Born on August 1, 1882, Tandon had his education in Lahore. He entered the legal profession in 1906. He joined the Congress in 1899 even as a student. He was associated with the Congress committee which inquired into the Jallianwalla Bagh incident. He was imprisoned in 1928 for active participation in the non-cooperation movement. He was imprisoned again during the Civil Disobedience Movement in 1930. From 1932 onwards he was imprisoned a number of times for organizing peasant movements. In 1937-38 and again in 1945 he presided over the Utter Pradesh Legislature as Speaker with great distinction. He was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1952 and the Rajya Sabha in 1956. He retired from active politics in 1956. The Bharat Ratna was conferred upon him on 1961.
Purushottam Das Tandon was a freedom fighter from Uttar Pradesh. He is widely remembered for his efforts in achieving the Official Language of India status for Hindi. He was revered as Rajarshi. Purushottam Das Tandon was born at Allahabad. After obtaining a degree in law and an MA in history, he started practising in 1906 and joined the bar of Allahabad High Court in 1908 as a junior to Tej Bahadur Sapru. He gave up practise in 1921 to concentrate on public activities.
He was a member of Congress Party since his student days in 1899. In 1906, he represented Allahabad in the AICC. He was associated with the Congress Party committee that studied the Jallianwala Bagh incident in 1919. He was also a part of the Servants of the People Society. In the 1920s and 1930s he was arrested for participating in the Non-Cooperation movement and Salt Satyagraha respectively.
He and Nehru were among the people arrested even before Mahatma Gandhi returned from the Round Table Conference at London in 1931. He was known for his efforts in farmers’ movements and he served as the President, Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha in 1934. He worked as the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the present-day Uttar Pradesh for a period of 13 years, from July 31, 1937 to August 10, 1950. He was elected to the Constituent Assembly of India in 1946. He was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1952 and the Rajya Sabha in 1956. He retired from active public life after that due to indifferent health. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award in 1961.
Purushottam Das Tandon is one of the patriarchal figures of the Indian National Congress. He presided over the Congress session in Nasik in 1950. He was a staunch champion of Hindi as a national language. and believed in upholding Hindu ideals.
He passed away in July 1, 1961.
