Ram Dhan (1 July 1921 – 23 May 2001) was an Indian politician and freedom fighter. He represented Lalganj in

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...

a number of times. Ram Dhan was arrested on the night when

Emergency An emergency is an urgent, unexpected, and usually dangerous situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or environment and requires immediate action. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening ...

was declared by

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...

Early life

Ram Dhan was born on 1 July 1921 in a

Dalit Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the Caste system in India, castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold Varna (Hinduism), varna syste ...

family at Azampur in Azamgarh district of

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

. He attended Central Hindu College (now

Banaras Hindu University Banaras Hindu University (BHU) IAST: kāśī hindū viśvavidyālaya IPA: /kaːʃiː hɪnd̪uː ʋɪʃwəʋid̪jaːləj/), is a collegiate, central, and research university located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, and founded in 1916 ...

) and was awarded Bachelor of Law degree at Law College,

BHU Banaras Hindu University (BHU) IAST: kāśī hindū viśvavidyālaya IPA: /kaːʃiː hɪnd̪uː ʋɪʃwəʋid̪jaːləj/), is a collegiate, central, and research university located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, and founded in 1916. ...

. He joined the Socialist movement and grew close to leaders like

Jayaprakash Narayan Jayaprakash Narayan (; 11 October 1902 – 8 October 1979), popularly referred to as JP or ''Lok Nayak'' (Hindi for "People's leader"), was an Indian independence activist, theorist, socialist and political leader. He is remembered for le ...

and

Acharya Narendra Dev Acharya Narendra Deva (; also Dev; 30 October 1889 – 19 February 1956) was one of the leading theorists of the Congress Socialist Party in India. His democratic socialism renounced violent means as a matter of principle and embraced the '' sa ...

. But later he joined

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

. In 1963, he married Chandrawati Devi. The couple had two son and two daughters. He also served as a correspondent of Aaj and Sansar of

Varanasi Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world. * * * * The city has a syncretic t ...

, Swatantra Bharat of

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

and Amrit Bazar Patrika of

Allahabad Allahabad (), officially known as Prayagraj, also known as Ilahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi (Benares). It is the administrat ...

Political career

Before 1947, he took part in many freedom struggles. He was detained under Defence of India Rules for 2 years for taking part in the

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 ...

in 1942. He joined the Socialist movement but in 1960 he joined Congress party. He was member of 4th, 5th Lok Sabha, representing Lalganj on Congress ticket. He was arrested under

Maintenance of Internal Security Act The Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) was a controversial law passed by the Indian parliament in 1971 giving the administration of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Indian law enforcement agencies very broad powers – indefinite pre ...

(MISA) during Emergency. He was among the few in Congress who were arrested along with

Chandra Shekhar Chandra Shekhar ( 17 April 1927 – 9 August 2015) was an Indian politician who served as the 8th Prime Minister of India, between 10 November 1990 and 21 June 1991. He headed a minority government of a breakaway faction of the Janata Dal with ...

Mohan Dharia Mohan Dharia (14 February 1925 - 14 October 2013) was a Union minister, a lawyer and social worker. During his last days he stayed in Pune. Dharia was an environmentalist and ran a non-government organisation Vanarai. He was elected to the Lok S ...

and

Krishan Kant Krishan Kant (28 February 1927 – 27 July 2002) was an Indian politician who served as the tenth vice president of India from 1997 until his death 2002. Formerly, he was the governor of Andhra Pradesh from 1990 to 1997. He was a member of Lok ...

. In 1977, he was elected as Lok Sabha MP on

Janata Party The Janata Party ( JP, lit. ''People's Party'') was a political party that was founded as an amalgam of Indian political parties opposed to the Emergency that was imposed between 1975 and 1977 by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of the Indian Nati ...

ticket from Lalganj Lok Sabha constituency. He was also made General Secretary of

, but when

Morarji Desai Morarji Ranchhodji Desai (29 February 1896 – 10 April 1995) was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the 4th Prime Minister of India between 1977 to 1979 leading the government formed by the Janata Party. During his ...

was declared as Prime Minister instead of

Jagjivan Ram Jagjivan Ram (5 April 1908 – 6 July 1986), known popularly as Babuji, was an Indian independence activist and politician from Bihar. He was instrumental in the foundation of the ''All India Depressed Classes League'', an organisation dedicated ...

, he resigned in protest. Later he joined Congress but along with

VP Singh Vishwanath Pratap Singh (25 June 1931 – 27 November 2008), shortened to V. P. Singh, was an Indian politician who was the 7th Prime Minister of India from 1989 to 1990 and the 41st Raja Bahadur of Manda. He is India's only prime minister ...

he resigned from Congress and formed

Janata Dal Janata Dal (“People’s Party”) was an List of political parties in India, Indian political party which was formed through the merger of Janata Party factions, the Lok Dal, Indian National Congress (Jagjivan), and the Jan Morcha united on 11 ...

Positions held

* 1945–1948 President of District Depressed Class League, Azamgarh. * 1967–1970 Member, 4th Lok Sabha. * 1967–1970 Member of Informal Consultative Committee of Shipping and Transport of

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. * 1971–1977 Member, 5th Lok Sabha (2nd term). * 1977–1979 Member, 6th Lok Sabha (3rd term). * 1977–1978 President of Bharatiya Depressed Classes League. * 1977 Selected as General Secretary of

. * 1977–1979 Chairman of Committee on the Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes of Parliament. * 1984–1989 Member, 8th Lok Sabha (4th term). * 1984–1989 Member of Railway Convention Committee of

. * 1989–1991 Member, 9th Lok Sabha (5th term). * 1990 Member of Consultative Committee, Ministry of Home Affairs. * 1990–1995 Chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dhan, Ram India MPs 1967–1970 Indians imprisoned during the Emergency (India) Lok Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh 2001 deaths Janata Dal politicians Janata Party politicians Indian National Congress politicians India MPs 1971–1977 India MPs 1977–1979 India MPs 1984–1989 India MPs 1989–1991 Politicians from Azamgarh district