"When the permit - quota, license Raj laid steel claws on the nation's economy, G.K.Sundaram campaigned fearlessly in support of freedom. During his fateful years in the Rajya Sabha as a Swatantra Party member and outside the house, he emphasised and re emphasised the basic truth that socialism is to social justice what ritual is to religion and dogma is to truth. He has consistently championed the cause of fruitful egalitarianism in the place of sterile socialism," wrote N.A.Palkivala in the Foreword to the book Sathyam Santham Sundaram - A biography of G.K.Sundaram by A.Anandeswaran.
"When the permit - quota, license Raj laid steel claws on the nation's economy, G.K.Sundaram campaigned fearlessly in support of freedom. During his fateful years in the Rajya Sabha as a Swatantra Party member and outside the house, he emphasised and re emphasised the basic truth that socialism is to social justice what ritual is to religion and dogma is to truth. He has consistently championed the cause of fruitful egalitarianism in the place of sterile socialism," wrote N.A.Palkivala in the Foreword to the book Sathyam Santham Sundaram - A biography of G.K.Sundaram by A.Anandeswaran.
The Swatantra Party was an Indian classical liberal party that existed between the years 1959 and 1974. It was founded by C.Rajagopalachari as a reaction to the Jawaharlal Nehru dominated Indian National Congress's increasingly socialist and statist outlook. The ideology was classical liberalism and the party flag contained a white star within a blue background. This party had a number of distinguished leaders who were mostly former Congress people - C.Rajagopalachari, Tanguturi Prakasam Pantulu, Minoo Masani, N.G.Ranga, Darshan Singh Pheruman, Udham Singh Nagoke and K.M.Munshi. Right wing groups and parties had existed earlier but the Swatantra's formation was the first attempt to bring to bring these highly fragmented forces under the umbrella of a single party. The provocation was the left turn which the Congress took at Avadi and the Nagpur resolutions. Swatantra Party stood for a market based economy with the license raj dismantled, although it opposed a laissez free economy. It was favoured by some traders and industrialists and its leadership was dominated by the privileged classes. In spite of being located on the right of the Indian political spectrum, it was not a communal party. In 1960 Rajaji and his colleagues drew out a 21 point manifesto. Nehru went on to call it a party of landlords.Sami Gounder of Gobi contested the elections under the auspices of the Swatantra Party.
Swatantra Party took to electoral politics and contested the 1962 elections. It secured 6.8 % percent of the votes and won 18 seats in the Lok Sabha ( 1962 - 1967 ). It emerged as the main opposition party to the Congress. The party was dominant in four states - Bihar, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Orissa. It became a significant force in some parts of the country and therefore it was possible to increase its vote share to 8.7 % in the 1967 elections. This gave it 44 representatives in the fourth Lok Sabha ( 1967 ). Subsequently its vote share went down to 3 % and its founder Rajaji passed away at a ripe old age in 1972. The party declined thereafter and it was dissolved by the year 1974.
Maharani Gayathri Devi of Jaipur had joined the party and won a landslide victory in her constituency those days. Her book ' A Princess Remembers ' talks about her electoral story. The party stood committed to social justice and equality of oppourtunity of all people irrespective of caste, religion, occupation or political affiliation. It felt that progress and maximum welfare could be achieved by giving maximum freedom to individuals with the state minimising intervention. It felt that people should be compensated adequately when their properties were taken over. It sought to do away with controls but was committed against unreasonable profits, prices and dividends. The party wanted the taxes to help in social upliftment but it had to be collected without depressing the formation of private capital or industry. It laid an equal emphasis on all sectors of the economy and did not want deficits or borrowings creating inflation or devaluations of the currency. Swatantra Party resisted the huge expansion of the bureaucracy. It was committed to securing a fair deal for labour, correlating wages to increased productivity and the workers right to collectively bargain. The party failed because there did not exist a space for a centrist political party, for radicalisation of politics was still in progress. Swatantra Party stood against the principles of the Communist parties and the Naxal movement. The party was not for armed struggles and violent protests for it viewed such acts as a security threat to the nation.
When Jayaprakash Narayan, the Founder of Lok Satta Party was asked in 2014 about the Swatantra Party he had stated that the party was a party of visionaries and had our country followed their leadership, India could have economically been where China is now.
