For favour of publication

Summary

This one-page press note, dated Bombay, October 25, 1962, reports remarks by M. R. Masani, General Secretary of the Swatantra Party. Masani proposes that the Party encourage commercial and trade organisations and other voluntary associations to establish non-official vigilance organisations to monitor black marketing, hoarding, profiteering, and related anti-social economic activity. He recalls having suggested a non-official Ombudsman for the free sector of the economy in Ahmedabad the previous July.

The note also sets out Masani’s position on opposition conduct during wartime: opposition parties should give full support to the war effort while retaining the right to criticise government policies that harm national defence or the national interest. Turning to the 1962 conflict with China, he argues that India’s armed forces were being asked to fight with inadequate arms and equipment, criticises the Congress Government’s diplomatic policy toward Peking, and objects to supporting the admission of the Chinese Communist Government to the United Nations. The document is marked “Not for publication” near the signature despite its publication-oriented heading.

Key points

• Masani proposes non-official vigilance organisations to combat black marketing, hoarding, profiteering, and related economic abuses.
• He links the proposed vigilance bodies to commercial and trade organisations and other voluntary associations.
• He argues that democratic opposition should support the war effort while continuing to criticise policies damaging national defence or the national interest.
• He presents the wartime conduct of the British Labour opposition as a precedent for conditional cooperation.
• He claims that Indian forces were fighting China with inadequate arms and equipment.
• He criticises the Congress Government’s refusal to sever diplomatic relations with Peking and its reported support for Chinese Communist representation at the United Nations.
• The note presents these views as remarks made by Masani while serving as General Secretary of the Swatantra Party.