The Indian Libertarian

Summary

This September 1, 1963 issue (Vol. XI No. 11) of The Indian Libertarian, the Bombay classical-liberal fortnightly edited by D. M. Kulkarni, is dominated by Congress-party politics and the crisis of one-man rule. Its editorial argues that only ‘de-Nehruization’ can save India; M. A. Venkata Rao analyses the relationship of party and government; M. N. Tholal dissects the Congress’s reorganisation muddle; and a Delhi Letter profiles the socialist firebrand Ram Manohar Lohia. Shorter pieces report on life in East Berlin, Rajaji’s ‘Permit-Licence-Yug’ critique of controls, a review of Ernest Barker on government, and a column on the persistence of Stalinism. The issue’s argumentative center is a liberal critique of personalised, over-centralised Congress rule and the permit-licence economy.

Essays

Editorial: Only De-Nehruization Will Save India

The editorial ‘Only De-Nehruization Will Save India’ argues that the concentration of power around Nehru and his hand-picked lieutenants has hollowed out the Congress organisation and Indian governance. It surveys the ‘sinister implications’ of the Kamaraj Plan and resignations, contending that genuine renewal requires dismantling Nehru’s personalised control rather than reshuffling ministers, and links the crisis to the wider failure of socialist planning.

• Argues India’s malaise stems from over-centralised, personalised Nehru rule.
• Reads the Kamaraj Plan and resignations as symptoms, not cures.
• Calls for ‘de-Nehruization’ as the real path to renewal.
• Connects the political crisis to the failure of socialist planning.
• Signed editorially ‘D. M. Kulkarni’ at its close.

Party And Government

By MA Venkata Rao

M. A. Venkata Rao’s ‘Party And Government’, occasioned by the Kamaraj Plan and the relationship between Congress chief ministers and the central organisation, examines how the fusion of ruling party and State apparatus corrupts both. He argues that when a single party monopolises government, the machinery of office becomes an instrument of patronage and power rather than service, and that liberal constitutional norms require a clear separation of party from government.

• Prompted by the Kamaraj Plan and the role of Congress chief ministers.
• Argues the fusion of party and government breeds patronage and corruption.
• Defends a clear separation of party from the machinery of the State.
• Treats one-party dominance as a structural danger to liberty.

Congress Cart Before The Congress Horse

By M. N. Tholal

M. N. Tholal’s ‘Congress Cart Before The Congress Horse’ responds to K. Kamaraj’s proposal, taken up by the AICC, that senior leaders quit office for organisational work. Tholal argues the scheme inverts the proper relationship between party and government, treats a loosely drafted resolution as a remedy for deeper rot, and amounts to a reshuffle that leaves the underlying concentration of power untouched.

• Responds to Kamaraj’s resignation proposal adopted by the AICC.
• Argues the plan puts the party ‘cart’ before the government ‘horse’.
• Criticises the resolution as loosely drafted and evasive.
• Sees the move as cosmetic, leaving real power concentration intact.

How They Live In East Berlin / Permit-Licence-Yug

By C. Rajagopalachari

Page 10 carries two short pieces: ‘How They Live In East Berlin’, a reportage sketch contrasting the regimented scarcity of the Communist East with the West, and ‘Permit-Licence-Yug’ by C. Rajagopalachari, his signature attack on the controls-and-permits regime of the Indian planned economy. Rajaji’s column frames the licence-permit system as the defining affliction of the age, stifling enterprise and breeding corruption.

• Pairs a sketch of regimented life in East Berlin with Rajaji’s controls critique.
• Rajagopalachari coins/uses ‘Permit-Licence-Yug’ for the era of economic controls.
• Casts the permit-licence regime as a source of corruption and stagnation.
• Implicitly contrasts free enterprise with Communist scarcity.

Delhi Letter: Lohia, The Lion-hearted

The Delhi Letter, ‘Lohia, The Lion-hearted’, profiles the socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia and his combative parliamentary style, set against Prime Minister Nehru. The correspondent recounts clashes in Parliament over reorganisation and policy, and uses Lohia’s fearless opposition to highlight the want of effective challenge to Congress dominance, while noting Lohia’s own ideological excesses.

• Profiles Ram Manohar Lohia as a fearless parliamentary opponent.
• Stages Lohia against Nehru in Lok Sabha exchanges.
• Uses Lohia to underline the weakness of opposition to Congress.
• Notes Lohia’s ideological excesses alongside his courage.

Book Review

The Book Review covers Ernest Barker’s ‘Reflections on Government’ (Oxford), a study of representative and constitutional government. The reviewer treats Barker’s work as a liberal account of how free institutions translate the mind of the nation into political action, aligning it with the journal’s constitutionalist outlook.

• Reviews Ernest Barker’s ‘Reflections on Government’ (Oxford).
• Frames it as a liberal study of representative, constitutional government.
• Aligns Barker’s argument with the journal’s constitutionalism.

The Mind Of The Nation

‘The Mind Of The Nation’, subtitled ‘Stalinism Still Remains’, argues that despite formal de-Stalinisation the underlying apparatus and habits of Stalinist rule persist in the Communist world. The column reads ongoing repression as evidence that the system, not merely the man, was the problem.

• Argues Stalinism outlived Stalin and formal de-Stalinisation.
• Locates the problem in the system rather than the individual.
• Treats persisting repression as proof of structural continuity.

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