Minocher Rustom "Minoo" Masani (20 November 1905 – 27 May 1998) was an Indian politician, a leading figure of the erstwhile

Swatantra Party The Swatantra Party was an Indian classical liberal political party that existed from 1959 to 1974. It was founded by C. Rajagopalachari in reaction to what he felt was the Jawaharlal Nehru-dominated Indian National Congress's increasingly so ...

. He was a three-time Member of

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

, representing Gujarat's Rajkot constituency in the

second The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...

third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

and fourth Lok Sabha. A

Parsi The Parsis or Parsees () are a Zoroastrian ethnic group in the Indian subcontinent. They are descended from Persian refugees who migrated to the Indian subcontinent during and after the Arab-Islamic conquest of Iran in the 7th century, w ...

, he was among the founders of the Indian Liberal Group think tank that promoted

classical liberalism Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics and civil liberties under the rule of law, with special emphasis on individual autonomy, limited governmen ...

. He served as a member of the

Constituent Assembly of India Constituent Assembly of India was partly elected and partly nominated body to frame the Constitution of India. It was elected by the Provincial assemblies of British India following the Provincial Assembly elections held in 1946 and nominated ...

, representing the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

. He introduced the proposal for a uniform civil code to be included in the

Constitution of India The Constitution of India is the supreme law of India, legal document of India, and the longest written national constitution in the world. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures ...

in 1947, which was rejected. His public life began in the Mumbai Municipal Corporation, where he was elected as Mayor in 1943. He also became a member of the

Indian Legislative Assembly * Central Legislative Assembly * State legislative assemblies of India The State Legislative Assembly, also known as the Vidhan Sabha or the Saasana Sabha, is a legislative body in each of the states and certain union territories of India. Me ...

. In August 1960, he along with C. Rajagopalachari and N. G. Ranga formed the

, while international Communism was at its peak. He died, aged 92, in his home at

Breach Candy Bhulabhai Desai Road, also well known by the old name Warden Road (and the part at and near the swimming pool as Breach Candy), is a niche up-market residential and semi-commercial locality of South Mumbai. The area has many famous landmarks b ...

, Mumbai. His funeral was held at Chandanwadi.

Early life

Minocher (Minoo) Rustom Masani was born to Sir Rustom Masani who was a municipal commissioner of erstwhile Bombay and Vice chancellor of Bombay University. Masani was educated in Bombay before he moved to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

where he studied at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

and he obtained his bachelor's degree in law before training as a barrister at the

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for Barrister, barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister ...

in 1928.

Political life

He began his professional life as an advocate at the

Bombay High Court The High Court of Bombay is the High courts of India, high court of the States and union territories of India, states of Maharashtra and Goa in India, and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. It is seated primarily ...

in 1929 before joining the

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic ...

the following year, during the civil disobedience campaign. He was arrested several times by British for his participation in the movement. He was in the Nashik jail in 1932 when

Jayaprakash Narayan Jayaprakash Narayan Srivastava (; 11 October 1902 – 8 October 1979), also known as JP and ''Lok Nayak'' (Hindi for "People's leader"), was an Indian politician, theorist and Indian independence activist, independence activist. He is mai ...

came in contact with him and they launched the

Congress Socialist Party The Congress Socialist Party (CSP) was a socialist caucus within the Indian National Congress. It was founded in 1934 by Congress members who rejected what they saw as the anti-rational mysticism of Gandhi as well as the sectarian attitude of ...

in 1934 together. He participated in the Quit India Movement in 1942 and was jailed again. After his jail term was over he entered legislative politics, He got elected mayor of Bombay Municipal Corporation. Masani was a close friend of

Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a pr ...

. He also became a member of the

. After Stalin's Great Purge and takeover of Eastern Europe, Masani moved away from Socialism and became a supporter of free market economics. Post-independence, Masani's political convictions propelled him to support "

democratic socialism Democratic socialism is a left-wing economic ideology, economic and political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and wor ...

" in India as it "avoided monopoly, private or public".''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnath Goenka. In 1999, eight y ...

