CRUSADER FOR SELF-RULE: Tej Bahadur Sapru & The Indian National Movement

Renowned statesman, jurist and advocate of Indian self-rule, Dr. (Sir) Tej Bahadur Sapru (1875-1949) served as a key mediator between the Congress, Government of India and the Muslim League, during the course of the Indian National Movement. A member of the U.P., and later the Imperial Legislative Council, Sapru became Law Member in the Viceroy’s Executive Council in 1920. Representing India at the 1923 Imperial Conference, he called for equality for India on par with all the other Dominions of the Commonwealth. An acknowledged authority on law, Sapru was one of the main architects of the Commonwealth of India Bill (1924) and the Nehru Constitution (1928), and a central figure at the three Indian Round Table Conferences (1930-1932). A staunch believer in negotiations rather than civil disobedience, Sapru worked for a constitutional solution whereby India would be free without being partitioned into two nations. The Sapru Report of 1945 was an important step in that direction, though it could not able to alter the course of events, and partition became a reality. In 1945, despite his failing health, Sapru was on the defence panel in the famous INA trial. Later, even when paralysed, Sapru continued to be consulted by members of the Interim Government, Constituent Assembly and Independent India’s Government.
Sapru’s large circle of friends included Indian and British statesmen, Viceroys, princes, writers, philosophers, journalists and jurists. His vast correspondence with them provides a valuable window to the events of an era. An edited selection from this hitherto unpublished correspondence, is presented in this volume, along with a detailed life-sketch of Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru—India’s unrelenting crusader for self-rule.