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Swatantra Party

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The Swatantra Party was an Indian classical liberal political party that existed from 1959 to 1974. It was founded by C. Rajagopalachari[13] in reaction to what he felt was the Jawaharlal Nehru-dominated Indian National Congress's increasingly socialist and statist outlook.[2]

Swatantra Party
AbbreviationSWA
FounderC. Rajagopalachari
Founded4 June 1959
Dissolved4 August 1974[1]
Split fromIndian National Congress
Merged intoBharatiya Lok Dal
IdeologyConservatism (Indian)[2]
Classical liberalism[3]
Liberal conservatism[4]
Secularism[5]

Agrarianism[6]

Anti-Sovietism[7]
Political positionCentre-right[8][9][note 1]
ColoursBlue
Election symbol

The party had a number of distinguished leaders, most of them old Congressmen, like C. Rajagopalachari, Minoo Masani, N.G. Ranga, Darshan Singh Pheruman,[14][15] Udham Singh Nagoke[16] and K.M. Munshi. The provocation for the formation of the party was the left turn that the Congress took at Avadi[17] and the Nagpur Resolutions.

Swatantra stood for a market-based economy and the dismantling of the "Licence Raj" although it opposed laissez-faire policies. Swatantra was not a religion-based party, unlike the Hindu nationalism of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh. In 1960, Rajagopalachari and his colleagues drafted a 21-point manifesto detailing why Swatantra had to be formed even though they had been Congressmen and associates of Nehru during the struggle for independence.[18][better source needed] Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was highly critical of Swatantra and dubbed it as belonging to "the middle ages of lords, castles and zamindars".[19]

History

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In Parliament

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N.G.Ranga rebuked the Nehru government for being ill-prepared in defence on 8 November 1962 in a speech during parliamentary debate.[20]

Minoo Masani, the party MP from Rajkot, voiced his opposition to the bank nationalisation bill by Indira Gandhi's government on 25 July 1969.[21]

Electoral history

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In the 1962 general election, the first after its formation, Swatantra received 7.89 percent of the total votes and won 18 seats in the third Lok Sabha (1962–67). It emerged as the main opposition to the dominant Congress in four states: Bihar, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Orissa. By the next general election in 1967, Swatantra had become a significant force in some parts of India; it won 8.7 percent of the votes and became the single-largest opposition party in the fourth Lok Sabha (1967–71) with 44 seats. In 1971, Swatantra joined a "Grand Alliance" of parties from across the political spectrum that aimed to defeat Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The party secured eight seats by winning 3% of the votes. The next year, in 1972, its founder, Rajagopalachari, died, and Swatantra declined rapidly. By 1974, it had dissolved, with many of its members joining the Charan Singh-led Bharatiya Lok Dal.[citation needed]

Year Election Popular-
vote		 Seats
1962 1962 Indian general election 7.9 %
18 / 494
[22]
1967 1967 Indian general election 8.7 %
44 / 520
1971 1971 Indian general election 3.1 %
8 / 518

State legislative assembly elections

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Odisha

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Source:[23][24][25]
Year Election Popular-
vote 		Seats contested Seats
Votes %
1967 1967 Orissa Legislative Assembly election 909,421 22.58%
101
49 / 140
1971 1971 Orissa Legislative Assembly election 767,815 17.44%
115
36 / 140
1974 1974 Orissa Legislative Assembly election 694,473 12.08%
56
21 / 146

Rajasthan

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Year Election Popular-

vote

Seats contested Seats
Votes %
1962 1962 Rajasthan Legislative Assembly election 878,056 17.11% 93
36 / 176
1967 1967 Rajasthan Legislative Assembly election 1,493,018 22.10% 107
48 / 184
1972 1972 Rajasthan Legislative Assembly election 958,097 12.32% 119
11 / 184

Ideology

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Fundamental principles

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First and foremost, the Swatantra Party committed to social justice and equality of opportunity of all people "without distinction of religion, caste, occupation, or political affiliation".[26]

The party felt that progress, welfare and happiness of the people could be achieved by giving maximum freedom to individuals with the state minimising intervention. The state should replace its intervention with fostering the Indian tradition of helping other people directly.[26]

In particular, the party believed that the state should adhere to the Fundamental Rights guaranteed by the Constitution of India and, in particular, should compensate individuals if their property had to be acquired for public purposes. It also believed in giving citizens full freedom to educate their children as they wanted.[26] It recognised the need for increasing food production and sought to do so by giving peasants full land rights and incentives for increasing production in agriculture.[26] In industry, it sought to reduce state presence only to the minimum necessary to supplement private enterprise and in national services like the Indian Railways. It sought to do away with controls on trade and commerce. However, it committed against unreasonable profits, prices and dividends. It believed in placing equal emphasis on the development of capital goods industries, consumer goods industries and rural and small industries.[26] In the fields of taxation and state expenditure, it believed in thrift and called for taxation to suffice for carrying on of administration and social and economic activities taken upon by the state but should not depress capital formation and private investment. The government should also desist from running abnormally large deficits or taking foreign loans that are beyond the capacity of the country to repay. In particular, it resisted unnecessary expansion of the bureaucracy.[26]

While standing for minimising state intervention in the economy, the Swatantra Party committed to securing a fair deal for labour, correlating wages to increased productivity and workers' right to collective bargaining.[26] It also gave their members full freedom to question and criticise any point not included in the fundamental principles of that party.[26]

Others

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Party's fundamental principles had not covered several issues like foreign policy, national language, state reorganisation and religious and social reform.[27]

The party was generally opposed to communism and in 1969, urged the Indian government to ban the three major communist parties in India at that time, the CPI, CPI(M) and the Naxalites, because of their open or tacit support for armed struggles, which the Swatantra Party viewed as a major security threat to the nation.[28]

