Seth Govind Das (16 October 1896 – 18 June 1974) was an Indian independence activist and parliamentarian. He belonged to the Maheshwari merchant family of Raja Gokuldas of

Jabalpur Jabalpur, formerly Jubbulpore, is a city situated on the banks of Narmada River in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. It is the 3rd-largest urban agglomeration of the state and the 38th-largest of the country. Jabalpur is the administrative h ...

. The family began as the banking firm of Sevaram Khushalchand, one of the "great firms" as termed by T.A. Timberg. Although born in a family with a history of loyalty to the British government, he was attracted to the movement to seek India's freedom from the British rule. He joined the Non Co-operation Movement led by

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

in 1920 and was jailed five times for a total of eight years. He became a member of the All India Congress Committee since 1920 and served in the Congress Working Committee of the Tripuri Session of the Congress in 1939. He was the President of the Mahakoshal P.C.C. during 1928–1934 and 1946–1957, and the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee in 1957. Das was also a

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

author and supported Hindi as the national language of India. He was jailed in Damoh for eight months by British, where he wrote four plays 'Prakash' (social), 'Kartavya' (mythological), 'Navras' (philosophical) and a 'Spardha'(one act play). He wrote more than a hundred plays, a novel "Indu-mati", five travel books, a three volume autobiography, four biographies, mostly in Hindi. He represented

in the Indian Parliament from the first to the fifth Lok Sabha, continuously, from 1957 to 1974 when he died. He was appointed Speaker protem (prior to the formal election of a speaker) by the President for the Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Lok Sabha and administered the oath of the office to all the rest of the Lok Sabha members. Office of the Speaker Lok Sabha
/ref> The Government of India awarded him the civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan in 1961.

Family

Govind Das was married to Godavari Bai of Sikar Rajasthan in 1908 when he was 12 while his wife was 10. They had two sons, Manmohan Das and Jagmohan Das, and daughters Ratna Kumari Bai and Padma. Mamohan Das and his son Chandra Mohan continued to be active in politics. Ravi Mohan, son of Jagmohan Das is an industrialist in Indore region. His sister was Rajkumari Bai. The property that later came to be known as the Royal Hotel, was gifted to her by her grandfather Raja Gokuldas.

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Seth Govind Das
* Colonial Administration and Social Developments in Middle India: The Central Provinces, 1986–1921. PhD 1980 dissertation by Philip McEldowney {{DEFAULTSORT:Das, Seth Govind 1896 births 1974 deaths People from Jabalpur Writers from Madhya Pradesh Hindi-language writers Members of the Constituent Assembly of India India MPs 1957–1962 Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in literature & education Indian independence activists from Madhya Pradesh Prisoners and detainees of British India Lok Sabha members from Madhya Pradesh India MPs 1952–1957 India MPs 1962–1967 India MPs 1967–1970 India MPs 1971–1977 Members of the Central Legislative Assembly of India Members of the Imperial Legislative Council of India Pro tem speakers of the Lok Sabha Gandhians Indian National Congress politicians from Madhya Pradesh

Family

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