C. Rajagopalachari - the forgotten hero
C. Rajagopalachari - the forgotten hero
What does a person do at age of 80 years in year 1957, after providing thought leadership in struggles for independence, being in Gandhiji's words 'my conscience keeper', becoming Governor General of free India, the first Indian after Mountbatten left, becoming home minister after Patel's death, and getting the Bharat Ratna? He enjoys his retirement, spending years writing novels, translating the classics and writing articles in newspapers. And gradually he realizes the path being taken by his friend Jawaharlal, is that of socialism, inspired by the Soviet Union, and against the ideals of the Constitution itself. And then this young man C.Rajagopalachari, or Rajaji as he was called, decides to leave his beloved Congress party, and along with like minded people like Minoo Masani, begins the second freedom struggle of India - 'Swatantra Party movement'.
Rajaji declares war against, in his coined words 'the license-permit Raj' being created by the socialist policies of Nehru, whereby the government is busy creating a public sector behemoth, and laying obstacles in way of wealth creation by private sector that is getting squeezed by a rampaging bureaucracy. He felt that the Congress party has turned into a stooge of the Communists and there was a need for an effective opposition party which believes in economic independence and in liberal values.
He toured the whole country and built the Swatantra party by convincing people about ideology of liberalism. The party won 45 seats in 1967 general elections and was the single largest opposition party in Loksabha and kept countering the disastrous socialist policies.
The second freedom movement started by Swatantra finally got a ray of hope after 1991 liberalization, but it's still miles to go for real liberty to be achieved.
Rajaji declares war against, in his coined words 'the license-permit Raj' being created by the socialist policies of Nehru, whereby the government is busy creating a public sector behemoth, and laying obstacles in way of wealth creation by private sector that is getting squeezed by a rampaging bureaucracy. He felt that the Congress party has turned into a stooge of the Communists and there was a need for an effective opposition party which believes in economic independence and in liberal values.
He toured the whole country and built the Swatantra party by convincing people about ideology of liberalism. The party won 45 seats in 1967 general elections and was the single largest opposition party in Loksabha and kept countering the disastrous socialist policies.
The second freedom movement started by Swatantra finally got a ray of hope after 1991 liberalization, but it's still miles to go for real liberty to be achieved.
Today's listening pleasure - C. Ramchandra
C. Ramchandra was a pioneer and a rebel in Hindi film music, a R.D. Burman of his time. He brought jazz music in his songs and experimented with a variety of western instruments merging their sounds with traditional Indian music.
Look how advanced this song would be at its time (circa 1947), where the male singer asks the female to try some brandy n whisky! Enjoy.
posted by Shantanu | 11:23 AM
4 Comments:
Very detailed post and informative too.
I guess old days people were more advanced than the present era. Or they were less concerned about what others might think.
visiting your blog for A to Z challenge. It was interesting to read about a hero of whom I had no knowledge.It was likewise interesting to listen to the musical piece you shared. Intriguig
Thanks Sheetal for your kind words. I think in older times, leaders at least were true to their ideology, were more thoughtful.
Thanks a lot for visiting. I gather you stay in Australia. You would be surprised that my fellow Indians have forgotten about this leader. And I can't imagine how you would have thought of musical piece..It's during early days of indian cinema where they were experimenting with various sounds.
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