153. Rajagopalachari


Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari, better known as Rajaji, was the second Governor General of independent India. Later he became the chief minister of Madras Presidency. Rajaji was born in Thorapalli village of Salem district on 10th of December 1878. His father Chakravarthi Venkataraya Iyengar was from Tamilnadu, and his mother Singaramma hailed from Kuppam in Chittor, Andhra Pradesh. Rajaji completed his schooling in Hosur and did his higher education in Central college of Banglore, Karnataka.


He obtained his Law degree in Madras and began his practice in Salem. He became famous pretty soon through brilliance of knowledge of Law and speech. Even as a student he developed great love for literature and later became renowned as a writer in Tamil and English. Rajaji married at an early age and his wife passed away giving birth to three sons and two daughters. He entered into politics as he had a great zeal for social reforms.


He became Chairman of Municipal Council of Salem and fought against the caste system and drinking of liquor. He was opposed strongly and his reforms were oppressed. But he was successful in introducing civic reforms. He participated in the freedom movement and at one time considered as Mahatma Gandhi’s heir. He became the chief minister for Madras twice in 1937 and in 1952 and he had an impeccable record in administration which is free of corruption.


In 1906, he attended Indian National Congress held at Surat. Rajaji joined the Extremists group by 1918 and worked for Tilak and Dr. Annie Besant. In the pre-independence years, as one of the top five leaders of congress, Rajaji, Nehru and Patel were called the “head, heart, and hands” of Gandhiji, in whose shadows they remained till his death. Later he differed with Nehru on policies of nation and started a new party called “Swatantra Party”. It advocated private enterprise as against to government run mega projects favored by Nehru.