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(1905 - 1998)

Highlights in the Life of Minoo Masani

A personal tribute


1905 born November 20

1921 completes school and joins Elphinstone College

1925 registers for admission in the London School of Economics 'and in Lincoln's Inn; elected to the Union Executive of the LSE

1927 visits the Soviet Union with a British group

1928 returns to India and joins the Bombay Bar

1932 first imprisonment

1933 second imprisonment'in Nasik jail

1934 Bombay Presidency Congress Socialist Group formed; convening of the First All India Congress Socialist Conference Joint Secretary of the Congress Socialist Party
Spends ten days with Gandhi

1935 visits England at the invitation of Sir Stafford Cripps. Second visit to the Soviet Union as Secretary of the Congress Socialist Party; Councillor of the Bombay Municipal Corporation

1937 attends the AICC in Delhi and opposes acceptance of office by the Congress Party

1938 presides over the Congress Socialist Party at Lahore; opposes the tactics of the United Front put forward by the Communists

1939 resigns (along with Lohia, Achyut Patwaidhan, Asoka Mehta) from all executive positions in the C.S.P.

1940 CSP resolves to expel communists from the party
Quits Politics

1941 joins the Tata organization

1943 imprisoned during the Quit India movement,
elected Mayor of the BombayMunicipal Corporation

1945 gets elected to the Indian Legislative Assembly

1946 in the Constituent Assembly active in the Fundamental Rights Sub-Committee and the Union-Powers Committee

1947 lectures in the Bombay University School of Economics - A plea for a mixed economy;
member U.N. sub-commission on minorities

1948 appointed Ambassador to Brazil

1951 associated with the establishment of the Indian Committee for Cultural Freedom. Lecture tour in the U.S.

1952 establishes the monthly, Freedom First

1954 Chef de Cabinet for J. R. D. Tata

1955 tour of West Germany and Yugoslavia to study association of workers and management

1956 Quest established, Association of workers and management introduced in the Tata Iron and Steel Company

1957 elected to Parliament. Resigns from Tatas

1958 Chairman of the Indian Roads and Transport Development Association. Report published

1959 Swatantra Party established. First convention held in Bombay. Elected General Secretary of the Party

1963 returned to Parliament as member of the Swatantra Party from Rajkot

1964 accompanies J. P. on a peace mission to Nagaland

1965 organises a seminar in New Delhi on the "Social Responsibility of Business"

1967 elected to Parliament. Leader of the opposition in Parliament.
Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee

1968 participates in an international seminar in Princeton on 'America in the Seventies'
Leslie Sawhny Endowment established

1969 elected President of the Swatantra Party

1971 the Swatantra Party fares badly in elections and Masani resigns from the presidentship of the Swatantra Party

1973 takes over the editorship of Freedom First

1975 two lectures in the Bangalore University on the Indian Constitution; fights against the government in the Freedom First case

1978 Chairman of the Minorities Commission. Resigns from the commission

1981 establishes the Society for the Right to Die with Dignity

1998 expires after a prolonged illness in June
 

Organizations Founded and Books Written by Minoo Masani
 

ORGANIZATIONS
 

Democratic Research Service

Democratic Research Service was established in November 1950 with the blessings of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel "to contribute towards the education of public opinion in India to a fuller realisation of the need to defend India's national independence and her culture and of the possibilities of social and economic advance through democratic processes."
 
Freedom First,, now a quarterly liberal journal, is published by the Democratic Research Service and is in its 33rd year of publication.
 

Indian Committee for Cultural Freedom (ICCF)

The Indian Committee for Cultural Freedom was founded in 1951 as a non-party organisation of scholars, writers, artists and scientists to defend intellectual liberty, to cultivate a spirit of free enquiry and an appreciation of the arts.

The ICCF published Quest a journal of enquiry, criticism and ideas. After 101 issues over a period of 21 years, Quest had to shut down during the emergency due to difficulties with the Censors.

Indian Liberal Group

The Indian Liberal Group was established in December 1965. The Group which is non-partisan espouses the cause of liberalism as enunciated in the Liberal Manifesto drawn up by the International Liberal Conference at Wadham College Oxford in April 1947.

Leslie Sawhny Programme of Training for Democracy

Leslie Sawhny Programme of Training for Democracy which aims at training citizens for leadership, citizenship and public service was founded in March 1968. Since then the L.S.P. has organised 444 training camps, seminars and workshops involving around 10,800 participants.
 

Rajaji Foundation

The Rajaji 'Foundation came into being in October 1972 to keep alive and propagate the principles, philosophy and teachings of C. Rajagopalachari.
 

Society for the Right to Die with Dignity

The Society for the Right to Die with Dignity was established in May 1981 to assert the right of every man and woman of sound mind to freedom, within the limits that may be laid down by law, to choose to live or die.

PUBLICATIONS

1939 (with C. Y. Chintamani) India's Constitution at Work.

            Soviet Sidelights

1940 Our India, new edition (1953)

1944 Socialism Reconsidered

Your Food

1945 Picture of a Plan

1947 A Plea for a Mixed Economy

1950 Our Growing Human Family

Co-operative Farming: The Great Debate

1951 Neutralism in India

1954 The Communist Party of India - a Short History

1967 Congress Misrule and Swatantra Alternative

1969 Too Much Politics, Too Little Citizenship

1970 Liberalism

1975 The Constitution, Twenty Years Later

Is J. P. the Answer?

1977 J. P.'s Mission Partly Accomplished

1977 Bliss was it in that Dawn ... (autobiography part 1)

1981 Against the Tide (autobiography part 2)

1985 Freedom and Dissent: Essays in Honour of Minoo Masani, edited by R. Srinivas.

  1. Masani at 90, edited by S. V. Raju. Compilation of a wide range of Masani's articles and essays.
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