Jagjivan Ram - Early Career

Early Career

Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose took notice of him at Kolkata, when in 1928 he organized a Mazdoor Rally at Wellington Square, in which approximately 50,000 people participated. When the devastating Bihar earthquake of 1934 occurred he got actively involved in the relief work and his efforts were appreciated his work. When popular rule was introduced under the 1935 Act and the scheduled castes were given representation in the legislatures, both the nationalists and the British loyalists sought him because of his first-hand knowledge of the social and economic situation in Bihar, Jagjivan Ram was nominated to the Bihar Council. He chose to go with the nationalists and joined Congress, which wanted him not only because he was valued as an able spokesperson for the depressed classes, but also that he could counter Ambedkar; he was elected to the Bihar assembly in 1937. However, he resigned his membership on the issue of irrigation cess.

In 1935, he contributed to the establishment of the 'All-India Depressed Classes League', an organization dedicated to attaining equality for untouchables. He was also drawn into the Indian National Congress, in the same year he proposed a resolution in the 1935 session of the Hindu Mahasabha demanding that temples and drinking water wells be opened up to Dalits. and in the early 1940s was imprisoned twice for his active participation in the Satyagraha and the Quit India Movements. He was among the principal leaders who publicly denounced India's participation in the World War II between the European nations and for which he was imprisoned in 1940.