[Letter to Raja]

Summary

A one-page letter on Swatantra Party (Bombay Office) letterhead, dated 22 January 1963, from Piloo Mody as Executive Chairman to C. Rajagopalachari (‘Rajaji’) at 60 Baslullah Road, T-Nagar, Madras-17. Mody asks Rajaji’s consent for the Bombay office to hold a public meeting during the forthcoming sessions of the General Council and the Central Organising Committee, proposing either Chowpathy or Shivaji Park — ‘preferably at Shivaji Park’ — on Sunday 10 February 1963, and pressing for an early reply because ‘considerable arrangements have to be made.’ The sheet bears an office ‘RECEIVED’ stamp dated 28 January 1963 (No. 01866).

The document is annotated in Rajaji’s hand. A draft reply, evidently to Minoo Masani, records that he ‘shall not object if you think I may accept this suggestion’ and that he will be flying back to Madras ‘not on the 11th morning but on the 12th morning,’ which ‘would give me a little more breathing space.’ A further pencilled note at the foot mentions that ‘Feroze Shroff wants me to preside over a gold meeting on the 6th.’ Together the typed request and Rajaji’s manuscript response document the routine coordination between the Swatantra Party’s Bombay office, its founding leader Rajaji, and Masani around the February 1963 organisational meetings.

Key points

• Sent on 22 January 1963 from the Swatantra Party’s Bombay Office at Sassoon Building, 143 Mahatma Gandhi Road, and signed by Piloo Mody as Executive Chairman.
• Requests Rajaji’s permission for the Bombay office to hold a public meeting on Sunday 10 February 1963 alongside the General Council and Central Organising Committee sessions.
• Proposes Chowpathy or Shivaji Park as the venue, with a stated preference for Shivaji Park.
• Carries an office ‘RECEIVED’ stamp dated 28 January 1963 (No. 01866), documenting arrival in Rajaji’s office six days after it was written.
• Handwritten annotations in Rajaji’s hand contain a draft reply to Minoo Masani accepting the proposal and rescheduling his return to Madras from 11 to 12 February to gain ‘a little more breathing space.’
• A further handwritten note refers to a ‘gold meeting on the 6th’ that ‘Feroze Shroff’ wanted Rajaji to preside over.