Swarajya, November 5, 1966
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 Swatantra Party has played its part within the scope it could secure for itself in the parliamentary life of the country during the last seven years. It has by its work earned a title to make an earnest appeal to the nation during the general elections of 1967.
From the outset the Swatantra Party has been warning the Government and the nation against the fatal mistake of placing total economic power in the hands of the State and thereby in the hands of a particular political party. From the beginning, and unceasingly, it has been warning the nation against the moral and political consequences of maximum government and minimum freedom which the Congress Party decided to adopt as its policy in order to make the nation reach the illusory goal of socialism. The Swatantra Party has been warning against giving up the Gandhian principle of first priority to Dharma, and against the erosion of the true basis of prosperity and progress, viz., national and individual self-reliance. It has been warning against the policy of unending and reckless unplanned borrowing from governments abroad (unplanned as regards re-payment), against investments that meant disastrous inflation, against over taxation which destroyed the incentive to work, to save and plough back savings into capital. It has been warning against disorganizing national agriculture in the name of ‘land reform’, as a result of a morbid contemplation of inequalities to the exclusion of other inescapable requisites for increased production along with just distribution of the product among all those who contribute to that production. Foreign observers are successfully fooled by spurious talk of land reform.
Reform of farm conditions does not consist in creating conflicts and a spirit of non-cooperation and mutual hostility among those who must all contribute and cooperate for bigger production. Reform as well for justice as for bigger production must consist in the furtherance of harmony and the creation of improved conditions for cooperation among all the elements concerned. The Congress Party and the Communists have vied and continue to vie with each other in cultivating conflict and hatred for the miserable object of gathering political votes from the larger number among those engaged in the cultivation of land. This is a shame. The pumping in of fertilizers will not achieve anything when harmony and cooperation are effectively destroyed and replaced by illwill and hatred.
Those who are engaged in the essential basic activity of national life, viz., agriculture, should not be victimized for the sake of supporting the industrial complex. They should not be punished, so to say, for their efforts, but, as Gandhiji protested more than once, rewarded and furnished incentives for greater output. There should be no restrictions on the farm products obtaining their free market prices through the State imposing directly or indirectly impediments and restrictions on movement of goods or through coercive control of prices. The only way to reward all those concerned in agricultural production in a just and automatic manner is to abolish every kind of restriction on movement of goods in parochial and political interests and to allow all agricultural products to obtain their best market price. All other devices to help agricultural production will tail and produce only benefits to particular sections of the people without any beneficial effect on production. The political bias of the Congress Party prevents this truth from being appreciated or given effect to even if understood.
The Swatantra Party has been warning against the futile efforts at holding the price line by Government coercion and hunting for scapegoats. Economic law has produced the soaring prices as a result of the erroneous policies followed with reckless indifference to all good advice. The taxation policies and the direct and indirect levies imposed, have led to soaring prices which have made the life of all sections of the people most difficult.
The Swatantra Party ceaselessly warned the Government against the moral deterioration that was coming over the nation as an inevitable consequence of the policies enforced by the ruling party. The ruling party having realized the truth that the nation has lost faith in the Congress Party as a result of its disastrous failures, now seeks to continue in power by presenting the image of Sri Nehru’s daughter as its figurehead and by making false promises to please chauvinistic groups. The idea of reconquering areas of national territory lost to aggressive neighbours long ago, after years of no effort in that direction, is patent fraud. These meaningless promises will however undoubtedly result in increased foreign purchase of military armaments without rationalizing foreign policy, leading to currency printing and a further downward slide into bankruptcy.
The people have been deceived into thinking that if the Congress is voted out there will be only chaos. This is not the case. It is false propaganda in the interest of a political party which is now no more than a mutual benefit association.
A desperate effort is being made to recapture public confidence which has been hopelessly lost as a result of what the crucible of events and the un-changeable laws of economics have brought about, instead of frank and humble confession and honest change of policy.
The Congress slogan is for party unity instead of political or administrative reform in the interest of the nation. The party has been riven as under everywhere and broken into mutually conspiring groups. We see the consequences of the obvious and fatal error of putting Dharma down in the scale of values. We see the economic consequences of putting the national resources of the present and many future generations into the bottomless pit of socialism, endless foreign borrowing, taxation and inflation. The issue for the voters now is whether the country should be handed over for the other period of five years to a political party which has definitely resolved on continuing the same ruinous policies as have brought the nation to the present plight. We cannot allow the nation to be thus ruined. We shall become participants and accomplices in the great crime if we do not vote the Congress Party out.
The Swatantra Party’s basic principles and policies have been clearly set out ever since the founding of the party. These principles and policies stand fully confirmed as the true path to prosperity and social welfare not only in the opinion of the party but in that of most statesmen uncommitted to the party. The Congress after some vacillation has mulishly decided to hold on to the past disastrous policies symbolized by the Fourth Plan. This must be deemed the main question for the nation, to consider and decide what to do with the Congress Party. It must be voted out.
If in spite of all that has transpired to its discredit, the huge election funds gathered and yet to be gathered for the party by the Congress bosses in office bring about success to it at the coming elections and it is returned once again to hold office, it may be taken for settled that India is doomed to one-party government and that the dictatorship of a particular organization replaces democracy. Democracy as we knew and dreamed of is not to be the way of India’s governance. To avoid this horrible end the electorate must make up its mind not to look this or that side, but determine to vote against the Congress candidates whoever they may be and vote for those who oppose them so that, India may have a chance for good government and spiritual regeneration.
