Remembering Rajaji on his 135th
Birth
Anniversary-10th December 2013
Rajagopalachari
opposed linguistic states
Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao
Chakravarthi
Rajagopalachari, more popular as Rajaji, was a very well-known lawyer, writer,
administrator, politician and statesman of India. He was the one and only Indian
to be appointed as Governor General of India. As the staunch follower of Mahatma
Gandhi since 1919, he became General-Secretary of the Indian National Congress
in 1921. Rajaji, thus, got acquainted with leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru,
Vallabhbhai Patel, Maulana Azad, Rajendra Prasad and others. Once regarded as
Gandhi’s successor and was described by him as the "keeper of my
conscience", Rajaji shared close kinship with Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar
Patel despite differences.
Though
Rajaji was one of the top Congress leaders for about half a century, he could not
become All India Congress Committee president even once. He was however a
member of its Working Committee many times. Rajaji was born on December 10,
1878. While he was a child, an astrologer told his parents that he would have
the "fortunes of a king, a guru, an exile and an outcaste. The people will
worship him; they will also reject him. He will sit on an emperor's throne; he
will live in a poor man's hut." The prediction came true. Apart from
occupying the seat of Governor General, Rajaji served in various capacities as
Premier of the Madras Presidency, Governor of West Bengal, Minister for Home
Affairs of the Indian Union and Chief Minister of Madras state besides Governor
General. He founded the Swatantra Party which stood against the Congress in the
1962, 1967 and 1972 elections. Rajagopalachari was instrumental in setting up a
united anti-Congress front in Madras state under C. N. Annadurai, which swept
the 1967 elections.
Rajaji and Nehru
Rajagopalachari's
interest in public affairs and politics began when he commenced his legal
practice in Salem in 1900. He participated in the Non-Cooperation movement and
gave up his law practice. While Gandhi was in prison, Rajagopalachari led the
group of "No-Changers", individuals against contesting elections for
the Imperial Legislative Council and other provincial legislative councils, in
opposition to the "Pro-changers" who advocated council entry. The
motion was put to vote and the "No-changers" won by 1,748 to 890
votes. This resulted in the resignation of important Congress leaders including
Motilal Nehru and C. R. Das, the President of the Indian National Congress. When
Gandhi organized the Dandi march in 1930, Rajagopalachari broke the salt laws
and was imprisoned by the British. Following enactment of the Government of
India Act in 1935, Rajagopalachari was instrumental in getting the Indian
National Congress to participate in the 1937 general elections. Indian National
Congress came to power in the Madras Presidency and Rajagopalachari was the
first Premier from the Congress party.
Madras
under Rajagopalachari was still considered by political historians as the best
administered province in British India. At the outbreak of the Second World War
Rajagopalachari immediately resigned as Premier in protest at the declaration
of war by the Viceroy of India. Rajagopalachari was arrested in December 1940.
He opposed the Quit India Movement and also advocated dialogue with the Muslim
League, which was demanding the partition of India. During the last years of
the war, Rajagopalachari was instrumental in initiating negotiations between
Gandhi and Jinnah. From 1946 to 1947, Rajagopalachari served as the Minister
for Industry, Supply, Education and Finance in the Interim Government headed by
Jawaharlal Nehru. When India attained independence on 15 August 1947,
Rajagopalachari was appointed first Governor of West Bengal.
From 10
until 24 November 1947, Rajagopalachari served as Acting Governor-General of
India in the absence of Governor-General Lord Mountbatten, who was on leave in
England to attend the marriage of Princess Elizabeth to Mountbatten's nephew
Prince Philip. Rajji led a very simple life in the viceregal palace, washing
his own clothes and polishing his own shoes. Impressed with his abilities,
Mountbatten made Rajagopalachari his second choice to succeed him after
Vallabhbhai Patel, when he was to leave India in June 1948. Rajagopalachari was
eventually chosen as the Governor-General when Nehru disagreed with
Mountbatten's first choice, as did Patel himself. He was initially hesitant but
accepted when Nehru wrote to him. Rajagopalachari then served as
Governor-General of India from June 1948 until 26 January 1950, and was not
only the last Governor-General of India, but the only Indian national ever to
hold the office.
