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Swatantra Party

July 30, 2023

The Swatantra Party was an Indian classical liberal political party that existed from 1959 to 1974. It was founded by C. Rajagopalachari[10] in reaction to what he felt was the Jawaharlal Nehru-dominated Indian National Congress's increasingly socialist and statist outlook.[1]

Swatantra Party
AbbreviationSWA
FounderC. Rajagopalachari
Founded4 June 1959
Dissolved1974
Split fromIndian National Congress
Merged intoBharatiya Lok Dal
IdeologyConservatism (Indian)[1]
Classical liberalism[2]
Liberal conservatism[3]
Secularism[4]
Political positionCentre-right[5][6][note 1]
ColoursBlue
Election symbol

The party had a number of distinguished leaders, most of them old Congressmen, like C. Rajagopalachari, Tanguturi Prakasam Pantulu, Minoo Masani, N.G. Ranga, Darshan Singh Pheruman,[11][12] Udham Singh Nagoke[13] and K.M. Munshi. The provocation for the formation of the party was the left turn that the Congress took at Avadi[14] and the Nagpur Resolutions.

Swatantra stood for a market-based economy and the dismantling of the "Licence Raj" although it opposed laissez-faire policies. Considered to be on the economic right of the Indian political spectrum, 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.[15] Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was highly critical of Swatantra and dubbed it as belonging to "the middle ages of lords, castles and zamindars".[16]

History

Electoral history

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.

Year Election Popular-
vote		 Seats
1962 1962 Indian general election 7.9 %
18 / 494
[17]
1967 1967 Indian general election 8.7 %
44 / 520
1971 1971 Indian general election 3.1 %
8 / 518

Ideology

The nature of the Swatantra Party was disputed among its rivals and other observers. It was described as party of "conservative rich peasants in the South, a few finance capitalists in the west, some Bihar and UP feudal atavists and communalist chiefs in the North". The Communist Party of India described it as among the "forces of dark right reaction". Nehru saw the party to be belonging to "the middle ages of lords, castles and zamindars" and that it was becoming "more and more fascist in outlook". Its supporters saw the party as "a progressive liberal party". An American scholar saw the party to be "a communal conservative party".[18]

Fundamental principles

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".[19]

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.[19]

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.[19] 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.[19] 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.[19] 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.[19]

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.[19] It also gave their members full freedom to question and criticise any point not included in the fundamental principles of that party.[19]

Others

Party's fundamental principles had not covered several issues like foreign policy, national language, state reorganisation and religious and social reform.[20]

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.[21]

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.[21][20]

Decline and legacy

Swatantra failed mainly because there was as yet no space in Indian politics for a centrist party. Also, the rich and middle peasants were not yet fully and irrevocably alienated from Congress, especially as cooperative farming had been put in cold storage and land ceiling laws actually posed little threat to the existing holdings. On the other hand, they were the major beneficiaries of several government policies and measures: reduction of land revenue and extension of services including provision of rural credit, improved transport, irrigation, and electrification. By and large, the business class found that planning, the public sector and government regulations did not block its growth and instead in many respects,l helped it to develop. The mixed economy also left enough scope for its expansion. Above all, though steady in pursuing its developmental and reformist agenda, the Nehru government was quite moderate in dealing with and conciliatory towards the propertied classes. Even the princes and landlords had not been wiped out but had been consoled with compensation and other economic concessions. Lastly, the Congress right realised that so long as Nehru was alive, his position in the country was unassailable and so it showed no inclination to leave the party.

