This article is part of a series by The Wire titled ‘The Early Parliamentarians’, exploring the lives and work of post-independence MPs who have largely been forgotten. The series looks at the institutions they helped create, the enduring ideas they left behind and the contributions they made to nation building.A renowned socialist leader, veteran freedom fighter, journalist, writer, distinguished parliamentarian and born rebel, Rammanohar Lohia was elected to the third Lok Sabha in 1963 in a by-election from Farrukhabad constituency in Uttar Pradesh.On the first day when Lohia was in the Lok Sabha, it appeared that a new life had come to the House. Everybody in the House stood up and welcomed him when he entered the Chamber. He was again elected in March 1967 to the fourth Lok Sabha from Kannauj constituency in Uttar Pradesh but passed away within six months in October 1967.A dedicated parliamentarian, Lohia took keen interest in the business of the House. He used to come fully prepared for parliamentary debates and discussions. His speeches in the Lok Sabha gave new turns and twists to the Indian polity and provided real food for thought. Whether it was the policy of non-alignment or the issue of corruption in the country, he always took the government of the day to task. He moved the first no-confidence motion against the Nehru government in 1963.He pointed out the weaknesses of government policies through his speeches in the House. Whether it was the prime minister or any other minister, he spared none. Whenever he found any irregularity or injustice being done, he was ever vigilant to raise the issue.His arguments in what has come to be known as the ‘Three annas versus fifteen annas’ debate were an eye-opener for the people of the country. Lohia asserted that the then government’s view that average income of a person in the country was 15 annas was misleading and false. He proved by facts and figures that the average income of a person at that time was just three and a half annas or four annas per day.Early life and political trajectoryIllustration: Pariplab Chakraborty.Lohia was born on March 23, 1910, at Akbarpur (near Ayodhya), Faizabad district in Uttar Pradesh in a Marwari Vaishya family of hardware merchants. He passed the matriculation examination from the Bombay University in the first division in 1925. He did his I.A. from the Benares Hindu University in 1927, and B.A. with a Second Class Honours in English from Vidyasagar College, Calcutta University, in 1929 and then went to Humboldt University in 1932, Berlin for his PhD.His thesis was on ‘Salt Satyagraha and Effect of Civil Disobedience on Economy’ but he was not awarded a doctorate due to some technical reasons. It was in Berlin that he studied the works of Marx and Hegel. He left Berlin in 1933 with definite leanings towards socialism. Lohia was also deeply influenced by M.K. Gandhi’s ideals, values and methods. Coming back to India in 1933, Lohia sought employment. Failing to get a teaching job at the Benares Hindu University, he reluctantly became the private secretary to Rameshwardas Birla for a few months.Lohia joined the freedom movement at an early age. In 1934, the Congress Socialist Party (CSP) was formed within the Indian National Congress. Lohia was one of the founding members of CSP and was considered one of its pillars. The party, declaring socialism as its objective, stated that Marxism alone could guide the anti-imperialist forces to their destiny and emphasised on democratising the organisational structure of the Congress.Lohia was elected a member of CSP National Executive (1934-1947). He was also appointed the first editor of the CSP weekly, the Congress Socialist. Simultaneously he was appointed secretary, AICC Foreign Department, (1936-38) by Jawaharlal Nehru at the Lucknow session (1936).As foreign secretary of the Congress, Lohia was instrumental in laying the foundations of India’s foreign policy. He maintained close contacts with freedom movements then going on in other parts of the world and developed close relations with progressive organisations in Asia, Africa and Latin America.As secretary, he had written a pamphlet “The Foreign Policies of the Indian National Congress and the British Labour Party” which was described as a “Work of outstanding merit” by Nehru.A voice of dissentLohia was arrested for making anti-government speeches on May 24, 1939 in Calcutta, his first imprisonment, but was released the next day on bail. The possibility of World War II led him to suggest to the Congress in 1939 the launching of a Satyagraha for India’s independence. During the Second World War, he supported the view that India should not extend any support to the British and advocated complete non-cooperation.Illustration: Pariplab ChakrabortyHe