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Ram Manohar Lohia

(1910 -1967) – (Uttar Pradesh)

Ram Manohar Lohia (Aged 57) was an Indian independence movement activist and a socialist political leader, born on 23 March 1910 in Akbarpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. He worked with Congress Radio, which was broadcast secretly from various places in Bombay until 1942.

Lohia chose to attend Frederick William University (today’s Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany) over educational institutes in Britain to convey his dissatisfaction with British philosophy. He wrote his Ph.D. thesis on the topic of Salt Taxation in India, focusing on Gandhi’s socio-economic theory.

Selected by Jawaharlal Nehru as the Secretary of the Foreign Department of the All India Congress Committee (A.I.C.C), Lohia was arrested and sentenced to two years of imprisonment for delivering anti-war speeches. Lohia became one of the leading figures of the Central Directorate, which clandestinely tried to organize the Quit India revolt.

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. He passed away on 12 October 1967 in New Delhi, India.