Purushottam Das Tandon was not ready to withdraw from the election of Congress President even after a strong opposition from Pandit Nehru.
There were two such elections for the post of Congress President when the question of Hindi also led to the support or opposition of a candidate. This candidate was a strong advocate of Hindi Rajarshi Purushottam Das Tandon. He was defeated in 1948 but in 1950 he won the election for the post of Congress President even after Pandit Nehru’s open opposition.
Tandon’s image was of communal and archaeological leader in the eyes of progressives including Nehru due to opposition to Hindi support and division. Read some stories related to it on his birthday…
Pattabhi and Tandon i.e. South vs. North
In 1948, there was a lot of enthusiast debate on the question of the national language in the meetings of the Constituent Assembly. Representatives of southern states were not ready to accept Hindi. The language dispute was turning into the tussle of north-south. This controversy was given more air to the election of the Congress President in the same year. Pattabhi Sitaramaiya, a resident of Telugu speaking Madras, said that the whole South India is with him.
The influential leadership of the Congress including Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru also had an open support for his candidature. But after the Rajarshi Purushottam Das Tandon came into the ground in the match, the debate between the language dispute and the north-south intensified. Tandon was active in favor of Hindi since the time of freedom struggle. He was more vocal on this question in the Constituent Assembly. If this attitude had prepared supporters, then the opponents had also expanded.
Language showed impact on election
On behalf of a section of the party, Tandon was under great pressure to withdraw the name from the candidature of the post of president. Many big leaders belonging to North India feared that Tandon ji’s candidature against Pattabhi Sitaramaiah could lead to increasing distance between South and the rest of India and to become bitter language disputes.
Dr. Rajendra Prasad had requested Tandon to withdraw the candidature. Prasad wrote, “I feel that we should deeply consider the allegation of the South Indian people that they are not given enough importance in the Congress. I believe that contesting elections against Dr. Pattabhi, the only candidate of South India, will be considered as a power test between the north and west and on the other side and it would be unfortunate.”
Tandon did not agree to withdraw nomination in any way. He was defeated in a tough match. “Harijan” had admitted in the analysis of this election that the language issue had left its impact on voting.
Beard, partition protest and Hindi love against Nehru
If Purushottam Das Tandon’s supporters and anti -partition image prepared supporters and fans, on the other hand, many leaders including Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru also put them up against him. Tandon was once again a candidate in the 1950 election of the Congress President. He had support for influential Sardar Patel. But in the eyes of Pandit Nehru due to beard, strong opposition to partition and fierce love for Hindi, Tandon’s image was of an archaic and communal leader. Pandit ji was also angry with him presiding over a conference of refugees.
Nehru went against him to such an extent that on 8 August 1950, he wrote a letter directly to Tandon, saying that your choice would give tremendous boost to the forces that I consider harmful for the country. In response on August 12, Tandon wrote that we have been unanimous on many questions. Has worked together on many big problems. But there are some subjects on which our approach is not one. Hindi is to be made the national language and the partition of the country is the most prominent in this.
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
Had to resign even after victory
Tandon ji was not ready to back down even after Pandit Nehru’s strong opposition. On the other hand, Nehru had announced that if Tandon wins, he would resign from the post of Prime Minister. On the one hand, Pandit Nehru was openly opposed, on the other hand Tandon had strong support from Sardar Patel. He won by winning 1306 votes in this election.
Acharya Kripalani, who was supported by Nehru, got 1092 votes and Shankar Rao Dev got 202 votes. After Tandon’s victory, although Nehru did not implement his announcement of resignation, his attitude towards the elected president was of non -cooperation. Distance between the government and the party organization increased.
After the death of Sardar Patel on 15 December 1950, the Tandon camp became very weak. By September 1951, the pressure of Nehru camp on Tandon increased significantly. The first general election was near. Tandon had to bow down. He resigned from the post of president and gave both the government and the organization an opportunity to Pandit Nehru to run at his own will.
Hindi opposition for communal appeasement!
Tandon’s vigor in support of Hindi was the reason for a loss for him from the political perspective but he did not care about it. At a public event in Delhi on 7 August 1949, he said, “Those who are opposing Hindi as the national language and Nagari a script, they are stunning communal sentiments following the anti -national appeasement policy. He opposed the proposal to maintain English for the next 15 years for administrative purposes in his speech of the Constituent Assembly.
He said that this will be a disturbing system for such people who have no knowledge of English. Tandon rejected the argument of the members of the South that Hindi is an unfamiliar language for the people there. The truth is that with the efforts of Mahatma Gandhi, the order of propagation and learning of Hindi in the south continues since 1918. Millions of people have learned Hindi there and a large number of students participate in the examinations related to it.
Vocal for Hindi on every stage
Born on 1 August 1882 in Allahabad, Purushottam Das Tandon was expelled from Myor College due to opposition to English rule in student life. In 1906, he started practicing in the Allahabad High Court but in 1921, he left advocacy and became dedicated to the country. He worked between farmers and laborers. Frequent jail trips. He was a good writer-editor and speaker. He had a deep attachment to the country’s civilization-culture and Hindi language. He was always active in the promotion of Hindi.
He started the Hindi Sahitya Sammelan in 1910, Hindi Vidyapeeth in 1918 and Hindi Guard Dal in 1947. In the period of 13 years from 1937 to 1950, a complaint was maintained for not giving the proper place of Hindi to Hindi in the speeches of the Lok Sabha and later Rajya Sabha in 1952 and then in 1952.
In 1961, he was decorated with Bharat Ratna. He had resigned from the membership of Rajya Sabha even before the completion of the term due to health reasons. He died on 1 July 1962.
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