25 December, 1972: C. Rajagopalachari’s Death Anniversary

Reminiscences of Chakravarti Rajagopalachari by Lord Casey

I do not claim to have known Rajaji well although I had a number of contacts with him in one way or another over a considerable period of time – enough anyhow to create a great deal of respect for him in my mind over at least 40 year.

There were many gaps in our contacts but these were bridged to an extent by his sending me copies of the many pamphlets that he wrote on the 1930’s and 1940’s.

My last personal contact with him was in 1951 just before he resigned from the Home Ministry of the Government of India. I had called on him in New Delhi and he told me that he was about to quite politics and to resign from the Indian Home Ministry. I was shocked to hear this and told him so and asked him why. He said he was 73 and that he much wanted some time to himself to read and think and write and talk to his friends. I continued to be horrified but he was not to be moved. He said he did not have any desire to die in harness. So I said goodbye and went away in some distress on India’s behalf.

Not long after this when I was back in Australia, I heard the news that Rajaji had become Chief Minister of Madras, so I sent him a facetious telegram and a letter reminding him of our last conversation not very long before, to which he replied, I think rather shame-facedly.

Since that time I’ve had to be content with reading “Swarajya” – Rajaji at second hand, although better than nothing.

However an occasional story about Rajaji came my way, the best of which was from a young Hindu who told it to me on a visit to Australia. It went like this. An old Conservative friend of Rajaji called on him in Madras and found him cleaning his own shoes. Suitably horrified his friend said – “Rajaji – cleaning your own shoes?”. “Yes (Said Rajaji) whose shoes do you clean?”.

That for me was the last I heard of Rajaji, that great Servant of India who I’d been privileged to know something of and who I liked to think was typical of the best in India. My only contact since then has been the obvious distress in which Rajaji’s death has left his many friends – and me.           

26^th February 1973                                                                                               Lord Casey

Source: C. Rajagopalachari papers (IV Instalment), MSS, NMML

16 December, 1971: India Defeated Pakistan in Bangladesh War

                                                                                                                                                   Naoroji Road

C. Rajagopalachari                                                                                                                   Chetput

                                                                                                                                                   Madras – 31

7^th April 1971

16 December, 1971: India Defeated Pakistan in Bangladesh War

A Statement for the Press by C. Rajagopalachari

I am surprised that some good people talk of India “recognising” the independence of Bangladesh. They should realise that so long as President Yahya Khan has not surrendered or confessed defeat, a ‘recognition’ of Bangladesh by the Government of India would be a declaration of war against Pakistan. It should be obvious that the big powers of the world should lead in the matter and not India, unless indeed we want an immediate war between India and Pakistan. We cannot see things clearly through a turbid medium. Emotion charged minds make a turbid medium.

                                                                                                      (Signature)

                                                                                    C. RAJAGOPALACHARI

Source: C. Rajagopalachari Papers (VI-XII Inst.), MSS, NMML

10 December: Human Rights Day

‘Human Rights- their Significance’ by Hansa Mehta [Excerpts]

On the 15^th August 1951 we enter the 5^th year of our freedom. The question arises are we really free? Freedom without human rights has no meaning and yet very few people understand or try to understand the significance of human rights. I consider it a duty, therefore, to explain their significance in relation to the concept of freedom.

Why do we condemn natzism or Fascism or for that matter any totalitarian State? It is because in a Natzi State, the individual had all the duties and no rights. The individual was loaded with duties while he had no personal freedom i.e. no civil rights....It was against this Natzi background that the charter of the United Nations is written. The charter reaffirms faith in fundamental human rights and thereby lays stress on human rights as their denial would only bring about sorrow to mankind.

In chapter one of the Charter, which deals with purposes and principles of the United Nations Organisation, it is laid down that one of the purposes is, to promote and encourage respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all. And in chapter ten the Economic and Social Council is asked to set up commission in economic and social fields for among other things, the promotion of human rights. It was under this that the Human Rights Commission was set up. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights a document prepared by the Commission has been acclaimed as the Magna Charta of human freedom all over the world....

We ought to understand the significance of the human rights better since the entire movement of satyagraha led by Mahatma Gandhi was against the denial of human rights. Injustice and tyranny prevail where these rights are denied. In South Africa Gandhiji fought against racial discrimination i.e. against the concept that the white races inherit the earth and the coloured have no place on it. Gandhiji wished to establish the human right that “all are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law”…

The basic principles underlying these rights are those of liberty, equality and fraternity. As the very first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says “All human beings are both free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood”....The Declaration also in the article 29(2) says “In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic Society.” If individuals have to live in harmony with each other they must learn to respect the rights of others. No one can enjoy his right at the expense of another. The sufferings in this country today are more often than not due to the fact that people have no respect for the rights of their fellow beings.

As with the individual so with the state. The State must have respect for human rights; and must not restrict them except under conditions as laid down in article 29 (2) of the Declaration quoted above. A state that recognises the rights will be respected and will not find it difficult to get the spontaneous loyalty of its subjects. Recognition of these rights by the individuals as well as the State will lead to that harmonious living which is so essential for the peace and well being in this world.

  Source: Hansa Mehta Papers, MSS, NMML