Download Rajaji, A Life Designed By Rajmohan Gandhi Hardcover

the book ,for the man, It seems it was not very long ago that extraordinary people strode through the political circles, The decay is embarrassing to say the least, The book, being a biography is divided chronologically and is thus more attractive to the historian rather than the casual reader, who seeks to understand the man as composite whole.
At a point in time, I was going to abandon the book, but C, R pulled me back in nonetheless, A man whose ideas were mostly considered radical because they were so far ahead of time, a man who struggled for what he believed and could persuade public opinion to do the same, a man loved by friends and respected by foes.
A truly great national leader from the deep south and after the regionalisation of Indian politics it could be that he was also the last Being an atheist,the song that I seek at times of turmoil is "kurai ondrum illai"கற ஒனறம இலல.
After learning that it was written by Rajaji and further that he wrote from third person's as a harijan would, based on an Hindu archive article, I tried to find more about himonline, as usual and ended up getting this book.


God, isn't Rajaji the most important person in the New Indian History, also the least studied and under appreciated, I didn't realise I roamed the places like vellore where Rajaji was once jailedmy college was right next to that jail,

What level of conviction would it take for a person to give up such a lucrative career and all the luxuries and choose the life of a satyagrahi

This book does enough justice that could be done inpages, though it could take few volumes to capture the length and breath of this great Statesman.
The definitive biography of free India's first Head of State, Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, popularly called C, R. or Rajaji, is usually remembered as free India's GovernorGeneral, or the first Indian Head of State, At one time considered Gandhi's heir, this brilliant lawyer from Salem was regarded in preindependence years as one of the top five leaders of the Congress along with Nehru, Prasad, Patel and Azad.
This biography written by Rajaji's grandson, the noted historian and biographer Rajmohan Gandhi, highlights Rajaji's role in the events preceding Partition, A statesman and conciliator of conflicts between stalwarts, he was perhaps the sole Congress leader in the forties to admit to the likelihood of Partition, He prophesied even then that Pakistan might break up in twentyfive years! Later, C, R. became a strident critic of Nehru and the Congress, As a founder of the Swatantra party in the fifties, he attacked the permitlicense Raj' fearing its potential for corruption and stagnation, even while the tide was in favour of Nehru's socialistic pattern.
Meticulously researched, using C. R. 's private papers, his contemporaries' archives, extensive interviews with eyewitnesses and contemporary accounts and newspapers, this intensely personal, yet objective account gives us an unparalleled portrait of one of the outstanding Indians of this century.
Read my review of this book sitelinkon my blog,
Beside the fact that this took longer than intended, this was good choice to start,
A biography is only as good as its subject, so when a biographer takes two full books and a condensed version running uptopages and still in the end ask "What sort of a man was CR" , realisation strikes that you have in your hands a book on a man who has lived a full life.
Which also contributes to my only grouse about this book which should have been called Rajaji: A Full Life,

A goodread.

Yes he had a thing for the quotable and he had swag before the word came into popular usage,


Rajaji A life
by Rajmohan Gandhi

I have read earlier a Tamil book Rajaji/by Paranthaman I have the remnants of this book now without first few pages amp last few pages, Ram Guhas books where you can find the sketch of Rajaji amp My dear Bapu by another grandson Gopalakrishna Gandhi.
It is after readingMy dear Bapu, I decided to read the book by Rajmohan Gandhi to understand Rajaji better, I have read two of Rajmohans books earlier and comfortable with his writing style / honesty, without any ulterior motives, I did want to get some perspectives on some of the events in his life he is vilified in TN narrowly focusing on these aspects,

First amp Foremost impression I get is a feeling what a life completely immersed in the cause of nation in the footsteps of Mahatma, As Rajmohan points out CR was the fourth among the five to meet Gandhi Patel, Jawaharlal, Prasad amp Azad being other four, but CR is the first to accept Gandhi wholeheartedly.
From then onwards, it was point of no return for CR, Total surrender to put it into religious terms, சரணகத, too important for Vaishnava,

