To Save
Freedom
(From, тАЬWhy Swatantra,тАЭ 1960,
by C. Rajagopalachari)
The
Swatantra Party stands for the protection of the individual citizen against the
increasing trespasses of the State. It is an answer to the challenge of the
so-called Socialism of the Indian Congress party. It is founded on the
conviction that social justice and welfare can be attained through the fostering
of individual interest and individual enterprise in all
fields better than through State ownership and Government control. It
is based on the truth that bureaucratic management leads to loss of incentive
and waste of resources. When the State trespasses beyond what is legitimately
within its province, it just hands over the management from those who are
interested in frugal and efficient management to bureaucracy which is untrained
and uninterested except in its own survival.
The
Swatantra Party is founded on the claim that individual citizens should be
free to hold their property and carry on their professions freely and through
binding mutual agreements among themselves and that the State should assist
and encourage in every possible way the individual in this freedom, but not seek
to replace him.
The
new party seeks to oppose the trend of the ruling Congress Party to adopt the
ways and ideals of the Communists in its eagerness to prevent the Communists
from going forward. The Swatantra party believes that going over to the enemy is
not defence, but surrender.
The
Swatantra Party, apart from the ideology here explained, hopes to furnish a real
opposition to the Congress Party so that parliamentary democracy may be properly
balanced. The absence of a true opposition has led to the rapid deterioration
of democracy into a kind of totalitarianism. Voices have been heard from all
quarters calling for a strong opposition and the new party is supplying a felt
want.
Inner party democracy
This
party of freedom is further making a novel experiment in restricting
disciplinary control over party members to essential issues, giving freedom in
all other matters to vote according to individual opinion. This is not mere
strategy to тАЬnet inтАЭ discordant miscellaneous elements as at first might appear.
It is really an answer to the constantly expressed sense of dissatisfaction with
party rigidity, and to the complaint that it often amounts to suppression of
opinion and rule by a minority in the name of a majority. A majority in the
ruling caucus can always, under present conditions, impose their views on all
and every issue in the Parliament of the nation.
The
Swatantra Party intends to initiate a departure from the usual practice of
political parties and, true to its name, give Swatantra or freedom to its
members to vote according to their own convictions and conscience on all but the
partyтАЩs fundamentals so that the decisions of Parliament may on those issues
truly reflect the prevailing opinion, and not be just, a replica of the majority
opinion of the ruling party or the fads of the ruling clique.
Without
the inconveniences resulting from proportional
representation and, in particular, the instability of governments formed under
such a system, the reduction of voting in accordance with whips to
the barest minimum, as proposed by the Swatantra Party would be a healthy
example for all parties. If followed generally or even by the more important
ones among the various parties, the freedom given to members on all but
essential issues would result in government more in accordance with the ideals
of those who conceived the system of proportional representation and laid high
hopes thereon. In this matter, the new party may claim to have initiated a great
democratic advance worthy of trial in all countries really believing in
democracy, and not willing to be subjected to a form of dictatorship in the name
of party discipline which often serves only the ambition of individuals or
groups.
Dharma
The
new party does not believe that legislative compulsion, any more than the
violence that preceded and enthroned Communism in certain countries, can
contribute to true or lasting human happiness. We must depend on the moral sense
of the people in order to equalise without destroying freedom.
It
may be that there are a large number of people in our ancient land who have now
lost the capacity to respond to moral appeals, who are impervious to the call of
dharma. There have been causes that have brought about this state of things. But
this large number of bad and successful men of the world should not blind us to
the fact that in the large mass, dharma still rules
and supports our society. The millions that make up our nation are
still moved and guided by their sense of dharma and the voice of their
conscience. If the cynics who deny this were right, our society would have
broken down long ago and perished. We should have been hearing of starvation
deaths in thousands every day. If we take a survey of the numerous charitable
foundations and trusts that work as a matter of routine in the country and which
were born of a sense of dharma, without any kind of State compulsion, we can
cure our cynicism with irrefutable and abundant facts. The charitable motives
and compulsions of the heart which prevailed in the days when these trusts and
charitable institutions were founded can prevail today, for we are the same
people after all.
тАЬThere
is no need for charity when there is an obligation; let the State compelтАЭ. This
is the slogan of the Socialists. But it is forgotten that this will lead
irresistibly to total serfdom.
The
cynics are not right. Our society is still maintained by the inner law. The
outer laws can touch but the fringe of life. They deal with criminals and keep
order going. Normal life тАШdoes hot depend on the laws. It depends on the moral
consciousness of people. This moral sense has not been effaced whatever changes
may have taken place in the rituals and observances of forms. It is by dharma
that society is sustained, Lokah dhriyate. It is on dharma we must build,
and not on the sands of material motives and our capacity to satisfy them
quickly and get votes to be in power. The good seed is not lost. It is still
there. We must not ignore its availability. The soil also is good and God will
send us the rains. Let us not fail to look after it.