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SETH
SUDARSHAN
(Freedom Fighter)
A great
financier and leader of the Punjab Congress, Seth Sudarshan
was born at Jhansi in 1903. After studying for a while at
Allahabad at the Convent School, he came to Karnal from where
he passed the Matriculation examination of the Panjab
University, Lahore. Then he proceeded to Government College,
Lahore, but his studies were cut short abruptly while he was a
student of F.A. classes, by the untimely death of his father
in 1922.
Sudarshan’s father who was a zealous Arya
Samajist, was also a staunch nationalist. The son inherited
his urge for nationalism from his father and at the early age
of 16 began to take an active part in the Rowlatt Bills
agitation as an ardent Congress volunteer. During the dark
days of the Martial Law Administration he narrowly escaped
death on three occasions.
The death of his father
forced young Sudarshan to seek for himself a suitable means of
livelihood. The acquisition of a furniture shop in 1924
provided him with an opening and he commenced his business
career as a dealer in furniture. In 1925 he managed to obtain
Tata’s agency for Jalandhar and thus entered the iron and
steel trade, which became his main business henceforward. By
1929, through sheer hard work and force of character, he
became a leading iron magnate of India and was handling one of
the largest agencies of the Tatas.
But his attachment
to the Congress continued unabated and with his accession to
affluence he started helping the Congress financially. The
Lahore Session of the Congress in 1929 owed it success in a
large measure to his munificence. He was a great devotee of
Madan Mohan Malviya and Lala Lajpat Rai. Like most national
workers of note he was arrested and kept in jail several
times.
In 1937 he was elected to the Punjab Legislative
Assembly and was appointed Chief Whip of the Congress Party.
During the elections of 1946 he was the chief organizer of the
Congress election campaign and it was largely through his
untiring efforts that the Congress won such a great success at
the polls.
During the Communal riots of 1947 he
acted with admirable courage and expedition and visited, at
great risk to his own life, places like D.I. Khan, D.G. Khan,
Peshawar, Sargodha and Sheikhupura and rendered valuable and
timely help to large numbers of people in
distress.
Source: chakdephate.com
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