Liberal political activity in India

over the past 120 years

Supporting Material

For a historical perspective, click here

Definitions of key words

Indian National Congress, 1885-1920s

Congress was founded by staunch, nationalist liberals, like Gokhle. Almost the entire leadership of the Congress till mid-1920s was liberal. Sometime in the 1920s, the agenda of the Congress was taken over by socialists like Nehru and Netaji, forcing liberals to move into a separate platform. Gandhi remained essentially a great liberal. He was opposed to government taking over ownership of property. He wanted to bring responsible business and local self-government.

National Liberal Federation of India, 1919-1945

Ray T. Smith

• The Role of India's "Liberals" In The Nationalist Movement, 1915-1947 Word document 103 KB (from Asian Survey, Vol 8 (7) June 1968, pp.607-24)

Swatantra Party, 1959-1973

Founded by Rajaji; merged with B.K.D. led by Charan Singh

21 Principles of the Swatantra Party

The 21 Principles Word document. From The Swatantra Party – Victory in Defeat. Rajaji Foundation, 2002.

H.R. Pasricha

The Swatantra Party – Victory in Defeat. Rajaji Foundation, 2002. Purchase the book from freedom@vsnl.com

Minoo Masani

• On the Swatantra Party Word document (from ‘Freedom and Dissent’ published by Democratic Research Service– permission obtained)

On Rajaji and Swatantra Party (1)

• A view by Rajmohan Gandhi Word document – from Rediff (permission not yet obtained)

On Rajaji and Swatantra Party (2)

• Chapter 14: The last years Word document – from "Rajagopalachari. A Biography" by C.R. Narasimhan (son of Rajaji). Radiant Publishers,  1993.  (permission not yet obtained)

S.V. Raju (1974) (on the death of the Swatantra Party)

The Notional Alternative  Word document – from Freedom First, Sept. 1974  (permission obtained)

Howard L. Erdman

• India’s Swatantra Party Word document 97 KB (from Public Affairs Vol 36, Issue 4, Winter 1963-1964, pp. 394-410)  

Swatantra Bharat Party, 1994-   

Farmers for Freedom

New farmers movement: Sharad Joshi  

Swatantra Bharat Party

Urban liberals demand a liberal political alternative, 1998-2003

Gurcharan Das

• The Only Alternative
• Performance vs Ideology

Parth Shah

• Wanted: a Liberal Party

Sanjeev Sabhlok

• Victory of India Party  and the IndiaPolicy effort since April 1998

Jayaprakash Narayan (Lok Satta)

• Political Parties and Indian Democracy (PDF).

Delivered as the Narla Memorial Endowment Lecture on December 1, 1998

Reference Section

Publications/ Notes

Other Manifestos

DRAFT MANIFESTO

Frontispiece

The Free Citizen; the Fair Society

Long Term Vision

Preamble

Major Concerns

Manifesto

Agenda

Plan of Action

Code of Conduct

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY, etc.

Thought for the Day

         Go, India!!

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