Born - 10 December 1878
Died - 25 December 1972
Achievements - He was a very well-known lawyer, writer and
statesman of India during the independence struggle. A prominent figure
in the Indian National Congress, he was elected the second
governor-general of India after its independence. Following this, Rajaji
was made the chief minister of the Indian state of Madras.
Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari, who was more popular as Rajaji or C.
Rajagopalachari, was a well-very known lawyer, writer and statesman of
India. He was elected the second governor-general of India after its
independence and following this, Rajaji was made the chief minister of
the Indian state of Madras. Read on about the biography of C.
Rajagopalachari, whose interest in politics started at inception of the
1900s. He was hugely impressed on meeting Congress extremist, Bal
Gangadhar Tilak and even struck a good kinship with his follower, V. O.
Chidambaram Pillai.
After Mahatma Gandhi returned from South Africa in 1919, Rajaji made up his
mind to follow him. C. Rajagopalachari was appointed the
general-secretary of the Congress in 1921 and thus, got opportunity to
gain acquaintance with other leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhbhai
Patel, Maulana Azad, Rajendra Prasad et al. Rajaji steadily rose in rank
and even came to be regarded as Gandhiji's successor. He shared close
kinship with Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel too, despite the
difference in their viewpoints. Rajaji developed differences with Nehru
later, but still both respected one another tremendously.
Being among the five most important leaders in the Indian National
Congress, C. Rajagopalachari played a pivotal role in the life history
of this party. Rajaji was the member of its Working Committee from 1919
to 1942 and then again from time period 1950 to 1955. Though Rajaji was
active in Congress for about half a century, he was not elected its
president even once. In the year 1932, however, he was chosen as the
acting president of the Congress and played crucial role in formulating
the Poona Pact with Ambedkar. Later when he was asked by Gandhiji and
Nehru to head the Congress a couple of times, he refused.
Possibly, Rajaji was amongst the initial Congress leaders during 1940s
to accept the right of Muslims to self-determination. He even worked out
a solution by which there could be common defense and communications
between the two nations. But this idea was discarded by Ali Jinnah and
also some Congress leaders. Rajaji was always known to be a staunch
protector of his political principles and never hesitated to disagree
with his closest allies even in front of the public.
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