Minoo Masani

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Minoo Masani

| image = Minoo Masani.jpg

| caption =

| birth_name = Minocher Rustom Masani

| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1905|11|20}}

| birth_place = Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1998|05|27|1905|11|20}}

| death_place = Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

| occupation = Journalist, Politician, Writer, Diplomat

| party = Swatantra Party

| otherparty = Indian National Congress

| term_start = May 1948

| term_end = May 1949

| predecessor =

| successor = Joginder Sen Bahadur

| office = Indian Ambassador to Brazil

| president = Rajendra Prasad

| constituency1 = Ranchi (Lok Sabha constituency)

| term_start1 = 1957

| term_end1 = 1962

| predecessor1 = Abdul Ibrahim

| successor1 = P. K. Ghosh

| prior_term1 =

| office1 = Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha

| constituency2 = Rajkot (Lok Sabha constituency)

| term_start2 = 1967

| term_end2 = 1971

| predecessor2 = U. N. Dhebar

| successor2 = Ghanshyambhai Oza

| prior_term2 =

| known_for = Promotion of liberal economy

}}

Minocher Rustom "Minoo" Masani (20 November 1905 – 27 May 1998) was an Indian politician, a leading figure of the erstwhile Swatantra Party. He was a three-time Member of Parliament, representing Gujarat's Rajkot constituency in the second, third and fourth Lok Sabha. A Parsi, he was among the founders of the Indian Liberal Group think tank that promoted classical liberalism.{{cite book | editor=Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung | title=Liberal priorities for India in the 21st century | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PQkNAQAAMAAJ | access-date=27 May 2013 | year=1999 | publisher=Project for Economic Education | page = 18 }}

He served as a member of the Constituent Assembly of India, representing the Indian National Congress. He introduced the proposal for a uniform civil code to be included in the Constitution of India in 1947, which was rejected.{{cite book|title=Gender and Community: Muslim Women's Rights in India By Vrinda Narain|year=2001|pages=57|isbn=9780802048691|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TxBEQpqFy7cC&q=minoo+masani&pg=PA57|last1=Narain|first1=Vrinda|publisher=University of Toronto Press }}

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. In August 1960, he along with C. Rajagopalachari and N. G. Ranga formed the Swatantra Party, while international Communism was at its peak.

He died, aged 92, in his home at Breach Candy, Mumbai. His funeral was held at Chandanwadi.{{cite news|title=Minoo Masani dead|url=http://www.rediff.com/news/1998/may/27misani.htm|access-date=24 February 2018|work=Rediff.com|date=27 May 1998}}

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 where he studied at the London School of Economics{{cite book|author=Vincent Barnett|title=Routledge Handbook of the History of Global Economic Thought|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sm5eBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT572|date=27 August 2014|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-317-64411-8|pages=572–}} and he obtained his bachelor's degree in law before training as a barrister at the Lincoln's Inn in 1928.{{cite book|last1=Reed|first1=Stanley|author-link1=Stanley Reed (British politician)|title=The Indian And Pakistan Year Book And Who's Who 1950|date=1950|publisher=Bennett Coleman and Co. Ltd.|page=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.15206/page/n746 712]|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.15206|access-date=24 February 2018}}

Political life

He began his professional life as an advocate at the Bombay High Court in 1929 before joining the Indian independence movement 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 came in contact with him and they launched the Congress Socialist Party in 1934 together. He participated in the Quit India Movement in 1942 and was jailed again.{{cite web | title=CADIndia | website=CADIndia | date=1905-11-20 | url=https://cadindia.clpr.org.in/constituent_assembly_members/m__r__masani | access-date=2019-07-02 | archive-date=2 July 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190702175233/https://cadindia.clpr.org.in/constituent_assembly_members/m__r__masani | url-status=dead }} After his jail term was over he entered legislative politics, He got elected mayor of Bombay Municipal Corporation.{{cite web | title=Rediff On The NeT: Minoo Masani dead | website=Rediff.com | date=1998-05-27 | url=https://www.rediff.com/news/1998/may/27misani.htm | access-date=2019-07-02}} Masani was a close friend of Jawaharlal Nehru.{{cite book|title=The Book on Trial: Fundamentalism and Censorship in India By Girja Kumar|year=1997|pages=453|isbn=9788124105252|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n-KUICFfA00C&q=minoo+masani&pg=PA453|last1=Kumar|first1=Girja|publisher=Har-Anand Publications }}

He also became a member of the Indian Legislative Assembly.