By the
end of 1949, an assumption was made that Rajagopalachari, already
Governor-General, would continue as president. Backed by Nehru, Rajagopalachari
wanted to contest for the presidential election but later withdrew, due to the
opposition of a section of the Indian National Congress mostly made up of North
Indians. At Nehru's invitation, in 1950 Rajagopalachari joined the Union
Cabinet as Minister without Portfolio where he served as a buffer between Nehru
and Home Minister Sardar Patel and on occasion offered to mediate between the
two. Following Patel's death on 15 December 1950, Rajagopalachari was finally
made Home Affairs Minister and went on to serve for nearly 10 months. As Home
Minister he expressed concern over demands for new linguistically based states,
arguing that they would generate differences amongst the people.
By the
end of 1951, the differences between Nehru and Rajagopalachari came to the
fore. While Nehru perceived the Hindu Mahasabha to be the greatest threat to
the nascent republic, Rajagopalachari held the opinion that the Communists
posed the greatest danger. He also adamantly opposed Nehru's decision to
commute the death sentences passed on those involved in the Telangana armed
struggle and his strong pro-Soviet leanings. Tired of being persistently
over-ruled by Nehru with regard to critical decisions, Rajagopalachari
submitted his resignation on the "grounds of ill-health" and returned
to Madras.
In the
1952 Madras elections, the Indian National Congress was reduced to a minority
in the state assembly with a coalition led by the Communist Party of India
winning most of the seats. Madras governor Sri Prakasa appointed
Rajagopalachari Chief Minister after nominating him to the Madras Legislative
Council without consulting either the Prime Minister Nehru or the ministers in
the Madras state cabinet. Rajagopalachari was then able to prove that he had a
majority in the assembly by luring MLAs from opposition parties to join the
Indian National Congress. Nehru was furious. Rajagopalachari remained an as
unelected member of the legislative council and did not context election.
During
Rajagopalachari's tenure as CM, a powerful movement for a separate Andhra State
gained a foothold. Potti Sriramulu embarked on a hunger strike reiterating the
demands of the separatists and calling for the inclusion of Madras city within
the proposed state. Rajagopalachari remained unmoved by Sriramulu's action and
refused to intervene. Sriramulu eventually died on 15 December 1952. Both
Rajagopalachari and Prime Minister Nehru were against the creation of
linguistically demarcated states but as the law and order situation in the state
deteriorated, both were forced to accept the demands. Andhra State was thus
created on 1 October 1953 from the Telugu-speaking districts of Madras, with
its capital at Kurnool. Rajagopalachari refused to allow Andhra State to have
Madras as capital even for a day. Rajagopalachari resigned as Chief Minister on
13 April 1954, attributing the decision to poor health.
Following
his resignation as Chief Minister, Rajagopalachari took a temporary break from
active politics and instead devoted his time to literary pursuits. He was an
accomplished writer who made lasting contributions to Indian English
literature. He wrote a Tamil re-telling of the Sanskrit epic Ramayana which
appeared as a serial in the Tamil magazine Kalki. The episodes were later
collected and published as “Chakravarthi Thirumagan”, a book which won
Rajagopalachari the 1958 Sahitya Academy award in Tamil language. In 1951, he
wrote an abridged retelling of the Mahabharata in English, followed by one of
the Ramayana in 1957. Earlier, in 1961, he had translated Kambar's Tamil
Ramayana into English. In 1965, he translated the Thirukkural into English and
also wrote books on the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads in English. On
Republic Day 1955, Rajagopalachari was honored with India's highest civilian
award, the Bharat Ratna.
By
November 1972, Rajagopalachari's health had begun to decline and on 17 December
the same year, a week after his 94th birthday, he was admitted to the
Government Hospital, Madras where he died on 25 December 1972 at the age of 94.
End
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