Chakravarti Rajagopalachari () (10 December 1878 - 25 December 1972), informally called Rajaji or C.R., was an Indian lawyer, Indian independence activist, politician, writer, statesman and leader of the Indian National Congress who was the last Governor-General of India. He served as the Premier of the Madras Presidency, Governor of West Bengal, Minister for Home Affairs of the Indian Union and Chief Minister of Madras state. He was the founder of the Swatantra Party and was one of the first recipients of India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna. Rajaji vehemently opposed the use of nuclear weapons and was a proponent of world peace and disarmament. He was also nicknamed the Mango of Salem.
Rajagopalachari was born in Thorapalli in the then Salem district and was educated in Central College, Bangalore and Presidency College, Madras. In 1900 he started a prosperous legal practice. He entered politics and was a member and later President of Salem municipality. He joined the Indian National Congress and participated in the agitations against the Rowlatt Act, the Non-Cooperation movement, the Vaikom Satyagraha and the Civil Disobedience movement. In 1930, he led the Vedaranyam Salt Satyagraha in response to the Dandi March and courted imprisonment. In 1937, Rajaji was elected Premier of Madras Presidency and served until 1940, when he resigned due to Britain's declaration of war against Germany. He later advocated cooperation over Britain's war effort and opposed the Quit India Movement. He favoured talks with Jinnah and the Muslim League and proposed what later came to be known as the "C. R. Formula". In 1946, Rajagopalachari was appointed Minister of Industry, Supply, Education and Finance in the interim government. He served as the Governor of West Bengal from 1947 to 1948, Governor-General of India from 1948 to 1950, Union Home Minister from 1951 to 1952 and the Chief Minister of Madras state from 1952 to 1954. He resigned from the Indian National Congress and founded the Swatantra Party, which fought against the Congress in the 1962, 1967 and 1972 elections. Rajagopalachari was instrumental in setting up a united Anti-Congress front in Madras state. This front under C. N. Annadurai captured power in the 1967 elections.
Rajaji was an accomplished writer and made lasting contributions to Indian English literature. He is also credited with composition of the song Kurai Onrum Illai set in Carnatic music. He pioneered temperance and temple entry movements in India and advocated Dalit upliftment. Rajaji has been criticized for introducing the compulsory study of Hindi and the controversial Madras Scheme of Elementary Education in Tamil Nadu. Critics have often attributed his pre-eminence in politics to his being a favorite of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. Rajaji was described by Gandhi as the "keeper of my conscience".
Rajagopalachari was born to Chakravarti Venkatarya Iyengar and Singaramma on 10 December 1878 in a devout Iyengar family of Thorapalli in the Madras Presidency. Chakravarti Iyengar was the munsiff of Thorapalli. He was the youngest of the couple's three children, all sons, the others being Narasimhachari and Srinivasa. According to popular folklore, while Rajagopalachari was a child, an astrologer told his parents that he would have the "fortunes of a king, a guru, an exile and an outcaste. The people will worship him; they will also reject him. He will sit on an emperor's throne; he will live in a poor man's hut."
Rajagopalachari was a weak and sickly child and was the subject of constant worry to his parents who feared that he might not live long. As a young child, he was admitted to a village school in Thorapalli. When he was five, the family moved to Hosur where Rajaji enrolled at Hosur Government School. Rajagopalachari passed his matriculation examinations in 1891 and graduated in arts from Central College, Bangalore in 1894. He also studied law at the Presidency College, Madras, graduating in 1897.
Rajagopalachari's interest in public affairs and politics began when he commenced his legal practice in Salem in 1900. In the early 1900s, he was inspired by Bal Gangadhar Tilak. Rajaji became a member of the Salem municipality in 1911. In 1917, Rajaji was elected Chairman of the municipality and served from 1917 to 1919. As Chairman of the Salem municipality, he was responsible for the election of the first Dalit member of the Salem municipality. Rajagopalachari joined the Indian National Congress and participated as a delegate in the 1906 Calcutta session and the 1907 Surat session. In 1917, he defended Indian freedom fighter P. Varadarajulu Naidu from charges of sedition. He participated in the agitations against the Rowlatt Act in 1919. Rajaji was a close friend of V. O. Chidambaram Pillai. He was also highly admired by Indian independence activists Annie Besant and C. Vijayaraghavachariar.
