Swatantra Newsletter

Summary

Swatantra Newsletter No. 3, issued by the Central Office of the newly founded Swatantra Party from Bombay in January 1960, is an internal bulletin whose declared purpose is to keep ‘active members, organisers, regional and other Party Offices’ informed of the Party’s rapid growth ‘from the grassroots upwards.’ The opening pages describe the Hyderabad meetings of the Central Organising Committee and General Council (8-10 December 1959), the shift of the Party’s headquarters from Madras to Bombay’s 143 Mahatma Gandhi Road, and the decision to hold the first National Convention at Patna on 19-20 March 1960 at the invitation of the Bihar State Swatantra Party.

The bulk of the issue is a state-by-state tour of organisational activity in Andhra, Assam, Bihar, Bombay, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madras, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan and West Bengal. The reports foreground three arguments the Party is pressing in this founding moment: it is enrolling members and forming Taluka, District and Ward committees at speed (Bihar reports 47,000 members against a one-lakh target by 31 January 1960; the merger of the Bihar Jan Congress with the Swatantra Party is treated as a major coup); it is entering popular agitation as an opposition force (the Bombay unit’s ‘Citizens’ Committee’ campaign against the BEST bus and tram fare hike, and the ‘free lift’ service run during the BEST strike); and it is prosecuting an intellectual case against Nehruvian socialism through pamphlets like ‘Who Is Outdated?’ — which draws a comparison with the West German Social Democrats — and the first booklet in a new series, ‘Towards Doom’, that collates Rajaji’s speeches against the claim that India would be ‘doomed’ without socialist planning.

The Madras chapter records Rajaji’s slogan ‘Protect Farm and Family’, his exhortation that it was ‘the sacred duty of citizens to join the Party and fight the “Adharma” of the Government’, and public meetings in Tanjore, Trichinopoly, Tirunelveli, Ramnad and Coimbatore that drew crowds ranging from tens of thousands to over a lakh. Prof. M. Ruthnaswamy’s presidential address at Coimbatore is summarised as a rebuttal of the Planning Commission’s cooperative farming resolution, arguing that Indian society has progressed ‘from the age of Village Communities and the Joint Family to the age of the Individual Proprietor and the Individual family.’ The issue closes with ‘Annexure A’, the General Council’s draft resolution on National Defence — adopted nem con — which welcomes Parliament’s firm response to Chinese aggression, declares that ‘the concept of non-alignment has little meaning’ once territorial integrity has been violated, and lists four security measures including settlement with Pakistan and vigilance against ‘infiltration and fifth-column activities.‘

Key points

• Newsletter is the Central Office’s monthly instrument for coordinating the newly founded Swatantra Party’s grassroots organisation across 11 states.
• Central Office has moved from Madras to Bombay (143 Mahatma Gandhi Road) following the Hyderabad meetings of 8-10 December 1959; first National Convention set for Patna, 19-20 March 1960.
• Bihar Jan Congress has merged with the Swatantra Party, adding MLAs and MLCs; Bihar reports 47,000 enrolled members against a one-lakh target by 31 January 1960.
• The Bombay unit is combining service work (a ‘free lift’ service during the BEST strike, a Citizens’ Committee against the fare hike) with polemical publishing — pamphlets ‘Who Is Outdated?’ and ‘Towards Doom’ target the Nehru government’s socialism.
• In Madras, Rajaji is the animating figure: his ‘Protect Farm and Family’ slogan, huge public meetings (over a lakh at Tirunelveli), and Prof. M. Ruthnaswamy’s Coimbatore address debunking the Planning Commission’s cooperative farming plan.
• Reports across Punjab, Rajasthan, Orissa and West Bengal record ad hoc committees being formed, sitting legislators (Rajasthan) crossing over, and study circles among Calcutta students and teachers.
• Annexure A is a General Council resolution on National Defence adopted nem con: it declares non-alignment meaningless once territory is occupied, and calls for settlement with Pakistan (including the joint-defence offer), coordinated South and South-east Asian security, vigilance against infiltration, and an end to ‘ideological adventures in domestic policy.’