Swatantra Newsletter

Summary

The March–April 1966 issue of Swatantra Newsletter presents the Swatantra Party’s campaign against what it calls excessive taxation, inflation, food controls, and expanding state intervention. It reports nationwide demonstrations held on 20 February as “Anti-Excessive Taxation Day,” party resolutions demanding reductions in excise duties and land levies, opposition to the Gold Control Act and grain-movement restrictions, and campaigns against compulsory paddy procurement. The issue also documents the party’s preparations for elections, efforts to coordinate non-Communist opposition parties, disciplinary action against nine U.P. legislators, and the training of volunteer leaders.

The issue combines political reporting with practical accounts of party activism, including the Bombay unit’s collection of discarded wheat, campaigns to cover open gutters, and extensive meetings and processions by state units. Its longer economic material attacks the 1966–67 Union Budget for increasing indirect and direct taxation while failing to encourage production, saving, investment, or capital-market recovery. Reproduced speeches by N. Dandekar, R. C. Cooper, and C. R. Irani argue for lower and more rational taxation, restraint of public expenditure, stronger incentives for private investment, and policies aimed at stabilising prices. The issue also includes Minoo Masani’s criticism of Soviet influence and Communist strategy, and a closing editorial defence of the party’s claim to be “a Party with a Difference.”