In 1950 he beat the candidate Nehru had backed. A year later he was out. Few Congress presidents have had a shorter or more dramatic term.
His name was Purushottam Das Tandon. Gandhi’s circle called him Rajarshi, the royal sage. He lived simply, loved Hindi, and argued hard with the Prime Minister.
Rajarshi: “royal sage”, a title for a leader who lives like a saint.
Devanagari: the script used to write Hindi and Sanskrit.
Speaker: the officer who presides over a legislative assembly.
1Who was Purushottam Das Tandon?
Tandon was born in Allahabad on 1 August 1882. His family was middle class and Khatri. He joined the Indian National Congress in 1899, while still a student.
He took a law degree and an M.A. in history. In 1908 he joined the Allahabad High Court bar. His senior there was Tej Bahadur Sapru. Accounts add that a nationalist protest once got him expelled from his college for a year.
In 1921 he gave up his legal practice. He wanted to work full time for the freedom movement. That choice set the course of his life.
- Born 1 August 1882, Allahabad.
- Joined Congress in 1899.
- Joined the High Court bar in 1908.
- Left law in 1921 for public work.
True or False: Tandon defeated Jawaharlal Nehru himself in the 1950 Congress presidential election.
2How did he serve the freedom struggle?
Tandon was arrested during the Non-Cooperation Movement. He was arrested again during the Salt Satyagraha of 1930. In 1931 he and Jawaharlal Nehru were jailed even before Gandhi came back from the Round Table Conference in London.
He also studied the Jallianwala Bagh killings as part of a Congress committee in 1919. He worked among farmers too. In 1934 he was president of the Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha.
In 1921 he also became president of the Servants of the People Society. Lala Lajpat Rai had founded it. It did social service work.
- Jailed in the Non-Cooperation and Salt Satyagraha years.
- 1931: arrested with Nehru before Gandhi returned.
- 1934: president, Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha.
- Led the Servants of the People Society, founded by Lajpat Rai.
- Read about the Salt March.
3What did he do as Speaker?
From 31 July 1937 to 10 August 1950, Tandon was Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the United Provinces. That is about thirteen years. The province is today’s Uttar Pradesh.
In 1946 he was elected to the Constituent Assembly. Later he sat in the Lok Sabha from 1952. He joined the Rajya Sabha in 1956.
A story shows his style. A Speaker is meant to stay neutral, yet Tandon attended his party’s meetings. When members questioned this, he offered to step down. No one pressed the matter.
- Speaker for thirteen years, 1937 to 1950.
- 1946: elected to the Constituent Assembly.
- Lok Sabha in 1952; Rajya Sabha in 1956.
- Read about the Quit India Movement, the last big struggle of his era.
4Why did he push for Hindi?
Tandon wanted Hindi to become the official language. Gandhi and others favoured Hindustani, a mix of Hindi and Urdu. Tandon wanted Devanagari script only. He wanted words from Arabic and Persian left out.
He also wanted Devanagari numerals instead of the international ones. He argued this in the Constituent Assembly. Dravidian leaders were annoyed by the push. Nehru called him a political reactionary on the language question.
Accounts say he led the Hindi Sahitya Sammelan for years. That body was his platform for Hindi. Treat the details of his offices there as secondary.
- Wanted Hindi in Devanagari script.
- Opposed Hindustani and the Urdu script.
- Debated for Hindi in the Constituent Assembly.
- Linked with the Hindi Sahitya Sammelan.
- See Official Language of the Union.
5Why did he clash with Nehru?
In June 1947 the Congress Working Committee accepted Partition. At the AICC meeting on 14 June, Tandon dissented. He called the resolution a surrender and a sign of weakness. He said Partition would help neither community.
He then lost the 1948 race for Congress president to Pattabhi Sitaramayya. In 1950 he tried again. This time he beat Acharya Kripalani, the man Nehru preferred.
He soon resigned. His views differed from Nehru’s, and Nehru’s popularity was needed to win elections. Nehru himself became Congress president for 1951 and 1952. The episode shows the limits of party democracy in those years.
- Opposed Partition at the AICC, 14 June 1947.
- Lost to Pattabhi Sitaramayya in 1948.
- Beat Acharya Kripalani in 1950.
- Resigned; Nehru became president for 1951-52.
- See the Mountbatten Plan.
6What are the exam traps?
Keep the rivals, the years and the titles straight.
- He beat Kripalani in 1950, not Nehru himself.
- He lost to Sitaramayya in 1948.
- The title Rajarshi means royal sage.
- He backed Devanagari Hindi, not Hindustani.
- Awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1961, a year before death.
- See Lala Lajpat Rai, founder of his Servants of the People Society.
True or False: Tandon wanted Hindi in Devanagari script to be the official language.
Remember: Tandon beat Kripalani, Nehru’s pick, for Congress president in 1950. He resigned soon after. He backed Hindi in Devanagari script. He received the Bharat Ratna in 1961.
Think it through: Why was a 1950 Congress election worth Nehru’s worry?
The party president helps pick candidates and shape policy. Nehru feared a president with opposite views on language and minorities. So the result mattered beyond one post.
True or False: Tandon won the Bharat Ratna in 1950, the year he became Congress president.
MCQ on Purushottam Das Tandon
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