Masani wishes to give up party post

Summary

This one-page Free Press Journal report states that M. R. Masani, then general secretary of the Swatantra Party, wished to relinquish the post when his term expired in the third week of November 1967. He reportedly told the party’s general council that prolonged tenure by the same government was harmful to the country and to parliamentary democracy, citing an argument he had made with Rajaji.

The report also presents Masani as extending this principle of rotation to party office. He compared regular changes in party leadership with the practice of rotating personnel in industrial management and said he had recommended Shri N. Dandekar for the general-secretary position. The clipping is a brief news report rather than a full statement or interview; its handwritten date reads “4/11/67,” but the day/month order and publication-date status are not independently established.

Key points

• M. R. Masani wished to leave the Swatantra Party general-secretary post when his term expired.
• His term was reported to expire in the third week of November 1967.
• Masani argued that long-term rule by the same government was bad for parliamentary democracy.
• The report attributes a similar argument to Masani and Rajaji.
• Masani applied the principle of rotation to party leadership and cited industrial management as an analogy.
• He recommended N. Dandekar as his successor.