Raju isn’t the only one complaining. S.K. Mendiratta, a legal counsel with the Election Commision, confirms that complaints are regularly received about the declaration parties have to make swearing their allegiance to socialism.
Meanwhile, Raju, who scarcely hopes his petition will be heard, runs the Indian Liberal Group, a circle of like-minded individuals who stand for what the Swatantra Party would have asked people to vote for: state funding of only important social sector schemes, no government presence in industry, and minimal administrative machinery.
“A lot is happening in the economy today that the Swatantra Party would not have liked. Much is being passed off incorrectly as the play of market forces. We would have liked to hold a mirror for society at such a time, but cannot. Not without the court’s ruling,” says Raju.
The Swatantra Party had won 18, then 44 and eight Lok Sabha seats in the general elections of 1962, 1967 and 1971. It was the principal opposition party between 1967 and 1971.
“It would be marginalized (if revived today),” says historian Guha. “Not because of its frank anti-socialism but because parties appealing to region and caste have long overshadowed ideology-based parties.”
(ashish.s@livemint.com)
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