[Letter to Mr Minoo Masani]

Summary

This one-page circular, dated 7 May 1983 and issued by the Swatantra Party Ad-hoc Committee at 4, V.S. Mudaly Street, Madras-600 015, informs Mr. M.R. Masani that active workers of the Swatantra Party have decided, after long consultations and contacts, to revive the party. It convenes a meeting at Moorthi Kalai Arangam (Municipal Hall), Kumbakonam, on Sunday 15 May 1983 — a handwritten note fixes the time at 9 a.m. — where those present will elect a committee and formally take up the work of reviving “the great Party founded by Rajaji and Mr. M.R. Masani.”

The notice is signed on behalf of two bodies. R. Krishnamurthi (President) and P.T. Raghavan (General Secretary) sign for the Reception Committee, while J. Ramabhadran, S. Krishnan and P.C. Satagopan sign as Conveners of the Ad-hoc Committee. A footer directs further correspondence to Sri. A.G. Srinivasan, Convener for Tanjore District, at 47, Ayyangar Street, Kumbakonam. The envelope panel is hand-addressed to “Sri. M.R. Masani, 148, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Bombay 400023,” and archival markings (“1103,” “70”) appear in the corners.

The document is essentially procedural — an invitation and organisational notice rather than a policy statement — but it is of biographical and party-historical interest, because it records an attempt by Tamil Nadu Swatantra workers to reconstitute the party nearly a decade after its 1974 dissolution, and to do so under the founding authority of Rajaji and Masani.

Key points

• Dated 7 May 1983 and sent from the Swatantra Party Ad-hoc Committee at 4, V.S. Mudaly Street, Madras-600 015.
• Announces that “many of the active workers of the SWATANTRA PARTY” have, after long consultations and contacts, decided to revive the party.
• Convenes a meeting at Moorthi Kalai Arangam (Municipal Hall), Kumbakonam, on Sunday 15 May 1983, with a handwritten note fixing the time at 9 a.m.
• Explicitly frames the effort as reviving “the great Party founded by Rajaji and Mr. M.R. Masani.”
• Signed for the Reception Committee by R. Krishnamurthi (President) and P.T. Raghavan (General Secretary).
• Signed for the Ad-hoc Committee by J. Ramabhadran, S. Krishnan and P.C. Satagopan as Conveners.
• Directs correspondence to Sri. A.G. Srinivasan, Convener for Tanjore District, at 47, Ayyangar Street, Kumbakonam.
• Hand-addressed to Sri. M.R. Masani, 148, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Bombay 400023.