Rajaji, a Life

by Rajmohan Gandhi

Biography of Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, 1878-1972, former governor-general of India.

Genres: Biography, India, History, Nonfiction

492 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1997

About the author

Rajmohan Gandhi (born 1935)is a biographer and grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, and a research professor at the Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA.

Until end-December 2012 he taught political science and history at the University of Illinois and divided his time between India and the United States.

Reviews

[Venkateswaran · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars - 3 for the book , 5 for the man. It seems it was not very long ago that extraordinary people strode through the political circles. The decay is embarrassing to say the least. The book, being a biography is divided chronologically and is thus more attractive to the historian rather than the casual reader, who seeks to understand the man as composite whole. At a point in time, I was going to abandon the book, but C.R pulled me back in nonetheless. A man whose ideas were mostly considered radical because they were so far ahead of time, a man who struggled for what he believed and could persuade public opinion to do the same, a man loved by friends and respected by foes. A truly great national leader from the deep south and after the regionalisation of Indian politics it could be that he was also the last

[Balasubramaniam Vaidyanathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rajaji - A life
by Rajmohan Gandhi

I have read earlier a Tamil book ‘Rajaji 100/100’ by Paranthaman ( I have the remnants of this book now without first few pages & last few pages), Ram Guha’s books where you can find the sketch of Rajaji & ‘My dear Bapu’ by another grandson Gopalakrishna Gandhi. It is after reading’My dear Bapu’, I decided to read the book by Rajmohan Gandhi to understand Rajaji better. I have read two of Rajmohan’s books earlier and comfortable with his writing style / honesty, without any ulterior motives. I did want to get some perspectives on some of the events in his life - he is vilified in TN narrowly focusing on these aspects.

First & Foremost impression I get is a feeling ‘what a life’ - completely immersed in the cause of nation in the footsteps of Mahatma. As Rajmohan points out CR was the fourth among the five to meet Gandhi ( Patel, Jawaharlal, Prasad & Azad being other four), but CR is the first to accept Gandhi wholeheartedly. From then onwards, it was point of no return for CR. Total surrender - to put it into religious terms, சரணாகதி, too important for Vaishnava.

During the period 1922-25, he attained such a prominence in national politics (Chapter 5 - Hero). The first trial he had undergone as a deputy for Mahatma was in 1922 annual Congress session in Gaya. He defended the council boycott successfully against the arguments of very powerful Chitaranjan Das, Motilal Nehru, Vithhalbhai Patel, Srinivasa Iyengar & Satyamurti. Subhas Bose called Rajaji as the hero of Gaya Congress.

Respecting the will of Gandhiji’s support to swarajists (Gandhi’s thought - If the no changers believed in constructive work, they would gladly yield their Congress positions to Swarajists, their duty was self effacing, silent and sustained service, without grumbling and without the expectation of reward), CR would move to remote village near Thiruchengode and concentrate on Khadi and thereby attacking social ills of untouchability & hold of liquor. Thus came the Gandhi Ashram in Thiruchengode. I don’t know of any other prominent leader doing the exact copy of what Gandhi did in Sabarmati other than Rajaji during that time. Not only that he dedicated himself totally in the Khadi , avoidance of untouchability & avoidance of liquor. Despite the invitations from senior leaders for congress, he concentrated on the ground work - real preparation for the upcoming battle.
Everyone knows about his famous Vedaranyam Salt March. I am skipping it. Just a point here - he was Gandhi’s real deputy during this period including editorship of magazines. Everyone looked up to him for advice. When Gandhi was contemplating about retiring from Congress, it was Rajaji, who argued with Gandhi. Again CR allowed himself to be suppressed from becoming Congress president (essentially not after posts / positions how much ever important you are - Gandhi was the only other person with this trait)

Then comes 1935 India Act, which enabled partial governance by Indians. At this point of time, Gandhi & CR decided that the Congress should directly participate in election process. Earlier it was delegated to Swarajists (Satyamurty was a swarajist). Rajaji campaigns hard and wins the election for Congress in south & as per the advice of Gandhi, he takes the mantle to run the Government. His period as premier is very important - he provided the best governance. His government was strict on Law & Order, balanced budgets, enabled temple entry for Harijans and gained the trust of Raj in the short period - Later Nehru went on to comment about this government as the best government. However, all was not well - CR made his first tactical error ( one more to follow) in Hindi introduction. He allowed the opposition to gang against him and sharpen the Brahmin - Non Brahmin divide (which was simmering from 1920s) of Madras. Satyamurti & Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan advised him to make Hindi optional, but Rajaji refused. Not that Rajaji is great lover of Hindi - once Gandhi wrote a letter to CR in Hindi completely and CR responded by writing a letter in Tamil completely. Later Gandhi regretted his folly. The reason Rajaji stuck to his decision as he didn’t want a just cause to be withdrawn just because of opposition. I was just thinking about how JJ controlled the strike with iron fist, clearly she had precedence. Rajmohan candidly pointed out some other issues with CR’s style - chief among them is failure to delegate.