When Mahatma Gandhi joined the Indian independence movement in 1919, Rajagopalachari became one of his followers. He participated in the Non-Cooperation movement and gave up his profession as a lawyer. In 1921, he was elected to the Congress Working Committee and served as the General Secretary of the party. His first major breakthrough as a leader was the 1922 Indian National Congress session at Gaya in which he strongly opposed collaborating with the colonial administration and participating in the diarchial legislatures established by Government of India Act 1919. In the absence of Gandhi who was in prison, Rajagopalachari led the group of "No-Changers" or those who were against contesting elections for the Imperial Legislative Council and other provincial legislative councils, against the "Pro-changers" or those who advocated council entry. When the motion was put to vote, the "No-changers" won by 1748 to 890 votes resulting in the resignation of important Congress leaders including Pandit Motilal Nehru and C. R. Das, the President of the Indian National Congress. When the Indian National Congress split in 1923, Rajaji was a member of the Civil Disobedience Enquiry Committee. He was also involved in the Vaikom Satyagraha during 1924-25.
In the early 1930s, Rajagopalachari emerged as one of the major leaders of the Tamil Nadu Congress. When Mahatma Gandhi organized the Dandi march in 1930, Rajagopalachari broke the salt laws at Vedaranyam near Nagapattinam along with Sardar Vedaratnam and suffered imprisonment. He was subsequently elected President of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee. When the Government of India Act was enacted in 1935, Rajagopalachari was instrumental in getting the Indian National Congress to participate in the general elections.
The Indian National Congress was elected to power in 1937 election for the first time in Madras Presidency (also called Madras Province), a province of British India; with the exception of the six years when Madras was in a state of Emergency, ruled the Presidency until India became independent on 15 August 1947. Rajagopalachari was the first Premier of Madras Presidency from the Congress party.
Rajagopalachari issued the Temple Entry Authorization and Indemnity Act 1939 by which restrictions were removed on Dalits and Shanars entering Hindu temples. In the same year, the Meenakshi temple at Madurai was also opened to the Dalits and Shanars. Rajagopalachari also issued the Agricultural Debt Relief Act in March 1938 to ease the burden of debt on the peasantsof the province.
Rajagopalachari also introduced prohibition, and also a sales tax to compensate for the loss of government revenue that resulted from prohibition. Because of the revenue decline resulting from prohibition the Provincial Government shut down hundreds of government-run primary schools. Rajaji's political opponents alleged that this decision deprived many low-caste and Dalit students of their education. Rajaji's opponents also assigned casteist motives to his government's implementation of Gandhi's Wardha scheme into the education system.
Rajagopalachari's rule is largely remembered for the compulsory introduction of Hindi in educational institutions, which made him highly unpopular. This measure sparked off widespread anti-Hindi protests, which led to violence in some places. Over 1,200 men, women and children were jailed for participating in these protests. Two protesters, Thalamuthu Nadar and Natarasan, were killed. In 1940, Congress ministers resigned protesting the declaration of war on Germany without their consent, and the Governor took over the reins of the administration. The unpopular law was eventually repealed by the Governor of Madras on 21 February 1940. Despite the numerous shortcomings, Madras under Rajagopalachari was still regarded as the best administered province in British India.
As soon as the Second World War broke out Rajagopalachari resigned as Premier along with other members of his cabinet to protest the declaration of war by the Viceroy of India. He was arrested in December 1940 in accordance with the Defence of India rules and sentenced to one-year in prison. However, subsequently, Rajagopalachari differed in opinion over opposition to British war effort. He opposed the Quit India Movement and instead advocated dialogue with the British. He reasoned that passivity and neutrality would be harmful to India's interests when the country was threatened with invasion. He also advocated dialogue with the Muslim League, which was demanding the partition of India. He resigned from the party and the assembly following differences over resolutions passed by the Madras Congress legislative party and with the leader of the Madras provincial Congress K. Kamaraj.
With the end of the war came in 1945, elections were held in the Madras Presidency in 1946. Kamaraj, the President of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee backed Tanguturi Prakasam as the Chief Ministerial candidate to prevent Rajagopalachari from coming to power. He did not contest the elections and Prakasam was elected.
