Letter to Mr Minoo Masani

Summary

This file bundles two short handwritten notes from C. Rajagopalachari to Minoo Masani, sent from 60 Bazlullah Road, Tyagarayanagar, Madras on 26 and 27 February 1963. In the first note Rajaji reports that The Hindu has run the Swatantra Party’s statement as planned that morning and that Milton Friedman, then visiting India, had called on him the previous evening for a long chat, which Rajaji found delightful — he calls Friedman “a brilliant person” and notes with regret that the planned public meeting had not come off. The rest of the note is party business: Rajaji urges a one-day token shopkeepers’ hartal in sympathy with the gold workers being hit by the government’s gold-control regime, arguing that if the jewellers persuade shopkeepers to demonstrate in one city the movement will spread, and asks whether Col. Pasricha can try the Delhi shopkeepers.

Rajaji then turns to candidate selection. Assuming Masani will himself stand for the Gujarat by-election, he asks whether the Swatantra Party can find a suitable candidate for the Dabar vacancy, and floats the name of Lalchand Walchand’s wife, whom he remembers as “quite capable and a wholehearted supporter”. A postscript acknowledges receipt of another letter of 25 February.

The 27 February follow-up, addressed to the Swatantra office in Bombay with instructions to “put this to Sri Masani”, tracks the placement of a half-page party advertisement. Neither the Hindustan Times nor the Times of India of that morning has carried it; only The Hindu and the Indian Express Southern edition have, which reaches only South India. Rajaji insists that if the Statesman and the northern papers refuse, the Indian Express Bombay and Delhi editions must at least be secured — a day or two of delay to 1 or 2 March, or even later, would do no harm. The two notes together give a compact view of Rajaji as day-to-day Swatantra tactician: press placement, protest logistics, and by-election candidate hunting, transacted by pencil-and-post between Madras and Bombay.

Key points

• Two consecutive handwritten notes from Rajagopalachari to Masani, 26 and 27 February 1963, on Swatantra Party business.
• Reports that The Hindu carried the Swatantra Statement as planned in its 26 February issue.
• Records a private hour-long meeting with Milton Friedman the previous evening; Rajaji calls him “a brilliant person” and notes the planned public meeting did not come off.
• Proposes a one-day shopkeepers’ hartal in sympathy with gold workers hit by government policy, seeded by jewellers pressing local shopkeepers.
• Asks whether Col. Pasricha can organise Delhi shopkeepers to join the protest.
• Assumes Masani will stand for the Gujarat by-election and canvasses candidates for the Dabar vacancy, suggesting Lalchand Walchand’s wife.
• The 27 February note tracks placement of a Swatantra half-page advertisement: carried by The Hindu and Indian Express (Southern), but not by Hindustan Times or Times of India that morning.
• Insists the Indian Express Bombay and Delhi editions must carry the advertisement even if delayed to 1–2 March or later.