Thread by @shrikanth_krish

It is exactly 60 years since the founding of the Swatantra Party - arguably India's only Conservative party since independence

What's odd is that there are so many pieces on this occasion lionizing Swatantra as a "liberal" party, Shashi Tharoor among them below

https://twitter.com/ShashiTharoor/status/1135875167542865923

Swatantra as conceived by Rajaji, was an out-and-out conservative party

A party that defended the rights of the princes, opposed the excesses of land reform, defended religious freedom, was sceptical of social engineering and the bureaucratic state

Its championing of economic liberty also stemmed from a deep scepticism of the ability of the state to drive political and social amelioration

Hardly based on a defense of materialism that underlies most "classical liberal" arguments in favor of laissez faire economics

The founder of the Party, C Rajagopalachari, was no doubt a Gandhian

But his ideals for the most part gravitated towards the most conservative aspects of Gandhi

Distaste for centralization and bureaucracy
Friendliness towards private enterprise

In fact there was a book written in 1967 on the Swatantra Party by a. Dartmouth College Professor named Howard L Erdman

It was titled "Swatantra Party and Indian conservatism"

So there is no question of calling it a "liberal" party

What's interesting is that Rajaji was one of the few politicians who unapologetically used words like "Right wing" and "conservative"

Labels that even Jan Sangh and today the BJP shy away from

He wrote in the mid 50s long before the founding of Swatantra -

Clearly this is a polemic against "progress". Against the excesses of progressivism.

He added in the same piece -

"Since the Congress has swung to the Left, what is wanted is not an ultra or outer-Left, but a strong and articulate Right"

Very unequivocal

Rajaji also defended the need for religion in public life in v unequivocal terms.

Hardly a "classical liberal" stance

Here it is the extract

Besides Rajaji, the party was home to men like KM Munshi, who was an unabashed traditionalist, and even more of a Hindu conservative than Rajaji

Munshi was a prolific writer in Gujarati, and his Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, for many decades was an influential cultural bulwark

Sure, there were leaders like Minoo Masani, who started off as a socialist in the 30s, and who could be regarded as a "classical liberal" within Swatantra

But on the whole the party was anything but "liberal". And definitely not "progressive"

The party also enjoyed considerable support of princes, and among its prominent politicians one also counted individuals like Gayatri Devi, the Maharani consort of Jaipur

So it is quite risible that so many commentators categorize Swatantra as a "liberal" party

It was anything but that

The leaders of Swatantra weren't as squeamish about the C word as their admirers today