Swatantra Party
Swatantra Party | |
|---|---|
| General Secretary | R. C. Cooper |
| Treasurer | R. C. Cooper |
| Founder | C. Rajagopalachari |
| Founded | 4 June 1959 |
| Dissolved | 4 August 1974 |
| Split from | Indian National Congress |
| Merged into | Bharatiya Lok Dal |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Centre-right to right-wing |
| Colours | Blue |
| Election symbol | |
The Swatantra Party (lit. 'Free Party' or 'Independent Party') was an Indian classical liberal political party that existed from 1959 to 1974. It was founded by C. Rajagopalachari in reaction to what he felt was the increasingly socialist and statist outlook of the ruling Indian National Congress government under prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
The party had a number of distinguished leaders, most of them old Congress leaders, like C. Rajagopalachari, Minoo Masani, N. G. Ranga, Darshan Singh Pheruman, Udham Singh Nagoke, and K. M. Munshi.
Swatantra stood for a market-based economy and the dismantling of the "Licence Raj" although it opposed laissez-faire policies. Nehru was highly critical of Swatantra and dubbed it as belonging to "the middle ages of lords, castles, and zamindars".