Acharya Kripalani
Acharya Kripalani
Acharya Jivatram Bhagwandas Kripalani (1888-1982) was an Indian politician, popularly known for holding the Congress presidency during the transfer of power in 1947. He grew close to Gandhi and became one of his most ardent disciples. Kripalani was a familiar figure to generations of dissenters, from the Non-Cooperation Movements of the 1920s through till the Emergency of the 1970s. Kripalani was born in Hyderabad in Sindh, and educated at Fergusson College, Pune.
In the wake of Gandhi's return from Africa, Kripalani joined the freedom movement. He also participated in the Non Cooperation Movement. 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. Kripalani joined the All India Congress Committee, and became its General Secretary in 1928-29. Kripalani was involved over a decade in top Congress party affairs, and in the organization of the Salt Satyagraha and the Quit India Movement.
His economic views were different from Vallabhbhai Patel's, as Patel advocated free enterprise while Kripalani believed in government control and socialism. However, his political opinion differed from that of his fellow Socialist, Nehru, as he believed that the Congress cadres should have been incorporated in every government decision, something Nehru rejected. In spite of these ideological differences, around the time of India's independence, he was elected president of the Congress party. In the 1950 Congress election, 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. In 1972-3, he agitated against the authoritarian rule of Indira Gandhi, then Prime Minister of India. Kripalani and Jayaprakash Narayan felt that Indira 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. 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 was an active critic of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, but he and Nehru had great mutual respect for each other.
