Jagat Narain Lal (21 July 1894 – 3 December 1966) was an Indian writer, poet, political leader, freedom fighter, and Gandhian activist. He also served as a member of the

Constituent Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

, professor of economics at Bihar Vidyapith, practicing lawyer, and editor of the journal Mahavir. Known for his deep religiosity and spiritual inclinations, he occupied a position on the ideological right within the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

and also served as the general secretary of the Hindu Mahasabha in 1926, maintaining a complex and often conflicted relationship with both organisations throughout his political career.

Early life

Source: Jagat Narain Lal was born on 21 July 1894 in a small mofussil town called Akhgaon in the district of

Arrah Arrah (also transliterated as Ara) is a city and a municipal corporation in Bhojpur district, India, Bhojpur district (formerly known as Shahabad district) in the Indian state of Bihar. It is the headquarters of Bhojpur district, India, Bhojpur ...

Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal until 1937, later the Bengal Province, was the largest of all three presidencies of British India during Company rule in India, Company rule and later a Provinces o ...

in a Shrivastava

Kayastha Kayastha (or Kayasth) denotes a cluster of disparate Indian communities broadly categorised by the regions of the Indian subcontinent in which they were traditionally locatedthe Chitraguptavanshi Kayasthas of North India, the Chandraseniya Ka ...

family. His father, Bhagawat sahay , had a railway job as a station master, whose transferable job took him to many places. His mother, Radhika Devi, was a homemaker and a great ''Kirshna bhakt''. The inspiration of his mother's bhakti and the enchantment of the metaphysical formed the core of Jagat Narain Lal's religiosity, but also his politics. He received elementary education, like many other children of those times, by a maulvi who used to come home. Jagat Narain Lal joined a formal school only much later in

Gorakhpur Gorakhpur is a city in the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, along the banks of the West Rapti River, Rapti river in the Purvanchal , Purvanchal region. It is situated 272 kilometres east of ...

where his father, Bhagwat Prasad, had been posted. In 1910, for higher studies he first joined the very reputed, and a more cosmopolitan, Irwin Christian College, and then, after graduating with a first division, moved to the

Allahabad University The University of Allahabad is a Central University located in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. It was established on 23 September 1887 by an act of Parliament and is recognised as an Institute of National Importance (INI). It is the 4th oldest mode ...

for his post graduate studies in economics and law. In 1918, Lal moved to

Patna Patna (; , ISO 15919, ISO: ''Paṭanā''), historically known as Pataliputra, Pāṭaliputra, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, ...

where he began his practise in the Patna High Court in the august company of Sir Ali Imam,

Syed Hasan Imam Syed Hasan Imam (31 August 1871 – 19 April 1933) was an Indian barrister and politician who served as the President of the Indian National Congress and was elected in September 1918.Sachidanand Sinha, Sri Baidyanath Singh, Shambhu Sharan Verma, Anugrah Narayan Sinha and above all

Dr. Rajendra Prasad Rajendra Prasad (3 December 1884 – 28 February 1963) was an Indian politician, lawyer, journalist and scholar who served as the first president of India from 1950 to 1962. He joined the Indian National Congress during the Indian independenc ...

. Under their mentorship Jagat Narain Lal soon began to make a name for himself. But just as he was beginning to make a name for himself professionally, he was sucked into the the national movement. The nation woke up to the efficacy and immense possibilities of a form of resistance that was a combination of extra-constitutional struggle as well as of moral force against an adversary that has both the rule of law and might on its side. Almost all prominent leaders of Bihar - Brajkishore Prasand,

Rajendra Prasad Rajendra Prasad (3 December 1884 – 28 February 1963) was an Indian politician, lawyer, journalist and scholar who served as the first president of India from 1950 to 1962. He joined the Indian National Congress during the Indian independen ...

, Muzharul Haq – participated in the movement.

Intellectual life

Jagat Narain Lal was a very learned man with a wide-ranging interest in

Vedantic ''Vedanta'' (; , ), also known as ''Uttara Mīmāṃsā'', is one of the six orthodox ( ''āstika'') traditions of Hindu philosophy and textual exegesis. The word ''Vedanta'' means 'conclusion of the Vedas', and encompasses the ideas that e ...

philosophy, Western political philosophy, economics and matters of law. He was a professor of economics at Bihar Vidyapith (inaugurated by Gandhi on 4 Feb 1921), a practising lawyer, editor of journal ''Mahavir'' (till 1928), a writer who wrote extensively about his political life and spiritual awakening. The Nehru Memorial Library has more than two thousand hand written pages that record his wide intellectual interests and repertoire. In a book recounting his jail years, ''Light Unto a Cell''. he references the

Mahabharat The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the '' Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kurukshetra War, a war of succes ...

, the Bhagwat Gita,

Isha Upanishad The ''Isha Upanishad'' (, ), also known as ''Shri Ishopanishad'', ''Ishavasya Upanishad'', or ''Vajasaneyi Samhita Upanishad'', is one of the shortest Upanishads, embedded as the final chapter (''adhyāya'') of the Shukla Yajurveda. It is a '' ...

