Sir Chhotu Ram (born Ram Richpal; 24 November 1881 – 9 January 1945) was a prominent politician in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

's Punjab Province, an ideologue of the pre-Independent India, who belonged to the

Jat The Jat people ((), ()) are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in late medieval times, and subse ...

community and championed the interest of oppressed communities of the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

. For this feat, he was knighted in 1937. On the political front, he was a co-founder of the

National Unionist Party The Democratic Unionist Party ( ar-at, الحزب الإتحادي الديموقراطي, al-Hizb al-Ittihadi al-Dimuqrati), also referred to by itself as the Original Democratic Unionist Party, is a political party in Sudan, closely tied to t ...

which ruled the United Punjab Province in pre-independent India and kept Congress and Muslim League at bay. In 1916, he brought out a weekly newspaper named

Jat Gazette Jat Gazette is a Hindi language newspaper published in India. Started on 30 May 1916, from Rohtak (now Haryana), the weekly newspaper was published every Tuesday by Chhotu Ram. This newspaper has now also taken the form of digital media. Histo ...

, which is still being published today.

Early life

Chhotu Ram was born as Ram Richpal in a

family in the village of Garhi Sampla, Rohtak district, Punjab Province. His parents were Chaudhari Sukhiram Singh Ohlyan and Sarla Devi. He acquired the nickname Chhotu Ram as he was the youngest of his brothers. He was married to a

girl of Village Kheri Jat, Jhajjar. Chhotu Ram joined primary school in January 1891, passing out four years later. When he was around eleven years of age he married Giano Devi. He studied for his middle school examination in Jhajjar, 12 miles from his village, then enrolled in the Christian Mission School in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

. He passed his intermediate examination in 1903 and proceeded to

St. Stephen's College, Delhi St. Stephen's College is a constituent college of the University of Delhi, widely regarded as one of the oldest and most prestigious colleges for arts and sciences in India. It was established in 1881 by the Cambridge Mission to Delhi. The college ...

from where he graduated in 1905 with a distinction in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

. Parts of his education were funded by the prominent Jat philanthropist

Seth Chhaju Ram Seth Sir Chhaju Ram Lamba (1861–1943) was a Jat tycoon from Bhiwani district of then Punjab (British India) (now Haryana state) and made a fortune in Calcutta during the British Raj period. A philanthropist, he undertook many social improvement ...

. He was great follower of arya samaj

Political activities

Among the supporters of the party at this point were such prominent urban Muslims as

Abdul Qadir Abd al-Qadir or Abdulkadir ( ar, عبد القادر) is a male Muslim given name. It is formed from the Arabic words '' Abd'', ''al-'' and '' Qadir''. The name means "servant of the powerful", ''Al-Qādir'' being one of the names of God in the ...

. Ch. Om Parkash Kadyan, Chief Patron of Kadyan Khap International www.scoutingindia.in directed to recognize his contribution with Bharat Ratna.

Political views

A substantial portion of his salary as minister was set aside for scholarships and stipends for economically poor but bright students. As Punjab's Revenue Minister, he set up the Peasants' Welfare Fund. Future

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

laureate

Abdus Salam Mohammad Abdus Salam Salam adopted the forename "Mohammad" in 1974 in response to the anti-Ahmadiyya decrees in Pakistan, similarly he grew his beard. (; ; 29 January 192621 November 1996) was a Punjabi Pakistani theoretical physicist and a ...

was one of the beneficiaries of this Fund. The enactment of two agrarian laws was primarily due to his contribution. These were the Punjab Relief Indebtedness Act of 1934 and the Punjab Debtor's Protection Act of 1936. Ram died in Lahore on 9 January 1945. His body was carried back to his home in Rohtak city, where it was cremated at the Jat Heroes Memorial Anglo Sanskrit Senior Secondary School in the presence of thousands of people.

Legacy

All punjabis recognised that Chotu Ram's demise possessed profound political consequences. Farmers flocked to Rohtak to pay respects at his demise.

Monuments and memorials

Ram's place of residence in Rohtak was known as "Prem Nivas" and "Nili Kothi" (English: Blue Bungalow). The chowk (road square) nearest to his house is now known as "Chhotu Ram Chowk" and a Dharamshala exists at the same place in his name. A samadhi (tomb) was created in his memory at the school campus where he was cremated, and there people pay homage on his birthday each year. Chhotu Ram State College of Engineering College in Murthal (Sonepat District), Haryana, is named after him (the name of the college has since been changed to Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram University of Science and Technology abbreviated as DCRUST, after it got the University Status in 2006). Sir Chhotu Ram College of Education,

Kurukshetra Kurukshetra (, ) is a city and administrative headquarter of Kurukshetra district in the Indian state of Haryana. It is also known as Dharmakshetra ("Realm of duty ") and as the "Land of the Bhagavad Gita". Legends According to the Pura ...

is named after him. Further, Sir Chhotu Ram Institute of Engineering & Technology at Meerut is also named after him. The Indian government issued a commemorative stamp on 9 January 1995. The Jat-Anglo Sanskrit School was started by him on 26 March 1913 in

Rohtak Rohtak () is a city and the administrative headquarters of the Rohtak district in the Indian state of Haryana. It lies north-west of New Delhi and south of the state capital Chandigarh on NH 9(old NH 10). Rohtak forms a part of the National ...

. A Bachelor of Education college at the same campus, is also named after him.

Ch. Birender Singh Ch. Birender Singh (born 25 March 1946) is a senior Indian political leader and a well-known face in Indian Politics. He lately served as Minister of Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Sanitation & Drinking Water from 2014 to 2016 and later a ...

, Sir Chhotu Ram's daughter's son got built a 64 feet statue by Ch. Chhotu Ram Trust - Rohtak, highest in Haryana, at his birth site, Garhi Sampla. This statue was unveiled by Prime Minister

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...

on 9 October 2018.

References

External links

Harappa.com

1881 births 1945 deaths Indian Knights Bachelor Knights Bachelor People from Rohtak district Indian Hindus Rai Bahadurs Indian independence activists from Punjab (British India) St. Stephen's College, Delhi alumni Speakers of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab Farmers' rights activists Jat Politicians from British India {{Improve categories, date=June 2020