C.

Rajagopalachari Biography
Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari was an Indian lawyer,
independence activist, politician and writer. Check out this
biography to get detailed information on his life.
Quick Facts
Nick Name

Rajaji

Also Known As

Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari

Nationality

Indian

Religion

Hindu

Born on

10 December 1878 AD

Zodiac Sign

Sagittarius

Born in

Madras Presidency (British India)

Died on

25 December 1972 AD

Father

Chakravarti Venkataryan

Spouse:

Alamelu Mangamma

Awards

Bharat Ratna (1954)

C. Rajagopalachari was an Indian lawyer, independence

activist, politician and writer. He was the first and last Indian
Governor General of India after Lord Mountbatten left India in
1948. Although Sardar Patel was the initial choice but on the
insistence of the then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, he was
made the Governor General. He was the one of the leaders of
the Indian National Congress during the pre-independence era.
He held many other positions like: Premier of the Madras
Presidency, Governor of West Bengal, Minister of the Home
Affairs of the Indian Union and Chief Minister of the Madras
State. Out of all the things that Rajagopalachari did to serve the
country, pre and post independence, he is most remembered for
the work that he did in Madras while he was the Chief Minister
of the state from 195254. He passed the legislation to create
Andhra state, put an end to sugar rationing, and introduced the
Modified System of Elementary Education. He was one of the
first recipients of India's highest civilian award, the Bharat
Ratna.
Childhood & Early Life
Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari was born in 1878 in
T horapalli, Madras Presidency of British India (Now Tamil
Nadu) into a Iyengar family to Chakravati Venkataryan. He
was a very fragile child, used to fall sick very often which
used to make his parents very worried.
He started his schooling from a village school and at the
age of 5, he was enrolled into the Hosur R. V. Government
Boys Hr Sec School. He graduated from the Central

College, Bangalore in 1894. After that he went on to study

law from the Presidency College, Madras, from where he
graduated in 1897.
Late r Life
Inspired by Bal Gangadhar Tilak, leader of the Indian
freddom movement, Rajagopalachari also plunged into
politics in 1911 by becoming a member of the Salem, Tamil
Nadu, municipality. He also served as the Chairman of the
municipality from 1917 to 1919.
In 1919, when Mahatma Gandhi joined the Indian
independence movement, Rajagopalachari became one of
his true followers. He also took active part in the Non
Cooperation movement. Consequently, he was elected to
the Congress Working Committee and served as the
General Secretary of the party.
In 1922, he emerged as the leader of the "No-Changers"
group in Congress which advocated against contesting
elections for the Imperial Legislative Council as
established by the Government of India Act 1919.
He actively participated in the Vaikom Satyagraha
movement against untouchability during 192425.
During the early 1930s, he emerged as one of the most
prominent leaders of the Tamil Nadu Congress. While
Gandhi was on the Dandi march, he was breaking the salt
laws at Vedaranyam, which is why he was later put behind
the bar by the British.
He was elected the President of the Tamil Nadu Congress
Committee and following the Madras elections of 1937,
held as a result of enactment of the Government of India
Act in 1935, he became the first Premier of the Madras
Presidency
During his two year reign (1937-1939) as premier of the
Madras Presidency he took several path breaking
initiatives. T hese include: removing restriction on dalits
for entering Hindu temples, easing debt burden of farmers,

compulsory

introduction

of

Hindi

in

educational

institutions, and introducing prohibition.

In 1940, Rajagopalachari was arrested in accordance with
the Defense of India rules and was sentenced to one year
of jail because he resigned as Premier to protest against
the declaration of war by the Viceroy of India, at the time
when World War II broke out.
He eventually resigned from the party because of the
growing differences over resolutions passed by the
Madras Congress legislative party and divergences with
the leader of the Madras provincial Congress, K. Kamaraj.
Rajagopalachari served as the Minister for Industry,
Supply, Education and Finance in the Interim Government
headed by Jawaharlal Nehru from 1946-47. After India
gained independence, he was appointed as the first
Governor of West Bengal.
He served as a Governor General of India from 1948 to
1950, after Lord Mountbatten left India for good. T he
initial choice was Vallabhbhai Patel but Jawaharlal Nehru
insisted on him taking the role. He was not only the last
Governor-General of India, but the only Indian national
ever to hold the office.
He served as the Home Minister after Sardar Patels death
in 1950 for tenure of 10 months. He resigned from the
position after he started having ideological differences
with Jawaharlal Nehru. He ultimately returned to Madras.
He was appointed as the Chief Minister of Madras by
Madras governor Sri Prakasa in 1952. Although during his
time a lot happenedAndhra was created as a separate
state, sugar rationing was ended, education system of
Madras was modifiedhe quit within two years on the
grounds of bad health.
Rajagopalachari now devoted his time to his literary
pursuits and wrote a Tamil version of the Sanskrit epic
called Ramayan, which was published in the Tamil
magazine, Kalki, as a series.

In 1957, he resigned from the Congress party and along

with a number of other Congress dissidents organized the
Congress Reform Committee.
In 1959, he formed the Swatantra Party. T he party stood
for equality and opposed government control over the
private sector.
In

1967

Madras

Legislative

assembly

elections,

Rajagopalachari was able to forge a united opposition to

the Indian National Congress,by stitching an alliance
between the DMK, the Swatantra Party and the Forward
Bloc. As a result, the Congress Party was defeated in the
election and the DMK led alliance came to the power.
In the 1967 general elections too, the Swatantra Party
emerged as the single largest opposition party by winning
45 Lok Sabha seats.
In the next general elections, held in 1971, the Swatantra
Party lost its strength considerably and was reduced to an
insignificant player.
Major Works
Out of all the things that Rajagopalachari did to serve his
country pre and post independence, he is most
remembered for the work that he did in Madras while he
was the Chief Minister of the state from 1952-54. He
passed the legislation to create Andhra state, put an end
to sugar rationing, and introduced the Modified System of
Elementary Education.
Aw ards & Achie v e m e nts
For his outstanding contribution to Indian politics and
literature, he was awarded with Bharat Ratna in 1954
Pe rsonal Life & Le gacy
Rajagopalachari got married to Alamelu Mangamma in
1897 and the couple had five children togetherthree
sons and two daughters. His wife died at quite a young
age.

He was admitted to hospital on the grounds of bad health

right after he celebrated his 94th birthday in 1972. He was
suffering from Uraemia, dehydration and urinary infection.
He died in a few days after being admitted into the
hospital.
Triv ia
His 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.