Skip to content
Indian Liberals
Open menu

classical liberal

C. Rajagopalachari

Chakravarti Rajagopalachari

1878–1972

Also known as: Rajaji, C.R., सी. राजगोपालाचारी, राजाजी

How C. Rajagopalachari is discussed in this archive

Authored 9 works in the archive.

Subject of 2 profile pieces — including C. Rajagopalachari's Thoughts on Culture , and Rajaji's Views on Nuclear Bomb .

Referenced in 24 other works — including India's Nuclear Ambitions: Minoo Masani as a Liberal Peacenik , FREE MARKET ECONOMY —Key to Economic Progress and Freedoms , and INDIA'S FOOD PROBLEM .

In Fifty Years After ... : Rajaji is cited by B.

In FREE MARKET ECONOMY —Key to Economic Progress and Freedoms : Rajaji's coinage 'permit-licence-quota raj' is invoked twice — by Palkhivala in his introduction and again in the summary's key points — as the rhetorical centrepiece for the booklet's attack on India's interventionist economy.

In FREE MARKET ECONOMY —Key to Economic Progress and Freedoms : Palkhivala credits Rajaji with having coined the phrase 'permit-licence-quota raj' that the introduction redeploys to indict the Indian regulatory state — positioning Rajaji as the linguistic-political ancestor of the booklet's anti-control argument.

In INDIA'S FOOD PROBLEM : Shenoy invokes Rajagopalachari's image of 'transferring blood from the right arm to the left' to dismiss domestically-built 'buffer' stocks as a mere transfer of pipe-line inventory rather than real food security.

In Indian Planning at the Cross-Roads : Mehta invokes Rajaji's quip about a cure that killed the patient's wife to argue for selective rather than blanket capital-issues control.

By C. Rajagopalachari (9)

Primary works (4)

Excerpts (3)

In ThePrint (2)

About C. Rajagopalachari (3)

Interviews (1)

Profile pieces (2)

  • C. Rajagopalachari's Thoughts on Culture
    • "Chakravarti Rajagopalachari (1878-1972) was one of the greatest scholars of twentieth-century India. He was a multifaceted personality." — establishes Rajaji's stature and historical importance
  • Rajaji's Views on Nuclear Bomb
    • "he was deeply concerned about the possible radioactive fallout of nuclear testings and saw with derision the mad specter of nuclear brinkmanship between the two superpowers." — captures Rajaji's core anxiety about the nuclear arms race
    • "A trusted lieutenant of Gandhi in days of anti-colonial struggle, he reinvented himself as an anti-nuclear weapons activist as the Cold war picked pace." — frames Rajaji's intellectual reinvention as an anti-nuclear voice

Mentioned in (26)

Primary works (10)

  • PROSPERITY BEYOND OUR CITIES BY SPREADING ENTERPRISE · 2007
  • Fifty Years After ... · 1997
    • "He quotes B. K. Nehru on the divergence between the constitutional values of founders like Nehru, Patel, and Rajaji and the values of today's rulers (Laloo, Jayalalitha, Mulayam Singh)." — Rajaji named among the founding constitutional exemplars contrasted with today's rulers
  • FREE MARKET ECONOMY —Key to Economic Progress and Freedoms · 1982
    • "attacks the "permit-licence-quota raj" that Rajaji had named" — Palkhivala's framing borrows Rajaji's slogan to attack interventionism
    • "Palkhivala's introduction reinforces the address with Rajaji's "permit-licence-quota raj"" — key-points restatement of the same Rajaji-derived rhetorical anchor
  • FREE MARKET ECONOMY —Key to Economic Progress and Freedoms · 1982
    • "indicts the "permit-licence-quota raj" that Rajaji had named" — Palkhivala's preface attributes the booklet's signature anti-statist epithet to Rajaji
  • INDIA'S FOOD PROBLEM · 1973
    • "what Rajagopalachari called transferring blood from the right arm to the left." — Rajaji's metaphor is the rhetorical hammer Shenoy uses against the domestic-buffer claim
    • "Dismisses domestically-built 'buffer' stocks as a mere transfer of pipe-line inventory, quoting Rajagopalachari's image of transferring blood from the right arm to the left." — key-points restatement of the Rajaji quote
  • Indian Planning at the Cross-Roads · 1965
    • "more selective control of capital issues, illustrated by Rajaji's quip about a cure that killed the patient's wife" — Rajaji is invoked by G. L. Mehta as the witty authority against blanket capital-issues control
    • "Calls for selective capital-issues control rather than blanket restraint; cites Rajaji on cures killing the patient" — key-points restatement of Mehta's use of Rajaji
  • The Indian Libertarian · 1963
    • "A further item reports Rajaji (C. Rajagopalachari) calling for India to lead the 'Afro-Asian camp' rather than outsource that leadership to Nkrumah or Nasser." — News-and-Views item placing Rajaji's foreign-policy intervention inside the issue
    • "Rajaji advocates India taking leadership of the Afro-Asian bloc rather than ceding it to Nkrumah or Nasser." — key-point restatement of Rajaji's call to action
  • CONTROLS AND FREEDOM · 1960
    • "Rajaji's lifting of food rationing in Madras" — Rajaji's action in Madras is presented as a real precedent for dismantling peacetime controls
    • "Cites Rajaji's abolition of food controls in Madras as a concrete demonstration that Indian leaders capable of dismantling the apparatus do exist" — Rajaji exemplifies the political will to dismantle the control raj
  • ENLIST CO-OPERATION OF PRIVATE ENTERPRISE · 1959
    • "he welcomes Rajagopalachari's announcement of a new independent democratic party (with Jayaprakash Narayan's qualified blessing and Nehru's recognition that constructive criticism would serve Congress)" — Rajagopalachari's announcement frames Rama Rau's call for a credible democratic opposition
  • Desperate Proposals · 1957

