Thread by @shrikanth_krish

On Rajaji's 140th birthday it is worthwhile to reflect on the man who was arguably the most "conservative" politician India has ever had

We tend to think of Rajagopalachari as a messiah against "license raj", but he was also a social conservative

livemint.com/Opinion/b7BmRS…

His commitment to a free market and limited government did not stem from the University of Chicago.

But from a commitment to Dharma and a Dharmic aversion to concentration of power

Throughout his life Rajaji had no qualms in openly espousing his conservative views - something that even v v few Jan Sangh leaders ever did.

His Hinduism was not merely "political" or "identity based, but a deeper commitment to a world view that valued restraint and virtue

In 1967 he wrote -

"The loosening of the religious impulse is the worst of the disservices rendered by the Congress party to the nation."

(Contd..)

"We must organize a new force and movement to replace the greed and class hatred of Congress materialism with a renovated spiritual outlook emphasizing the restraints of good conduct as of greater importance than the triumphs of organized covetousness"

(Contd..)

"Every effort should be made to foster and maintain spiritual values......and to avoid dominance of a purely material philosophy of life which thinks only in terms of the standard of life without any reference to its content or quality"

So a man like Rajaji had problems not merely with License Raj or state bureaucracy.

But also with the broader materialistic outlook that gives rise to big govt and the rhetoric of equality in the first place

Rajaji throughout his life was more proud of his contributions as a writer to popularize Indian culture than in his accomplishments as a politician. He once said -

"The best service I have rendered to my people is the retelling of the Ramayana and Mahabharata"

(Contd..)

Unlike many political Hindus of our times who are often bereft of Bhakti and mostly interested in analyzing traditional literature to interpret "history", Rajaji was a proponent of unalloyed Bhakti

He once said -

"The Ramayana is mother's milk for India. It should be left to itself and not philosophized. Mother's milk should not be sent to the chemical analyst" !!

Rajaji was also a prohibitionist.

His govt had prohibition in place in Tamil Nadu after the great Congress victory of 1937. And absolute prohibition remained until 1971, when the DMK led Karunanidhi govt lifted it

Rajaji's conservatism extended to many other domains too.

He was a critic of commercial education, and day long schools. In early 50s, he suggested a bill that would cut the school day by half, and encourage students to stay home and learn the trades of their parents

This was naturally critiqued by the Dravidian opposition as an attempt to perpetuate the "caste" occupations.

Rajaji felt otherwise. To him, theoretical education of the classroom meant little unless it was allied with practical work and acquisition of real skills

Rajaji was a critic of the movies.

Like Gandhi he abhorred them, and felt they were a deleterious influence on Indian life

He was also a critic of the zeitgeist that deemed that women should work outside home, just for the sake of it

When a lady with small kids approached him for a job, he said:

"I wonder how a woman with children can be wanting work! Alas for civilisation and the pernicious habit of entrusting the education of children to professional men and ourselves seeking odd work to fill our time!"

These aspects of Rajaji have been forgotten, and today he is championed by the "libertarian crowd" who position him as a free market materialist, who merely cared for unfettering the chains on industrialists

His conservatism was not as superficial. It had cultural foundations

Economic liberalism to him was merely the logical outcome of his commitment to a small state, checks and balances, and an ideological commitment to Dharma

It was never an abstraction to be pursued with materialist ends

Today the Rajaji brand of conservatism is passe

What we have instead is a materialist Left and a materialist Right. Where they differ is only in the means but not the ends

Virtue is no longer a priority for its own sake. The end is merely to increase per-capita incomes

Even the "cultural" RIght has forsaken the Bhakti that characterized Rajaji and even Gandhi to some extent.

It seems less interested in developing the religious impulse in people than in debates over identity (Eg : Is AIT true or not true)

It is a good time for the right wing to introspect, and develop a conservative discourse that transcends mere identity.

We need a discourse of virtue, as a counterpoint to the discourse of materialism and its resultant focus on have vs have nots.