COMMITTEE TO REVIEW PARTY POLICIES

Summary

This confidential 1971 Swatantra Party questionnaire was issued by its Committee to Review Party Policies after the party’s poor performance in the 1971 general elections. The document records two explanations discussed at the party’s General Council: that the party’s alliance with the Jan Sangh and Congress(O) had damaged its image and minority support, and that its own lack of mass appeal—especially its inability to counter its image as a “richman’s party” and its emphasis on corporate taxation and business interests—had contributed to defeat. The committee was appointed to reconsider the party’s 1960 Statement of Policy and solicit views on revisions suited to contemporary conditions.

The questionnaire asks members to respond in their state language and to represent rank-and-file as well as affluent members’ views. Its substantive sections cover agriculture, cooperatives, panchayats, industry, labour, and general policy. The agricultural questions address the reach of Green Revolution benefits, land ceilings, land distribution to harijans and landless labourers, procurement, agricultural wages, tenancy, rural indebtedness, land revenue, agricultural income tax, and possible corporate farming to address crop shortages. The industry section probes the party’s relationship to private and public sectors, competition, professional management, profiteering and adulteration, business’s social responsibilities, and worker training; the labour section asks about trade-union organisation, recognition, arbitration, profit sharing, company welfare obligations, and managerial injustice. The document ends by inviting point-by-point revision of the party’s 1959 Statement of Principles and 1960 Statement of Policy, as well as additional issues not covered by the questionnaire.

Key points

• The questionnaire follows the Swatantra Party’s poor 1971 electoral performance and the General Council’s discussion of its causes.
• It presents alliance politics and weak mass appeal as competing explanations for the party’s defeat.
• The committee seeks revisions to policy statements adopted in 1959 and 1960.
• Agricultural questions focus on land reform, rural labour, procurement, indebtedness, taxation, and crop shortages.
• Cooperatives and panchayats are assessed for their contribution to rural production and village uplift.
• Industry questions test the party’s position on private-sector support, public-sector competition, regulation, and management.
• Labour questions address trade unions, collective bargaining, arbitration, profit sharing, welfare, and workers’ rights.
• Members are invited to consult rank-and-file party opinion and propose issues beyond the questionnaire.