The Swatantra Party had a number of adherents in Tamilnadu and in Coimbatore. Saw.Ganesan ( Kambanadipodi ) , B.Venkataswamy, Mariswamy, Venkat Rao, V.P.Kandaswamy, Kovai Subri the freedom fighter, Kalki Sadasivam and the freedom fighter industrialist G.K.Sundaram. The local party leader V.P.Kandaswamy hailed from an eminent family and he was the son of V.C.Palaniswamy Gounder ( Former Minister for Prohibition ) and G.K.Sundaram was the Vice President in this part of the country. N.A.Parasuraman ( Ramoo & Co - Textile showroom ) was a Municipal Councillor representing the party and the people of R.S.Puram still remember his attention to civic amenities. The party had fielded candidates on the basis of merit and not caste or religion.
G.K.Sundaram joined the Swatantra Party around the year 1960 and he worked tirelessly in order to develop the party through its ideals. The Swatantra Party campaign was extensive and it held 8 massive conferences in Tamilnadu and G.K.Sundaram was an important participant. GKS used to tour all the districts in the State regularly. He did this by also balancing it with his work. Each of his tours would last about 4 days and he used to address public gatherings. He had a penchant for exposing the acts of commission and omission of the ruling party but in measured terms. GKS ( G.K.Sundaram ) was keen to sensitise people but not eager to incite them into indulging in violence. The State home department shadowed him all the time and his fellow industrialists were worried of the consequences. He used to travel up to 400 kilometres a day on certain occasions. His health took a toll and it caused anxieties to both his family and his mentor Rajaji. Kovai Subri, worked tirelessly in order to create a lot of awareness about the Swatantra Party.
The industrialist entered electoral politics but lost to Prof P.R.Ramakrishnan of the Congress. However, the undeterred party leadership fully believed in his abilities and nominated him to the Rajya Sabha. He did fabulously in the Rajya Sabha. The Finance Minister and other senior ministers used to be present during his speeches. Dandekar in the Lok Sabha and G.K.Sundaram in the Rajya Sabha were the cannons of the Swatantra Party and they stood by the canons of our constitution. It was a wonderful moment when G.K.Sundaram spoke about the Motor Vehicles Act and the minister concerned was seen shuffling papers in order to avoid an embarrassment.
G.K.Sundaram spoke against the Gold Control Act and he stated that it would increase smuggling while also adding harm to internal security. He wanted to know how the State would manage nationalisation of banks. G.K.Sundaram was keen to understand as to how the compensations would be paid and on what value. He felt that the shakeholders were losing because the State wanted to pay lower prices. While speaking of the MRTP ( Monopolies Restricted Trade Practices ) Act, he spoke about the ills of state control, G.K.Sundaram used to talk about the Union Budget year on year at the ' Verandah Club ' of the Coimbatore Cosmopolitan Club. He used to lace his criticism with humour and make people laugh out their woes. His speeches in this regard were inspired by the post budget speeches of eminent constitutional expert Nani. A. Palkivala at Mumbai. An auditorium in the Mani Higher Secondary School is named after Palkivala in Coimbatore.
The principle of Rajaji was not to just oppose Pandit Nehru for the purpose of merely opposing. It was to raise the level of governance without too much of Statism. He was keen to ensure that the people governing the nation should not get carried away and also carry good governance away. The role of the Swatantra Party and people like G.K.Sundaram perhaps impelled a thought process in the ruling party of the times. Rajaji had to fight the Congress at a time when leaders like K.Kamaraj had done a lot of good in Tamilnadu. However Rajaji was concerned with the national picture. He was a true nationalist who believed in dialogues and debates which were of the productive kind. In fact he used to state that his political activity would not be required if the Government acted in a responsible manner. G.K.Sundaram felt the same and he welcomed the slew of economic changes brought in by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in the eighties of the last century.
The Founder of Swatantra Party, Rajaji founded the magazine Swarajya. He used to write regularly and his columns were really though provoking. Rajaji had felt that if the party had people like G.K.Sundaram in all the districts, it would have made a very big difference. G.K.Sundaram had done his part as a Nation Builder through the Swatantra Party.
Rajesh Govindarajulu