On the other hand, when Congress split in 1969 and Congress (O) emerged as a political force, the reason for the existence of Swatantra as a separate party disappeared, as the former was much more potent as a right-wing party.[citation needed]

When Nagabhairava Jaya Prakash Narayana, the founder-leader of Lok Satta Party, was asked in 2014 whether he saw his party "as a modern-day re-embodiment of the Swatantra Party", he replied "in a large measure, yes.... The founders of the Swatantra Party were visionaries and had India followed their leadership, we could have been where China is today, economically".[22]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ It is also sometimes rated as "centrist"[7] or "right-wing".[8][9]

References

  1. ^ 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 2019-07-02.
  2. ^ Das, Gurcharan (2002). The Elephant Paradigm. Penguin. p. 244.
  3. ^ Pratapchandra Rasam, Vasanti (1997). Swatantra Party: a political biography. Dattsons. p. 199.
  4. ^ Smith, Donald E. (1966). South Asian Politics and Religion. Princeton Univeraity Press. p. 110.
  5. ^ Raghbendra Jha, ed. (2014). Facets of India's Economy and Her Society Volume I. Springer. p. 263.
  6. ^ Rudra Chaudhuri, ed. (2014). Forged in Crisis: India and the United States Since 1947. Oxford University Press, Incorporated. p. 100.
  7. ^ Snippet view, ed. (1978). Triveni: Journal of Indian Renaissance - Volume 47. Triveni Publishers. p. 24.
  8. ^ Chaudhuri, Rudra (2014). Forged in Crisis: India and the United States Since 1947. Oxford University Press. p. 100.
  9. ^ Jha, Raghbendra (2018). Facets of India's Economy and Her Society. Vol. 1. Springer. p. 263.
  10. ^ Rajagopalachari, C. (2016-07-16). "C. Rajagopalachari | Why Swatantra?". Mint. Retrieved 2019-03-24.
  11. ^ Singh, Ranjit (2008). Sikh Achievers. New Delhi, India: Hemkunt Publishers. pp. 36–37. ISBN 978-8170103653.
  12. ^ . Archived from the original on 5 January 2015. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  13. ^ "Fifty Years of Punjab Politics (1920-70)". Panjab Digital Library. Retrieved 2019-07-21.
  14. ^ Ramakrishnan, Venkitesh (2012-09-22). "Long way from Avadi". frontline.thehindu.com. Retrieved 2019-08-12.
  15. ^ The 21 Principles of the Swatantra Party. 1959.
  16. ^ Erdman, 1963–64.
  17. ^ (PDF). Election Commission of India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 July 2014. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  18. ^ Grover, V. (1997). Political Parties and Party System. Political Parties and Party System. Deep & Deep Publications. p. 518. ISBN 978-81-7100-878-0.
  19. ^ a b c d e f g h "Statement of Principles of the Swatantra Party, Principle 1" (PDF). Indian Liberals. Retrieved 23 December 2017.
  20. ^ 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.
  21. ^ a b "From the Archives (May 13, 1969): Swatantra urges ban on Communist Parties". The Hindu. 2019-05-13. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2019-08-12.
  22. ^ "Interviewing Jayaprakash Narayan".

Sources

External links

  • C. Rajagopalachari : Save freedom. Why Swatantra, 1960
  • Minoo Masani: To provide A Democratic Alternative. Why Swatantra, 1960
  • K. M. Munshi: To Restore Fundamental Rights. Why Swatantra, 1960
  • N. G. Ranga: To Preserve Family Economy. Why Swatantra, 1960
  • Rediff On The NeT: Rajmohan Gandhi on C Rajagopalachari and the birth of the Swatantra Party
  • Minoo Masani and the Swatantra Party

