Swatantra Newsletter

Summary

This is the fourth issue of the Swatantra Newsletter, an internal circular issued by the Central Office of the Swatantra Party from 143 Mahatma Gandhi Road, Bombay, in February 1960. The bulk of the newsletter is a status report on party-building in the months following the party’s founding: the Central Organising Committee met at Bangalore on 5-7 February to finalise drafts of the Party’s Constitution and Statement of Policy ahead of the National Convention at Patna on 19-20 March, adopted a design for a five-pointed-star party flag, and passed a resolution on student participation that welcomes politically curious students to individual membership while opposing the formation of a Swatantra student wing on college campuses. A short note under ‘Chinese Aggression’ registers the Committee’s unease at reports of a Nehru-Chou En-lai meeting without prior fulfilment of India’s stated pre-conditions, and asks members to keep pressing the Hyderabad Resolution on national defence and closer coordination with South and Southeast Asian countries.

The remainder of the issue is a state-by-state chronicle of organisational activity through December 1959 and January 1960. Andhra reports rapid growth — district committees in eight districts, town committees in Vijayawada, Guntur, Tenali and elsewhere, over fifty lawyers in Tenali alone, and the crossing over of several veteran Congressmen and Kisan workers; a public meeting at Srikakulam is addressed by B. Ramachandra Reddy on ‘Land Reforms & Co-operative Farming’. Assam records a doubling of Shillong membership and a joint public meeting with the Eastern India Tribal Union M.P. Hoover Hynniewta on the Hill State demand. Bihar has organised twelve of seventeen districts and is preparing for the Patna convention. In Madras, Rajaji addresses the Madras City Hut Dwellers’ Conference of 1,000 slum delegates. Bombay reports Morarji R. Vaidya taking over as Chairman from M. R. Masani, a Republic Day flag-hoisting by K. M. Munshi, a Martyrs’ Day prayer meeting that mixed Vedic, Quranic, Avestan and Christian recitations, and the work of the Swatantra Service Centre’s civic, youth and legal-grievance bureaus. Orissa announces the launch of an Oriya-language party newspaper, Swatantra Samachar, edited by Shankar Saran; Uttar Pradesh runs a publicity camp at the Kartike Ganga Mela and prepares an Urdu weekly, ‘Swatantra Raj’. West Bengal reports new units across Calcutta and a Ranga address at the Indian Association Hall framing the Swatantra Party as another tree that must grow beyond the ‘Banyan tree’ of Nehruvian Congress dominance and reaffirming its commitment to independent peasant proprietorship over co-operative farming. The issue closes with Ranga’s homage at Netaji Bhavan and the West Bengal committee’s observance of Subhas Chandra Bose’s birthday.

Key points

• Central Organising Committee met at Bangalore on 5-7 February 1960 to finalise drafts of the Party Constitution and Statement of Policy for the Patna National Convention on 19-20 March.
• Party flag adopted: a five-pointed star on a sky-blue background, visible on both sides, in a 5:3 ratio.
• Student resolution welcomes individual student members but bars Swatantra from organising student groups on campuses, in the interest of ‘discipline’.
• On foreign policy, the Committee is uneasy at reports of a Nehru-Chou En-lai meeting without India’s pre-conditions being met, and reasserts the Hyderabad Resolution’s call for a South and Southeast Asian security grouping.
• Andhra shows the fastest growth — eight district committees, defections from Congress and Kisan ranks, and over fifty lawyers joining at Tenali.
• Rajaji addresses a 1,000-delegate ‘Madras City Hut Dwellers’ Conference’ demanding a realistic slum policy, signalling that the party wants to speak for ‘the neglected and impoverished’.
• In Bombay, Morarji R. Vaidya replaces M. R. Masani as Chairman; K. M. Munshi hoists the flag on Republic Day and speaks on Gandhi at a Martyrs’ Day inter-faith prayer meeting.
• Orissa launches a party newspaper (Swatantra Samachar) in Oriya; UP plans an Urdu weekly ‘Swatantra Raj’; West Bengal hears N. G. Ranga cast Swatantra as a rival tree to Nehru’s ‘Banyan under which nothing grows’, committed to independent peasant proprietorship against co-operative farming.