In the last years of the war, Rajagopalachari was instrumental in negotiations between Gandhi and Jinnah. In 1944, he proposed a solution to the Indian Constitutional tangle. In the same year, Rajagopalachari proposed that 55% be the "absolute majority" threshold for deciding whether a district should be a part of India or Pakistan, triggering a huge controversy among nationalists.
From 1946 to 1947, Rajagopalachari served as the Minister for Industry, Supply, Education and Finance in the Interim Government headed by Jawaharlal Nehru.
When India attained independence on 15 August 1947, the British province of Bengal was divided into West Bengal and East Bengal, with West Bengal becoming part of India and East Bengal part of Pakistan. With the support of Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajagopalachari was appointed the first Governor of West Bengal.
Rajagopalachari was disliked by Bengalis for his criticism of Bengali revolutionary Subhash Chandra Bose during the 1938 Tripuri Congress session. His appointment was unsuccessfully opposed by Subhash's brother Sarat Chandra Bose. During his tenure as Governor, Rajagopalachari's priorities were dealing with refugees and bringing peace and stability in the aftermath of the Calcutta riots. He declared his commitment to neutrality and justice at a meeting of Muslim businessmen: "Whatever may be my defects or lapses, let me assure you that I shall never disfigure my life with any deliberate acts of injustice to any community whatsoever." Rajagopalachari was also strongly opposed to proposals to include areas from Bihar and Orissa in the province of West Bengal. To one such proposal by the editor of an important newspaper, he replied: "I see that you are not able to restrain the policy of agitation over inter-provincial boundaries. It is easy to yield to current pressure of opinion and it is difficult to impose on enthusiastic people any policy of restraint. But I earnestly plead that we should do all we can to prevent ill-will from hardening into a chronic disorder. We have enough ill-will and prejudice to cope with. Must we hasten to create further fissiparous forces?" Rajagopalachari was highly regarded and respected by Chief Minister Prafulla Chandra Ghosh and the state cabinet.
From 10 November 1947 to 24 November 1947, Rajagopalachari served as Acting Governor-General of India in the absence of Lord Mountbatten of Burma, who was on leave in England to attend the marriage of Princess Elizabeth to Mountbatten's nephew Prince Philip. Rajaji led a very simple life in the viceregal palace, washing his clothes and polishing his own shoes. Mountbatten was so impressed with Rajagopalachari's abilities that when he was to leave India in June 1948 Rajagopalachari was his second choice to succeed him after Vallabhbhai Patel. Rajagopalachari was eventually chosen as the Governor-General when Nehru disagreed with Mountbatten's first choice, as did Patel himself. Rajagopalachari was initially hesitant but accepted when Nehru wrote to him, "I hope you will not disappoint us. We want you to help us in many ways. The burden on some of us is more than we can carry." Rajagopalachari served as Governor-General of India from June 1948 to 26 January 1950 and was not only the last Governor-General of India but the only Indian Governor-General of India.
By the end of the year 1949, it was assumed that Rajagopalachari, already Governor-General, would continue as President. Backed by Nehru, Rajagopalachari wanted to stand for the presidential election but later withdrew, due to the opposition of a section of the Indian National Congress mostly made up of North Indians who were concerned about Rajaji's non-participation during the Quit India Movement.
In 1950 Rajagopalachari joined the Union Cabinet as Minister without Porfolio, at Nehru's invitation. In the Union Cabinet, Rajagopalachari served as a buffer between Nehru and Home Minister Patel and occasionally, offered to mediate between the two. Finally, with Patel's death on December 15, 1950, Rajagopalachari was put in charge of Home Affairs, serving as the country's Home Minister for nearly 10 months. He warned Nehru about the expansionist designs of China and expressed regret over the Tibet problem, his views being shared with his predecessor Sardar Patel. He also expressed concern over demands made to establish new linguistically-based states, arguing that they would generate differences amongst the people.
By the end of 1951, the differences between Nehru and Rajagopalachari came to the fore. While Nehru perceived the Hindu Mahasabha to be the greatest threat to the nascent republic, Rajaji held the opinion that the Communists posed the greatest danger to the nation. Rajaji also strongly opposed Nehru's decision to commute the death sentences awarded to those involved in the Telengana uprising and his strong pro-Soviet leanings. Tired of being persistently overruled by Nehru in making critical decisions, Rajaji submitted his resignation on "grounds of ill-health" and returned to Madras.
