C.R. Rajagopalachari

Chakravarti Rajagopalachari BR (10 December 1878 – 25 December 1972), popularly known as Rajaji or C.R., also known as Mootharignar Rajaji (Rajaji, the Scholar Emeritus), was an Indian statesman, writer, lawyer, and independence activist.

Rajagopalachari was born to Chakravarti Venkatarya Achari (Iyengar) and his wife Singaramma on 10 December 1878 in Thorapalli village on the outskirts of Hosur, in Dharmapuri taluk, Salem district, Madras Presidency, British Raj.

His father was the munsiff of Thorapalli.

He hailed from a Hindu Brahmin family belonging to the Sri Vaishnava sect.

The couple already had two sons, Narasimhachari and Srinivasa.

A weak and sickly child, Rajagopalachari was a constant worry to his parents who feared that he might not live long.

As a young child, he was admitted to a village school in Thorapalli then at the age of five moved with his family to Hosur where Rajagopalachari enrolled at Hosur R.V.Government Boys Higher Secondary School.

He passed his matriculation examinations in 1891 and graduated in arts from Central College, Bangalore in 1894.

Rajagopalachari also studied law at the Presidency College, Madras, from where he graduated in 1897.

Rajagopalachari married Alamelu Mangalamma in 1897 when she was ten years old and she gave birth to her son a day after her thirteenth birthday.

The couple had five children, three sons: C. R. Narasimhan, C. R. Krishnaswamy, and C. R. Ramaswami, and two daughters: Lakshmi Gandhi (née Rajagopalachari) and Namagiri Ammal.

In the 1900s he started legal practice at the Salem court.

On entering politics, he became a member and later Chairperson of the Salem municipality.

One of Mahatma Gandhi's earliest political lieutenants, he joined the Indian National Congress and participated in the agitations against the Rowlatt Act, joining the Non-Cooperation movement, the Vaikom Satyagraha, and the Civil Disobedience movement.

Rajagopalachari's interest in public affairs and politics began when he commenced his legal practice in Salem in 1900.

Mangamma died in 1916 whereupon Rajagopalachari took sole responsibility for the care of his children.

In 1930, Rajagopalachari risked imprisonment when he led the Vedaranyam Salt Satyagraha in response to the Dandi March.

In 1937, Rajagopalachari was elected Prime minister of the Madras Presidency and served until 1940, when he resigned due to Britain's declaration of war on Germany.

He later advocated co-operation over Britain's war effort and opposed the Quit India Movement.

He favoured talks with both Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the Muslim League and proposed what later came to be known as the C. R. formula.

In 1946, Rajagopalachari was appointed Minister of Industry, Supply, Education and Finance in the Interim Government of India, and then as the Governor of West Bengal from 1947 to 1948, Governor-General of India from 1948 to 1950, Union Home Minister from 1951 to 1952 and as Chief Minister of Madras state from 1952 to 1954.

Rajagopalachari was the last Governor-General of India, as when India became a republic in 1950 the office was abolished.

He was also the only Indian-born Governor-General, as all previous holders of the post were British nationals.

He also served as leader of the Indian National Congress, Premier of the Madras Presidency, Governor of West Bengal, Minister for Home Affairs of the Indian Union and Chief Minister of Madras state.

Rajagopalachari founded the Swatantra Party and was one of the first recipients of India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna.

He vehemently opposed the use of nuclear weapons and was a proponent of world peace and disarmament.

During his lifetime, he also acquired the nickname 'Mango of Salem'.

Rajagopalachari was born in the Thorapalli village of Hosur taluk in the Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu and was educated at Central College, Bangalore, and Presidency College, Madras.

His son Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari Narasimhan was elected to the Lok Sabha from Krishnagiri in the 1952 and 1957 elections and served as a member of parliament for Krishnagiri from 1952 to 1962.

He later wrote a biography of his father.

Rajagopalachari's daughter Lakshmi married Devdas Gandhi, son of Mahatma Gandhi while his grandsons include biographer Rajmohan Gandhi, philosopher Ramchandra Gandhi and former governor of West Bengal Gopalkrishna Gandhi.

Rajagopalachari's great-grandson, Chakravarti Rajagopalachari Kesavan, is a spokesperson of the Congress Party and Trustee of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee.

In 1959, he resigned from the Indian National Congress and founded the Swatantra Party, which fought against the Congress in the 1962, 1967 and 1971 elections.

Rajagopalachari was instrumental in setting up a united Anti-Congress front in Madras state under C. N. Annadurai, which swept the 1967 elections.

He died on 25 December 1972 at the age of 94 and received a state funeral.

Rajagopalachari was an accomplished writer who made lasting contributions to Indian English literature and is also credited with the composition of the song Kurai Onrum Illai set to Carnatic music.

He pioneered temperance and temple entry movements in India and advocated Dalit upliftment.

He has been criticized for introducing the compulsory study of Hindi and the Madras Scheme of Elementary Education in Madras State, dubbed by its critics as Hereditary Education Policy put forward to perpetuate caste hierarchy.

Critics have often attributed his pre-eminence in politics to his standing as a favourite of both Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.

Rajagopalachari was described by Gandhi as the "keeper of my conscience".