[Letter to Mr Minoo Masani]

Summary

A three-page typed letter from Lingaraj Mishra, Joint Secretary of the Swatantra Party’s Orissa Unit, to Minoo Masani in Bombay, sent from Camp Puri on 30 November 1976. Mishra thanks Masani for his blessings to the Puri District Conference of 14 November 1976 and reintroduces himself as a 1959 recruit who joined when the late Hemendranath Kanungo was organising the Party in Orissa, recalling that he had once obtained a jeep from the Bombay office for Ghashiram Majhi — the sole Swatantra candidate elected to the Orissa Assembly in 1961. He then narrates the collapse of the Party’s Orissa organisation: the 1962 merger with the Ganatantra Parisad, which he had opposed on the grounds that its ex-state rulers were self-interested; their 1967 coalition with Jana Congress; and their eventual dissolution of the Party and defection to the newly-formed B.L.D., taking the Party’s Press and its Oriya daily Swarajya with them. S. V. Raju, then Executive Secretary of the Party, is named as having been aware of these activities.

Mishra reports that a small band of workers under President Harihar Patel has nevertheless kept “the Swatantra Standard” flying through the Emergency, though most live almost below the poverty line and struggle for publicity. He outlines a revival programme built around Seminars and Symposia — with intellectuals like the retired Utkal University political scientist Sriram Chandra Das, the retired district judge Barodakanta Mishra, the ex-government advocate Madhabananda Das, and Sarata Chandra Mohapatra (convenor for the Forum of Free Enterprises in Orissa) agreeing to speak — plus a State Branch of the Democratic Research Service, fifty student and youth recruits being trained in “Democratic liberal ideologies”, and a Padajatra to carry Swatantra ideas to the masses and warn them of “the onslaught of the totalitarian rule”. The letter closes with the announcement that the Puri workers will observe Rajaji’s 98th birth anniversary on 8 December 1976 with a public meeting at Lion’s Gate, Puri, and prayers to Lord Jagannath, from which the Padajatra will begin; Masani is asked for a message and article for the commemorative Souvenir and for a meeting in Bombay in December, with future guidance routed through the General Secretary, Mr. Munshi.

Key points

• Letter from Lingaraj Mishra, Joint Secretary of the Swatantra Party’s Orissa Unit, written from Camp Puri on 30 November 1976 to Minoo Masani in Bombay following the Puri District Conference of 14 November 1976.
• Mishra dates his own party history to 1959 under Hemendranath Kanungo and recalls securing a jeep from the Bombay office for Ghashiram Majhi, the only Swatantra candidate elected to the Orissa Assembly in 1961.
• He records his opposition to the 1962 merger with the Ganatantra Parisad, the 1967 coalition with Jana Congress, and the eventual dissolution of the Orissa unit into the newly-formed B.L.D., which took the Party’s Press and its Oriya daily Swarajya with it; S. V. Raju is named as an aware witness.
• A rump under President Harihar Patel is reported to have kept the Swatantra flag flying through the Emergency despite most workers living almost below the poverty line and lacking publicity media.
• The revival plan combines Seminars and Symposia (with speakers including Sriram Chandra Das, Barodakanta Mishra, Madhabananda Das and Forum of Free Enterprises convenor Sarata Chandra Mohapatra), a proposed State Branch of the Democratic Research Service, and training for fifty students and youths in “Democratic liberal ideologies”.
• Mishra announces a Padajatra to propagate Swatantra ideas among the masses against “the onslaught of the totalitarian rule”, to be launched on 8 December 1976 at Lion’s Gate, Puri as part of a public meeting marking Rajaji’s 98th birth anniversary.
• The letter solicits from Masani a message and article for a commemorative Souvenir, a meeting in Bombay in December 1976, and continuing guidance routed through General Secretary Mr. Munshi.