Then comes the World War Two and question of war support. Britain involved India without consent and Congress is enraged asked its premiers to resign - accordingly CR resigned. However, he was arguing for whole hearted support to British war effort. ( there was a precedence - when world war 1 happened, Mr. M K Gandhi provided whole hearted support to England against the wishes of Congress leaders. Mr. Gandhi also participated during Boer wars). This is the period when the demand for Pakistan was growing. Considering new world situation, CR moved Congress in the direction of cooperation to Raj if freedom to be declared. His relationship with his mentor suffered. But the disciple acted as per conscience. Then the break-up happened - CR recognised League’s claim for separation of few areas and hel broke lose. CR also opposed ‘Quit India’ campaign. CR lost his Congress base. But during this period he enabled Jinnah & Gandhi to collaborate and provided CR plan for Pakistan. Multiple meetings happened. CR collaborated with Raj, US ambassador, Congress and kept the channels open. Jinnah refused as he was eyeing for bigger land and sovereignty. But ultimately, British took up CR Plan and gave to Jinnah what CR had envisaged. In 1945, CR was readmitted to Congress and by the time people understood the forethought of CR. Satyamurty was not there during the period and his disciple, K Kamaraj was not having good equation with CR. Instead of becoming premier again, he throw in the towel to the shock of leaders. Patel commented ‘…has always been your way of life’.

Then came talks for independence - discussions with League and Congress over partition and seat sharing in provisional government. Raj and Gandhi’s disciples worked hand-in-hand. Prodded by British, Gandhi’s disciples (CR included) opted for a legalistic move to manoeuvre Jinnah. Gandhi regretted that ‘Jinnah, a great Indian and the recognised leader of a great organisation should not have been dealt with in a legalistic manner’. Clearly Gandhi was let down by his lieutenants as they smelt the power. What a fall!!! The Hindu-Muslim hatred increased as a result.

Then came independence and Rajaji became Bengal Governor and helped to diffuse Hindu - Muslim tensions along with Gandhi. Gandhi was assassinated and nation was in deep distress.Then the Governor-General post came to CR. He mediated between Nehru & Patel when differences arose. Nehru pushed for CR to be president but acted tactlessly, Patel supported Rajen Babu and Nehru was forced to retreat. Patel died and CR became home minister. The need for mediation (between Patel & Nehru) ceased. CR wanted and got retirement & was back in Chennai. But destiny had other plans. Congress was in deep trouble in Madras state. Local leaders including K Kamaraj persuaded CR to take the mantle. Finally CR agreed with an important condition, he would not stand in election. ( One part is out of disgust at the role of money in elections - He wanted state funding of elections, sadly turned down). He took the mantle with the smirk remark - ‘At this rate, if Salem is in trouble you will ask me to become the municipal chairman’. He performed, solved the troubles for Congress and landed in his next tactical error - the education policy to increase school enrolment - Part time schooling. CR was suggesting this concept much earlier in Bombay. In my personal experience, I had seen it working effectively elsewhere - for some time, I had an UN body as my customer - they were running schools in shifts - they were successful. As a believer of dignity of labour & rural empowerment, CR suggested that the children can learn their parents’ occupation during the rest of the time. Opposition picked up the issue and made it as a Old Brahmin’s cunning play - Kulakalvi. As usual, CR stood firm - he was not for blackmail politics. He wanted fair trail for his scheme. C Subramanian, the education minister presented statistics that enrolment increased and showed the success. But, when did Madras state and it’s successor state look at facts and decided? Added to this, the passion of other congressmen to take the mantle also played. CR resigned and that ended his life in Government.

I want to add two more struggles CR waged - the first one to strengthen democracy. He wanted proper opposition to Congress & Nehru. I wholeheartedly agree that Nehru was institution builder, but he failed to create an institution important for democracy - equal opposition. Nobody was speaking against Nehru, of course he was such a tall leader. But such a leader should have cultivated next rung one leader and moved away from Government earlier. He also failed to check money power and was a socialist dreamer. CR opposed these aspects, formed Swatantra Party and questioned Nehru, despite his relationship with Nehru. Had Gandhi lived, he would have done the same. Even Guha in his ‘Makers of modern India’ attests CR’s crusade in this regard.

Second one for nuclear disarmament - he passionately advocated for disarmament and was continuously working with Russia and US. At the ripe age, He visited US and met JF Kennedy and argued his case. Attentively listening, after few months, test ban treaty was signed by JFK. JFK sent thank you letter to CR. In this regard, CR was continuously in touch with Nehru and asked him to take few stands on ethical ground, Nehru didn’t. I am not suggesting Nehru was bad - He had his compulsions. Nevertheless, CR, a true gandhian, acted in a way Gandhi would’ve approved.

He showed malice towards none - not even to his political foes. We find two sets of disciples of Gandhi, one set accepting Gandhi as a political leader enabling India’s independence. These people got power and forgot what is meant by ‘Swarajya’ by Gandhi. The second set believed Gandhi in totality and practiced his ideals to the tee - CR clearly belonged to the second category. He valued ethical correctness more than political correctness. For him posts and positions didn’t matter, duty mattered. As Gandhi, he too believed in Almighty. Now I understand why Gandhi referred CR as his conscience keeper. The one thing the disciple differed from his master was some amount of practicality, may be that was the reason he joined with others (Nehru, Patel, Azad & Prasad) in 1945 in letting down Gandhi. In his long life, he guided many generations of people in doing the right thing.

