Purushottam K. Chauhan (1905–1958) was a freedom fighter, coal mines owner, social leader, labor activist and politician from Dhanbad, India.

Life-sketch

He was born in 1905 in his native village called Reha in Kutch.Diary of Golden Days at Jharia – A Memoir & History of Gurjar Kashtriya Samaj of Kutch in Coalfields of Jharia – written by Natwarlal Devram Jethwa of Calcutta (1998).pp: 27 : Life sketch : Khimji Walji Chauhan of Reha and Purushottam K. Chauhan His father Khimji Walji Chauhan was a Railway Contractor belonging to Mestri community of Kutch. In the year 1916, Khimji Walji & Company was founded by his father Khimji Walji in partnership with Seth Khora Ramji. The firm founded ''Indian Jharia Colliery'', the coal mines of which were located in Tisra.Nanji Bapa ni Nondh-pothi by Dharsi Jethalal Tank published in Gujarati language in year 1999 from Vadodara. This book was given ''Aank Sidhhi'' Award by Kutch Shakti at Mumbai in year 2000. pp:13 ''Pursuhottam Khimji Chauhan – Jeevan Charitra'' After death of his father in 1936, he became Senior & Managing Partner of the coal mining firm. He was highly influenced by ideals of Mahatma Gandhi when he was studying Law in Calcutta and joined Indian independence movement. He led the rally in

Quit India Movement The Quit India Movement, also known as the August Kranti Movement, was a movement launched at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi on 8th August 1942, during World War II, demanding an end to British rule in ...

on 17 August 1942 at Dhanbad, which was broken up by

lathicharge A baton charge is a coordinated tactic for dispersing crowds of people, usually used by police or military in response to public disorder. In South Asia, a long bamboo stick, called ''lathi'' in Hindi, is used for crowd control, and the expressi ...

and a continent of anti-aircraft gunners was sent from Asansol under Captain Ellis to control the activists in Dhanbad. Chauhan along with other student leaders like

P. C. Bose Prabhat Chandra Bose generally referred to as P. C. Bose, (17 August 1899 – 1959) was an Indian politician, independence activist and labour activist from Dhanbad. Life sketch He was the son of Priyanath Bose, born at Khasial village in Je ...

were arrested by British and sent to jail.Bihar district gazetteers, Volume 12 by Bihar (India), Pranab Chandra Roy Choudhury Printed by the Superintendent, Secretariat Press, Bihar, 1964:pp 77 Bose and Chauhan were both student leaders from Dhanbad, while P. C. Bose after independence was Member of Parliament from Dhanbad for years 1951–57 and 1957–62, where as P. K. Chauhan became the Member of Legislative Assembly of Bihar from Dhanbad for same period. In the year 1947 he attended 30th session of

International Labour Conference The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and ol ...

held at Geneva from 19 June to 11 July 1947 as an employers delegate; where-in he was appointed as substitute to Resolutions Committee headed by Naval Tata Again in 1948, he attended 31st International Labour Conference held in San Francisco, United States of America, from 17 June 1948 to 10 July 1948. He attended conference as a Member of Legislative Assembly of Bihar, who was appointed as an Advisory member and also as a representative of Government of India to the delegation. This year also he was one of the advisers to the delegation and also appointed as substitute to Naval Tata in resolutions committee. After independence of India, he became a Member of Bihar Legislative Assembly as a candidate of Indian National Congress, twice in 1948 and 1952, defeating strong opponents like, the

Raja of Jharia Jharia Raj / Jharia Estate was a Zamindari estate in British India, located at Jharia in Bihar province of the Bengal Presidency. The present Jharia house is an offshoot of Palganj in Hazaribagh and was formerly established at Katrasgarh.Bihar ...

( Raja Kali Prasad Singh) and the

Raja of Ramgarh Ramgarh Raj was the major ''Zamindari'' estate in the era of the British Raj in the former Indian province of Bihar. Territories which comprised the Ramgarh Raj presently constitute districts of Ramgarh, Hazaribagh, Chatra, Giridih, Koderma, ...

(

Raja Bahadur Kamakhya Narain Singh Maharaja Kamakhya Narain Singh Bahadur (10 August 1916 – 7 May 1970) of Ramgarh, Jharkhand was the Maharaja Bahadur of Ramgarh Raj and later a politician. He belonged to the Rathore clan of Rajput. Early life and family He was edu ...

) in respective years. He was a champion of labour cause and in spite of himself being owner of coal mines, was so popular that he went on to become the President of Jharia Coalfields Mazdoor Sangh, i.e., Labour Union of Jharia Coalfiedls, a unit of

Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh ( translation: ''Indian Workers' Union'') is a trade union in India. It was founded by Dattopant Thengadi on 23 July 1955. The BMS itself claims to have more than 10 million members. According to provisional stati ...

for the years 1955–56. He was a good orator and was applauded by Dr. Rajendra Prasad for his exemplary and compassionate speech on bringing the

Abolition of Zamindari Act Abolition refers to the act of putting an end to something by law, and may refer to: *Abolitionism, abolition of slavery *Abolition of the death penalty, also called capital punishment *Abolition of monarchy * Abolition of nuclear weapons * Aboli ...

. He was closely associated with other prominent activists and politicians from Bihar like,

Dr. Rajendra Prasad Rajendra Prasad (3 December 1884 – 28 February 1963) was an Indian politician, lawyer, Indian independence activist, journalist & scholar who served as the first president of Republic of India from 1950 to 1962. He joined the Indian Nationa ...

, Jayaprakash Narayan, Sri Krishna Sinha,

Anugrah Narayan Sinha Anugrah Narayan Sinha (18 June 1887 – 5 July 1957), known as '' Bihar Vibhuti'', was an Indian nationalist statesman, participant in Champaran Satyagraha, Gandhian & one of the architects of modern Bihar, who was the first Deputy Chief Minis ...

Satyendra Narayan Sinha Satyendra Narayan Sinha (12 July 1917 – 4 September 2006) was an Indian politician and statesman, participant in the Indian independence movement, a leading light of Jaya Prakash Narayan's ‘ ''complete revolution''’ movement during the ...

, Binodanand Jha, Krishna Ballabh Sahay.Dr. Rajendra Prasad, correspondence and select documents: Volume seventeen. Presidency period January 1954 to December 1955 by Rajendra Prasad Printed Allied, 1984 pp:496,498 He died suddenly due to heart attack at the age of 53 in the year 1958 in Bombay.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chauhan, Purushottam K. 1905 births 1958 deaths Indian independence activists from Jharkhand People from Dhanbad Prisoners and detainees of British India Indian National Congress politicians from Bihar Gujarati people Gandhians Indian businesspeople in mining Indian businesspeople in coal Businesspeople from Jharkhand 20th-century Indian businesspeople People from Kutch district Bihar MLAs 1952–1957 Bihar MLAs 1957–1962 Kutchi people People from Jharia Social leaders