'' dated Thursday, 8 April 1948,
Advance Towards Democratic Socialism
' online He withdrew from politics for a while. He was India's representative to UN Sub-Commission on Minorities. He did not see eye to eye with the Nehru government on USSR's treatment of minorities, so he was withdrawn from the commission and appointed as Indian Ambassador to Brazil in May 1948 for one year. After his stint in Brazil, He returned to India and became the chef de cabinet to the Chairman of Tata group J.R.D Tata. In 1950 he founded 'Freedom First', a monthly magazine in cause of liberal policy and politics. He went back to electoral politics and got elected to Loksabha in 1957 from Ranchi as an independent candidate. In 1959 he founded Swatantra Party along with C Rajagopalachari. He won a by election from Rajkot as a Swatantra party candidate. He represented Rajkot until 1971. He was one of the few politicians who opposed the nationalisation of banks by Prime Minister

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 un ...

. Swatantra's party was India's single-largest opposition party in Parliament and Masani being its leader in Loksabha, initiated debate on finance bills and forced the Congress government to work rigorously. He also headed the

PAC Pac or PAC may refer to: Aviation * IATA code PAC Albrook "Marcos A. Gelabert" International Airport in Panama City, Panama * Pacific Aerospace Corporation, New Zealand, manufacturer of aircraft: ** PAC 750XL ** PAC Cresco ** PAC CT/4 ** PA ...

. A collection of his speeches were published as ''Congress Misrule and Swatantra Alternative''. In 1971 general elections

Swatantra party The Swatantra Party was an Indian classical liberal political party that existed from 1959 to 1974. It was founded by C. Rajagopalachari in reaction to what he felt was the Jawaharlal Nehru-dominated Indian National Congress's increasingly so ...

did not perform well and he resigned the position of the party president. After 1971 he kept writing and editing his magazine ''Freedom First''. This put him against the Congress Government when the government issued a censorship order on the magazine. He fought the order in court and won.

Personal life

Masani married four times. His first wife was English and the marriage ended in divorce. His second marriage also ended in divorce. Minoo met Shakuntala Srivastava the daughter of Jwala Prasad Srivastava, an influential British loyalist during the Quit India movement. They married despite opposition from their respective families. They had a son Zareer Masani. This marriage too ended in divorce in 1989.

Works

Masani was also an author and has written many books. His first book, ''Our India'', was a best seller and even a prescribed text book in pre-independence India. * ''Zoroastrianism: The Religion Of The Good Life'' (1938) * ''Our India'' (1940) * ''Socialism Reconsidered'' (1944) * ''Picture of a Plan'' (1945) * ''A Plea for a Mixed Economy'' (1947) * ''Our Growing Human Family'' (1950) * ''Neutralism in India'' (1951) * ''The Communist Party of India: A Short History'' (1954) * ''Congress Misrule and Swatantra Alternative'' (1967) * ''Too Much Politics, Too Little Citizenship'' (1969) * ''Liberalism'' (1970) * ''Folklore of wells: being a study of water-worship in East and West'' (1974) * ''The Constitution, Twenty Years Later'' (1975) * ''Bliss was it in that Dawn ...'' (1977) * ''Against the tide'' (1981) * ''We Indians'' (1989) *

Bibliography

References

External links

*
Biography: Minocher Rustom Masani
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Masani, Minoo 1905 births 1998 deaths 20th-century mayors of places in India Mayors of Mumbai Indian anti-communists Parsi people from Mumbai Members of the Central Legislative Assembly of India India MPs 1957–1962 India MPs 1962–1967 India MPs 1967–1970 Indian liberal politicians English-language writers from India Members of the Constituent Assembly of India Prisoners and detainees of British India Indian independence activists from Gujarat Ambassadors of India to Brazil Swatantra Party politicians Lok Sabha members from Gujarat Indian barristers 20th-century Indian lawyers Indian legal writers Writers from Gujarat 20th-century Indian non-fiction writers Politicians from Mumbai Scholars from Mumbai Writers from Mumbai Lok Sabha members from Bihar Politicians from Ranchi Alumni of the London School of Economics