[Letter to P Rangaswami]

Summary

This handwritten letter, dated 24 September 1974 and addressed to P. Rengaswami, reflects on a recent exchange with Piloo Mody about the Swatantra Party’s dissolution and merger. The writer says that Mody’s position is best understood as “pragmatism,” rather than the “politics of frustration” the writer had initially attributed to him. Although retaining reservations, the writer accepts much of Mody’s argument that the Bharatiya Lok Dal offered the only practical alternative to a fragmented opposition and might gather disparate opposition parties under a common programme.

The letter is also sharply critical of efforts to revive the Swatantra Party at the national level, calling the Tamil Nadu unit’s decision to retain its identity and rebuild the organisation a desperate move likely to fail. It criticises the party’s alliance with figures whose conduct, in the writer’s view, violated the moral standards expected of Swatantra. The writer urges Rengaswami to return to Parliament as an independent and expresses concern about political apathy, hypocrisy, and the country’s future. The pages end with an invitation to meet representatives of the Indian Liberal Group.

Key points

• The writer thanks Rengaswami for responding to an earlier letter and describes a meeting with Piloo Mody on 25 August 1974.
• Mody’s defence of the Swatantra Party’s dissolution and merger is reinterpreted as pragmatism rather than frustration.
• The Bharatiya Lok Dal is presented as the only viable alternative to a fragmented opposition and as a possible common platform for opposition parties.
• The attempt by the Tamil Nadu unit to preserve Swatantra’s identity and revive it nationally is dismissed as desperate and likely to fail.
• The writer understands Rengaswami’s moral objection to the Bharatiya Lok Dal’s alliances but questions whether political purity is sufficient in contemporary politics.
• The letter criticises political apathy and hypocrisy, urges Rengaswami to contest the next election as an independent, and mentions a proposed meeting with the Indian Liberal Group.