- Tej Bahadur Sapru
Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru(1875–1949) was an eminent lawyer, political and social leader in
India during theBritish Raj . He was knighted in 1922.Early life
Tej Bahadur Sapru was born on December 8th, 1875 in
Aligarh , in what is now the state ofUttar Pradesh . He was born in aKashmiri Hindu family. He was educated at theAgra College,Sapru worked in the
Allahabad High Court as alawyer wherePurushottam Das Tandon worked as his junior.Indian Liberal
Sapru was a jurist and leader of the
Indian Liberal Party . He favoured a dialogue with theBritish Empire and sought self-government reforms, but not independence from the Empire.Sapru and others like M.R. Jayakar favored discussions and dialogue with the British, and were regular participants in the provincial and central legislatures that most Indians thought were rubber-stamps of the Viceroy.
Political career
He carried forward the moderate policies of
Gopal Krishna Gokhale in the radicalized post-Amritsar Massacre period after World War I. Sapru criticizedMahatma Gandhi 's leadership, as well as theNon-Cooperation Movement and theSalt Satyagraha .However, he often acted as a mediator which helped him to broker the
Gandhi-Irwin Pact , bringing the Salt Satyagraha to an end; and thePoona Pact , striking an agreement between Gandhi,B.R. Ambedkar and the British government.However, in the polarized atmosphere of the time, his Liberal Party remained an intellectual talking shop with little popular backing - it was less than the sum of its distinguished leadership.
Legislative career
Sapru served in the United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh) Legislative Council (1913–16), the Imperial Legislative Council (1916–20), and was law member of the Viceroy's Council (1920–23). He was very active in the
Indian Round Table Conferences 1931-1933 (see [http://www.houseofdavid.ca/Ind_uni.htm#Muldoon Muldoon] ) and served as an informal spokesman for liberal views in the first of these which was boycotted by Congress. He was also a member of thePrivy council in 1934.The 1940s: WWII, Public image and death
Sapru strongly supported Britain and the inclusion of
British India inWorld War II . However, Sapru was one of the most important lawyers engaged to defend captured soldiers of theIndian National Army , led bySubhas Chandra Bose .Although regarded with respect in independent India, Sapru was very unpopular amongst common people due to his pro-British opposition to the
Indian National Congress and leaders likeMahatma Gandhi .He died shortly after India's independence, on January 20, 1949 in
Allahabad .ee also
**
Indian Independence Movement ,Indian National Congress ,Indian Liberal Party
**Leaders of the Independence Movement
=References=*"Crusader for self-rule: Tej Bahadur Sapru & the Indian National Movement: life and selected letters"(1999) by Rima Hooja ASIN: B0006FEFZK,
*"Tej Bahadur Sapru" (Builders of modern India) by Sunil Kumar Bose, Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India (1978), ASIN: B0006E11GM
*"Indian national movement and the liberals" by Abha Saxena, Allahabad, India: Chugh Publications, 1986. foreword by A.C. Banerjee.
* [http://www.houseofdavid.ca/Ind_uni.htm#Muldoon Muldoon, Andrew Robert, “Making a `moderate' India: British conservatives, imperial culture and Indian political reform, 1924—1935”]
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