Opinion pieces (6)

  • India's Nuclear Ambitions: Minoo Masani as a Liberal Peacenik
    • "Rajaji's vigorous campaign for the nuclear test ban has been discussed in some detail here" — introducing Rajaji as the complementary Swatantra voice on nuclear policy alongside Masani
    • "He disagreed with the logic of the balance of threat and was deeply worried about the repercussions of nuclear rivalry for human security" — capturing Rajaji's moral-pacifist grounds for opposing nuclear weapons development
  • Homi Mody’s Liberalism: From Pro-Business to Pro-Market
    • "Calumny has had a start, and it keeps on maintaining the falsehood that the Swatantra Party is a rich men's lobby" — Rajaji's direct refutation of the charge used to dismiss Mody's party role
  • Minoo Masani : From Socialism to Liberal Swatantra Party
    • "His active leadership of Congress Socialist Party (CSP) turned both Sardar Patel and C Rajagopalachari against him." — early antagonism arising from Masani's socialist phase
    • "Masani persuaded Rajaji to lead the new political party." — key moment of coalition in the Swatantra founding
  • Piloo Mody: Swatantra’s Witty Parliamentarian
    • "the death of Rajaji and subsequent defeat of the party in 1971 led to an existential crisis." — Rajaji's death is listed alongside the 1971 defeat as twin blows to Swatantra's viability
  • Swatantra Party : A Big Tent Challenge to Congress Hegemony
    • "Rajaji was a veteran Gandhi disciple turned dissident Congressman who had earlier served as the Chief Minister of Madras and the Home Minister of India." — establishes Rajaji's political credentials as Swatantra's senior figurehead
  • The Swatantra Way for Forging a Formidable Coalition
    • "However, the other founding member of the Swatantra Party - Rajaji, was ready to 'ally with the devil himself' to defeat the Congress." — captures Rajaji's more pragmatic and less principled approach to electoral alliances
    • "According to S. V. Raju, Masani and Rajaji were two liberals who agreed on nine out of ten things. Yet on an issue as crucial as the coalition policy of the Swatantra Party, they were rarely on the same page." — frames the Masani-Rajaji disagreement over alliances as the central strategic tension

Excerpts (10)

  • Acharya N G Ranga: The Farmer’s Friend and Swatantra Party Stalwart
    • "Rajaji invited NG Ranga to take up the position of President of Swatantra party." — Rajaji's recruitment of Ranga establishes the partnership at the heart of the Swatantra Party's founding era
  • Agricultural Policy of Swatantra Party
    • "the formation of the Swatantra Party under the aegis of Sri C. Rajagopalachari and the initiative of the All India Agriculturists' Federation." — Rajagopalachari's role as founding patron of the Swatantra Party is cited as the institutional response to Nehru's land reforms
  • Controls and Freedom
    • "Rajaji abolished food control and rationing in one bold sweep when he was Chief Minister of Madras." — Rajaji's Madras experiment is the positive case study that the author contrasts with the expansion of controls elsewhere
  • Sharad Joshi on Liberalism in India
    • "Rajaji was fond of quoting a Gujarati proverb meaning, 'Where the king is a trader his subjects are paupers'." — Joshi attributes this economic aphorism to Rajaji to illustrate the polycentric ethos he is trying to recover
  • Sikkim – Through Other Eyes
    • "The camp boasted the likes of Jayprakash Narayan, C Rajagopalachari, and Minoo Masani." — Rajaji named as one of three liberal dissenters against Indian imperial overreach
    • "Rajaji led the delegation to President Kennedy advocating nuclear non-proliferation." — specific action attributed to Rajaji as part of the dissenting liberal foreign policy stance
  • Swatantra Party: 64th Foundation Year
    • ""Why Swatantra" is a conjoined effort of C Rajagopalachari, N G Ranga, K M Munshi and Minoo Masani" — Rajagopalachari identified as co-author of the Swatantra Party's founding manifesto
    • "The Swatantra Party stands for the protection of the individual citizen against the increasing trespasses of the State." — opening line of Rajagopalachari's own section 'To Save Freedom' in the manifesto
  • Tanguturi Prakasam Panthulu: A Visionary Leader and pioneer of Press Freedom
    • "Khasa Subbarao, freedom fighter and journalist, started a magazine with the patronage of C Rajagopalachari and named it "Swarajya" magazine" — Rajagopalachari cited as the institutional patron who enabled continuation of Prakasam's journalistic tradition
  • THE DANGERS OF JOINT CO-OPERATIVE FARMING
    • "people as diverse as Shri C. Rajagopalachari, Shri K. M. Munshi, Shri Jaya Prakash Narayan and many others who have said that." — Rajaji cited as part of a broad coalition of credible critics who oppose cooperative farming
  • The Swatantra Economy : Obstacles and Challenges
    • "Prof. Gangadhar Gadgil who was invited to deliver the Rajaji Birthday Lecture in 1994, by the Rajaji Foundation." — Rajaji named as the founding figure in whose honour this lecture series was established
    • "Rajaji and those like Minoo Masani who shared his views stand vindicated. A Swatantra economy is enlarging and is taking shape." — Rajaji's liberal economic vision declared vindicated by post-1991 liberalisation
  • To Prosperity through Freedom
    • "Mr. C. Rajqopalachari has nailed his Fourteen Points on the door of the Ruling Party in the crucial challenge" — opening analogy likening Rajaji's challenge to Luther's Ninety-Five Theses
    • "the challenging speeches of Sri C. Rajagoalachari, Mr. M. R. Maoani, Mr. K. M. Muhani, Prof. Ranga" — listing Rajaji among the Swatantra voices initiating a national debate on socialism versus democratic freedom