The Hindu : On Rajaji

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 12, 2003

Opinion

Opinion - Letters to the Editor

On Rajaji

Sir, — The report "Rajaji needs a re-rating" ( Dec. 11 ) has not come a day too soon. Rajaji always thought ahead of his times — one example being his prediction of the inevitability of Bangladesh while he was the Governor of West Bengal in the late 1940s.

Lakshmi Narasimhan,
Revesby, Australia

* * *

Sir, — Rajaji was fearless in opposing the Congress in Delhi by forming the Swatantra Party as an ideological alternative and teaching many of us that democracy means participation and not mere power sharing. Rajaji's house was smeared with dung as the `price' for objecting to Sheikh Abdullah's arrest. To young boys like me then, Rajaji was a beacon of free thinking and selfless service.

T.P. Sampath,
Gurgaon, Haryana

* * *

Sir, — Rajaji has still not been given his proper due. Not even the Tamil Nadu unit of the Congress bothers to observe his birth anniversary every year. Rajaji spent most of his illustrious public life in the Congress and it was as a Chief Minister belonging to that party that he made his mark as one of the most efficient administrators.

T.S. Pattabhi Raman,
Chennai

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Sir, — Rajaji was a shining example of plain living and high thinking. Worthy of mention is the Agriculturists' Moratorium Act he brought in as Chief Minister of the then Madras State to save them from the clutches of cantankerous creditors.

N.K. Suryanarayanan,
Bangalore

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Sir, — Rajaji's thin physical frame belied his great fighting spirit. Public good and national interest as he conceived them were always uppermost in his mind. Were he alive, he would have been the first to raise his voice in support of The Hindu following the November 7 incident.

V. Krishnamachari,
Mumbai

* * *

Sir, — When Lal Bahadur Shastri succeeded Nehru as Prime Minister, Rajaji said "one was the Arabian horse, the other is the Indian cow. Not comparable but each adorable in its own way."

Here indeed was a spirit that politics could not confine.

Tirumalai Raman,
Chennai

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