J. B. Kripalani

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "J. B. Kripalani" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Jivatram Bhagwandas Kripalani
Kripalani on a 1989 stamp of India
Born	(1888-11-11)11 November 1888 Hyderabad, Bombay Presidency, British India (present-day Sindh, Pakistan)
Died	19 March 1982(1982-03-19) (aged 93) Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
Nationality	Indian
Occupation	Politician
Political party	Indian National Congress, Praja Socialist Party
Movement	Indian Independence Movement
Spouse	Sucheta Kripalani

Jivatram Bhagwandas Kripalani (11 November 1888 – 19 March 1982), popularly known as Acharya Kripalani, was an Indian politician, noted particularly for holding the presidency of the Indian National Congress during the transfer of power in 1947 and the husband of Sucheta Kripalani. Kripalani was an environmentalist, mystic and independence activist who was long a Gandhian socialist. He himself founded the Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party in 1951, that merged with the Socialist Party (India) to form the Praja Socialist Party the following year. Later, he joined the economically right wing Swatantra Party later in life.

He grew close to Gandhi and at one point, he was one of Gandhi's most ardent disciples. He had served as the General Secretary of the INC for almost a decade. He had experience working in the field of education and was made the president to rebuild the INC. Disputes between the party and the Government over procedural matters affected his relationship with the colleagues in the Government. Kripalani was a familiar figure to generations of dissenters, from the Non-Cooperation Movements of the 1920s to the Emergency of the 1970s.

He was the first member to address the Constituent Assembly of India.^[1]