[letter from Mr Girish Munshi]

Summary

This four-page Swatantra Party General Secretary’s Circular No. 322, dated 1 May 1975, reviews the party’s response to the opposition movement led by Jayaprakash Narayan. It argues that an immediate merger of non-Congress (R) and non-communist parties was premature, while supporting a federated arrangement in which constituent parties retained their identities and cooperated around a common programme. The circular presents the Jayaprakash movement as a democratic alternative to the concentration of power, corruption, nepotism, and repression attributed to the contemporary administration.

Key points

• The circular recalls Minoo Masani’s criticism of parliamentary ineffectiveness and excessive concentration of power in the Prime Minister’s hands.
• It endorses Jayaprakash Narayan’s leadership of the non-Congress and non-communist opposition and urges Swatantra Party members to support his movement.
• It distinguishes a federal coordination of opposition parties from an immediate single-party merger.
• It associates Jayaprakash Narayan’s programme with Sarvodaya, moral values in public life, a peaceful and comprehensive total revolution, popular resistance to an oppressive state, and preservation of fundamental rights.
• It records party decisions on electoral reform, voter-roll preparation, food production, industrial controls, and support for the National Coordination Committee.
• It reports efforts to revive Swatantra Party organisation in Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu.
• The circular closes by calling for renewed grassroots activity and expressing confidence in the party’s gradual revival.