Brij Behari Mehrotra

Mr. Brij Behari Mehrotra was born in 1897 in Cawnpore. After completing his education he took up military service and was a commissioned officer in the army and served in that capacity for 27months.

In 1919 he resigned from the army and joined the weekly "Pratap" as assistant editor. Mr. Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi, who was his chief, inspired him, and he began devoting his life to the service of the nation.

His political activities led to his arrest in 1921. In 1924 he started his own weekly "Bharatiya Lokmat". In 1926 he was Camp Commandant of the Cawnpore Congress. The same year he was elected to the Cawnpore District Board. He was also the Vice President of the District Congress Committee for many years.

In 1930 he joined the Civil Disobedience movement and was sentenced for six months. On his release he was elected the President of the District Congress Committee. The no-rent campaign was started under his guidance and he was for third time arrested and sentenced for one year.

Although a son of a rich zamindar banker of the district, his sympathies are with the poor kisans. He has dedicated his life for their uplift and removing tyranny of the peasant agrarian system. He is a well known scholar and writer in Hindi, Urdu and English languages. As a speaker few excel him in his personal charm and dignity adds greatly to his success as a politician.

He is a member of the Uttar Pradesh Provincial Congress Committee for the last five years and is elected to the A.I.C.C.

Source: Haripura Congress Souvenir, 1938