During the period, he attained such a prominence in national politics ChapterHero, The first trial he had undergone as a deputy for Mahatma was inannual Congress session in Gaya, He defended the council boycott successfully against the arguments of very powerful Chitaranjan Das, Motilal Nehru, Vithhalbhai Patel, Srinivasa Iyengar amp Satyamurti, Subhas Bose called Rajaji as the hero of Gaya Congress,

Respecting the will of Gandhijis support to swarajists Gandhis thought If the no changers believed in constructive work, they would gladly yield their Congress positions to Swarajists, their duty was self effacing, silent and sustained service, without grumbling and without the expectation of reward, CR would move to remote village near Thiruchengode and concentrate on Khadi and thereby attacking social ills of untouchability amp hold of liquor.
Thus came the Gandhi Ashram in Thiruchengode, I dont know of any other prominent leader doing the exact copy of what Gandhi did in Sabarmati other than Rajaji during that time, Not only that he dedicated himself totally in the Khadi , avoidance of untouchability amp avoidance of liquor, Despite the invitations from senior leaders for congress, he concentrated on the ground work real preparation for the upcoming battle,
Everyone

knows about his famous Vedaranyam Salt March, I am skipping it. Just a point here he was Gandhis real deputy during this period including editorship of magazines, Everyone looked up to him for advice, When Gandhi was contemplating about retiring from Congress, it was Rajaji, who argued with Gandhi, Again CR allowed himself to be suppressed from becoming Congress president essentially not after posts / positions how much ever important you are Gandhi was the only other person with this trait

Then comesIndia Act, which enabled partial governance by Indians.
At this point of time, Gandhi amp CR decided that the Congress should directly participate in election process, Earlier it was delegated to Swarajists Satyamurty was a swarajist, Rajaji campaigns hard and wins the election for Congress in south amp as per the advice of Gandhi, he takes the mantle to run the Government, His period as premier is very important he provided the best governance, His government was strict on Law amp Order, balanced budgets, enabled temple entry for Harijans and gained the trust of Raj in the short period Later Nehru went on to comment about this government as the best government.
However, all was not well CR made his first tactical error one more to follow in Hindi introduction, He allowed the opposition to gang against him and sharpen the Brahmin Non Brahmin divide which was simmering froms of Madras, Satyamurti amp Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan advised him to make Hindi optional, but Rajaji refused, Not that Rajaji is great lover of Hindi once Gandhi wrote a letter to CR in Hindi completely and CR responded by writing a letter in Tamil completely.
Later Gandhi regretted his folly, The reason Rajaji stuck to his decision as he didnt want a just cause to be withdrawn just because of opposition, I was just thinking about how JJ controlled the strike with iron fist, clearly she had precedence, Rajmohan candidly pointed out some other issues with CRs style chief among them is failure to delegate,

Then comes the World War Two and question of war support, Britain involved India without consent and Congress is enraged asked its premiers to resign accordingly CR resigned, However, he was arguing for whole hearted support to British war effort, there was a precedence when world warhappened, Mr, M K Gandhi provided whole hearted support to England against the wishes of Congress leaders, Mr. Gandhi also participated during Boer wars, This is the period when the demand for Pakistan was growing, Considering new world situation, CR moved Congress in the direction of cooperation to Raj if freedom to be declared, His relationship with his mentor suffered, But the disciple acted as per conscience, Then the breakup happened CR recognised Leagues claim for separation of few areas and hel broke lose, CR also opposed Quit India campaign, CR lost his Congress base, But during this period he enabled Jinnah amp Gandhi to collaborate and provided CR plan for Pakistan, Multiple meetings happened. CR collaborated with Raj, US ambassador, Congress and kept the channels open, Jinnah refused as he was eyeing for bigger land and sovereignty, But ultimately, British took up CR Plan and gave to Jinnah what CR had envisaged, In, CR was readmitted to Congress and by the time people understood the forethought of CR, Satyamurty was not there during the period and his disciple, K Kamaraj was not having good equation with CR, Instead of becoming premier again, he throw in the towel to the shock of leaders, Patel commented has always been your way of life,

