Purushotham Das Tandon Indian Freedom Fighter

Purushotham Das Tandon Indian Freedom Fighter

Date of birth: August 1, 1882 and Date of death: July1, 1962
He was freedom fighter from Uttar Pradesh, of Punjabi Khatri descent.  He is widely remembered for his efforts in achieving the Official Language of India status for Hindi.  He also revered as Rajarshi.  He was born at Allahabad.  After obtaining degree in Law and M.A. in History, started his practise 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 Jallianwallah 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 co-operation 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 farmer’s movements and he served as the President, Bihar Provisional Kisan Sabha in 1934.  He worked as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Uttar Pradesh for the period of 13 years, from July, 1937 to August, 1950.  He was elected to the Constituent Assembly of India 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.