Rajmohan Gandhi had done a tremendous service by writing this book - It brings out all facets of CR - The good side, the pitfalls and everything in between. Regret not reading this book earlier.

[செந்தில் குமார் · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being an atheist,the song that I seek at times of turmoil is "kurai ondrum illai"(குறை ஒன்றும் இல்லை).After learning that it was written by Rajaji and further that he wrote from third person's (as a harijan would, based on an Hindu archive article), I tried to find more about him(online, as usual) and ended up getting this book.

God, isn't Rajaji the most important person in the New Indian History, also the least studied and under appreciated. I didn't realise I roamed the places like vellore where Rajaji was once jailed(my college was right next to that jail).

What level of conviction would it take for a person to give up such a lucrative career and all the luxuries and choose the life of a satyagrahi ?

This book does enough justice that could be done in 400+ pages, though it could take few volumes to capture the length and breath of this great Statesman.

[S Ashok · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rajaji is one of the personalities who is constantly portrayed as a villain in many of the biopics on other people like the Film on Periyar. One thing everyone in Tamilnadu knows is that he was a castiest bhraminical leader who wanted to bring education system based on Varna system.

There is no defender for him in the current scheme of things, by opposing Nehru post independence he cut his links with the Congress. He was bhraminical so never liked by Dravidian politics.

So I had very little opinion or idea about this man's life. This biography captures the essence of the life of this great man. What stood out of Rajaji,

1. Independent
He is amazingly independent on his thoughts and ideas and till his death was revered as the greatest statesman. Even with the congress he dissented during the independence movement.
He famously opposed the Quit India movement citing the dangers Fascism offers to the independent world. This was suicidal for any leader at that time, and he antagonized the congress cadres base. But he stood by his conviction , as like he did many issues in his long cherished life. He was ready to battle it all alone if required, like the struggle against the License Permit Quota Raj(a line he coined), against the personality worship of Nehru. In these fights of course he did mistakes like aligning with the DMK when he started the Swantantra Party to oppose the Congress.
But he was not the one bogged down by public opinion, and it made him unpopular, loved and hated at the same time.

2. Religious Yet Broad Minded,
We have a template in the liberal circles like any one who espouses the Hindu scriptures like Gita, or one who is a practicing hindu has to be a bigot who supports say things like Untouchability and caste system. Same happened to Rajaji and his bhraminical background not helped in matters.
But in reality he was the first to oppose untouchabilty in tamilnadu. He made his life mission to open Indian temples to untouchable. He famously defended a case on an untouchable entering the Thiruchanoor temple. His ashram inmates comprised of people from different caste backgrounds. He totally believed in the horrors of caste system and untouchability but he didn't have the standard liberal. So he had to suffer like any independent thinker has to.
So he wrote major works on Gita, Ramayana and his writings were important to the formation of modern tamil prose.

Witty,
Rajaji's strength was his witty and memorable one liners with which he won many arguments.
He was one of the most successful lawyers of tamilnadu when he decided to quit the profession to participate in the independence movement. He was one of the finest parliamentarians India produced, and he provided a demonstration of his witty tongue in these debates.

Able Administrator
He was part of the lost breed of administrator who wanted to do the right think not always the popular one. A life long supporter of prohibition of liquor, he changed the lives of poor people through his activities regarding prohibition and khadi. Take for instance the much criticized education policy. The idea was clear and simple, he wanted to increase the admission in schools, with the current financial constraints it was not possible to open more schools neither to increase the teachers. Hence he suggested the school time for children will be reduced to 3 hours and the schools can cater to two batches of students in one day. He also suggested in the remaining time the children can learn their family work. This snowballed into a controversy which was totally uncalled for, and was forced to resign his post. He was adamant to such an extent is surprising but he felt it was the right thing to do.

Longevity,
Funny aspect about Rajaji is introduced as the one with a weak frame in the beginning .
He comes about as one who is often sick and tired wanting to retire. But curiously he outlived all of the major leaders of independence Gandhi, Patel, Azad, Rajendra Prasad, Nehru .
In a way he was active in stages of life from the time British Raj was in full force, the independence movement, to around 3 decades in independent India. This made him involved with so much of issues in a wide ranging arc. He was like the conscious keeper of India for three decades post independence.

This book is a phenomenal learning on his life.

[Aniruddh Sudharshan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beside the fact that this took longer than intended, this was good choice to start 2017.
A biography is only as good as its subject, so when a biographer takes two full books and a condensed version running upto 500 pages and still in the end ask "What sort of a man was CR?" , realisation strikes that you have in your hands a book on a man who has lived a full life. Which also contributes to my only grouse about this book which should have been called Rajaji: A Full Life.

A goodread.

Yes he had a thing for the quotable and he had swag before the word came into popular usage.

[Raghavendra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read my review of this book on my blog.