“Rajaji was a man of strong convictions and never hesitated to fight for them, regardless of the consequences for his own political fortunes. This often made him a controversial figure, but he emerged from every political tussle he was involved in and even from some political mistakes he made all the more respected for the courage of his convictions. For in no circumstance was his integrity suspected.’
DECEMBER 26, 1972
Rajaji
IT WILL BE HARD FOR MANY PEOPLE TO BELIEVE THAT RAJAJI is dead. He had been so intimate a part of the national scene for so long and every minute of his 94 years was so crammed with meaningful activity and intellectual vitality that the public had come to look upon him as something eternal. South India has produced many illustrious sons in this century but none for whom can be claimed the national status that Rajaji achieved. Political and social revolutionary, freedom fighter, administrator, crusader for causes, religious teacher, national leader, voice of conscience, his was a many splendoured life. And in every field he walked, he has left his unique mark.
Rajaji started his adult life as a small town lawyer and was well and fast on his way to the top of the profession when a meeting with Mahatma Gandhi at Madras proved a turning point in his life, leading to his throwing himself heart and soul into the national struggle for freedom. His association with Gandhiji developed through the years into such a close, give-and-take relationship that it became difficult to distinguish who was the mentor and who the follower. Not that they were always of the same mind. Indeed they differed on some issues of vital significance to the national cause. As for instance in 1942 when Gandhiji proposed his “Quit India” movement, Rajaji opposed the whole idea and walked out of the Congress when it endorsed Gandhiji’s programme. He similarly took issue with Gandhiji and other colleagues on the issue of the Muslim League’s demand for a separate State. He suggested that they should accept Pakistan in principle and call Mr. Jinnah’s bluff by asking him to define it; and he parted company again with the Congress when it rejected this counsel. But differences like this never came in the way of the respect Gandhiji had for Rajaji’s integrity and honesty of purpose and vice versa. On the other hand, Gandhiji came to look upon him as his “conscience keeper”, to use the Mahatma’s own words.
Rajaji was a man of strong convictions and never hesitated to fight for them, regardless of the consequences for his own political fortunes. This often made him a controversial figure, but he emerged from every political tussle he was involved in and even from some political mistakes he made all the more respected for the courage of his convictions. For in no circumstance was his integrity suspect. But it was his integrity and intellect of the highest order that sometimes got him into political hot water. He could not suffer fools nor could he countenance corruption and such other human foibles.
In an age when many people go into politics for the loaves and fishes it offers, Rajaji’s strict code of conduct and the uncompromising way he enforced it when he was in power created for him many gnawing enemies whom he could have coped with had he been a man of the masses, like Jawaharlal Nehru or Sardar Patel. He had therefore, no second line of defence, namely, the people, to fall back upon, and more than once he found himself a lonely Casabianca facing the fire. It is true he held some of the highest offices in the land but the lack of a mass base and his distaste for political intrigues and manoeuvres made politics impermanent for him. But that never seemed to bother him.
To him politics was not simply the art of the possible. It was a road for bettering the life of the people, a road paved with high moral standards and he could not bring himself to acquiesce in any lowering of those standards. The decay in moral and political standards in the country during the last decade caused him much anguish and when he saw that the citizen’s fundamental rights were also in danger of being whittled away he started a new political party. Swatantra. If nothing substantial came of it during his lifetime it certainly was not-for any want of his trying.
Rajaji’s outstanding role in the winning of independence, his achievements as law-maker and as administrator, his contribution to the sum of human thought all need no enumeration here. His Catholicism, his familiarity with both Indian and Western thought and his towering intellect helped him span the generations and always to keep in the mainstream of world movements. Since politics was his main preoccupation, he no doubt had his full quota of critics. But as Mr. Krishna Menon said in a 93rd birthday tribute last year, “Rajaji, whatever his politics, will live in history as a great patriot and scholar and thinker” and he will be remembered as “one of the great men of our time, whose contributions to history and to Indian nationalism, gigantic as they are, have to be fully known and appreciated hereafter”. With his death, the last of that legendary group of shining patriots who led our country to Independence is gone and the country is very much poorer for it. We may not see the likes of him again for a long, long time to come.
Reference:
The First 100
A Selection of Editorials, 1878-1978, THE HINDU, VOLUME I