In the 1952 elections, the Indian National Congress was reduced to a minority in the Madras state assembly, and a coalition led by the Communist Party of India won most of the seats in the state. Though Rajagopalachari had not participated in the elections, the governor Sri Prakasa appointed him as the Chief Minister after nominating him to the Madras Legislative Council without consulting either the Indian Prime Minister Nehru or the ministers in the Madras state cabinet. Rajagopalachari was able to prove his majority by luring MLAs from opposition parties to join the Indian National Congress. Towards a new political culture-Editorial-Opinion-The Economic Times Nehru was furious and wrote to Rajagopalachari that "the one thing we must avoid giving is the impression that we stick to office and we want to keep others out at all costs." Rajagopalachari, however, refused to contest a by-election and remained an unelected member.
During Rajagopalachari's tenure as Chief Minister, a powerful movement for a separate Andhra State comprising the Telugu-speaking districts of the Madras State, gained foothold. On October 19, 1952, an Indian independence activist and social worker from Madras named Potti Sriramulu embarked on a fast unto death demanding a separate Andhra state for Telugu-speaking people and the inclusion of Madras city in it. Rajagopalachari remained unmoved by Sriramulu's fast and refused to intervene. Sriramulu eventually died on December 15, 1952 after fasting for days triggering riots in Madras city and the Telugu-speaking districts of the state. Initially, both Rajagopalachari and Prime Minister Nehru were against the creation of linguistic states but when the law and order situation in the state grew worse, both were forced to accept the demands. Andhra State was created on October 1, 1953 out of the Telugu-speaking districts of Madras, with Kurnool as its capital. However, the boundaries of the new state were determined by a commission which decided against the inclusion of Madras city in it. Though the commission's report suggested the option of having Madras as the temporary capital of Andhra State for the smooth partitioning of the assets and the secretariat, Rajaji refused to allow Andhra State to have Madras even for a day.
On May 31, 1952, Rajagopalachari put an end to the rationing of sugar. He followed it by abolishing control over food supplies on June 5, 1952. He also introduced measures to regulate the functioning of universities in the state. In 1953, Rajagopalachari introduced a new education scheme known as the Modified System of Elementary Education according to which, schooling hours for elementary school students were reduced to three per day. The students were expected to learn the family vocation at home during the remainder of the day. This scheme was sharply criticized and evoked strong protests from Dravidian parties. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam dubbed the scheme as Kula Kalvi Thittam or Hereditary Education Policy and attempted to organise massive demonstrations outside Rajagopalachari's house on 13 and 14 July 1953. The rising unpopularity of the Rajagopalachari government forced K. Kamaraj to withdraw his support for Rajagopalachari. On March 26, 1954, Rajagopalachari resigned as President of the Madras Legislature Congress Party thereby precipitating new elections. During the elections held on March 31, 1954, Rajagopalachari fielded C. Subramaniam against Kamaraj. But Subramaniam could garner only 41 votes to Kamaraj's 93 and lost the elections. Rajagopalachari eventually resigned as Chief Minister on April 13, 1954, explaining that his decision was caused by poor health.
Following his resignation as Chief Minister, Rajagopalachari took a temporary break from active politics and devoted time to literary pursuits. He wrote a Tamil re-telling of the Sanskrit epic Ramayana which appeared as a serial in the Tamil magazine Kalki from May 23, 1954 to November 6, 1955. The episodes were later collected together and published as a book under the title Chakravarthi Thirumagan which won Rajaji the Sahitya Academy award in Tamil for the year 1958. On Republic Day 1955, Rajagopalachari was honoured with India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna.
Rajagopalachari tendered his official resignation from the Indian National Congress and along with a few other dissidents, organised the Congress Reform Committee (CRC) in January 1957. K. S. Venkatakrishna Reddiar was elected President. The party fielded candidates in 55 constituencies in the 1957 state assembly elections and emerged as the second largest party in Madras state winning 13 seats. The Congress Reform Committee also contested 12 Lok Sabha seats during the 1957 Indian elections. It was converted into a full-fledged political party and renamed as the Indian National Democratic Congress at a state conference held in Madurai on September 28—29, 1957.