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" in India as it "avoided monopoly, private or public".The Indian Express dated Thursday, 8 April 1948, [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GsA-AAAAIBAJ&sjid=ZUwMAAAAIBAJ&dq=industrial%20policy%20free%20enterprise&pg=2061%2C756877 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.{{cite web | title=M.R. Masani | website=Liberals India | date=1905-11-20 | url=http://www.liberalsindia.org/mr-masani.html | access-date=2019-07-04 | archive-date=4 July 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190704111312/http://www.liberalsindia.org/mr-masani.html | url-status=dead }} 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.{{cite web | last=Bhagat | first=Rasheeda | title=A walk through the loves and lives of the Masanis | url=https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/variety/A-walk-through-the-loves-and-lives-of-the-Masanis/article20412857.ece | date=2012-03-25 }} In 1950 he founded 'Freedom First', a monthly magazine in cause of liberal policy and politics.{{cite book | last=Ghose | first=S. | title=Why I Am a Liberal: A Manifesto for Indians Who Believe in Individual Freedom | publisher=Penguin Random House India Private Limited | year=2018 | isbn=978-93-5305-354-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9fR5DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT386 | access-date=2019-07-04 | page=386}} 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 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.{{cite journal | title=THE PRESS- Censorship Scope and Limitations | journal=Economic and Political Weekly | volume=11 | issue=9 | date=1976-02-28 | pages=7–8 | url=https://www.epw.in/journal/1976/9/our-correspondent-columns/press-censorship-scope-and-limitations.html | access-date=2019-07-04}} He fought the order in court and won.{{cite web | last=Datta-Ray | first=Sunanda K. | title=Fighting the giant | website=Telegraph India | date=2016-01-30 | url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/fighting-the-giant/cid/1444633 | access-date=2019-07-04}}

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.{{cite book | last=Masani | first=Z. | title=And All is Said: Memoir of a Home Divided | publisher=Penguin Books | year=2012 | isbn=978-0-14-341760-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6A3hDRIgqcMC | access-date=2019-07-02 }} 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){{cite book | last=Masani | first=M.R. | title=Our India--1953 | publisher=Oxford University Press (Indian Branch) | year=1953 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P-gyAAAAIAAJ | access-date=2019-07-03 }}
Socialism Reconsidered (1944){{cite book | last=Masani | first=M.R. | title=Socialism Reconsidered | publisher=Padma | year=1988 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sMEsAAAAIAAJ | language=de | access-date=2019-07-03 }}
Picture of a Plan (1945)
A Plea for a Mixed Economy (1947){{cite book | last=Masani | first=M.R. | title=A Plea for the Mixed Economy | publisher=National Information & Publications | year=1947 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZclHAAAAIAAJ | access-date=2019-07-03 }}
Our Growing Human Family (1950){{cite book | last=Masani | first=M.R. | title=Our growing human family: from tribe to world federation | publisher=Indian Branch, Oxford University Press | year=1950 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=boonAQAAIAAJ | access-date=2019-07-03 }}
Neutralism in India (1951)
The Communist Party of India: A Short History (1954){{cite book | last=Masani | first=M.R. | title=The Communist Party of India, a Short History, by M. R. Masani. With an Introd. by Guy Wint. In Association with the Institute of Pacific Relations | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YCK_wgEACAAJ | access-date=2019-07-03 }}
Congress Misrule and Swatantra Alternative (1967){{cite book | last=Masani | first=M.R. | title=Congress misrule and the Swatantra alternative, Foreword by C.Rajagopalachari | publisher=publisher not identified | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9GwqnQEACAAJ | access-date=2019-07-03 }}
Too Much Politics, Too Little Citizenship (1969){{cite book | last=Masani | first=M.R. | title=Too Much Politics: Too Little Citizenship | publisher=Gokhale Institute of Public Affairs | series=Public affairs pamphlet | year=1968 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gCGtGQAACAAJ | language=de | access-date=2019-07-03 }}
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){{cite book | last=Masani | first=M.R. | title=Bliss was it in that Dawn: A Political Memoir Upto Independence | publisher=Arnold-Heinemann Publishers (India) | year=1977 | isbn=9780842610872 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lai6vAEACAAJ | access-date=2019-07-03 }}
Against the tide (1981)
We Indians (1989)
{{cite book | last=Masani | first=M.R. | title=The Future of Free Enterprise in India: Forum of Free Enterprise | publisher=Forum of Free Enterprise | year=1961 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=svLSPgAACAAJ | access-date=2019-07-03}}

Bibliography

{{cite book|author=B. K. Karanjia|author-link=B. K. Karanjia|title=Rustom Masani: Portrait of a Citizen|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kIsfAAAAMAAJ|year=1970|publisher=Popular Prakashan}}

References

External links

{{cite web|title=Freedom First Magazine|url=http://www.freedomfirst.in/}}
[http://www.kamat.com/database/biographies/m_r_masani.htm Biography: Minocher Rustom Masani]
{{cite web|title=Minoo Masani brief biography|url=http://www.liberalsindia.com/indianliberals/profiles/minoomassani.php|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010809230349/http://www.liberalsindia.com/indianliberals/profiles/minoomassani.php|archive-date=9 August 2001}}

Category:1905 births

Category:1998 deaths

Category:20th-century mayors of places in India

Category:Mayors of Mumbai

Category:Indian anti-communists

Category:Parsi people from Mumbai

Category:Members of the Central Legislative Assembly of India

Category:India MPs 1957–1962

Category:India MPs 1962–1967

Category:India MPs 1967–1970

Category:Indian liberal politicians

Category:English-language writers from India