[Letter to Raja]

Summary

A short, one-page personal letter from Minoo Masani to C. Rajagopalachari (“Rajaji”), sent by Express Delivery on 3 August 1964. Masani encloses a letter he has just received from Cushrow Irani that he says “makes sad reading,” and vents his frustration that the Swatantra Party’s President — Prof. N. G. Ranga — has once again, in his enthusiasm, disrupted arrangements Masani had worked out “very patiently and with a great deal of effort.” Masani reports that he has already written directly to the President and wired Patodia to try to stop matters getting out of hand.

The letter’s real purpose is to enlist Rajaji as a peacemaker inside the young party. Masani asks Rajaji to use his “inimitable way” to make Prof. Ranga appreciate the need for a proper division of labour between the President on one side and the General Secretary and Central Office on the other, so that presidential flying visits do not keep crossing wires with the day-to-day organisational work and demoralising the staff. The tone is bruised but restrained, revealing the internal strains within the Swatantra Party’s leadership less than five years after its founding.

Key points

• Marked “Express Delivery” and “Personal”; dated 3 August 1964; addressed to C. Rajagopalachari at 60 Baslullah Road, T’Nagar, Madras 17.
• Masani forwards a letter just received from Cushrow Irani which he says “makes sad reading.”
• He complains that the party President (Prof. N. G. Ranga) has repeatedly upset arrangements Masani had worked out patiently.
• Masani has already sent the President a letter and wired Patodia in an attempt to contain the damage.
• The letter’s ask is that Rajaji intervene with Prof. Ranga to secure a proper division of labour between the President and the General Secretary / Central Office.
• Masani’s concern is that presidential flying visits are demoralising the staff “putting in hard day to day work at our behest.”
• Signed “Yours sincerely, (M. R. Masani)” with the notation “Encl:***” — attachments are referenced but not part of this rendered page.