On June 4, 1959, shortly after the Nagpur session of the Indian National Congress, Rajaji, along with Murari Vaidya of the newly-established Forum of Free Enterprise (FFE) and Minoo Masani, an anti-Communist ideologue and critique of Nehru, announced the formation of a new political party under the name Swatantra Party at a meeting in Madras. The party was right-conservative in character and was conceived by disgruntled heads of former princely states such as the Raja of Ramgarh, Maharaja of Kalahandi and the Maharajadhiraja of Darbhanga. Later, N. G. Ranga, K. M. Munshi, Field Marshal K. M. Cariappa and the Maharaja of Patiala joined the effort. Rajaji, Masani and Ranga also tried to impress Jayaprakash Narayan to join the initiative, but failed.
In his short essay "Our Democracy", Rajagopalachari explained the necessity for a right-wing alternative to the Congress by saying
since... the Congress Party has swung to the Left, what is wanted is not an ultra or outer-Left [viz. the CPI or the Praja Socialist Party, PSP], but a strong and articulate Right
Rajagopalachari also insisted that the opposition must
operate not privately and behind the closed doors of the party meeting, but openly and periodically through the electorate.
Rajagopalachari outlined the goals of the Swatantra Party in the form of twenty one "fundamental principles" in the foundation document. The party stood for equality and opposed government control over the private sector. Rajaji sharply attacked the bureaucracy and coined the term "license-permit Raj" to describe Nehru's elaborate system of permissions and licenses required for an individual to set up a private enterprise. Rajaji's personality became a rallying point for the whole party.
Rajagopalachari's efforts to build an anti-Congress front led to a patch up with his former adversary C. N. Annadurai of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, Annadurai grew close to Rajaji and desired to have an alliance with the Swatantra Party for the 1962 Madras legislative assembly elections. But though, there were occasional electoral pacts between the Swatantra Party and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Rajagopalachari was non-committal on having a formal alliance with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam due to its existing alliance with the Communist Party of India. The Swatantra Party contested 94 seats in the Madras state assembly elections out of which it won six. The party also won 18 parliamentary seats in the 1962 Lok Sabha elections.
Rajagopalachari criticized India's use of military force against Goa. Referring to India's acts of international diplomacy, he said that India "has totally lost the moral power to raise her voice against the use of military power."
On January 26, 1950, the Government of India had adopted Hindi as the official language of the country, but because of objections in non Hindi-speaking areas, it introduced a provision tentatively making English as the second official language on par with Hindi for a stipulated fifteen-year period in order to facilitate non-Hindi speaking states to switch over to Hindi. From 26 January 1965 onwards, Hindi was to be made the sole official language of the Indian Union and people in non-Hindi speaking regions were compelled to learn Hindi. This was vehemently opposed and just before Republic Day, severe anti-Hindi protests broke out in Madras State. Rajagopalachari had earlier been sharply critical of the recommendations made by the Official Languages Commission in 1957. On 28 January 1956, Rajaji signed a resolution along with Annadurai and Periyar endorsing the continuation of English as the official language. At an All-India Language Conference held on March 8, 1958, he declared: "Hindi is as much foreign to non-Hindi speaking people as English to the protagonists of Hindi". When the Anti-Hindi agitations broke out in 1965, Rajagopalachari completely back-tracked on his 1938-stand in support of the introduction of Hindi and took a strongly anti-Hindi stand in support of the protests. On 17 January 1965, he convened the Madras state Anti-Hindi conference in Tiruchirapalli. He angrily declared that the Part XVII of the Constitution of India which declared that Hindi was the official language should "be heaved and thrown into the Arabian Sea."
The fourth elections to the Madras Legislative assembly were held in February 1967. At the age of 88, Rajagopalachari worked to forge a united opposition to the Indian National Congress by forming an alliance between the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Swatantra Party and the Forward Bloc. The Congress party was defeated in Madras for the first time in 30 years and the coalition led by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam was elected to power. C. N. Annadurai served as Chief Minister from March 6, 1967 till his death on February 3, 1969. Rajagopalachari delivered a moving eulogy to Annadurai at his funeral.
