Purushottam Das Tandon

Born: 1 August 1882

Died: 1 July 1962

He was a freedom fighter from Uttar Pradesh, India.
He is widely remembered for his opposition to the partition of India, as well as efforts in achieving the Official Language of India status for Hindi.
He was customarily given the title Rajarshi (etymology: Raja + Rishi = Royal Saint).
He was popularly known as UP Gandhi.
He was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award, in 1961.
He was a member of the Indian National Congress since his student days in 1899.
In 1906, he represented Allahabad in the All India Congress Committee.
He was associated with the Congress Party committee that studied the Jallianwala Bagh incident in 1919.
In the 1920s and 1930s, he was arrested for participating in the Non-Cooperation movement and Salt Satyagraha respectively.
He and Jawaharlal Nehru were among the people arrested even before Mohandas K. 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 also remained President of Servants of the People Society (Lok Sevak Mandal), a social service organization founded by Lala Lajpat Rai, in 1921.
He worked as the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the present-day Uttar Pradesh for a period of 13 years, from 31 July 1937 to 10 August 1950.
He was elected to the Constituent Assembly of India in 1946.