The Hindu : 'Rajaji needs a re-rating'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Dec 11, 2003

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'Rajaji needs a re-rating'

By Our Special Correspondent

The Tamil Nadu Governor, P.S. Ramamohan Rao, releasing `unfolding rajaji', a pictorial biography of C. Rajagopalachari, in Chennai on Wednesday. The senior Congress leader, K. Natwar Singh, receives the copy as the TNCC leader, E.V.K.S. Elangovan, the Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu, N. Ram, the author of the book, C.R. Kesavan, and a retired civil servant, B.S. Raghavan, look on. — Photo: N. Sridharan

CHENNAI DEC. 10. It is time to re-evaluate the contributions of C. Rajagopalachari to Indian polity in order to objectively assess his historic role, the Tamil Nadu Governor, P.S. Ramamohan Rao, said here today.

Rajaji was one of several "under-rated leaders" of the country. The former Governor-General was misunderstood by many including those in his own Congress party. For example, Rajaji's proposal for partition before Independence to avoid bloodshed was not acceptable to many Congress leaders of the time. Nor did they support his proposal that Indians could support the Allies during World War II on the condition that the British should form a national government along with some kind of assurance that after the war they should consider the transfer of power.

Releasing a new pictorial biography, "unfolding rajaji", penned by the leader's great grandson, C.R. Kesavan (on the occasion of Rajaji's 125th birth anniversary), the Governor felt that in the present context, "Rajaji requires a re-rating as also his role in India's freedom struggle."

The Governor, who recalled Rajaji's penchant for repartee, said that a major difference between Rajaji and the leaders of his era such as Jawaharlal Nehru was that for the former "logic" always prevailed over "loyalty" to the party or even to Gandhiji. Nehru was always on the side of loyalty.

"People also say that Rajaji climbed down in his career — from being the Governor-General of India to becoming a Governor of Bengal, to a Cabinet Minister to leading the Madras State Government. But it should not be forgotten that on every occasion, it was the call of duty and the call of the nation rather than Rajaji's personal predilection for a post," Mr. Rao added.

He handed over the first copies of the book to the senior Congress leader, K. Natwar Singh, The Hindu's Editor-in-Chief, N. Ram, and the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee leader, E.V.K.S. Elangovan.

Mr. Singh said the book made a path-breaking experiment of not using any "capital letters" (which, the author later explained, was to highlight Rajaji's simplicity).

Recalling that Gandhiji led several political giants for over a quarter century in the freedom struggle, he felt sad that today's political arena was a cause for anxiety. Politics, a profession for causing change and for serving people, had turned dirty.

Mr. Ram said that it was difficult to do justice to Rajaji, a multi-faceted personality who was equally remarkable in private and public life, in a book. But this work had attempted to do so. Its added value lay in its excellent and rare photographs.

Rajaji, he said, initially joined the revolutionary movement. But he quickly graduated into the freedom movement led by Gandhi. In hindsight, Rajaji seemed to have done well in the Opposition (when compared to his record in governance), he said and praised the leader's commitment to social reform, "life-long allergy to communalism of all kinds" and, above all, his far-sighted opposition to nuclear weapons. He also recalled that Rajaji was a "considerably good writer of fiction", which, of course, he gave up for his public life.

Mr. Elangovan recalled Rajaji's relationship with the Dravidian leader, EVR Periyar, who started his career in the Congress. Despite several political differences, Periyar and Rajaji had always maintained a cordial relationship, he said, and wondered whether such political decency could ever be revived in the present atmosphere.

Mr. Kesavan said he was inspired to write the book following a post card written by an unknown admirer of Rajaji. Among those who paid tributes to Rajaji, were B.S. Raghavan, retired civil servant, and G. Narayanaswami, chartered accountant.

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