Problems Of Developing An Opposition In India

Commemorating S.V. Raju’s 84th birth anniversary, Centre for Civil Society presents a series of selected essays from our archives, in an effort to reignite the spirit of liberty he so ardently advocated.

We conclude our honorary series on S V Raju with an essay which delves into a significant portion of his service to the idea of liberty: his tenure as the Executive Secretary of the Swatantra Party, founded by C. Rajagopalachari, Minoo Masani and N. G. Ranga, among other liberal stalwarts. This essay is an excerpt from a chapter authored by Raju for a compilation edited by S. P Aiyar titled ‘Studies in Indian Democracy’. Raju considers why Swatantra Party did not succeed, and eventually dissolved and how its brief but remarkable life is emblematic of larger malaises which plague Indian democracy.

After seventeen years of freedom, India today does not possess an opposition in the sense in which it is understood in the West. Why is this so? What are the difficulties in the way of such an opposition emerging? Will it at all emerge in the background of Indian traditions? These and many other questions come to one’s mind when dealing with this subject.

What exactly do we mean by the word ‘Opposition’? For a fruitful discussion it would perhaps be worthwhile to begin with a clear understanding of its usage.

As the term is used here, ‘Opposition’, signifies an organized group which:

a) Offers constructive criticism of government policies while subscribing to democratic values and practices;

b) Is in a position to provide alternative policies to those of the party in power;

c) Has the necessary influence and organizational strength both at the State and National levels to make its presence felt in the political life of the country; and

d) Has competent and clean leadership which not only presents a superior image but has the capacity to assume the reins of power when called upon by the electorate to do so.

Used in this sense it becomes immediately apparent that not one of the opposition parties in the country can lay claims to being a genuine ‘Opposition’.

Being intimately concerned with the fortunes and future of a recently formed opposition party, the writer hopes to throw some light on the difficulties that lie in the way of its development. Therefore this paper is largely empirical and lays no claim to being a theoretical analysis. The problems outlined here are the problems faced by the Swatantra Party since its formation in late 1959

The very first problem is the size of the country and the many difficulties that rise consequentially in terms of resources. In the first few months after its formation, the party was able to establish branches in many States of India. Many people who came to man party committees were people who never been in a political party before. A few others were persons who had been with the ruling Indian National Congress and had resigned for various reasons. But both the novices and the experienced soon found that enthusiasm though a vital factor was not too much use unless reinforced by resources.

Ideologically speaking, Swatantra Party was very different from the party in power and other democratic political parties on the scene. While the majority of Indian Political Parties paid at least ‘lip sympathy’ to socialism, the Swatantra Party was perhaps the first to criticize and question the validity of that creed. At a time when the formulation of assumptions of the Five Year Plans, directed by the Planning Commission, were considered unexceptionable, the Swatantra Party expressed itself against centralized planning. When it was considered that any party worth its salt had to take a stand, Swatantra Party allowed freedom of expression to its members on such questions on the ground that such issues were matters of individual opinion. When, by and large, our foreign policy of non-alignment was accepted uncritically by almost all political parties, the Swatantra Party bluntly expressed its view that non-alignment had proved to be an unmitigated failure. Thus in every major aspect of Indian policy the Swatantra Party had a view radically different from that of parties already in existence.

Basically therefore, the Swatantra Party’s appeal was to the intelligentsia of this country. In fact its foundation was a result of ideological differences with the Congress Party’s policy of cooperative farming, as adumbrated in their Nagpur resolution.

The fact remains that the party was able to make greater headway in the rural rather than in urban areas. Why was this so? Primarily because the party far from advocating any radical philosophy which would appeal to the emotions of the city of the town-dweller, spoke a sober middle-of the-road, liberal language. Another reason was the tremendous opposition aroused to the Swatantra Party’s disavow of what were considered to be accepted truths. The media of mass communication played their role to the disadvantage of the new party and the labels attached to it by eminent spokesman of other parties, particularly by the late Prime Minister himself, made the problems of the Swatantra Party doubly difficult.

