Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari Narasimhan (1909–1989) was an Indian politician, freedom-fighter and member of the Indian Parliament from 1952 to 1962. He was the son of Indian statesman Chakravarti Rajagopalachari.

Early life

Narasimhan was born in Salem in 1909 to Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari and Alamelu Mangamma. Rajagopalachari was a lawyer and member of the Salem municipality at that time. Narasimhan joined the Indian independence movement

Indian independence movement

The term Indian independence movement encompasses a wide area of political organisations, philosophies, and movements which had the common aim of ending first British East India Company rule, and then British imperial authority, in parts of South Asia...

 in 1920 at the age of 11 and was imprisoned for his participation in the 1930 Vedaranyam Salt Satyagraha.

Post-independence politics

In 1951, Narasimhan stood for the Lok Sabha elections from Krishnagiri parliamentary constituency and was elected by a margin of 6,194 votes over his nearest rival, C. Doraisami Gounder. He was re-elected to the Lok Sabha in 1957 by a close margin of 367 votes over his nearest rival G. D. Naidu and served till 1962 when he lost his seat to K. Rajaram

K. Rajaram

K. Rajaram was an Indian politician of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and later, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Member of the Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu. He served as the Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly from 1980 to 1985.Rajaram rose to prominence in 1962 when...

 of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is a state political party in the states of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, India. It is a Dravidian party founded by C. N. Annadurai as a breakaway faction from the Dravidar Kazhagam headed by Periyar...

. He stayed on in the Indian National Congress even after his father had quit the party and had allied with its opponents quitting the Indian National Congress and joining the Swatantra Party

Swatantra Party

The Swatantra Party was a classical liberal political party in India founded by Chakravarti Rajagopalachari and N. G. Ranga in August 1959. The party opposed the Nehruvian socialist outlook of the Congress Party by advocating free enterprise and free trade, and opposing the licence-permit Raj...

 only in the 1960s.

In 1970, Narasimhan was elected to the Corporation of Madras and served till 1975. He was also the leader of the Swatantra Party in the corporation. Narasimhan was at Rajaji's bedside when he died in his hospital bed on December 27, 1972.

Narasimhan also served as Chairman, Gandhi ashram, Tiruchengode

Tiruchengode

-Location:Tiruchengode is in south India in the state of Tamil Nadu, approximately 18 km from the City of Erode, 44 km from Salem, and 35 km from Namakkal.-Major Occupations:...

 and as a member of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition Committee.

Family

Narasimhan did not marry and remained single throughout his life. He is the maternal uncle of Rajmohan Gandhi

Rajmohan Gandhi

Rajmohan Gandhi is a biographer and grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, and a research professor at the Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA.Gandhi's maternal grandfather was C...

, Gopalkrishna Gandhi

Gopalkrishna Gandhi

Gopalkrishna Gandhi was the Governor of West Bengal serving from 2004 to 2009. He is the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, and son of Devadas Gandhi and Lakshmi Gandhi. His maternal grandfather was C. Rajagopalachari...

, Ramchandra Gandhi

Ramchandra Gandhi

Ramchandra Gandhi was an Indian philosopher student of Peter Strawson and grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and Rajaji, the last Governor General of India...

and Tara (Bhattacharya).