WHY I TOOK TO POLITICS

Summary

In this 1965 address to the Rotary Club of Patiala, Charanjit Rai explains why a businessman who had previously stayed outside active politics decided to join the Opposition. He recalls the hopes surrounding independence, followed by his disappointment with the Congress’s departure from Gandhi’s principles of trusteeship and faith in the people. Rai argues that expanding bureaucratic control diminished individual initiative, encouraged corruption, and placed trade and industry under damaging restrictions.

Key points

• Rai begins from the contrast between Aristotle’s description of human beings as political animals and the reluctance of Indian business people to enter politics.
• He recalls observing the independence movement as a college student but says he did not participate actively in the political struggle.
• The post-independence Congress government is presented as having moved away from Gandhi’s ideals of trusteeship and trust in ordinary people.
• Rai criticises bureaucratic interference in trade and industry, arguing that it reduced initiative and contributed to corruption.
• The Russian-influenced Five-Year Plans are criticised for prioritising expenditure and state control over economic wisdom, competition, and consumer welfare.
• He highlights indirect taxation as a burden on ordinary people, citing excise duties on sugar, kerosene, and cloth.
• Rai connects economic controls and taxation with a wider threat to individual liberty, democracy, and freedom of action.
• He says these convictions led him to join the Swatantra Party, whose principles he regarded as consistent with Gandhian liberalism.