Acharya Kripalani

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 1

The Prime Minister has paid  tributes to Acharya Kripalani on his Jayanti.

Jivatram Bhagwandas Kripalani (1888 – 1982), popularly known as Acharya Kripalani, was an independence activist, Indian politician and an Educationist.

Educationist:

• Kripalani was also well-known for his work in the field of education. From 1912 to 1927, he taught at various places before becoming wholly involved in freedom movement.
• He earned the moniker ‘Acharya’ around 1922 when he was teaching at the Gujarat Vidyapith, founded by the Mahatma a couple of years before.

Independence Activist

• He was involved in the organization of Non-Cooperation Movement and the Civil Disobedience movements and Quit India Movement.
• He was the President of Indian National Congress (INC) at the time of independence.
• He served in the Interim government of India (1946–1947) and the Constituent Assembly of India.

Political Career: Post-independent India

• Post-independence, he left the Congress and became one of the founders of the Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party (KMPP). This party subsequently merged with the Socialist Party of India to form the Praja Socialist Party (PSP).
• He remained in opposition for the rest of his life and was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1952, 1957, 1963 and 1967 as a member of Praja Socialist Party.
• Kripalani moved the first-ever No confidence motion in Lok Sabha in 1963, immediately after the India-China War.
• He remained a critic of Nehru’s policies and Indira Gandhi’s authoritarian rule. He was arrested during Emergency.
• An Environmentalist: He, along with Vinoba Bhave, was involved in preservation and conservation activities throughout the 1970s.
• Books: My Times, his autobiography published posthumously in 2004 and Gandhi: His Life and Thought (1970).