Swarajya, February 18, 1961
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.
The 75th anniversary of the Indian National Congress is being celebrated all over the country by Congress ministers and their supporters as if it were a jubilee of their party. There is plenty of money in the party chest. In fact, there is a glut and the problem is how to spend it all.
Seventy-five years back, that is in 1885, some eminent man of India started the Indian National Congress and kept the organization going as a national centre of agitation for the improvement of India's political status. The agitation culminated in a demand for colonial status for India on equal rank with Australia, Canada, and other members of the Commonwealth. In the first decade of the twentieth century an extremist wing developed in the organization, demanding complete Independence. This resulted in the exclusion of that section from the organization which thereafter was in the control of the moderate party. After some years there was a compromise (in 1917) which brought the extremist section again into the Congress. In 1920 the organization adopted the Gandhian movement of non-co-operation and civil disobedience, and in 1929 it formally adopted the creed of Swaraj. The goal of the organization was achieved in 1947 and the British Government handed over the authority to the Congress as far as India was concerned, the Muslim League being the transferee of power as far as Pakistan was concerned. The Congress converted itself thereafter into a political party organization. It ceased to be a national organization and became a party organization.
Many congressmen formed other political parties ranged in Parliament against the Congress Party. Mahatma Gandhi attempted, during his last days, to distinguish and isolate the old National Congress from the new political scene and from party politics.,But his advice was not accepted, as the party desired to exploit the national organization's history for party purposes.
Now, the jubilee being celebrated as a seventy-fifth anniversary is not a jubilee of the present Congress Party, but of the common national organization which has ceased to be. It is a Jubilee, if at all, of an organization common to all political parties in India. It should not be utilized as an occasion for furthering the Congress Party's chances in the coming elections. But this is exactly what is being done. It should have been made an occasion for all parties coming together in common jubilation over India's present free status rather than being exploited for the election purposes of a particular party.
The State tri-colour is displayed in banners and flags and other decorations in connection with this festival. The State is different from the political party to which, for a period, the governance of the State is entrusted. The Congress Party's flag is unfortunately ambiguous. It is the same tri-colour as what was adopted for the State. The charka and the chakra, where they are displayed, are ambiguous too. This double ambiguity helps the Congress Party's attempts to confuse the public. An atmosphere of national loyalty is being raised round the claims of the Congress Party to continue to govern the country. The latest of political parties in India, the Swatantra Party, is as much entitled to share in the 75th anniversary jubilee of the Indian National Congress as the party in office which has improperly made it into a party festival. The temptation was no doubt great in view of the coming elections, and the anxiety of the ruling party to continue in possession in spite of widespread dissatisfaction. But the temptation should have, in decency, been avoided.