The question that may rightly be asked is: ‘The majority of the Indian people live in the countryside. If the urban intelligentsias are not prepared to listen to its view why could not the Party have emerged in the strength with rural support?’

This brings us to problem of what the General Secretary of the Swatantra Party described as the absence of a ‘conveyer-belt’? The ‘conveyer-belt’ referred to was an army of dedicated party workers who could carry the party’s message down to the grass-roots level. Adherence to a party’s principles is easily obtained if it is an appeal to emotional sentiments of communalism or class-warfare. When the Swatantra Party eschewed both, by expressing its faith in secularism and denying the need for class-warfare in solving society’s problems, it lost at the same time, adherents and workers who could be moved by emotionalism. Moreover, it is a sad fact of politics in post-Independence India that workers for a cause are available only for a price. The price varies from place to place and from individual to individual but it is always present to a greater or lesser degree. It has been easy for the ruling Congress Party to find workers because it has both the financial resources and the power patronage. A worker belonging to the ruling party can always ‘get things done’. Unfortunately for the Swatantra Party it has neither the financial resources (the widespread notion that it is a ‘rich-man’s party’ notwithstanding) nor does it have power. Therefore, it becomes exceedingly difficult for the party to attract loyal, dedicated workers unless it is willing to pay the price.

Whenever the party anywhere in the country launched a membership campaign, it found the worker who enrolled members simultaneously presented a bill of expenses which more often than not exceeded the actual amount collected by way of membership subscription!

Ironically enough, though he Swatantra Party pleaded for a mixed economy underlined by the statement that ‘The business of the State is not business but government,’, businessmen, by and large, have not come out in numbers big enough to assist a party by which believes that the free enterprise should be given every encouragement. In fact, as recently as February 1964, the General Secretary of the Swatantra Party in his Report to the Party’s Third National Convention said:

‘…the supine and cowardly attitude of the larger part of Big Business in India which, aside from a few honorable exceptions who practice enlightened free enterprise, continues to turn its back on a party that stands for a way of life which free enterprise can flourish, which lavishing its financial support on the ruling party which is progressively engaged in destroying a free economy.

‘All one can do is to deplore the fact that fear of reprisals from those in office under a highly controlled economy and the shortsightedness of those who wish to make a quick rupee through obtaining permits and licenses should thus combine with an inadequate awareness of the need to make sacrifices for the way of life in which one believes…,’

The ‘Permit-License-Quota-Raj’ has made it extremely difficult if not impossible to organize an opposition party in this country. Even where a business house donates to the Swatantra Party it insures itself against the wrath of the party in power by donating to the latter, twice the amount.

Another reason for the party’s inability to raise a cadre of workers arises from the fundamental position it has taken with regard to students and labour. The Party’s Statement of Policy adopted at Patna in March 1960 ruled out its participation among students and labour. The Statement of Policy while dealing with matters of education stated: ‘The Party is of the view that in free India, while students even before graduation should acquire some knowledge of the various trends in political thought, they should, while engaged in college life, abstain from active participation in the furtherance of any political party. Whatever other parties may be doing, the Swatantra Party is of the view that there should be no encouragement given to the division of students into groups related to the political parties of the country although they may be free to express their views in their own college unions.’

Dealing with Labour, the Swatantra Party emphatically asserted its determination not to mix politics with labour. It said: ‘Being opposed to the domination of trade unions by political parties, the Swatantra Party will not join the race established control over trade unions, though its members will be always ready to help in all possible ways.’

Thus with the major source of recruits for its cadre locked out through this ‘self-denying ordinance’, with a philosophy and outlook devoid of appeals to the emotion, with inadequate financial resources available from those with the means to give, is it any surprise that the Swatantra Party has had to face an herculean task in developing that ‘conveyer-belt’, its General Secretary talked about?

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