Swatantra Party
Defunct Indian political party (1959–1974) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Swatantra Party was an Indian classical liberal political party that existed from 1959 to 1974. It was founded by C. Rajagopalachari[11] in reaction to what he felt was the Jawaharlal Nehru-dominated Indian National Congress's increasingly socialist and statist outlook.[1]
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (January 2018) |
Swatantra Party | |
---|---|
Abbreviation | SWA |
Founder | C. Rajagopalachari |
Founded | 4 June 1959 |
Dissolved | 1974 |
Split from | Indian National Congress |
Merged into | Bharatiya Lok Dal |
Ideology | Conservatism (Indian)[1] Classical liberalism[2] Liberal conservatism[3] Secularism[4] Agrarianism[5] |
Political position | Centre-right[6][7][note 1] |
Colours | Blue |
Election symbol | |
The party had a number of distinguished leaders, most of them old Congressmen, like C. Rajagopalachari, Minoo Masani, N.G. Ranga, Darshan Singh Pheruman,[12][13] Udham Singh Nagoke[14] and K.M. Munshi. The provocation for the formation of the party was the left turn that the Congress took at Avadi[15] and the Nagpur Resolutions.
Swatantra stood for a market-based economy and the dismantling of the "Licence Raj" although it opposed laissez-faire policies. Considered to be on the economic right of the Indian political spectrum, Swatantra was not a religion-based party, unlike the Hindu nationalism of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh. In 1960, Rajagopalachari and his colleagues drafted a 21-point manifesto detailing why Swatantra had to be formed even though they had been Congressmen and associates of Nehru during the struggle for independence.[16] Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was highly critical of Swatantra and dubbed it as belonging to "the middle ages of lords, castles and zamindars".[17]