The Swatantra party also did well in elections in other states and to the Lok Sabha, the directly elected lower house of the Parliament of India. It won 45 Lok Sabha members in the 1967 general elections and emerged as the single largest opposition party. It was the principal opposition party in the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat. It formed a coalition government in Orissa. It also had a significant presence in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Bihar.
In 1971, Annadurai's successor M. Karunanidhi relaxed prohibition laws in Tamil Nadu due to the poor financial situation prevailing in the state. Rajagopalachari pleaded with him not to repeal prohibition but to no avail. As a result, the Swatantra Party withdrew its support to the state government and allied with the Congress , a breakaway faction of the Indian National Congress led by Kamaraj.
In January 1971, a three-party anti-Congress coalition was established by the Congress (O), Jan Sangh and the Samyukta Socialist Party. On January 8, 1971, the national executive of the Swatantra Party took an unanimous decision to join the coalition. The dissident parties formed an alliance called the National Democratic Front and fought against the Indian National Congress led by Indira Gandhi in the 1971 Indian general elections. However, the alliance fared badly. The Swatantra Party's tally was reduced to 8 seats from 23 in the 1967 elections. The decline of the Swatantra Party was also visible in the 1971 Tamil Nadu Legislative assembly elections in which it won just 19 seats down from 27 in the 1967 elections.
By November 1972, Rajagopalachari's health had begun to decline. On 17 December 1972, a week after his 94th birthday, Rajagopalachari was admitted to General Hospital with uraemia, dehydration and urinary infection. At hospital, he was visited by Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, V. R. Nedunchezhiyan, V. V. Giri, Periyar and other state and national leaders. Rajagopalachari's condition deteriorated in the following days as he frequently lost consciousness. Rajagopalachari died at 5:44 p.m. on 25 December 1972 at the age of 94. His son C. R. Narasimhan was beside him at the time of his death reading to him verses from a Hindu holy book.
Rajagopalachari married Alamelu Mangamma in 1897. The couple had four children - two sons and two daughters. Mangamma died in 1916 and Rajaji took the sole responsibility of taking care of his children. Rajagopalachari's son C. R. Narasimhan was elected to the Lok Sabha from Krishnagiri in the 1952 and 1957 elections and served as a Member of Parliament for Krishnagiri from 1952 to 1962. He later wrote a biography of Rajagopalachari. Rajagopalachari's daughter Lakshmi was married to Devdas Gandhi, son of Mahatma Gandhi. His grandsons include biographer Rajmohan Gandhi, philosopher Ramchandra Gandhi and former governor of West Bengal Gopalkrishna Gandhi.
Rajagopalachari was an accomplished writer both in his mother tongue Tamil as well as English. He was the founder of the Salem Literary Society and regularly participated in its meetings. In 1922, he published a book Siraiyil Tavam (Meditation in jail) which was a day-to-day diary about his first imprisonment from 21 December 1921 to 20 March 1922.
In 1916, Rajagopalachari started the Tamil Scientific Terms Society. This society coined new words in Tamil for terms connected to botany, chemistry, physics, astronomy and mathematics. At about the same time, he called for Tamil to be introduced as the medium of instruction in schools.
In 1951, Rajaji wrote an abridged retelling of the Mahabharata in English, followed by one of the Ramayana in 1957. Earlier, in 1961, he had translated Kambar's Tamil Ramayana into English. In 1965, he translated the Thirukkural into English.[citation required] He also wrote books on the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads in English and Socrates, and Marcus Aurelius in Tamil. Rajaji often regarded his literary works as the best service he had rendered to the people. In 1958, he was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award for Tamil for his retelling of the Ramayana - Chakravarti Thirumagan. Rajaji was one of the founders of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, an organisation dedicated to the promotion of education and Indian culture.. In 1959 the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan published his book: "Hinduism: Doctrine and Way of Life".
Apart from his literary works, Rajagopalachari also composed a devotional song Kurai Onrum Illai devoted to Lord Krishna. This song was set to music and is a regular in most Carnatic concerts. Rajagopalachari composed a benediction hymn which was sung by M. S. Subbulakshmi at the United Nations General Assembly in 1967.
