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 s ...

. 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: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. ...

, representing Gujarat's Rajkot constituency in the second,

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'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * Hi ...

and

fourth Lok Sabha List of Members of the 4th Lok Sabha (4 March 1967 – 27 December 1970), elected February–March 1967. The Lok Sabha (House of the People) is the lower house in the Parliament of India.13 sitting members from Rajya Sabha were elected to 4th ...

. A

Parsi Parsis () or Parsees are an ethnoreligious group of the Indian subcontinent adhering to Zoroastrianism. They are descended from Persians who migrated to Medieval India during and after the Arab conquest of Iran (part of the early Muslim con ...

, 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; civil liberties under the rule of law with especial emphasis on individual autonomy, limited government, e ...

. He served as a member of the

Constituent Assembly of India The Constituent Assembly of India was elected to frame the Constitution of India. It was elected by the 'Provincial Assembly'. Following India's independence from the British rule in 1947, its members served as the nation's first Parliament as ...

, representing the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British ...

. He introduced the proposal for a

uniform civil code The Uniform Civil Code ( Hindi: समान नागरिक संहिता, IAST: Samāna Nāgarika Saṃhitā) is a proposal in India to formulate and implement personal laws of citizens which apply on all citizens equally regardless o ...

to be included in the

Constitution of India The Constitution of India (IAST: ) is the supreme law of India. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental ...

in 1947, which was rejected. His public life began in the

Bombay Municipal Corporation The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC; IAST: ), also known as the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), is the governing civic body of Mumbai, the capital city of Maharashtra. It is India India, officially the Republic ...

, where he was elected as Mayor in 1943. He also became a member of the

Indian Legislative Assembly The Central Legislative Assembly was the lower house of the Imperial Legislative Council, the legislature of British India. It was created by the Government of India Act 1919, implementing the Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms. It was also sometim ...

. In August 1960, he along with

C. Rajagopalachari Chakravarti Rajagopalachari (10 December 1878 – 25 December 1972), popularly known as Rajaji or C.R., also known as Mootharignar Rajaji (Rajaji'', the Scholar Emeritus''), was an Indian statesman, writer, lawyer, and independence activist ...

and

N. G. Ranga Gogineni Ranga Nayukulu (7 November 1900 – 9 June 1995), also known as N. G. Ranga, was an Indian freedom fighter, classical liberal, parliamentarian and farmers' leader. He was the founding president of the Swatantra Party, and an exponen ...

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 be ...

, 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 and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

where he studied at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 mill ...

and he obtained his bachelor's degree in law before training as a barrister at the Lincoln's Inn 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 court of the states of Maharashtra and Goa in India, and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. It is seated primarily at Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay), and is one of the ...

in 1929 before joining the

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...

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 (; 11 October 1902 – 8 October 1979), popularly referred to as JP or ''Lok Nayak'' (Hindi for "People's leader"), was an Indian independence activist, theorist, socialist and political leader. He is remembered for le ...

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 th ...

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 Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

. 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 Free may refer to: Concept * Freedom, having the ability to do something, without having to obey anyone/anything * Freethought, a position that beliefs should be formed only on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism * Emancipate, to procur ...

. Post-independence, Masani's political convictions propelled him to support " democratic socialism" 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. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Limited, Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, ...

'' 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. 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. 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 s ...

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 three 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 J. P. 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 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 classical liberals English-language writers from India Members of the Constituent Assembly of India Prisoners and detainees of British India Indian independence activists from Gujarat 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