Musings on the Constitution-XXXIV Narasimhan Vijayaraghavan

Musings on the Constitution-XXXIV
Narasimhan Vijayaraghavan

TTK

Tiruvellore Thattai Krishnamachari or T.T. Krishnamachari, (1899-1974) was a man most noted for being the Finance Minister of the Union Government of India. T.T. Krishnamachari, however, distinguished himself as an economics genius and this was mostly because he enjoyed not one, but two terms of power as the Finance Minister of India. As far as his name goes, he was popularly known as TTK and hardly ever referred to as Tiruvellore Thattai Krishnamachari. As a politician, T.T. Krishnamachari owed his loyalties to the ‘Indian National Congress’ and he remained faithful to this party to the very end. Many people know that T.T. Krishnamachari was the Finance Minister of India, but not too many people that he was also a visiting professor at the ‘Department of Economics’ in ‘Madras Christian College’. Apart from being noted for being the national Finance Minister, T.T. Krishnamachari was also recognized for being the member of the drafting committee, a successful entrepreneur and a prominent Congress leader.

Nehru with TTK

T.T. Krishnamachari was mostly known for being one of the most prominent founders of modern India. He proved extremely helpful in drafting the constitution as a very prominent member of the ‘Drafting Committee’ and also helped build the economic and industrial infrastructure of the country. Such accomplishments, under no means, can be considered ordinary. Speaking strictly in terms of a career, T.T. Krishnamachari began his career as a businessman, in the strictest sense of the term. He started off small, but went on to plant the foundation of the vastly successfully consumer goods firm called “TT Krishnamachari & Co.” in 1928 in Chennai. The business he established is now popularly known as the ‘TTK Group’ and deals with a wide array of products including kitchenware, personal care, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, baby care, etc.
For T.T. Krishnamachari, it all began when he was initially elected to the ‘Madras Legislative Assembly’ as an independent member. From here on there was no looking back for him and he went on to join the ‘Indian National Congress’. In 1946, he was made a part of the ‘Constituent Assembly’ at the Centre. From 1952 to 1965, he enjoyed the responsibility of being Central Minister twice. He was made the first Minster of Commerce and Industry and then actually went to become the finance minister.

Apart from the key positions mentioned above, T.T. Krishnamachari was made and remained in charge of the steel ministry for a considerable amount of time. He became minister again in 1962, but this time around he was not handed any portfolio. But within a short span of time, he was made the Minister for Economic and Defense Corporation. Right after this responsibility was given to him, it was withdrawn and T.T. Krishnamachari was made the Finance Minister for the second time.

As far as achievements are concerned, T.T. Krishnamachari had quite a lot of them under his belt.

Independent India’s First Corruption Scandal (Mundhra)
He proved to be extremely useful in the setting up of some of India’s biggest steel plants. This notwithstanding, he also played a very prominent role in the setting up of financial institutions like IDBI, UTI and ICICI in the country. During his two stints as the Finance Minister of India, T.T Krishnamachari introduced quite a number of path breaking reforms that, to this very day, are still looked up to.
TTK was the author of ‘Family Pension Scheme’ in 1964. If you look back now, you will realize that beneficial schemes such as the ‘Rajasthan Canal Schemes’, ‘Damodar Valley Project’ and even the ‘Dandakaranya Valley Project’ can all trace their roots to T.T. Krishnamachari.

Sadly though, just like some of the greatest men of his times, T.T. Krishnamachari also found himself involved in a scandal called the Mundhra scandal.

Although he didn’t really have a large or obvious role to play in it, this scandal scarred the image of T.T. Krishnamachari, forcing him to resign. Compared to the present day scandals and scams- TTK was overlooking a child stealing a candy from a cookie jar. Literally in width and value.

In spite of being as active as he was in politics, T.T. Krishnamachari resigned from the post of ‘Minister’ in 1965. After bidding adieu to politics, he continued to lead an intellectually stimulating life. Music Academy Auditorium, once led by his son T T Vasu is named after TTK.

Kasturiranga Santhanam (1895 – February 28, 1980), also known as Kumitithadai Santhanam, was an Indian politician. He was a conservative Iyengar from Tamil Nadu and acquired the appellation ‘Pandit’ for his erudition.
Santhanam obtained a Master of Arts degree in mathematics from the University of Madras (St. Joseph’s College, Trichy) and later a law degree from the Law College of Madras, now known as Chennai. He joined the Indian National Congress and participated in the Indian Independence Movement at a young age and was imprisoned once for that. He was a follower of Mahatma Gandhi and his wife died while at the Gandhi Ashram, while he was in jail. From 1937 to 1942, he was a member of the Imperial Legislative Assembly, and from 1946 was a member of the Indian Constituent Assembly, from 1948 serving as Union Minister for Railways and Transport in Jawaharlal Nehru’s cabinet. He stood as a Congress candidate for the House of the People from Mayuram in Tanjore district, but lost to a Communist candidate. In February 1952, he was appointed as the Governor of Vindhya Pradesh.
In 1962, Lal Bahadur Sastri appointed Santhanam to preside over the committee on anti-corruption. Because of its thorough investigative work and recommendations, the Committee earned a reputation as Santhanam’s Committee on Anti-Corruption.

In his 1976 ‘Code of Conduct for persons in power, authority or positions of trust in our country’, he explicitly included ministers and members of Parliament and state legislatures. There should be no use of position for personal or family advantage, read his code; no actions motivated by considerations of party, religion, caste, or community; no unofficial dealings with businessmen or hospitality or gifts accepted from them or other private persons.
Santhanam was also instrumental in shaping the politics in post-Independence Tamil Nadu, through his close association with Rajaji and Kamaraj. He served as the first editor of the Indian Express (1933–1940) and later worked as the joint editor of the Hindustan Times (1943–1948). He was well-versed in Tamil, Sanskrit, and English. His literary contributions are many. Most of Santhanam’s work was published by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, including An Anthology of Indian Literature (1969), Gospel of Gandhi (1967), and British Imperialism and Indian Nationalism (1972). Santhanam also translated Kālidāsa’s Shakuntala and Bhavabuti’s Uttara Rama Charitam, both from Sanskrit.

Santhanam died in 1980 and was survived by three sons and a daughter, namely S.Kasthuri, the eldest and a distinguished marine engineer who retired as the first Director of Cochin Shipyard Ltd., Mrs. Lakshmi Srinivasan, a devout housewife, whose husband was a distinguished executive engineer in Tamil Nadu government, K.S. Rajagopalan, a noted international expert on electro-chemistry, corrosion theory and corrosion control and a prominent research director at the Central Electrochemical Research Institute, Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu and K.S. Ramanujan, a well known journalist who served as Associate Editor for Hindustan Times.
(Author is practising advocate in the Madras High Court)

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