, among others. There's an interesting anecdote in the book, he writes: "Along with my old friend, Narayan Prasad Sinha, MLA with whom I had first started the study of the

Gita The Bhagavad Gita (; ), often referred to as the Gita (), is a Hindu scripture, dated to the second or first century BCE, which forms part of the epic poem Mahabharata. The Gita is a synthesis of various strands of Indian religious thought, ...

and the

Upanishads The Upanishads (; , , ) are late Vedic and post-Vedic Sanskrit texts that "document the transition from the archaic ritualism of the Veda into new religious ideas and institutions" and the emergence of the central religious concepts of Hind ...

in 1921, I wanted to form a study circle of lovers of the Gita. But, so nervous were most of the Gandhites and Congressmen of anti-religious bias of our socialist and communist fellow prisoners that they had hardly the courage to broach the matter openly.’

Political life

As a committed freedom fighter and Congressman, Jagat Narain lal was imprisoned during the Non Cooperation,

Civil Disobedience Civil disobedience is the active and professed refusal of a citizenship, citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders, or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be cal ...

and the Quit India Movements and spent close to a decade in jail. As the assistant secretary of the Provincial Congress Committee He played a major role in the success of the Gaya Congress in 1922 after his release from Buxer jail. He was sentenced to prison for a second time in 1929 under the charges of sedition for having become, as he writes, ‘the ''bête noir'' to the Government and the police chief of the province, thanks to my bitter and scathing criticism of their bungling which had resulted in communal antagonism and riots.’ After he was released from Hazaribagh Central jail in 1929, he lent his support to and spearheaded the

Salt Satyagraha The Salt march, also known as the Salt Satyagraha, Dandi March, and the Dandi Satyagraha, was an act of non violent civil disobedience in colonial India, led by Mahatma Gandhi. The 24-day march lasted from 12 March 1930 to 6 April 1930 as a di ...

as the President of the Patna District Congress Committee. In the interim, Lal, under the influence of

Madan Mohan Malviya Madan Mohan Malaviya (25 December 1861 — 12 November 1946; ) was an Indian scholar, educational reformer and activist notable for his role in the Indian independence movement. He was president of the Indian National Congress three times and ...

and B.S. Moonje, also acquired dual membership of the

Hindu Mahasabha Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha (), simply known as Hindu Mahasabha, is a Hindu nationalism, Hindu nationalist political party in India. Founded in 1915 by Madan Mohan Malviya, the Mahasabha functioned mainly as a pressure group advocating th ...

. His association with the All India

strengthened and he became its General Secretary at its Calcutta session in 1926. Beginning early 1930s, his enchantment with the

began to wane. On his release from Hazaribagh Central Jail in 1932, he joined the Servants of Hindu Society. He wrote: ‘

hen Hen commonly refers to a female animal: a female chicken, other gallinaceous bird, any type of bird in general, or a lobster. It is also a slang term for a woman. Hen, HEN or Hens may also refer to: Places Norway *Hen, Buskerud, a village in R ...

Bhai Paramanand was elected president of the Hindu Mahasabha, he openly advocated a pro-government and anti-Congress policy, in defiance of all earlier traditions. The rift between us grew wider and wider until…I felt I could no longer associated with him.’ In protest, and to register his disenchantment, Jagat Narain Lal finally stopped taking his allowance from the Mahasabha. His disenchantment with the

was complete by the time the first provincial assembly elections took place in 1937 when he fought the elections on a Congress ticket defeated the Mahasabha candidate who stood against him. ‘The election was almost a cake-walk for me. The Hindu Sabha candidate forfeited his deposit.’. In 1937, he became the Parliamentary secretary to the then

Finance Minister A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfoli ...

Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar The deputy chief minister of Bihar is the seniormost cabinet member of the state government who serves as the de facto second head of the state. He is the second highest ranking executive authority of the state's council of ministers. The curr ...

province Dr. Anugraha Narayan Sinha. At the Congress session at Allahabad in 1942 he moved a resolution with Nehru's backing and support – famously known as the Jagat Narain lal's Resolution– rejecting Sir Stafford Cripp's interim proposal for a

Dominion Status A dominion was any of several largely self-governing countries of the British Empire, once known collectively as the ''British Commonwealth of Nations''. Progressing from colonies, their degrees of colonial self-governance increased (and, in ...

and Partition of India, and defeating C. Rajagopalachari's resolution in support of the Cripps’ proposals. Jagat Narain Lal went on to become a member of the Constituent Assembly as a Congress representative from

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

. He made several important interventions regarding the right to religion, on matters pertaining to the federal structure and nature of citizenship in the constituent Assembly Debates. He was also appointed as a member of the Dar Commission, 1948 – (a three-member commission) – which was the first linguistic reorganization commission of India.{{Cite report , url=http://dspace.gipe.ac.in/xmlui/handle/10973/32612 , title=Report of the Linguistic Provinces Commission. 1948 , author=Constituent Assembly of India , date=1948 , publisher=Government of India Press , location=New Delhi , language=en He went on to become a member of the legislative assembly from the

Danapur Danapur Nizamat or Danapur is an Indian satellite town and one of six subdivisions (tehsil) in the Patna district of Bihar state.Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

state assembly led by Chief Minister

Krishna Sinha Shri Krishna Singh (Sinha) (21 October 1887 – 31 January 1961), also known as Shri Babu, was the first chief minister of the Indian state of Bihar (1946–61). Except for the period of World War II, Sinha was the chief minister of Bihar from t ...

and a cabinet minister in 1957, handling the portfolios of ''Law, and Cooperative and Animal husbandry''.

References

1894 births 1966 deaths Indian independence activists from Bihar