Dr.RammanoharLohia was born in 1910 at Akbarpur in U.P. His family was involved in freedom struggle. Lohia was greatly influenced by political leaders like Tilak, Gandhi, andSubhas Bose. Lohia joined the Congress Party. In 1934, he who had firm ideas about socialism joined the Congress Socialist Party, which was working within the ambits of the parent party. He was one of the founding figure of the Congress Socialist Party and the editor of ‘Congress Socialist’.Lohia was a firm socialist who firmly believed that socialism, if it were to lead the people to development and prosperity should be based on the Indian situation. He envisioned socialism as a ‘new civilisation.’ Lohia wanted to give firm foundation to the theory of socialism by framing a programme of action for the fulfilment of the final goal. His socialistic ideology developed in the association of Acharya NarenderDev, AchyutPatwardhan, Jaya Prakash Narayan, Ashok Mehta and others.
Ram ManoharLohia occupied a distinctive place in the development of the socialist thought in India. He was the first socialist thinker in India who rejected to accept the Russian or western model of Socialism for India. Lohia showed great originality in his enunciation of socialism. Ram ManoharLohia discarded both capitalism and communism because it is unsuitable to the socio-economic and political environment of Indian and other South -Asian countries. Lohia wanted to free the individual from ignorance, backwardness and other kinds of superstitions and prejudices. Lohia advocated “the principle of equal irrelevance of capitalism and communism in respect of the creation of a new human civilization.”
Ram ManoharLohia occupied a unique place in the evolution of the socialist thought in India. He was the first socialist thinker in India who refused to accept the Russian or western model of Socialism for India. His dynamic and uninhibited approach to various problems distinguished him from other political leaders. Lohia showed great originality in his enunciation ofsocialism.Lohia was a socialist who firmly believed that socialism, if it were to lead the people to progress and prosperity must be based on the Indian conditions. Lohia wanted to give firm foundation to the theory of socialism by chalking out a programme of action for the realization ofthe final goal. Socialism has the reputation of much interpreted and less understood philosophy. Even in India socialism means differently to different people.
“The four-pillar state”, was one of the important features of the Ram ManoharLohia’s socialism. In order to achieve true socialism, he evolved the concept of four-pillar state. Four-pillar state was an arrangement when a constitution was framed on the basis of the four-pillar state, the village, the district, the province and the centre, being four pillars of equal majesty and dignity. The four-pillar state was both a legislative and an executive arrangement. It was a way of life and to all spheres of human activity, for instance, production, ownership, administration, planning, education and the like. The four pillar state provided a structure and a way. The community of a state was to be so organized and sovereign power so diffused that each little community in it lived the way of life that it chose.
Ram ManoharLohia was a political philosopher having his unconquerable faith in indigenous and traditional institutions and ideas of India. Lohia stood for the establishment of a socialist society in India after independence. Various political ideologies influenced him. He persistently carried out the socialist movement in post-independent India. He thought that democracy and national freedom, together with the· need for change, should constitute the goals of Indian socialism.
Lohia developed his own frame of reference and accepted only as much of Gandhism and marxism as fitted into his framework. It is stated, “Lohia was a Gandhian among revolutionaries and a revolutionary among Gandhians”. He was also a believer in the ideological purity of his thoughts and did not hesitate to break away from his socialist colleagues like JP and others when he found them tilting towards Congress for certain extraneous considerations.
Ashish kashyap
