Last Governor-General of India was Born

 10th December 1878: C. Rajagopalchari, last Governor-General of India, was born. 

Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, the last Governor-General of India and founder of the Swatantra Party — the first political party in India to openly espouse market-friendly economic policies — was born on December 10, 1878, in Thorapalli village in the Madras Presidency. Known as ‘Rajaji’ to friends, family, and admirers, he was a writer, politician, lawyer, and minister played an active role in the Indian independence movement, and was close to both Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi. 

Rajagopalchari's father Chakravarty Venkatarya and mother Singaramma were lyengars. When he turned five years old, he was admitted to a boy's school in Hosur. He later studied arts at Bangalore's Central College. While practicing yoga at Salem, he became involved in the nationalist movement and was attracted to the Indian National Congress. He later became a member and then Chairman of the Salem municipality. He joined the Congress and in 1917 defended Varadarajulu Naidu against sedition charges. He took an active part in the anti-Rowlatt Act protests. He became a follower of Gandhi and was elected to the Indian Congress Committee in 1921. 

Rajagopalchari was the leader of a group called the 'No Changers' that opposed contesting elections for the Imperial Legislative Council and other councils. The No-Changers found greater support with the Congress. Rajagopalchari was also involved in anti-untouchability campaigns. In his capacity as a prominent leader of the Madras Congress, he led a parallel 'salt march' in 1930 at Vedaranyam when Gandhi took out his Dandi march. 

He later became the president of Tamil Nadu Congress Committee and the first premier of Madras Presidency. He took steps to remove restrictions barring lower cast from entering temples, provided debt relief to farmers, and introduce prohibition. His move to introduce Hindi as a compulsory subject met with a lot of opposition in the state. He resigned as premier to protest the British decision to involve "Indian World War-2" without consulting Indian nationalist leaders. 

In 1957 he left the Congress and two years later formed the Swatantra Party along with Murari Vaidya and Minoo Masani. The party was supported by some rulers of the erstwhile princely states. The term 'license- permit Raj' was coined by Rajagopalchari and ever since became shorthand for business-unfriendly government policies. It would gain much wider respectability nearly two decades after Rajagopalchari's death when the Congress government under P.V. Narasimha Rao opened up the Indian economy. 

Rajagopalchari, who was honored with the Bharat Ratna in 1995, wrote and translated several works in English and Tamil. He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award for his retelling of the Ramayana. After he died in 1972, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi described him as "a sincere patriot, a man whose penetrating intellect and moral sense added depth to national affairs".