[Swatantra Party Minutes of Meeting]

Summary

These three pages record the 21 August 1959 meeting of the Swatantra Party’s Organising Committee for Greater Bombay, chaired by M. R. Masani. The committee confirmed the previous minutes, thanked J. M. Patel for supplying 10,000 membership forms, and appointed a sub-committee to select a full-time Executive Secretary. It also discussed multilingual membership forms, constituency organisation, enrolment centres, volunteer expenses, and a fixed one-rupee membership fee, with additional sums to be treated separately as donations.

The committee’s organisational programme included regular public meetings, training and briefing for prospective speakers, fund-raising, publicity, and the production of a convention handbook. It planned to establish a Labour Section to attract working-class support, approved weekly internal meetings and weekend seminars for organisers, and reviewed a bank balance of approximately Rs. 85,000, subject to outstanding cheques. The minutes also state that trade unions and groups could not affiliate as organisations, although their members were welcome to join individually. The final page records plans for a 2 October Gandhi Jayanti symposium on “The Life and Teachings of Gandhiji,” with Jayaprakash Narayan proposed as chairman or principal speaker.

Key points

• The Greater Bombay Organising Committee met on 21 August 1959 under the chairmanship of M. R. Masani.
• A sub-committee was appointed to select a full-time Executive Secretary with organisational, administrative, and publicity experience.
• The committee organised constituency volunteers and enrolment centres, and fixed the membership fee at one rupee.
• Membership and party-principle materials were planned in English/Hindi, English/Gujarati, and English/Marathi formats.
• Regular meetings, speaker training, fund-raising, publicity, and organiser seminars were treated as central party-building activities.
• A Labour Section was established to attract working-class support, with F. K. Karaka as convenor.
• The committee reported approximately Rs. 85,000 in the bank, less about Rs. 8,000 in uncashed cheques.
• The minutes conclude with arrangements for a Gandhi Jayanti symposium featuring Jayaprakash Narayan.