In foreign affairs, it opposed non-alignment and a close relationship with the Soviet Union and advocated an intimate connection with the United States and Western Europe.[28][27]

Decline and legacy

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In 1969, the Congress party split, leading to consolidation of right-leaning votes under Congress (O). This proved detrimental to the electoral prospects of the Swatantra party.[29] By 1971,the Swatantra party had disintegrated due to infighting and changed political scenarios.[30]
The party made some tactical mistakes like joining the Grand Alliance against Indira Gandhi's Congress in 1971 instead of fighting on an issue-based common programme.This resulted in the decimation of the party in the elections of that year.
After the death of Rajaji in 1972, personality clashes took a further toll. All this occurred while Indira Gandhi pressurised the royalty to support her. This resulted in Swatantra losing the backing of princes. Another potential benefactor,the business community couldn't advocate for the party since they were too reliant on state patronage.[31] Moreover, big business houses like Birla benefitted from the protectionist aspects of the Nehruvian state and didn't see Swatantra policies as being advantageous.[32]
Finally the party was dissolved on 4 August 1974 by party president Piloo Mody who merged it with Charan Singh's Bharatiya Kranti Dal.The few independent state units except for Maharashtra later merged with Janata Party in 1977.[33]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ It is also sometimes rated as "centrist"[10] or "right-wing".[11][12]

References

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  1. ^ "45 years after its dissolution, here's what opposition parties must learn from Swatantra Party". dailyO. 18 July 2019. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
  2. ^ a b Erdman, H.L. (2007). The Swatantra Party and Indian Conservatism. Cambridge South Asian Studies. Cambridge University Press. pp. 2, 62–63, 75. ISBN 978-0521049801. Retrieved 2 July 2019.
  3. ^ Das, Gurcharan (2002). The Elephant Paradigm. Penguin. p. 244.
  4. ^ Pratapchandra Rasam, Vasanti (1997). Swatantra Party: a political biography. Dattsons. p. 199.
  5. ^ Smith, Donald E. (1966). South Asian Politics and Religion. Princeton University Press. p. 110.
  6. ^ Rajadhyaksha, Niranjan (28 May 2019). "The contemporary relevance of Swatantra Party's liberal view". Mint. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  7. ^ Mody, Piloo (28 August 2024). "Piloo Mody on Russian 'friendship' trap and how India paid the price when shopping for arms". The Print.
  8. ^ Raghbendra Jha, ed. (2014). Facets of India's Economy and Her Society Volume I. Springer. p. 263.
  9. ^ Rudra Chaudhuri, ed. (2014). Forged in Crisis: India and the United States Since 1947. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. p. 100.
  10. ^ Snippet view, ed. (1978). Triveni: Journal of Indian Renaissance - Volume 47. Triveni Publishers. p. 24.
  11. ^ Chaudhuri, Rudra (2014). Forged in Crisis: India and the United States Since 1947. Oxford University Press. p. 100.
  12. ^ Jha, Raghbendra (2018). Facets of India's Economy and Her Society. Vol. 1. Springer. p. 263.
  13. ^ Rajagopalachari, C. (16 July 2016). "C. Rajagopalachari | Why Swatantra?". Mint. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
  14. ^ Singh, Ranjit (2008). Sikh Achievers. New Delhi, India: Hemkunt Publishers. pp. 36–37. ISBN 978-8170103653.
  15. ^ "Darshan Signh Pheruman (1885–1969)". Archived from the original on 5 January 2015. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  16. ^ "Fifty Years of Punjab Politics (1920-70)". Panjab Digital Library. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  17. ^ Ramakrishnan, Venkitesh (22 September 2012). "Long way from Avadi". frontline.thehindu.com. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  18. ^ The 21 Principles of the Swatantra Party. 1959.
  19. ^ Erdman, 1963–64.
  20. ^ Kashyap, Sanjeet (22 July 2020). "Swatantra Party had a lot to say on China after 1962. If only Nehru had heard them". The Print. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
  21. ^ Masani, Minoo (28 January 2024). "For Minoo Masani, Indira Gandhi's bank nationalisation Bill 'came in the dark, like a thief'". The Print. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
  22. ^ "Statistical Report On General Elections, 1962 To The Third Lok Sabha" (PDF). Election Commission of India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 July 2014. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  23. ^ "Orissa 1967". Election Commission of India. 16 August 2018. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
  24. ^ "Orissa 1971". Election Commission of India. 16 August 2018. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
  25. ^ "Orissa 1974". Election Commission of India. 16 August 2018. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
  26. ^ a b c d e f g h "Statement of Principles of the Swatantra Party, Principle 1" (PDF). Indian Liberals. Retrieved 23 December 2017.
  27. ^ a b Erdman, Howard L. (1963). "India's Swatantra Party". Pacific Affairs. 36 (4): 394–410. doi:10.2307/2754685. ISSN 0030-851X. JSTOR 2754685.
  28. ^ a b "From the Archives (May 13, 1969): Swatantra urges ban on Communist Parties". The Hindu. 13 May 2019. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  29. ^ "Why Today's India Needs a Resurrected Swatantra Party". The Wire. 17 January 2021. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
  30. ^ "India's journey in Conservatism". The Hindu Business Line. 7 September 2023. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
  31. ^ "When Maharajas, business tycoons and peasant leaders joined the mundu-clad Rajaji to form the Swatantra Party". The Print. 3 February 2018. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
  32. ^ Kashyap, Sanjeet (16 November 2020). "Masani, Rajaji and Shenoy — the free-market troika that challenged the Nehruvian State". The Print. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
  33. ^ "A Case For Swatantra". Outlook India. 5 February 2022. Retrieved 6 July 2024.

Sources

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