Swarajya, November 23, 1963
The Prime Minister told Congressmen who had gathered to see him declare open the Ranchi District Congress Committee’s new office building, that the Swatantra Party has no ‘mass base’. Sri Nehru told his admiring audience at Ranchi that no society, which accepts the philosophy of the Swatantra Party, can flourish. He must be thinking this sincerely, as otherwise he would have given up his ruinous policies.
“Ten years hence we shall be free of foreign aid,” says the PM. Has he consulted his Finance Ministry and ascertained how the foreign debt position will then stand?
The whole of the free world is our witness, while on the other hand the communist governments, after bitter experience, are now relaxing their regimentation and collectivization, and going out to buy wheat for their people in America and Canada—a silent but fairly strong piece of evidence against the philosophy which Sri Nehru is unfortunately seeking to experiment on India.
In June 1948 the face of Germany was altered by Dr. Ludwig Erhard. For ten years, from many sides and for many reasons, he had to face innumerable difficulties and many dangers, and sometimes it appeared as though a system of control and rationing would have to be re-introduced. But Dr. Erhard persisted in his course with evident optimism. The trade unions and the Social Democrats had built up a ‘planning economy’. But after all these trials, Ludwig Erhard and the Free Market won against planned economy and the world witnessed the German miracle.
The Prime Minister told Congressmen who had gathered to see him declare open the Ranchi District Congress Committee’s new office building, that the Swatantra Party has no ‘mass base’. The Swatantra Party does not propose to ‘sell’ any propaganda lies to get the votes of the people, if that be the meaning of the expression ‘mass base’. We shall depend on truth and God and the native judgment of the masses to see things for themselves. Sri Nehru told his admiring audience at Ranchi that no society, which accepts the philosophy of the Swatantra Party, can flourish. He must be thinking this sincerely, as otherwise he would have given up his ruinous policies. The philosophy of the Swatantra Party is nothing new. It is what made the human family as civilized as it is today, emerging from tribal ownership, and discarding the divinity of the tribal chief, gave freedom to the individual so that people competed with one another to acquire wealth and serve society as also themselves.
The Swatantra Party does not believe in tribal ownership. It believes in proper incentives for hard work and good production. The Swatantra Party can cite witnesses for the correctness of its philosophy. Not to cite the classic example of Britain which by throwing out its old mercantilism came out of the morass, so vividly described by Buckle in his History of Civilization in Europe, Japan and Germany of today can testify, even if America’s testimony were not to be admitted. The whole of the free world is our witness, while on the other hand the communist governments, after bitter experience, are now relaxing their regimentation and collectivization, and going out to buy wheat for their people in America and Canada—a silent but fairly strong piece of evidence against the philosophy which Sri Nehru is unfortunately seeking to experiment on India.
“Ten years hence we shall be free of foreign aid,” says the PM. Has he consulted his Finance Ministry and ascertained how the foreign debt position will then stand? India will have to sweat hard to produce goods not for home consumption or for export in exchange for imports, but simply to discharge the accumulated loans we have taken all these years under Congress Party rule, trading on the cold war. All the foreign exchange we shall be earning will be spent on paying up what we will then owe by way of principal and interest. The recent Colombo Report has forcefully indicated this without naming us. And if we are to be allowed to pay in rupees avoiding the foreign exchange trouble, any one who is moderately conversant with economic laws will tell how our people will have to face still higher soaring prices for what they have to buy in order to live. All experiments of megalomania, to make India look great, will have to be paid for in misery. But the authors of the misery will have passed out. Our children will have to face it all as best they can.
In June 1948 the face of Germany was altered by Dr. Ludwig Erhard. The available supply of goods were no longer to be made via ration tickets and bureaucratic controls, but via prices. For ten years, from many sides and for many reasons, he had to face innumerable difficulties and many dangers, and sometimes it appeared as though a system of control and rationing would have to be re-introduced. But Dr. Erhard persisted in his course with evident optimism. The trade unions and the Social Democrats had built up a ‘planning economy’. Sir Stanford Cripps’s policy in Britain gave confirmation to this doctrine of a ‘planned economy’. It appeared then that, in general, Europe would turn socialist. The socialists did not win control-posts in Germany but they organized an attack on Erhard. Even in the CDU, which Erhard joined, there was a strong and influential group of supporters of planned economy who opposed the free market policy of Ludwig Erhard. Many CDU economists held that the experiment of free market economy was too bold. The Social Democrats made a major attack under the leadership of Prof. Noelting. Prices also rose occasionally, of which the people had lost experience and which frightened them. But after all these trials, Ludwig Erhard and the Free Market won against planned economy and the world witnessed the German miracle. The whole story is dramatically told by Die Welt in a series of articles.
