Minoo Masani

Today is the birth anniversary of Minocher Rustom Masani- Minoo Masani for short- a freedom fighter, parliamentarian, a thinker and an author. Born in a Parsi family and educated in the London School of Economics , a Bar-at -Law from the Lincoln’s Inn , Minoo Masani plunged into the Freedom Struggle, participated in the Civil Disobedience Movement and courted arrest in 1932 and 1933. Later as an employee of the Tata’s , he quit the job to join the Quit India Movement. He was elected as Mayor of the Bombay Municipal Corporation in 1943. Post Independence, he was made a member of the Constituent Assembly. His proposal for inclusion of a Uniform Civil Code in the Constitution was however rejected. Thrice he was elected as a Lok Sabha M.P. from the Rajkot Constituency of Gujarat.Foe a term, he was an independent MP, representing the Ranchi Constituency. Disillusioned with the Congress, along with C. Rajagopalachari and N.G Ranga, he founded the Swatantra Party in consonance with his liberal views . As a liberal Socialist he was against any kind of monopoly, whether State or private .

He was also an author and wrote many books , some of which are Our India ,Socialism Reconsidered ,A Plea for a Mixed Economy ,Congress Misrule and Swatantra Alternative ,’Too Much Politics ;Too Little Citizenship’ , and We Indians . In fact Our India was a best seller and a prescribed text book in pre-independence India.
Our humble tributes !