Jairamdas Daulatram

Jairamdas Daulatram (21 July 1891 – 1 March 1979) was an Indian political leader in the Indian independence movement. After India's independence, Daulatram served as the Governor of the Indian states of Bihar and later Assam.

Jairamdas Daulatram on a 1985 stamp of India

Early life

Jairamdas Daulatram was born into a Sindhi Hindu family in Karachi, Sindh, which was then part of the Bombay Presidency in British India on 21 July 1891.

His academic career was brilliant throughout. After taking his degree in law, he started a legal practice, but soon gave it up as it often led to conflict with his conscience. In 1915, Jairamsingh came into personal contact with Mahatma Gandhi, who had then returned from South Africa, and became his devoted follower. At the Amritsar session of the Indian National Congress in 1919, he worded Gandhi's resolution in such a way that it avoided an impending rift between Gandhi and his other Congress colleagues. Since then Gandhi came to repose great faith in him. Gandhi spoke of him as 'one of the greatest persons in India'. He compared him with pure gold saying : 'I swear by Jairamdas. Truer man I have not had the honour of meeting.' Jairamdas enjoyed the trust and affection of Mrs. Sarojini Naidu who described his as a 'Lamp in the Desert' because of his services in the Sindh, which was mostly a desert. His ties with Sardar Patel and Dr. Rajendra Prasad were also very close.

Freedom struggle

Jairamsingh Daulatram became a participant as an activist in the Home Rule Movement led by Annie Besant and Muhammad Ali Jinnah, demanding "Home Rule", or self-government and Dominion status for India within the British Empire. He also joined the Indian National Congress, which was the largest Indian political organisation. Daulatram was deeply influenced by the philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi, which advocated simple living, and a struggle for independence through ahimsa (non-violence) and satyagraha.[1] perhaps Gandhi's sweetest relations were with Jairamdas. At the Amritsar session of the Congress, 1919, acute differences had arisen on the reforms resolution between Gandhiji on the one hand and Tilak, C.R. Das and Mohammed Ali on the other. Recalled Gandhiji years later: ``Jairamdas, that cool- headed Sindhi, came to the rescue. He passed me a slip containing a suggestion and pleading for a compromise. I hardly knew him. Something in his eyes and face captivated me. l read the suggestion. It was good. I passed it on to Deshbandhu. "Yes, if my party Will accept it" was his response. Lokmanya said, "I don't want to see it. If Das has approved, it is good enough for me.' Malaviyaji (who was presiding anxiously) overheard it, snatched the paper from my hands and, amid deafening cheers, announced that a compromise had been arrived at."

When Gandhiji was launching the Salt March in 1930, he wrote to Jairamdas, who was then member of the Bombay Legislative Council: ``I have taken charge of the Committee for Boycott of Foreign Cloth. I must have a whole-time secretary, if that thing is to work. And I can think of nobody so suitable like you. Jairamsingh immediately resigned his seat, took up the new charge, and made a tremendous success of the boycott of foreign cloth.

Daulatram participated in the Non-cooperation movement (1920–1922), agitating against British rule through non-violent civil disobedience. Daulatram rose in the ranks of the Congress and became one of its foremost leaders from Sindh. He was a leading activist in the Salt March (1930–31) and the Quit India movement (1942–45), being imprisoned by British authorities. Daulatram was shot and wounded in the thigh when police opened fire on street protestors agitating outside a magistrate's court in Karachi in 1930.[1]

Post-independence

India became an independent nation on 15 August 1947 but was simultaneously partitioned to create a separate Muslim state of Pakistan; Daulatram's native Sindh was included in Pakistan, of which Karachi became the national capital. Daulatram stayed in India and was appointed the first Indian Governor of Bihar, a post he held until 1948, when he was appointed the Union Minister for Food Supply. Daulatram represented a constituency from East Punjab in the Constituent Assembly of India and contributed in drafting and shaping the Constitution of India.[2] He served as a member of the advisory, union subjects, and provincial constitution committees.[2] From 1950 to 1956, Daulatram served as the Governor of Assam.[2]

Preservation of Sindhi literature

Jairamsingh Daulatram was one of the founding members of the Akhil Bharat Sindhi Boli Ain Sahit Sabha (All India Sindhi Language and Literature Congress).[3]

References

1. Māmaṇi Raẏachama Goswāmī, Praphulla Kaṭakī (2002). An Unifinished Autobiography. Sterling Publishers. pp. 4–5. ISBN 978-81-207-2428-0.
2. "The Constitution-framers India forgot". Rediff.com. 6 November 2007. Retrieved 10 September 2010.
3. "Office-Bearers – Akhil Bharat Sindhi Boli Ain Sahit Sabha". Sindhi Sahit Sabha. Archived from the original on 13 May 2010. Retrieved 10 September 2010.

Government offices
Preceded by Sir Hugh Dow	Governor of Bihar 15 August 1947 – 11 January 1948	Succeeded by Madhav Shrihari Aney