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Special on the Punyatithi of Pt. Deendayal Upadhyaya (11 February)
-Pt. Deendayal Upadhyaya
Fellow delegates,
You have entrusted to me this year the responsibility of party presidentship. Ours is an organization of workers, all engrossed in building up the party with equal zeal and devotion. That you have called upon me to fulfil this particular constitutional obligation and thus honoured me, is token only of your own generosity and affection, which indeed I have been receiving in liberal measure during the past fifteen years that I have been General Secretary. It is this generous affection of you all that is going to be my mainstay hereafter too.
Conjunction of Two Eras
We are meeting today in Kerala, this land hallowed by Bhagwan Parashuram’s tapas. In point of time we are at the conjunction of two years. During the half century gone by, the country’s mind has been dominated completely by the Congress and its ideology. Its leaders have been not only the framers of national policy but the arbiters of contemporary life-values as well. After independence, the reins of government also came into their hands. While this is no occasion for any elaborate stock-taking of the Congress’s performance, it cannot be gain- said that awakening of political consciousness in the common man has been the most significant
The new era, at whose threshold the country stands today, should be a positive manifestation of this political awakening. There are people in the country who are still chained to the age gone by. Then there are others who are ignorant of national values, or have scant regard for them, and so are readily influenced by foreign concepts. The country’s transition into the new era, therefore, is not being smooth
contribution of this era. If this political consciousness, unpolluted by the exigencies of the day-to-day politics, had been made an instrument for the country’s resurgence on a positive national basis, we would have made considerable progress by now and the country might have been spared the problems which beset it today. The new era, at whose threshold the country stands today, should be a positive manifestation of this political awakening. There are people in the country who are still chained to the age gone by. Then there are others who are ignorant of national values, or have scant regard for them, and so are readily influenced by foreign concepts. The country’s transition into the new era, therefore, is not being smooth. It is accompanied by severe strains and struggles. It is against this background that we must analyze present problems and draw up our policy.
Search for an Alternative
Portents of the coming revolution had become visible in August-September 1965, when India’s brave legions proved their valour against Pakistani aggression. The policies framed by the Congress regime in wake of these events demonstrated only its utter incapacity to function as the instrument of the coming revolution. The result was that the people began longing all the more intensely for emancipation from Congress misrule. With the Fourth General Election, the process has started for Congress’s gradual withering away. If opposition parties had been better organised then, the results would have been even more convincing. In comparison to other parties the Jana Sangh’s achievement in the election have been considerably significant. But in relation to the demands of the situation, the results left much to be desired. However, the out come of these elections clearly proved to the people the Jana Sangh’s potential of growing into a clear alternative to the Congress. It is this confidence created in the people which accounts for the sharp rise in the party’s popularity and its organizational expansion after the election.
Nature of Problems
Post-election problems can be classified into three categories. Firstly, there are the problems pertaining to the politics of the transition. Inter-party relations, instability of coalition ministries, floor-crossing etc. are problems which fall in this category. To the second category belong those problems which stem from our constitutional set-up but which had either not arisen as yet, or had not confronted us as seriously as
In comparison to other parties the Jana Sangh’s achievement in the election have been considerably significant. But in relation to the demands of the situation, the results left much to be desired. However, the out come of these elections clearly proved to the people the Jana Sangh’s potential of growing into a clear alternative to the Congress. It is this confidence created in the people which accounts for the sharp rise in the party’s popularity and its organizational expansion after the election
now. And thirdly, there are the manifold problems relating to economic, defence, home and foreign affairs which, because of the impolicies of the Congress Government, have become very grave now. Problems of the first category are of immediate topical interest and so generally evoke the maximum of public comment and debate. But they are less important than those in the other two categories. If these letter problems are not properly tackled, they can jeopardise the country’s unity and interests seriously.
Conduct of Governors
The first problem which faced opposition parties after the elections was that except in Delhi and Madras, nowhere else was any single party able to secure a clear majority and so be able to form an alternative non-congress Government by itself. Appreciating the requirements of the situation and in deference to the verdict of the electorate various non-congress parties came together to form coalition governments in Punjab, Bihar, West Bengal and Kerala. In Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, however, in the teeth of public opposition, the Congress contrived to worm its way into office with the assistance of the State Governors. In Uttar Pradesh they could not hold on to office for long; but in Rajasthan, by taking recourse to various devious means, they have managed to increase their majority considerably.
The arbitrary conduct of the Governors in the above cases, then later in Madhya Pradesh at the time of the fall of the Mishra Government, and again recently in West Bengal, Hariyana and Punjab, has lowered the prestige of this august once and weakened regard for constitutional proprieties. As Governors are the representatives of the Centre, the Central Government must own full responsibility for their actions. By declining to take the onus of their actions the Central Government has only created mistrust about its own bonafides and confirmed misgivings that they are intent on using the office of Governor only as a facade behind which they might further their own party ends.
The demand has been voiced in some quarters that the Governor’s should be an elected post. I do not think that would solve the problem. Exceptional occasions apart, the Governor is only a constitutional head. Appointees to this post, therefore, should be men of integrity capable of exercising their discretion in a judicious manner and in whose impartiality there is general confidence. I think that it would be better if instead of selecting rejected politicians or retired civil servants for this job, the Government turned its eyes to retired judges of the Supreme Court. A list may be drawn up on the basis of their dates of retirement and posts of Governors falling vacant here- after may be filled by these judges in their order of priority. If some such convention is followed, neither the consent of the State Government concerned, nor the wishes of the Home Ministry would have any relevance.
To be continued…
(The above is the Presidential Address delivered by Pt. Deendayal Upadhyaya at the Bharatiya Jana Sangh Adhiveshan held in Calicut (now Kozhikode) in December