Then came talks for independence discussions with League and Congress over partition and seat sharing in provisional government, Raj and Gandhis disciples worked handinhand, Prodded by British, Gandhis disciples CR included opted for a legalistic move to manoeuvre Jinnah, Gandhi regretted that Jinnah, a great Indian and the recognised leader of a great organisation should not have been dealt with in a legalistic manner, Clearly Gandhi was let down by his lieutenants as they smelt the power, What a fall!!! The HinduMuslim hatred increased as a result,

Then came independence and Rajaji became Bengal Governor and helped to diffuse Hindu Muslim tensions along with Gandhi, Gandhi was assassinated and nation was in deep distress, Then the GovernorGeneral post came to CR, He mediated between Nehru amp Patel when differences arose, Nehru pushed for CR to be president but acted tactlessly, Patel supported Rajen Babu and Nehru was forced to retreat, Patel died and CR became home minister, The need for mediation between Patel amp Nehru ceased, CR wanted and got retirement amp was back in Chennai, But destiny had other plans, Congress was in deep trouble in Madras state, Local leaders including K Kamaraj persuaded CR to take the mantle, Finally CR agreed with an important condition, he would not stand in election, One part is out of disgust at the role of money in elections He wanted state funding of elections, sadly turned down, He took the mantle with the smirk remark At this rate, if Salem is in trouble you will ask me to become the municipal chairman, He performed, solved the troubles for Congress and landed in his next tactical error the education policy to increase school enrolment Part time schooling, CR was suggesting this concept much earlier in Bombay, In my personal experience, I had seen it working effectively elsewhere for some time, I had an UN body as my customer they were running schools in shifts they were successful.
As a believer of dignity of labour amp rural empowerment, CR suggested that the children can learn their parents occupation during the rest of the time, Opposition picked up the issue and made it as a Old Brahmins cunning play Kulakalvi, As usual, CR stood firm he was not for blackmail politics, He wanted fair trail for his scheme, C Subramanian, the education minister presented statistics that enrolment increased and showed the success, But, when did Madras state and its successor state look at facts and decided Added to this, the passion of other congressmen to take the mantle also played.
CR resigned and that ended his life in Government,

I want to add two more struggles CR waged the first one to strengthen democracy, He wanted proper opposition to Congress amp Nehru, I wholeheartedly agree that Nehru was institution builder, but he failed to create an institution important for democracy equal opposition, Nobody was speaking against Nehru, of course he was such a tall leader, But such a leader should have cultivated next rung one leader and moved away from Government earlier, He also failed to check money power and was a socialist dreamer, CR opposed these aspects, formed Swatantra Party and questioned Nehru, despite his relationship with Nehru, Had Gandhi lived, he would have done the same, Even Guha in his Makers of modern India attests CRs crusade in this regard,

Second one for nuclear disarmament he passionately advocated for disarmament and was continuously working with Russia and US, At the ripe age, He visited US and met JF Kennedy and argued his case, Attentively listening, after few months, test ban treaty was signed by JFK, JFK sent thank you letter to CR, In this regard, CR was continuously in touch with Nehru and asked him to take few stands on ethical ground, Nehru didnt, I am not suggesting Nehru was bad He had his compulsions, Nevertheless, CR, a true gandhian, acted in a way Gandhi wouldve approved,

He showed malice towards none not even to his political foes, We find two sets of disciples of Gandhi, one set accepting Gandhi as a political leader enabling Indias independence, These people got power and forgot what is meant by Swarajya by Gandhi, The second set believed Gandhi in totality and practiced his ideals to the tee CR clearly belonged to the second category, He valued ethical correctness more than political correctness, For him posts and positions didnt matter, duty mattered, As Gandhi, he too believed in Almighty, Now I understand why Gandhi referred CR as his conscience keeper, The one thing the disciple differed from his master was some amount of practicality, may be that was the reason he joined with others Nehru, Patel, Azad amp Prasad inin letting down Gandhi.
In his long life, he guided many generations of people in doing the right thing,

Rajmohan Gandhi had done a tremendous service by writing this book It brings out all facets of CR The good side, the pitfalls and everything in between.
Regret not reading this book earlier, .