was arrested again from the premises of the AICC at Allahabad on June 7, 1940, for making anti-war speeches. Gandhi did not like it and reacted very strongly. Deploring the action, Gandhi said that imprisonment of patriots like Lohia and Jayaprakash would not be tolerated and he would not be a silent witness to this increasing encroachment on popular freedom. Lohia was released in July 1942.Lohia opposed the Crips Mission of 1942 and participated in the ‘Quit India Movement’ launched by Gandhi. He played a significant role in the ‘Quit India Movement’ of 1942. He went underground along with Jayaprakash Narayan, Usha Mehta and Aruna Asaf Ali and started a secret ‘Congress Radio’, and broadcast it from Bombay and Calcutta in 1942.He along with Jayaprakash Narayan worked for the ‘Azad Dasta’ in Nepal for some time. He eluded the grasp of the police from August 9, 1942 but was finally arrested on May 20, 1944 in Bombay. Lohia was interned at Lahore and Agra Jail under extreme hostile environment and faced inhuman torture and cruelty of Britisher’s at Lahore Fort. He was released from Agra prison on April 11, 1946. Later he worked for the freedom of Goan and Nepalese people also.In Goa, Lohia was arrested for the first time on June 18, 1946, after he courted arrest by defying Portuguese rule and addressing a large public meeting in Margao. He was arrested again later that year in September 1946 upon his return to Goa, when he was jailed for ten days at Aguada fort.Lohia was arrested as many as 25 times for participation in freedom movements of India, Goa and Nepal and civil disobedience movements in free India and in America.He always stood for the anti-imperialist and anti-colonial revolution. He had deep sympathy for the equal rights movement launched by American Blacks. He symbolically participated in it. In the US, he was refused entry into a restaurant and was arrested when he insisted on entering it.Break with the CongressAs a socialist, Lohia with his other cocialist colleagues left the Congress party in 1948.The next year in 1949, Lohia founded a Kisan organisation called ‘Hind Kisan Panchayat.’ He was also among the Founders of the Asian Socialist Conference at Rangoon in 1952.He launched various Kisan (Peasant) marches and started two monthly journals – Mankind in English and a Hindi journal Jan.Lohia also launched a “Jati Todo” (banish caste) movement and declared that in a traditionally unequal society, equality could not be established by merely providing equal opportunities to all. He said that the backward classes, women, Harijans, Adivasis and the backwards among the minorities had to be given special opportunities to bring them up to the level of the advanced. A proponent of ‘Angrezi Hatao’ (remove English) he was a leader of the masses and always talked in their language.Lohia possessed a universal outlook. He subscribed to the concept of the citizenship of the mind, citizenship of ideals without the restrictiveness of nationality or race. A widely travelled man, Lohia dreamt of an international order where one could travel around the world without passports or visas.He was for the establishment of a World Parliament and a World Government to which the sovereign national states would voluntarily transfer a part of their sovereignty. He was also elected India’s representative to the Conference for World Government in 1949.Lohia was a prolific writer. His ideas were original and always created awareness among the masses. During the freedom movement he showed the way of freedom to the people through his writings.In the 1962 general elections, Lohia contested against then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and lost the election badly. But next year, he won a Lok Sabha by-election in 1963 from Farrukhabad.As a parliamentarian, Lohia argued in favour of the nationalisation of foreign assets, introduction of machines in small economic units, 60% of vacancies in government service to be filled by backward classes, remission of land-tax on holdings below six acres, preventing concentration of capital and reducing inequality of income. He also pleaded for the 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 passed away in New Delhi on October 12, 1967 at an early age of 57.Glowing tributes were paid to Lohia in both the Houses of Parliament. His death was described as a great loss to the country and greater loss to the parliament. He was described as a valiant fighter, a great thinker and a dynamic personality in the true sense of the terms.Qurban Ali is a trilingual journalist who has covered some of modern India’s major political, social and economic developments. He has a keen interest in India’s freedom struggle and is now documenting the history of the socialist movement in the country.