Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, popularly known as ‘Rajaji’ or ‘C.R.’, was born in a Tamil Brahmin family on December 10, 1878 in a village of Salem district. He was a great patriot, astute politician, incisive thinker, and one of the greatest statesmen. C.R. completed his graduation from central Hindu College of Madras and took a Law Degree from Madras Law College. In 1900, he shifted his interest form law to politics. Rajaji actively participated in Home League Rule under Bal Gangadhar Tilak. Later in 1919, he was highly influenced by the work of Gandhi Ji and chose to join him in the freedom struggle. Thereafter, he came into contact with Nehru, Patel, Annie Besant, Rajendra Prasad and Maulana Azad. In 1921, under Mahatma Gandhi, he was selected as General Secretary of Congress Party and soon after that his daughter got married in the Gandhi family. Later, in 1937 he was selected as the Chief Minister of Madras. He maintained his position as the top leaders of the Congress until independence. In 1946, he became minister in the interim government and finally in 1947, after independence, he was appointed as the governor of West Bengal. In 1948, he was honored with the title ‘First Indian Governor General of India’. In 1957, Rajaji found the Swatantra Party with an aim to oppose the license system required to set up a business in India. He also published the Hindu epic Mahabharata that was translated from Sanskrit to Tamil and then to Hindi. Till his last breath that he took on December 26, 1992, he constantly had served the country and worked for betterment.
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