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{{Short description|Indian politician (1898–1961)}}
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2015}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix =
| name = Lala Achint Ram
| honorific-suffix =
| image = Lala Achint Ram bhai.jpg
| alt =
| caption =
| constituency_MP = Hissar
| constituency_MP2 = Patiala
| parliament = Indian
| majority = 
| term_start = {{Start date|1952||}}
| term_end = {{End date|1957||}}
| term_start2 = {{Start date|1957||}}
| term_end2 = {{End date|1961||}}
| predecessor = ''Office established''
| successor = Thakur Das Bhargava
| prior_term =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1898|08|19|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Kot Mohommad Khan]], [[Tarn Taran district ]], [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab Province]], [[British India]]<br>(present day [[Punjab, India|Punjab]], India)
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1961|||1898|08|19}}
| death_place =
| restingplace =
| birth_name =
| nationality = [[Indian people|Indian]]
| party = [[Indian National Congress]]
| otherparty =
| spouse = {{Marriage|[[Satyavati Devi (born 1905)|Satyavati Devi]]|1925}}
| partner =
| relations =
| children = 3 (incl. [[Krishna Kant]])
| parents =
| residence =
| alma_mater = D. A. V. College, Lahore
| occupation =
| profession =
| cabinet =
| committees =
| portfolio =
| signature =
| signature_alt =
| website =
| footnotes =
}}

'''Lala Achint Ram''' (19 August 1898 – 1961) was an Indian freedom fighter, Gandhian and a member of the [[Indian National Congress]] party.

He was one of the first three members of [[Servants of the People Society]], established by [[Lala Lajpat Rai]] in Lahore in 1921. During the [[Indian independence movement]], he was imprisoned for extended periods, including 1930–32, 1939, 1940 and 1942–45 for his participation in the [[Quit India Movement]]. Post-partition, he shifted to Delhi, and also remained a member of the [[Constituent Assembly of India]]. He won his [[1st Lok Sabha]] elections from the [[Hissar (Lok Sabha constituency)]] in [[Punjab]] in 1952 and the second time in 1957 from [[Patiala (Lok Sabha constituency)]]. Though the 1950s, along with his [[Satyavati Devi (born 1905)|wife]], he was active in ''[[Bhoodan movement]]'' of [[Vinoba Bhave]].

==Early life and background==
Achint Ram was born in August 1898 in Kot Mohammad Khan village in Khadur Sahib [[tehsil]] of [[Tarn Taran district]] of Punjab, 50 km from Amritsar. He was educated at government high schools in Amritsar and Shimla. For pursuing higher education he went to DAV College in [[Lahore]] (now in Pakistan).<ref name=lok>{{cite web|title=Achint Ram, Lala|url=http://164.100.47.132/LssNew/biodata_1_12/577.htm|publisher=Lok Sabha|accessdate=26 May 2014|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131015180331/http://164.100.47.132/LssNew/biodata_1_12/577.htm|archivedate=15 October 2013}}</ref>

In 1921, he was one of the first three members of [[Servants of the People Society]] founded by Lala Lajpat Rai.<ref>{{cite book|last=Sharma|first=K. K.|title=Life and Times of Lala Lajpat Rai|date=1975|publisher=Indian Book Agency|page=165|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JoUBAAAAMAAJ&q=lala+achint+ram}}</ref>

He married [[Satyavati Devi (born 1905)|Satyavati Devi]] in 1925.<ref name=lok/> Also a freedom fighter herself, she was arrested on 26 August 1942, along with her three young children. She continued her protests inside the prison as well, and organised protests for better living conditions inside the prison.<ref name=five/> Even after independence, the family stayed back at Lajpat Bhawan in Lahore, where she cooked meals for hundreds of displaced refugees, before shifting themselves to Delhi in 1948.<ref name=har/> At the time of her death on 26 October 2010 at the age of 105, she was India's oldest surviving freedom fighter.<ref name=five>{{cite web | title = India's oldest freedom fighter dies at 105 | url = http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Indias-oldest-freedom-fighter-dies-at-105/articleshow/6818165.cms |date=27 October 2010| accessdate = 2014-05-27 | work = [[The Times of India]]|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101031022810/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Indias-oldest-freedom-fighter-dies-at-105/articleshow/6818165.cms|archivedate=31 October 2010}}</ref>

The couple had two daughters, Nirmala and Subhadra, and son Krishan Kant.<ref name=har>{{cite web|title=A patriot Speaks|url=http://www.harmonyindia.org/hportal/VirtualPageView.jsp?page_id=10510&index1=1|work=Harmony Magazine|accessdate=27 May 2014|date=July 2009|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140527214759/http://www.harmonyindia.org/hportal/VirtualPageView.jsp?page_id=10510&index1=1|archivedate=27 May 2014}}</ref> Daughter Subhadra Khosla, at age 13, was the youngest freedom fighter to be jailed during independence movement.<ref>{{cite web | title = Oldest freedom fighter recalls memories of struggle|author= Priyanka Dube|date=30 March 2009| publisher=CNN-IBN| url = http://ibnlive.in.com/news/oldest-freedom-fighter-recalls-memories-of-struggle/88982-3.html | accessdate = 2014-05-27 | url-status = dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140528011125/http://ibnlive.in.com/news/oldest-freedom-fighter-recalls-memories-of-struggle/88982-3.html|archivedate=28 May 2014}}</ref> [[Krishna Kant]] remained [[Vice President of India]] from August 1997 till his death on 27 July 2002. He was also member of [[Rajya Sabha]], from 1966 to 1977, followed by [[Lok Sabha]] from 1977 to 1980.<ref>{{cite web | title = Shri Krihsna Kant Profile|publisher=Vice President of India website| url = http://vicepresidentofindia.nic.in/kant.asp| accessdate = 2014-05-27 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140203195105/http://vicepresidentofindia.nic.in/kant.asp|archivedate=3 February 2014}}</ref><ref name=exp/>

