Tandon 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 revered as Rajarshi. Purushottam Das Tandon was born at Allahabad. After obtaining a degree in law and an MA in history, he started practising in 1906 and joined the bar of Allahabad High Court in 1908 as a junior to Tej Bahadur Sapru. He gave up practise in 1921 to concentrate on public activities.
He was a member of Congress Party since his student days
in 1899. In 1906, he represented Allahabad in the AICC. He was
associated with the Congress Party committee that studied the
Jallianwala Bagh incident in 1919. He was also a part of the Servants of
the People Society. In the 1920s and 1930s he was arrested for
participating in the Non-Cooperation movement and Salt Satyagraha
respectively. He and Nehru were among the people arrested even before
Mahatma Gandhi returned from the Round Table Conference at London in
1931. He was known for his efforts in farmers' movements and he served
as the President, Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha in 1934. He worked as the
Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the present-day Uttar Pradesh
for a period of 13 years, from July 31, 1937 to August 10, 1950. He was
elected to the Constituent Assembly of India in 1946. He was elected to
the Lok Sabha in 1952 and the Rajya Sabha in 1956. He retired from
active public life after that due to indifferent health. He was awarded
the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award in 1961.