The Swatantra Party () was an Indian classical liberal political party that existed from 1959 to 1974. It was founded by C. Rajagopalachari in reaction to what he felt was the increasingly socialist and statist outlook of the ruling Indian National Congress government under prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

The party had a number of distinguished leaders, most of them old Congress leaders, like C. Rajagopalachari, Minoo Masani, N. G. Ranga, Darshan Singh Pheruman, Udham Singh Nagoke, and K. M. Munshi.

Swatantra stood for a market-based economy and the dismantling of the "Licence Raj" although it opposed laissez-faire policies. Nehru was highly critical of Swatantra and dubbed it as belonging to "the middle ages of lords, castles, and zamindars".

History

<gallery widths="150" heights="150" mode="nolines">

File:Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari.jpg|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.

File:NG Ranga 2001 stamp of India.jpg|N. G. Ranga was the founder member of the Swatantra Party and its president for several years.

File:Maharani-gayatri-devi.jpg|Gayatri Devi, the Maharani of Jaipur and princess of Cooch Behar, was a successful politician in the Swatantra Party.

File:bezawada ramachandra reddy.jpg|Bezawada Ramachandra Reddy was the founder member of the Swatantra Party.

</gallery>

In Parliament

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

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

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.

{| class="wikitable"

|- style="background-color: #eee;"

! Year ||data-sort-type="text" |Election || Popular-<br/>vote ||Seats

|-

| 1962 ||data-sort-value="1962 Indian general election"|1962 Indian general election|| style="text-align:right"|7.9 % ||data-sort-value="18"|

|-

| 1967 ||data-sort-value="1962 Indian general election"|1967 Indian general election|| style="text-align:right"|8.7 % ||data-sort-value="44"|

|-

| 1971 ||data-sort-value="1962 Indian general election"|1971 Indian general election|| style="text-align:right"|3.1 % ||data-sort-value="8"|

|}

State legislative assembly elections

Odisha

{| class="wikitable"

|+Source:

|- style="background-color: #eee;"

! rowspan="2" | Year || rowspan="2" data-sort-type="text" |Election || colspan="2" | Popular-<br />vote

! rowspan="2" |Seats contested || rowspan="2" |Seats

|-

!Votes

!%

|-

| 1967 || data-sort-value="1962 Indian general election" |1967 Orissa Legislative Assembly election|| style="text-align:right" |909,421

|22.58%

|<div style="text-align:center;">101</div>|| data-sort-value="44" |

|-

| 1971 || data-sort-value="1962 Indian general election" |1971 Orissa Legislative Assembly election|| style="text-align:right" |767,815

|17.44%

|<div style="text-align:center;">115</div>|| data-sort-value="8" |

|-

|1974

|1974 Orissa Legislative Assembly election

|694,473

|12.08%

|<div style="text-align:center;">56</div>

|

|}

Rajasthan

{| class="wikitable"

! rowspan="2" |Year

! rowspan="2" |Election

! colspan="2" |Popular-

vote

! rowspan="2" |Seats contested

! rowspan="2" |Seats

|-

!Votes

!%

|-

|1962

|1962 Rajasthan Legislative Assembly election

|878,056

|17.11%

|93

|

|-

|1967

|1967 Rajasthan Legislative Assembly election

|1,493,018

|22.10%

|107

|

|-

|1972

|1972 Rajasthan Legislative Assembly election

|958,097

|12.32%

|119

|

|}

Bihar

In Bihar state assembly election 1962, party won at 50 seats.

Ideology

The Uttar Pradesh Praja Party was a political party in Uttar Pradesh, India. The party represented interests of zamindars (land owners), and contested the elections of 1951–52. The party was formed to oppose the Indian National Congress policy of abolition of the zamindari system.

Fundamental principles

The Swatantra Party committed to social justice and equality of opportunity of all people "without distinction of religion, caste, occupation, or political affiliation".

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.

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.

Decline and legacy

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. By 1971, the Swatantra party had disintegrated due to infighting and changed political scenarios. 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. Moreover, big business houses like Birla benefitted from the protectionist aspects of the Nehruvian state and didn't see Swatantra policies as being advantageous.<br>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.

See also

  • Piloo Mody
  • S. V. Raju
  • V. P. Menon
  • H. Ajmal Khan
  • Venkatesh Geriti
  • Indian National Congress breakaway parties
  • R. C. Cooper

References

Sources

  • Bipan 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.&nbsp;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.
  • 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
  • Revive the Swatantra Party
  • Minoo Masani and the Swatantra Party