He began his professional life as an advocate at the Bombay High Court in 1929 before joining the Indian independence movement the following year, during the civil disobedience campaign. He was arrested several times by British for his participation in the movement. He was in the Nashik jail in 1932, when Jayaprakash Narayan came in contact with him and together they launched the Congress Socialist Party in 1934. He participated in Quit India Movement in 1942 and was jailed again. After his jail term was over he entered legislative politics, He got elected mayor of Bombay Municipal Corporation. Masani was a close friend of Jawaharlal Nehru. He also became a member of the Indian Legislative Assembly. After Stalin's Great Purge and takeover of Eastern Europe, Masani moved away from Socialism and became a supporter of free market economics. Post-independence, Masani's political convictions propelled him to support "democratic socialism" in India as it "avoided monopoly, private or public". He withdrew from politics for a while.He was India's representative to UN Sub-Commission on Minorities. He did not see eye to eye with the Nehru government on USSR's treatment of minorities, so he was withdrawn from the commission and appointed as Indian Ambassador to Brazil in May 1948 for one year. After his stint in Brazil, He returned to India and became the chef de cabinet to the Chairman of Tata group J.R.D Tata. In 1950 he founded 'Freedom First', a monthly magazine in cause of liberal policy and politics. He went back to electoral politics and got elected to Loksabha in 1957 from Ranchi as an independent candidate. In 1959 he founded Swatantra Party along with C Rajagopalachari. He won a by election from Rajkot as a Swatantra party candidate. He represented Rajkot till 1971. He was one of the few politicians who opposed the nationalisation of banks by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Swatantra party was India's single-largest opposition party in Parliament and Masani being its leader in Loksabha, initiated debate on finance bills and forced the Congress government to work rigorously. He also headed the PAC. A collection of his speeches was published as Congress Misrule and Swatantra Alternative.In 1971 general elections Swatantra party did not perform well and he resigned the position of the party president. Post 1971 he kept writing and editing his magazine Freedom First. This put him against the Congress Government when the government issued the censorship order on the magazine. He fought the order in court and won.
Personal life
He was married thrice. His first wife was an English-woman. His second marriage also ended in divorce.Minoo met Shakuntala Srivastava daughter of one J. P. Srivastava, an influential British loyalist during quit India movement. They got married in spite of opposition from their respective families. They had a son Zareer Masani. This marriage ended in divorce in 1989.
Works
Masani was also an author and has written many books. His first book, Our India, was a best seller and even a prescribed text book in pre-independence India.