July 30, 2023
swatantra, party, this, article, includes, list, general, references, lacks, sufficient, corresponding, inline, citations, please, help, improve, this, article, introducing, more, precise, citations, january, 2018, learn, when, remove, this, template, message,. This article includes a list of general references but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations January 2018 Learn how and when to remove this template message The Swatantra Party was an Indian classical liberal political party that existed from 1959 to 1974 It was founded by C Rajagopalachari 10 in reaction to what he felt was the Jawaharlal Nehru dominated Indian National Congress s increasingly socialist and statist outlook 1 Swatantra PartyAbbreviationSWAFounderC RajagopalachariFounded4 June 1959Dissolved1974Split fromIndian National CongressMerged intoBharatiya Lok DalIdeologyConservatism Indian 1 Classical liberalism 2 Liberal conservatism 3 Secularism 4 Political positionCentre right 5 6 note 1 ColoursBlueElection symbolPolitics of IndiaPolitical partiesElectionsThe party had a number of distinguished leaders most of them old Congressmen like C Rajagopalachari Tanguturi Prakasam Pantulu Minoo Masani N G Ranga Darshan Singh Pheruman 11 12 Udham Singh Nagoke 13 and K M Munshi The provocation for the formation of the party was the left turn that the Congress took at Avadi 14 and the Nagpur Resolutions Swatantra stood for a market based economy and the dismantling of the Licence Raj although it opposed laissez faire policies Considered to be on the economic right of the Indian political spectrum 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 15 Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was highly critical of Swatantra and dubbed it as belonging to the middle ages of lords castles and zamindars 16 Contents 1 History 1 1 Electoral history 2 Ideology 2 1 Fundamental principles 2 2 Others 3 Decline and legacy 4 See also 5 Notes 6 References 7 Sources 8 External linksHistory Edit C Rajagopalachari founded the Swatantra Party He had been the last Governor General of India and one of the first recipients of India s highest civilian award the Bharat Ratna N G Ranga was the founder member of the Swatantra Party and its president for several years Gayatri Devi the Maharani of Jaipur and princess of Cooch Behar was a successful politician in the Swatantra Party Bezawada Ramachandra Reddy was the founder member of the Swatantra Party Electoral history Edit 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 Year Election Popular vote Seats1962 1962 Indian general election 7 9 18 494 17 1967 1967 Indian general election 8 7 44 5201971 1971 Indian general election 3 1 8 518Ideology EditThe nature of the Swatantra Party was disputed among its rivals and other observers It was described as party of conservative rich peasants in the South a few finance capitalists in the west some Bihar and UP feudal atavists and communalist chiefs in the North The Communist Party of India described it as among the forces of dark right reaction Nehru saw the party to be belonging to the middle ages of lords castles and zamindars and that it was becoming more and more fascist in outlook Its supporters saw the party as a progressive liberal party An American scholar saw the party to be a communal conservative party 18 Fundamental principles Edit 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 19 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 19 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 19 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 19 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 19 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 19 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 19 It also gave their members full freedom to question and criticise any point not included in the fundamental principles of that party 19 Others Edit Party s fundamental principles had not covered several issues like foreign policy national language state reorganisation and religious and social reform 20 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 21 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 21 20 Decline and legacy EditSwatantra failed mainly because there was as yet no space in Indian politics for a centrist party Also the rich and middle peasants were not yet fully and irrevocably alienated from Congress especially as cooperative farming had been put in cold storage and land ceiling laws actually posed little threat to the existing holdings On the other hand they were the major beneficiaries of several government policies and measures reduction of land revenue and extension of services including provision of rural credit improved transport irrigation and electrification By and large the business class found that planning the public sector and government regulations did not block its