==Participation in freedom struggle==
Lala Achint Ram joined the Congress party in his youth and took active part in its movements. He was imprisoned by the British government for his participation in the freedom movements from 1930–32, 1939, 1940, and 1942–45.<ref name=lok/> He had been the member of [[Congress Working Committee]] and [[Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee]], [[All India Congress Committee]]. He was also the president of Punjab Provincial Election Tribunal and National Industrial High School for a period of two years. He had also been the vice-president of All India Postmen and Lower Grade Staff Union, secretary of the Servants of the People Society and member of the provisional parliament of India from 1950–52.<ref name=lok/>

He had been the member of the [[Constituent Assembly of India]] which drafted the constitution of India from 1946 to 1950.<ref>{{cite web|title=Founding fathers|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2000/20000122/windows/main1.htm|work=The Tribune|accessdate=27 May 2014}}</ref>

==Post-independence==
Post partition, the head office of the Servants of the People Society was shifted to Lala Achint Ram's house at 2-Telegraph Lane, New Delhi till 1960, when the new building Lajpat Bhawan, at [[Lajpat Nagar]], Delhi was inaugurated.<ref>{{cite web | title = Head Office | url = http://sops.in/index.php/2013-08-22-12-13-12/head-office |publisher=Servants of the People Society |accessdate = 2014-05-27|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140314003356/http://sops.in/index.php/2013-08-22-12-13-12/head-office|archivedate=14 March 2014}}</ref> He contested the [[1951 Indian general election|first general election]] and won from Hissar with 66266 votes.<ref>{{cite web |title=Statistical Report on General Elections, 1951 to the First Lok Sabha, Vol. I|url = http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/LS_1951/VOL_1_51_LS.PDF |page=103|publisher=Election Commission of India| accessdate = 2014-05-27 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140404203355/http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/LS_1951/VOL_1_51_LS.PDF|archivedate=4 April 2014}}</ref> He was elected in [[1957 Indian general election]] to the [[2nd Lok Sabha]] from [[Patiala (Lok Sabha constituency)]] with 124,380 votes.<ref>{{cite web |title=Statistical Report on General Elections, 1957 to the Second Lok Sabha, (Vol. I)| url = http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/LS_1957/Vol_I_57_LS.pdf |publisher=Election Commission of India|page=90| accessdate = 2014-05-27 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140404200011/http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/LS_1957/Vol_I_57_LS.pdf|archivedate=4 April 2014}}</ref>

He had donated his ancestral house to Kot Mohammad [[village panchayat]] to run a ''[[Balwadi]]'' (play school for children) and stitching and sewing centre for girls in the village.<ref name=exp>{{cite web|last=Bains|first=Satinder|title=Lala Achint Ram's birth anniversary celebrated|url=http://expressindia.indianexpress.com/ie/daily/19980821/23351884.html|publisher=Indian Express|accessdate=26 May 2014|date=21 August 1998|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140708110759/http://expressindia.indianexpress.com/ie/daily/19980821/23351884.html|archivedate=8 July 2014}}</ref> He and [[I. K. Gujral]]'s father Avatar Narain Gujral were close associates during the freedom movement.<ref>{{cite book|last=Swarup|first=Harihar|title=Power Profiles|date=2010|publisher=Har Anand Publications|isbn=978-8124115251|page=165|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FJwiBvRxHZEC&pg=PA165}}</ref>
In the 1950s he took active part in [[Vinoba Bhave]]'s ''[[Bhoodan movement]]'' along with his wife.<ref name=five/> In 1953, he undertook a ''[[padayatra]]'', to [[Sirsa, Haryana]], along with Satya Bala, daughter of Lala Jai Dev Tayal of Hisar to encourage people to donate land to landless labourers.<ref>{{cite book|author=Jugal Kishore Gupta|title=History of Sirsa Town|year=1991|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G0Z457ZOR44C&pg=PA156|publisher=Atlantic Publishers|page=156|id=GGKEY:63QY4LRCK9L}}</ref>

An auditorium named after him was built in [[Chandigarh]]. The foundation stone of the auditorium was laid by then [[President of India]], [[V. V. Giri]] on 26 June 1974.<ref>{{cite book|title=Indian Government And Politics|edition=8th|date=2009|publisher=Vikas Publishing House|isbn=978-0706987782|page=135|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0VjYS-2SA_sC&pg=PA135|author=D C Gupta}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ram, Lala Achint}}
[[Category:1898 births]]
[[Category:Indian National Congress politicians from Punjab, India]]
[[Category:1st Lok Sabha members]]
[[Category:2nd Lok Sabha members]]
[[Category:People from Punjab, India]]
[[Category:Indian independence activists from Punjab (British India)]]
[[Category:Lok Sabha members from Punjab, India]]
[[Category:Prisoners and detainees of British India]]
[[Category:1961 deaths]]
[[Category:Members of the Constituent Assembly of India]]
[[Category:People from Ludhiana district]]
[[Category:Politicians from Amritsar]]

Lala Achint Ram - Revision history

->Citobun at 09:03, 21 December 2021