A staunch advocate of socialism, Ram Manohar Lohia was a revolutionary thinker and a crusader for social justice, Lohia's memory is cherished for his learning, progressive ideas, fluency in French, German, Bengali, Urdu and other Indian languages, imprisonment for more than nineteen times, intense patriotism and broad outlook.
Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia was born at Akbarpur in the district of Faizabad, U.P. on 23rd March 1910. Having lost his mother at a very tender age, Ram Manohar was brought up by his grandmother and aunt. He had a brilliant academic career and obtained the Ph. D degree from Berlin University in 1932 for a thesis on ‘Salt and Civil Disobedience.’
As a school student, he participated in demonstrations on Tilak's death. He took up politics as career, and became the founder member of the Congress Socialist Party in 1934. Lohia was elected a member of the Executive Committee and also the first editor of the new weekly, the ‘Congress Socialist’. He actively participated in the Quit India Movement in 1942 and went underground, conducted broadcasts of the secret Radio Station at Bombay and Calcutta. He was arrested in 1944 and was inhumanly tortured in the Lahore Jail.
As a member of the Lok Sabha since 1963 from Farrukhabad constituency (U.P.), Lohia was a strong petrel in the House. He was also a prolific writer. In his concept of New Socialism, particularly in the Indian context, he referred to permanent civil disobedience, oscillation between caste and class, synthesis of centralisation and decentralisation in politico-economic matters and a functional federalism wherein the units are the villages, the districts, provinces and the central government. He had pleaded for introduction of Hindi as the medium of instruction, more effective birth control measures, abolition of the dowry system, and introduction of inter-dining and inter-caste marriages.
Lohia died on 12th October 1967 at the Willingdon Nursing Home, New Delhi, following an operation.
The Department of Posts honours his memory with the issue of a special commemorative postage stamp.
Source : Information Folder issued by Indian Posts & Telegraph Department, Government of India