[Letter to Mr Minoo Masani]

Summary

This is a brief personal letter from J. Venkiteswaran, writing from 8/148 Vasant, Wadala, Bombay, to Minoo Masani on 22 July 1977. Venkiteswaran thanks Masani for a circular letter inviting him to a discussion meeting at the Sassoon building office on 29 July 1977, and confirms he will attend.

The letter is a small artefact of post-Emergency liberal regrouping: Venkiteswaran reports that even before receiving Masani’s invitation he had been thinking of approaching Masani and Mr. Dandeker about convening such meetings at periodical intervals, so that “those of us who subscribed to the ‘Swatantra’ principles” could take stock of national developments and consider corrective measures. He signals particular interest in hearing Masani’s assessment of the political and economic condition of the country after the Janata Government took over.

Key points

• Personal letter dated 22 July 1977 from J. Venkiteswaran (Wadala, Bombay) to Minoo Masani.
• Acknowledges a circular letter from Masani inviting him to a discussion meeting at the Sassoon building office on 29 July 1977.
• Confirms attendance at the 29-7-77 meeting.
• Notes he had independently been thinking of approaching Masani and Mr. Dandeker to convene such meetings at periodical intervals.
• Frames the meeting as a gathering of those who subscribed to the ‘Swatantra’ principles, aiming to take stock and consider corrective measures.
• Explicitly asks to hear Masani’s views on the political and economic condition of the country after the Janata Government took over.
• Situates itself in the immediate post-Emergency, early-Janata-government moment as a small act of liberal regrouping.