Swarajya, March 10, 1962
Between ourselves, honest voter, these private monopolies created by the pernicious system of permits, licences, quotas and controls (to be extended now even to foreign capital which voluntarily comes into the private sector) make the Congress Party's rich friends richer, and the poor poorer. It is a close conspiracy; we have a battle between money and liberty, between dharma and atheism, between freedom and communism clothed in Congress robes.
Although the Swatantra Party has not fared as well as had been hoped for in some places, and very badly indeed in some others particularly in Madras, some figures, taken not at random but with a view to bringing out a particular point, call for consideration. Reflection on these figures would bring out the fact that the general results as to seats lost or won may mislead. All is not so well with the Congress as it may appear on merely reading the ‘score-boards’ in the papers. With the tremendous backing of official power, party organization, prestige, money, and last but not least, seasoned election-managers, and the casting aside of scruples in the business of securing votes, all these ranged in favour of the ruling party against the only two-and-half-year old Swatantra Party with no powers derived from office and with little money—and the Prime Minister training all his guns upon it all the time—it may be useful to reflect upon the relative position in the following Lok Sabha contests:
Melur Congress 1,55,629 Ramnad Congress 1,45,396
Swatantra 1,42,710 Swatantra 1,14,513
Tindivanam Congress 1,32,330 Kavali Congress 1,67,031
Swatantra 1,18,033 Swatantra 1,39,068
Tirunelveli Congress 1,51,822 Chittoor Congress 1,30,026
Swatantra 1,29,803 Swatantra 1,06,062
Karur Congress 1,39,385 Anakapalli Congress 96,985
Swatantra 1,00,229 Swatantra 92,399
Gulbarga Congress 92,399
Swatantra 84,326
Nearly three lakh votes were cast in each of these nine constituencies for election to Parliament, and it is seen that less than ten per cent made the difference between Congress and Swatantra candidates for election to Parliament. These are cases where the Congress has won. There are places where Swatantra has won, which stilt further emphasizes the point.
The Congress which set up candidates for all the 206 seats in the Madras State Assembly obtained 57 lakh votes—46 per cent of the votes polled. The Swatantra Party which, for lack of funds, contested only a hundred seats (including the Forward Bloc candidates) secured nearly twelve lakh votes. Considering all the circumstances, particularly the fact that in Madras the resentment against the Congress found its expression in a ready-made channel, in greatly increased support to the D.M.K. which had been fighting the local Congress for many years past, the twelve lakh votes cast in the Assembly elections in a single State against the Permit-Licence-Raj must make wise men think.
The total number that polled respectively for Congress and for Swatantra in the Parliamentary constituencies that the Swatantra Party contested in Madras are:
Congress 24,64,837
Swatantra 14,76,296
That nearly 15 lakh voters cast their votes against Permit-Licence-Raj in the Parliamentary elections reinforces the point made above.
The Congress has won most seats but the voting trend certainly indicates the need for introspection in those who are in authority by licence and not by divine right.
