Ram Manohar Lohia was born on 23 March 1910 at Akbarpur, currently part of the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. His family was prosperous Vaishyas. His mother died in 1912, when he was just two years old, and he was later brought up by his father Hiralal who never remarried. In 1918 he accompanied his father to Bombay where he completed his high school education. He attended the Banaras Hindu University to complete his intermediate course work after standing first in his school's matriculation examinations in 1927. He then joined the Vidyasagar College, under the University of Calcutta and in 1929, earned his B.A. degree. He decided to attend Frederick William University overall prestigious educational institutes in Britain to convey his dim view of British philosophy. He soon learnt German and received financial assistance based on his outstanding academic performance, studying national economy as his major subject as a doctoral student from 1929 to 1933. Lohia wrote his Ph.D thesis paper on the topic of Salt Taxation in India, focusing on Gandhi's socio-economic theory.
National Movement
Lohia was one of the founders of the Congress Socialist Party and editor of its mouthpiece Congress Socialist. In 1936, he was selected by Jawaharlal Nehru as the secretary of the Foreign Department of the All India Congress Committee, the highest body of the Congress Party. By the time he quit that responsibility in 1938, Lohia started to develop his own political standpoint by critically examining positions held by the Gandhian leadership of the Congress and the Communists who had poured into the CSP. In June 1940, he was arrested and sentenced to a jail term of two years for delivering anti-war speeches. Already released by the end of 1941, Lohia became one of the leading figures of the Central Directorate which clandestinely tried to organise the Quit India revolt, sparked by Gandhi in August 1942. Captured in May 1944, he was incarcerated and tortured in Lahore Fort. As one of the last high security prisoners, Lohia, together with Jayaprakash Narayan, was finally released on 11 April 1946.
Later Political Career
As a member of the Congress Socialist Party Lohia joined with that party when it left Congress. He remained a member of the Socialist Party when it fused in 1952 with the Kisan Majdoor Praja Party to form the Praja Socialist Party. Unhappy with the new party Lohia led a split from it to reform the Socialist Party in 1956. He lost to Nehru in 1962 general election in Phulpur. In 1963 Lohia became a member of the Lok Sabha after a by-election in Farrukhabad and in 1965 merged the Socialist Party into the ranks of the Samyukta Socialist Party. The two socialist factions merged, split and re-merged several times. He won Lok Sabha general election of 1967 from Kannauj, but died a few months later.
Foreign Policy: Aligarh, P.C. Dwadash Shreni, 381 p.
Fragments of World Mind: Maitrayani Publishers & Booksellers ; Allahabad 262 p.
Fundamentals of a World Mind: ed. by K.S. Karanth. Bombay, Sindhu Publications, 130 p.
Guilty Men of India’s Partition: Lohia Samata Vidyalaya Nyas, Publication Dept., 103 p.
India, China, and Northern Frontiers: Hyderabad, Navahind 272 p.
Interval During Politics: Hyderabad, Navahind 197 p.
Marx, Gandhi and Socialism: Hyderabad, Navahind 550 p.
Collected Works of Dr Lohia A nine volume set edited by veteran Socialist writer Dr Mastram Kapoor in English and published by Anamika Publications, New Delhi.
18 June Road, in Panjim, Goa, is named after him. It was that date in 1946 where he launched an agitation against colonial rule.
The Willingdon Hospital of New Delhi was renamed Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in the 1970s. Ram Manohar Lohia died in this hospital due to health complications following a surgery
Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Institute of Medical Sciences is a medical institute for undergraduate and postgraduate studies in Lucknow.
Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya Bhawan is a community hall in his hometown of Akbarpur, Ambedkar Nagar and is the only memorial in his name.
Lohiya Prakashana, Ballary was a famous publication house in Karnataka.