growth and instead in many respects l helped it to develop The mixed economy also left enough scope for its expansion Above all though steady in pursuing its developmental and reformist agenda the Nehru government was quite moderate in dealing with and conciliatory towards the propertied classes Even the princes and landlords had not been wiped out but had been consoled with compensation and other economic concessions Lastly the Congress right realised that so long as Nehru was alive his position in the country was unassailable and so it showed no inclination to leave the party On the other hand when Congress split in 1969 and Congress O emerged as a political force the reason for the existence of Swatantra as a separate party disappeared as the former was much more potent as a right wing party citation needed When Nagabhairava Jaya Prakash Narayana the founder leader of Lok Satta Party was asked in 2014 whether he saw his party as a modern day re embodiment of the Swatantra Party he replied in a large measure yes The founders of the Swatantra Party were visionaries and had India followed their leadership we could have been where China is today economically 22 See also Edit India portal Liberalism portal Libertarianism portal Politics portalLiberalism in India Piloo Mody S V Raju V P Menon H Ajmal Khan Venkatesh Geriti Indian National Congress breakaway parties R C CooperNotes Edit It is also sometimes rated as centrist 7 or right wing 8 9 References Edit 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 2019 07 02 Das Gurcharan 2002 The Elephant Paradigm Penguin p 244 Pratapchandra Rasam Vasanti 1997 Swatantra Party a political biography Dattsons p 199 Smith Donald E 1966 South Asian Politics and Religion Princeton Univeraity Press p 110 Raghbendra Jha ed 2014 Facets of India s Economy and Her Society Volume I Springer p 263 Rudra Chaudhuri ed 2014 Forged in Crisis India and the United States Since 1947 Oxford University Press Incorporated p 100 Snippet view ed 1978 Triveni Journal of Indian Renaissance Volume 47 Triveni Publishers p 24 Chaudhuri Rudra 2014 Forged in Crisis India and the United States Since 1947 Oxford University Press p 100 Jha Raghbendra 2018 Facets of India s Economy and Her Society Vol 1 Springer p 263 Rajagopalachari C 2016 07 16 C Rajagopalachari Why Swatantra Mint Retrieved 2019 03 24 Singh Ranjit 2008 Sikh Achievers New Delhi India Hemkunt Publishers pp 36 37 ISBN 978 8170103653 Darshan Signh Pheruman 1885 1969 Archived from the original on 5 January 2015 Retrieved 20 January 2015 Fifty Years of Punjab Politics 1920 70 Panjab Digital Library Retrieved 2019 07 21 Ramakrishnan Venkitesh 2012 09 22 Long way from Avadi frontline thehindu com Retrieved 2019 08 12 The 21 Principles of the Swatantra Party 1959 Erdman 1963 64 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 Grover V 1997 Political Parties and Party System Political Parties and Party System Deep amp Deep Publications p 518 ISBN 978 81 7100 878 0 a b c d e f g h Statement of Principles of the Swatantra Party Principle 1 PDF Indian Liberals Retrieved 23 December 2017 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 a b From the Archives May 13 1969 Swatantra urges ban on Communist Parties The Hindu 2019 05 13 ISSN 0971 751X Retrieved 2019 08 12 Interviewing Jayaprakash Narayan Sources EditBipan Chandra et al India Since Independence Penguin India 2008 2011 digital edition Mariadas Ruthnaswamy Swatantra Party and its leaders Swarajya 30 July 1960 Mariadas Ruthnaswamy Is Swatantra inspiring enough Swarajya 22 October 1960 H R Pasricha The Swatantra Party Victory in Defeat Rajaji Foundation 2002 Howard L Erdman India s Swatantra Party Public Affairs vol 36 iss 4 pp 394 410 Winter 1963 64 Howard L Erdman The Swatantra Party and Indian Conservatism Cambridge University Press 1967 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013 Madhavankutty Pillai Last Man Standing Open 5 April 2014 Rajmohan Gandhi Rajaji A Life Penguin India 1997 Ramachandra Guha India After Gandhi The History of the World s Largest Democracy HarperCollins 2008 Rasam Vasanti Swatantra Party a political biography Dattson Publishers Nagpur 1997 Rasam Vasanti Role of Swantantra Party as an Opposition Party National Level Readings on Parliamentary Opposition External links EditC Rajagopalachari Save freedom Why Swatantra 1960 Minoo Masani To provide A Democratic Alternative Why Swatantra 1960 K M Munshi To Restore Fundamental Rights Why Swatantra 1960 N G Ranga To Preserve Family Economy Why Swatantra 1960 Rediff On The NeT Rajmohan Gandhi on C Rajagopalachari and the birth of the Swatantra Party Revive the Swatantra Party Minoo Masani and the Swatantra Party Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Swatantra Party amp oldid 1164294869, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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