[Letter to Mr Minoo Masani]

Summary

This one-page typed letter, dated 28 May 1976, is sent from the Swatantra Party’s National Head Quarters at 10-A, Flowers Road, Madras, and signed by V. S. Srikumar, Joint Secretary. It is addressed to M. R. Masani at 148, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Bombay. Srikumar reports on the party’s difficulty in convening a meeting of the National Executive and the National General Council: an earlier attempt to meet in Bombay had been abandoned because S. V. Raju was travelling abroad and would only return in the last week of May, and Girish Munshi was also out of Bombay. Srikumar now proposes to hold the meeting in Bombay during the second or third week of June, subject to Masani’s convenience and that of the party’s other Bombay friends.

Two substantive agenda items are named. The first is to state the party’s position on the “proposed drastic amendments to the already mutilated Constitution of our country” — a reference to the constitutional changes being pushed through during Indira Gandhi’s Emergency. The second is to take a decision on “the formation of a single democratic opposition party.” Srikumar tells Masani he also hopes to secure the advice of “Sri J.P” — Jayaprakash Narayan — on this question. The letter is brief but is a revealing organisational document from the Emergency months, capturing the Swatantra leadership’s attempt to coordinate both a constitutional response and the beginnings of opposition consolidation. Page 2 of the rendered PDF is the reverse of the aerogramme envelope showing the recipient’s address and Swatantra Party sender panel; it carries no additional letter text.

Key points

• Typed letter of 28 May 1976 from the Swatantra Party’s National Head Quarters in Madras (10-A, Flowers Road), signed by V. S. Srikumar as Joint Secretary and addressed to M. R. Masani in Bombay.
• Reports that an earlier attempt to convene the National Executive and National General Council in Bombay had been abandoned because S. V. Raju was travelling outside India until the last week of May and Girish Munshi was out of Bombay.
• Proposes to hold the postponed meeting in Bombay in the second or third week of June 1976, subject to Masani’s convenience and that of other ‘Bombay friends’.
• First stated agenda item: the meeting must express the party’s views on the ‘proposed drastic amendments to the already mutilated Constitution of our country’ — the Emergency-era constitutional changes.
• Second stated agenda item: to take a decision on ‘the formation of a single democratic opposition party’.
• Srikumar also intends to secure the advice of ‘Sri J.P’ (Jayaprakash Narayan) on the question of opposition consolidation.
• Page 2 of the rendered PDF is the reverse of the aerogramme envelope (recipient address panel and Swatantra Party sender panel with a Madras postal cancellation) and contains no additional letter text.