In 1954, while Richard Nixon, then Vice President of the United States, was undertaking a nineteen-country Asian trip he was lectured by Rajagopalachari on the consuming emotional quality of nuclear weapons. They discussed spiritual life, particularly reincarnation and predestination. Nixon filled three pages of notes recording what Rajagopalachari told him, claiming in his memoirs thirty-six years later that the afternoon "had such a dramatic effect on me that I used many of his thoughts in my speeches over the next several years."
While on a tour to the United States of America as a member of the Gandhi Peace Foundation delegation, Rajagopalachari called upon American President John F. Kennedy in the White House in September 1962. Rajagopalachari explained to Kennedy the dangers of embarking on an arms race, even one which the US could win. At the end of the meeting President Kennedy remarked "This meeting had the most civilizing influence on me. Seldom have I heard a case presented with such precision, clarity and elegance of language". On May 1, 1955, Rajagopalachari appealed to the Government of India to stop receiving American aid if the country continued with its nuclear tests.
E. M. S. Namboodiripad, a prominent Communist Party leader, once remarked that Rajagopalachari was the Congress leader he respected the most despite the fact he was also someone with whom he differed the most. Periyar, one of Rajaji's foremost political rivals remarked that Rajagopalachari was "a leader unique and unequalled, who lived and worked for high ideals". On his death, condolences poured in from all corners of the country. Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India remarked:
Rajagopalachari was regarded as a pioneer of social reform. He issued temple entry proclamations in the Madras Presidency and worked towards the upliftment of Dalits. He played a pivotal role in the conclusion of the Poona Pact between B. R. Ambedkar and the Indian National Congress and spearheaded the Mahabal Temple Entry in 1938. He was a staunch advocate of prohibition and was elected Secretary of the Prohibition League of India in 1930. When elected as Premier of Madras Presidency, he introduced prohibition all over the province. Prohibition was in vogue all over the province until its removal by M. Karunanidhi over thirty years later. Rajagopalachari was also an active member of the All India Spinners Association. and a strong opponent of "linguistic states", which, he felt, would bring anarchy to India.
Rajagopalachari is also remembered for his literary contributions, some of which are considered modern-day classics. He also frequently wrote articles for Kalki and his own journal Swarajya.
Richard Casey, the Governor of Bengal from 1944 to 1946, regarded Rajaji as the wisest man in India. The best possible tribute to Rajaji was from Mahatma Gandhi who referred to him as the "keeper of my conscience".
Despite the fact that Rajagopalachari was considered to be one of the most able statesmen in the national arena, his provincial and then, state administrations are believed to have fared badly. Critics opine that he completely failed to gauge the thoughts and feelings of the masses. His introduction of Hindi and the Madras Scheme of Elementary Education have been the target of extensive criticism. His pacifist stance during the Quit Indian Movement and his "C. R. Formula" angered most of his colleagues in the Indian National Congress. P. C. Alexander, a former governor of Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, once wrote:
Referring to Rajagopalachari, Sarojini Naidu, who was never on good terms with him, remarked that 'the Madras fox was a dry logical Adi Shankaracharya while Nehru was the noble, compassionate Buddha'.
Although Rajagopalachari's popularity at the regional level fluctuated greatly, it is believed that he was able to exercise his stranglehold over provincial politics mainly because he was favored by national leaders as Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru. Critics feel that when the President of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee K. Kamaraj and a majority of the provincial leaders turned against him in the 1940s, Rajagopalachari clung on to a position of influence in regional politics through support from his colleagues at the Centre.
Rajagopalachari has always been the archetype of the Tamil Brahmin nemesis of the Dravidian movement. Deeply religious and a pious Hindu and follower of the Vedas and Upanishads, he was accused of being pro-Sanskrit and pro-Hindi, a stigma which Rajaji found difficult to erase despite his vehement protests against the imposition of Hindi during the Madras Anti-Hindi agitations of 1965. He was also accused of attempting to heavily Sanskritize Tamil vocabulary through the inclusion of a large number of Sanskrit words in his writings. His vocational education policy was seen as an attempt to reinforce Varnashrama dharma. His Indian nationalist and anti-secessionist leanings formed the inspiration for Periyar's coining of the term "Brahmin-Bania combine".
