Swatantra party

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The Swatantra Party ( Sanskrit svatantra "free, self- sufficient , independent", Hindi स्वतंत्र पार्टी , English Swatantra Party ) was a political opposition party of the liberal - conservative right spectrum in India from 1959 to 1974 .

Foundation, election successes, political program

Swatantra was founded on June 4, 1959 as a split from the ruling Congress party . Politician C. Rajagopalachari (1878–1972), long-time employee of Mohandas K. Gandhi and first Indian Governor General, as well as NG Ranga (1900–1965) and MR Masani (1905–1998), who led the conservative Hindus around Rajagopalachari, the liberal bourgeoisie Masani and represented the agrarian wing of the Ranga movement, launched the party. On the part of the former administration of British India , the designer of the Indian unitary state, VP Menon , joined them.

As a coalition of urban big business, rural aristocracy and landowners, it won 18, 44 and 8 seats in the Indian lower house ( Lok Sabha ) in the elections of 1962, 1967 and 1971/2, despite the majority suffrage, which disadvantaged the smaller groups and thus temporarily to become the second strongest force after the Congress party . In the states of Bihar , Rajasthan , Gujarat and Orissa it also became the main opposition party in the elections that were held at the same time.

Swatantra was thus at the height of its activity the leading secular party of the right-wing opposition, which had a coherent overall program against the socialist course initiated by Nehru by the Congress Party and the government it provided.

Market economy versus state socialism

Swatantra opposed the increasing central planning and the five-year plans based on the Soviet model, the nationalization of key industries , the doctrine of freedom of association , the monopoly and foreclosure of certain imports for the purpose of self-sufficiency ( license-permit Raj ) and the collectivization of agriculture, as proposed by the Congress Party- Decision of Avadi 1955 was called for. She advocated investments from the West and emphasized that her party program was based on the Godesberg program of the SPD . According to the European understanding, Swatantra was more likely to be assigned to the liberal-democratic spectrum in terms of program and staff. In the area of ​​foreign and social policy, her program remained vague.

Pressed by their electoral successes, Nehru gave in, especially on the question of land reform, and corrected the left-wing spin of the Congress party.

"Princely Party" and decline

In the following years Swatantra was increasingly seen as the lobby of the princes and industrialists, although the party received less personal and financial support from this side than the Congress Party itself; Their sometimes landslide success - the majority vote made their actual share of the vote appear smaller than it really was - ironically, however, in 1970/71 that the overpowering ruling party removed the prince's privileges anchored in the constitution and during the period of emergency from 1975 to 1977 , ie Indira Gandhi's emergency government arrested the Swatantra MPs; even then, Swatantra spoke out against the all-powerful prime minister against the nationalization of banks.

After the death of its founder and leader Rajagopalachari at the age of 94 (1972), the party went into a multi-party group in 1974 due to financial weakness - adequate state funding was always on its agenda - and due to organizational and personnel deficiencies ( Bharatiya Lok Dal , BLD ). Until the end it was regarded as a refuge of high moral and intellectual standards, but it lacked attractiveness for the mass of voters. Your coalition policy at the state level, e.g. B. with the militant-nationalist Jana Sangh or the openly communalist Hindu Mahasabha , at times cast doubts about the party's course.

Election results

The following table shows the election results (seats won) in the all-India parliamentary elections.

year choice voting
share
Seats in parliament
1962 IndiaIndia Elected Lok Sabha in 1962 7.89%
18/494
1967 IndiaIndia Elected Lok Sabha in 1967 8.67%
44/520
1971 IndiaIndia Elected Lok Sabha in 1971 3.07%
8/518

Remarks

  1. ^ Election Results - Full Statistical Reports. Indian Election Commission, accessed on April 19, 2015 (English, election results of all Indian elections to the Lok Sabha and the parliaments of the states since independence).

literature

  • H [oward]. L [oyd]. Erdman: The Swatantra Party and Indian Conservativism . (Cambridge South Asian Studies 5). London: CUP 1967.
  • H [oward]. L [oyd]. Erdman: India's Swatantra Party . In: Public Affairs . Vol.36,4 (1963-64), pp. 394-410 - This is an outline of Erdman's dissertation published in 1967 as a book (see above) and is available for download at http: //www.indiapolicy.sabhlokcity. com / party / political.html s. u.
  • Paul R. Brass: The Politics of India since Independence . 2nd ed. (The New Cambridge History of India. Vol. IV, 1). Cambridge: CUP 1995 [EA 1990]. P. 82 f.
  • CR Narasimhan [i. e. Chakravarti Rajagopalachari]: Rajagopalachari. A biography . New Delhi: Radiant 1993. - CR Narasimhan (1909–1989) was the son of "Rajaji" and at times MP for the Congress Party and Swatantra.
  • Rajmohan Gandhi: Rajaji. A life . New Delhi: Penguin 1997. - The journalist and politician Rajmohan Gandhi (* 1935-) is a grandson of Gandhi and Rajagopalachari.
  • Motilal A. Jhangiani: Jana Sangh and Swatantra. A Profile of the Rightist Parties in India . Bombay: Manaktalas 1967.
  • V [asanti]. P [ratapchandra]. Rasam: Swatantra Party. A Political Biography . Nagpur: Dattsons 1997.
  • HR Pasricha: The Swatantra Party. Victory in Defeat . Mumbai: The Rajaji Foundation 2002.
  • S [ita]. R.A.M]. Sharma: Life and Works of Chakravarti Rajagopalachari . Jaipur: Book Enclave circa 2005 [title not verified]
  • AP Jain: Lawless Legislation: Why Swatantra Opposes the 17th Admendment? New Delhi: Swatantra 1963.
  • Minoo Masani : Against the Tide . New Delhi: Vikas 1981. - The author (1905–1998), a Parsi from Rajkot and one of the founding fathers of the Indian Republic, was 1950–1970 member of the Indian House of Commons ( Lok Sabha ) and ambassador to Brazil. With "Rajaji" and Ranga he founded and led the Swatantra party from 1959 to 1971 as its general secretary.
  • MR Masani: Congress Misrule and the Swatantra Alternative . Foreword by C. Rajagopalachari. Bombay: Manaktalas 1966.
  • Gayatri Devi: A Princess Remembers. The Memoirs of the Maharani of Jaipur, Gayatri Devi . New Delhi: Rupa 1995. - Gayatri Devi (1919–2009), Princess of Jaipur / Rajasthan , was represented as a Swatantra candidate three times in the Lokh Sabha and regularly defeated her rival Nehru in her constituency.

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