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[[Image:Praying_mantis_band.jpg|frame|Dennis Stratton (left, in blue jacket) as a member of Praying Mantis in an undated photo]]
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'''Dennis Stratton''' (b. [[November 9]], [[1954]] in [[London]], [[England]]) is a guitar player who was a member of the [[Heavy metal music|heavy metal]] band [[Iron Maiden (band)|Iron Maiden]] from [[January]] [[1980]] to [[October]] [[1980]].
'''Jivatram Kripalani''', also referred to with the prefix ''Acharya'' (Teacher: [[Hindi]]), was an [[India|Indian]] [[freedom fighter]], who became a nationwide leader for social regeneration and political change in [[India]] after its independence.
During this time, he participated in the recording of the group's first album, [[Iron Maiden (album)|Iron Maiden]], the ''Women in Uniform'' EP, some subsequent singles and the ''Live!! + 1'' live album.
==Early Life==
Since his departure from Iron Maiden, Stratton has played with bands such as Lionheart and, more recently, Praying Mantis.
Kripalani was born in current-day [[Gujarat]]. He received college education, and was a learned and scholarly young man when he became a member of the [[Indian National Congress]]. He was a school teacher when he soon became a disciple of rising nationalist leader [[Mahatma Gandhi]], and adopted his teachings and leadership.
==External links==
Kripalani worked in Gandhi's ashrams in Gujarat and [[Maharashtra]] on tasks of social reform and education, and later left for [[Bihar]] and [[Uttar Pradesh]] in northern India to teach and organize new ashrams. He also courted arrest on numerous occassions in the national struggles and smaller occasions of organizing protests and publishing what the British considered seditious materials.
*[http://www.getreadytorock.com/10questions/dennis_stratton.htm Interview With Dennis Stratton (2003)], Accessed July 10, 2005.
*[http://leatherwarriors.web.infoseek.co.jp/Lionheart/dg1_j.html Dennis Stratton Discography], Accessed July 10, 2005.
*[http://www.praying-mantis.com/ Praying Mantis fan site]
==Congress Leader==
{{IronMaiden}}
With the support of [[Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel]] and Gandhi, Kripalani joined the [[All India Congress Committee]] and became its General Secretary, an important position. He was popular with nationalists and the common people in northern as well as western India. Kripalani drew close to Patel, and was prominently involved over a decade in top Congress party affairs, and in the organization of the [[Civil Disobedience Movement]] and the [[Quit India Movement]].
[[Category:Iron Maiden|Stratton, Dennis]]
==Controversy and Exit from Congress==
[[Category:1954 births|Stratton, Dennis]]
[[Category:British guitarists|Stratton, Dennis]]
[[Category:Londoners|Stratton, Dennis]]
[[es:Dennis Stratton]]
In 1946, when the Congress Working Committee met to elect its new President, who would also become the head of the first all-Indian government, the contest was between Sardar Patel, the choice of 15 provincial Congress organizations, and Jivatram Kripalani, the choice of one. But [[Jawaharlal Nehru]] was recommended by the Working Committee at the last moment. Before Gandhi pressured Patel to drop his candidacy in favor of Nehru, Kripalani withdrew his name and backed Nehru.
[[fr:Dennis Stratton]]
[[no:Dennis Stratton]]
This inexplicable turn after two decades of partnership with Patel denied Kripalani close access to Nehru and Patel, who would head up the new Government of free India in 1947. Kripalani became the Congress President in 1947, but was embittered by a lack of influence and involvement in important government affairs and national issues. Patel's opposition to Kripalani's candidacy against [[Purushottam Das Tandon]] in the 1950 Congress election denied him votes from Gujarat, the state of his birth and early work but also where Patel's leadership was undisputed.
After Patel's death in 1950 and Nehru's increasing popularity in the 1950s, Kripalani left the Congress.
==Emergency==
Kripalani remained a critic of Prime Minister Nehru's policies and administration, while working for social causes for the common people of India. He was now respectfully addressed as Acharya Jivatram Kripalani by his admirers and supporters, but did not attempt to resuscitate his political career.
But in 1974, Kripalani joined [[Jaya Prakash Narayan]] in organizing major student and union strikes and protests nationwide against the rule of Prime Minister [[Indira Gandhi]], Nehru's daughter. Kripalani and Narayan felt that Gandhi's rule had become dictatorial and anti-democratic, and her conviction on charges of using government machinery for her election campaign galvanized her political opposition and public disenchantment against her policies. Both Kripalani and Narayan were arrested during the [[Indian Emergency]] (1975-1977), when Gandhi suspended political activities and elections under the Emergency clause in the [[Constitution of India]].
When Gandhi released all political prisoners and called fresh elections in 1977, Kripalani helped Narayan organize the coalition of political parties opposed to Gandhi's Congress Party, called the Janata (People's) Party. [[Janata Party]] swept the elections and [[Morarji Desai]] became India's new Prime Minister, but Kripalani receeded to the background due to ill health and old age. In the summer of 1979, when Desai had resigned and Janata was cracking up, Acharya Kripalani died.
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