Freedom Within Parties

We can take for granted that the rule of one nation over another has ended in this world and that every country is now concerned only with her own affairs, and how best to run her government. The chief and perhaps the only issue now in every country is how to secure good, honest, just and stable administration, a government that is concerned with the public interest and not with the interests, the prestige, influence or the longevity of any particular party.

     How can this kind of administration be secured? We have no hereditary monarch or benevolent dictator, with army or household guards to support and keep him in power. We have democracy. How can democracy yield this good, just, diligent and impartial administration which the people want? Political parties are necessary to oppose one another and keep watching and criticizing, so that good government and the wise decisions necessary for it may issue. We must evolve a majority party which will leave things to a neutral administrative machinery, and not seek to use the administration and its officials for its own advantage. Needless to say, we require, in the first place, an administrative machine which is devoted to its work, pledged to justice and fairplay and habituated to do it, and which has; the courage to stand up to all party. tricks and intimidations We must, in the second place, have political parties which are keen to watch and criticize policies but which will not when in power interfere with the administration any more than one would tamper with the prescriptions of a doctor who deals with a patients' illness.

     We want political parties founded on definite principles and slants of approach but which will not make a clique or a conspiracy of political association.

     We do not want any party in charge of government for a time to disturb the order of things simply for change's sake, but, on the other hand, will do so courageously when what is sought to be done away with has been proved to be an evil, and only then. We want discussion and Opposition to be based on conviction and sincere feeling, and not merely tactical strategy based upon block votes under quasi-military discipline. The members of political parties should, therefore, be free in the real sense of the term and not pledged to act under what is called party discipline in every matter. It is only under these conditions that the usefulness of Opposition parties will be a reality.

     The Swatantra Party has definitely guaranteed freedom for all its members in every respect, except the basic principles on which the party has been constituted. And these basic principles may be briefly described as the restoration of the fundamental rights of citizens guaranteed in the original Constitution adopted by India in 1950, which have been whittled down by the present ruling party, because it could not carry out its policy of expropriation and running after the will-o'-the-wisp of egalitarianism without such whittling down.

     Freedom of occupation and the Competitive principle by which men are induced to put forth their best energy, and the right of each citizen to hold and enjoy what he has lawfully earned-these are age-old conditions which have enabled man gradually to evolve civilization. This is the basic condition for men to have an incentive to work hard and think aright, and this basic condition for progress is, therefore, recognized as a fundamental right either written or unwritten.

     After reaching a stage of progress, certain men are inclined by reason of ambition or ignorance to forget these age-old laws of progress and proceed to act in violation of these natural laws. An illusion seizes their minds that the basic condition is no longer necessary. We have to save civilization by reviving respect for the basic truths on which civilization rests. We must not destroy, or allow to be destroyed, the incentive for right thinking and wise and diligent action on the part of individuals who make up the nation, by undermining the security and freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution. The Swatantra Party wants, therefore, the personal interest in work to be maintained. It wants minimum government and maximum freedom left over for the individuals energy, enterprise and responsibility. To weaken the individual's sense of responsibility and to cultivate in him the habit of dependence on the State run by a majority party would be the cultivation of irresponsibility and laziness, and the encouragement of toadyism and parasitism. It leads inevitably to corruption and evil practices.

     There are evils in party government; but party government is a necessary evil. We must seek means to reduce the evils, which is done by reducing the powers of the Government to the minimum. This is what the Swatantra Party aims at. This is what Gandhiji so often said.

     Proportional representation would be ideally the best basis to rest democracy upon. But, unfortunately, in a large nation efficient government is not possible on that basis. The freedom given by each party to its members to vote freely on matters outside the strict boundaries of its stated basic principles, will be the nearest approach to a government based on proportional representation and give adequate opportunity for minority views to command consideration and acceptance whenever found right. Legislation and administration in most matters will not depend on party whips and on decisions of the majority within the party, but on the free vote of all the members in Parliament and in State legislatures. Debates will be free and frank and help to reach just decisions and will not be mere partisan speeches leading to nothing but what was previously settled, the whole show being a mere ritual.

     The Swatantra Party has given a great lead, in this respect, to all other parties. But it is feared that other parties will be slow to follow this example, because it means preferring the general good to the interests of one's own party. The general interest demands freedom of discussion. But the interests of one's own party demand rigid discipline. Those who flourish under the rigidity of party controls, and who do not know any other way of political life, think that the freedom given in the Swatantra Party to its members is ridiculous. They cannot even understand such a state of things. They fear that such freedom as the Swatantra Party gives to its members would lead to chaos and total break-up of any party. This is just what every parrot, which is used to cage-life, must feel as regards being let out to find its own food and drink.

     An incidental consequence of the Swatantra Party's principle of freedom may also be here dealt with. The incapacity to understand this new conception of freedom in a party organization leads people to think that the Swatantra Party is governed by its founder leader's personal views on the official language issue and on the Punjabi Suba claim. They fail to remember that the founder of the party declared, on the very day df the party's birth, and reiterated it on many occasions thereafter, that these are free issues on which the nation's judgment based on non-party lines and impartial debate should prevail and that the Swatantra Party, as such, has not aligned itself on one side or the other over these issues. Such misunderstandings follow from the general difficulty of appreciating freedom on any issues within a political party. It is wrongly assumed that there is no room for such freedom in a party organization, and that it is only a make-believe. But in reality, as already explained, without such freedom party government must stand totally condemned. With such freedom, on the other hand, the political party system has a useful and necessary place in democracy.

     It is, therefore, proper and fit that the Swatantra Party should publicly appeal to every person, to whatever party he may choose to belong for other reasons, to co-operate with the Swatantra Party if he is convinced that the whittling down of the freedoms guaranteed in the original Constitution is dangerous to progress, and would lead democracy gradually to the dictatorship of a party and must be resisted, and that all the fundamental rights solemnly guaranteed by the Constituent Assembly in 1950 must be restored in full, in order that progress and prosperity may be achieved without loss of freedom.