Tej Bahadur Sapru | Tej Bahadur Sapru Hospital

Tej Bahadur Sapru | Tej Bahadur Sapru Hospital | An Eminent Kashmiri Pandit


Tej Bahadur Sapru was born on December 8, 1875 in Aligarh in a Kahmiri Pandit family. His grandfather was the Deputy Collector in Aligarh. Tej Bahadur had his schooling in Mathura after which he joined the Agra College for further studies. He topped he list of successful candidates in both B.S. Hons and later the M.A. Examinations in English Literature. He earned his LL.B degree in 1895 and started to practice law in the District court of Moradabad. Three years later, in 1898 he shifted his practice to the Allahabad High Court though his work remained modest initially. Tej Bahadur Sapru utilized his spare time to earn his LL.M in 1901 and his LL.D subsequently. With time he became well known as a brilliant advocate and established a very successful practice.

Tej Bahadur's political inclinations came to expression rather early. He attended the Allahabad Congress of 1892 and was said to have been swept off his feet by the eloquent Surendranath Banerjea. He became a Congress delegate in 1896 and was elected to the Education Committee of the Lahore Congress of 1900. Other people elected to the committee included Das and Malaviya. 

Tej Bahadur Sapru also served as President of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee for many years. He was also a member of the All India Congress Committee from 1906 to 1917 and was also one of the General Secretaries of the Party. Tej Bahadur is said to have been most influenced by Gokhale, whom he came across at the Banaras Congress in 1905. Both of them expressed their views against violence and lawlessness and supported agitation through constitutional means.

Contesting on a Congress ticket, Tej Bahadur Sapru  was elected to the Imperial Legislative Council in 1916. The national demands for constitutional reforms title "The memorandum of nineteen members" was drafted by Tej Bahadur Sapru in collaboration with Jinnah and Malaviya. He also played a vital role in the realization of the Congress - League pact at the Lucknow Congress of 1916. 

The Montagu-Chelmsford Report was published in 1918 and due to the differences with the extremist group, he had to withdraw from the Congress. He joined the Liberal Party in 1919 and was made a member of the Functions Committee. The Functions Committee specified the subjects which were to be transferred to the Governor and his ministers and those which were reserved for the Governor's sole administration. Once again his role in the constitution of the report was invaluable. Recognizing his work he was appointed a Law Member to the Viceroy's Executive Council.

In his new role as a Law Member Tej Bahadur played a central part in getting certain press legislations repealed like Press Act of 1910 and the Newspapers ( Incitement to Offenses ) Act of 1908. It was because of Tej Bahadur that the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1908 was withdrawn from the statute book. But Tej Bahadur was not satisfied with a few events and resigned his Law Membership in 1922, though the Government conferred Knighthood upon him in 1923. Two of these events were the resignation of Montagu as Secretary of State and Gandhi's arrest in 1922.

Tej Bahadur Sapru represented the Government of India at the 1923 Imperial Conference in London, and it was there that he fearlessly voiced his devotion to the cause of equality.

In 1929 a Reforms Enquiry Committee was set up by the Government to consider the demands for revisions in the 1919 Government of India Act. The committee was headed by Sir Alexander Muddiman, and Tej Bahadur served on the committee as a non-official member. Sapru was pivotal in the drafting of the minority report, the signatories to which included Jinnah. The minority report recommended complete proincial autonomy along with a responsible central government. In contrast, the majority report recommended maintaining the status quo. Tej Bahadur called for a boycott when the all white simon commission was appointed to consider the matter.

The All parties conference of 1928 set up a committee which was headed by Motilal Nehru and was to draft a constitution to meet this challenge. The report of the committee was largely drafted by Tej Bahadur Sapru and proposed a federal polity inclusive of the princely states.This resulted in the First Round Table Conference in 1930. 

In 1929, meanwhile the congress had passed a resolution for complete Independence. Unfortunately, Sapru's efforts to encourage the Congress to join the conference did not bear fruit and the Congress boycotted the conference. Sapru received complete Indian support for his ideal of an All India Federation and his demand for a more responsible central government. He also received support from Prime Minister Mac Donald and the British Labour Party , and could consequently convince Mahatma Gandhi to attend the Second Round Table Conference in 1931. 

Unfortunately the Labour Party was defeated in the 1931 general elections and Willingdon replaced Irwin as the Viceroy. Due to this change in the official circles the second and the third Round table Conferences were hardly satisfactory and the resulting Government of India Act of 1935 did not find any supporters in India. Sapru resigned from the Liberal Federation and started to act independently. 

He became a member of the Privy Council in 1934; and in the same year was appointed Chairman of the United Provinces Committee on Unemployment. The Committee, on which seven eminent personalities served as members, recommended in this report introduction of vocational education, coordination of education with modern trends and better renumeration to teachers.

The remaining part of his life was marred by ill-health and frustration on political front. He led an isolated life, though he did preside over a Non-Party Conference in 1941. Demands of the Conference included equality for India, with drawal of Satyagraha and the boycott of parliamentary institutions. Events started to hasten towards the partition of the country through he tried his best to prevent it. 

In the memory of Tej Bahadur Sapru the government kept Tej Bahadur Sapru Hospital in Allahabad.
Tej Bahadur Sapru Hospital
Tej Bahadur Sapru Hospital
Sir Tej bahadur Sapru died on January 20, 1949 in Allahabad, barely seventeen months after India gained independence. Tej Bahadur Sapru is an Eminent Kashmiri Pandit.
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