Rajagopalachari, Chakravarti

Rajagopalachari, Chakravarti (chəkrəvär`tē rä'jəgōpä`ləchä'rē), 1878–1972, Indian political leader. He was educated in Bangalore (Bengaluru) and Madras (now Chennai) and admitted to the bar in 1900. Following World War I, he joined the Indian National Congress, in which he rose to prominence. A close friend of Mohandas K. Gandhi, he served several terms in prison for his political activities. After India became independent as a dominion, he served (1948–50) as the last governor-general, resigning that office when India was declared a republic. He was home minister in the central government (1950–51) and chief minister of the Madras state government (1952–54). His increasing concern about the socialist program of the Congress party led him in 1959 to found the Swatantra [freedom] party, a conservative group, dedicated to a free enterprise economy.

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Rajagopalachari, Chakravarti 

Born 1878 in a village near the city of Hosur, Madras Province; died 1972. Indian political figure and statesman.

The son of a well-to-do Brahman, Rajagopalachari was educated as a lawyer. In 1919 he joined the national liberation movement. He was secretary-general of the Indian National Congress in 1921 and 1922 and a member of the working committee of the party between 1922 and 1942 and in 1946 and 1947. He belonged to the party’s extreme right wing. Rajagopalachari was chief minister of Madras Presidency from 1937 to 1939. From 1948 to 1950, after India’s independence (1947), he was governor-general of the dominion of India. In 1950 and 1951 he was first minister without portfolio and then minister of the armed forces. From 1952 to 1954 he was chief minister of the state of Madras. Rajagopalachari founded the extreme right-wing Swatantra party in 1959 and remained its leader until the end of his life.