Purushottam Das Tandon Biography 
Purushottam Das Tandon was an Indian freedom fighter and he worked to make Hindi as the official language of India. He was called as Rajarshi meaning Royal Saint. He received Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award of India in the year 1961 from Government of India.
He was born on 1st August 1882 at Allahabad. After getting degree in law and masters’ degree in history, he started his career as a lawyer in 1906. In the year 1908 he joined the bar of Allahabad. He practiced as the junior of Tej Bahadur Sapru. He gave up the profession and joined active politics in 1921.
He became a member of the Congress Party in the year 1899. He was a part of Lok Sevak Sangh. He was arrested for taking part in the Non-cooperation movement and Salt Satyagraha. He served as the President of Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha in 1934. He served as the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh for 13 years from 1937 to 1950. He was elected to the Constituent Assembly of India in the year 1946.
He was elected to the Lok Sabha in the year 1952 and then to Rajya Sabha in 1956. Due to his ill health, he had to retire from active life. He had good relationship with Nehru. Later he started No Tax campaign in 1930 and due to this in 1940s there was a split in the relationship. In 1950 he contested for the post of Congress President against Acharya Kriplani.
He was a staunch believer of Ahimsa. So he started using rubber chappals instead of that made of leather. He donated the entire four hundred rupees that he got as an allowance for the Member of Parliament to the Public Service Fund. It was due to his selfless nature that he was called as Rajarshi. He died on 1st July 1962.
Published: N/A
Updated: October 29, 2011
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