A gentleman decide e to shave his head as a protest against the non-dissolution of the Congress. I know this country has fundamental rights. There are fundamental rights pertaining to speeches, organizations, personal liberties. He has certainly his own fundamental right to shave his head. But, what are we doing? To what lengths have we degenerated? The time has come now to certainly have self-criticism, an objective self-criticism, constructive self-criticism. But what is taking place is a complex of suicide. I call it a complex of suicide. We will have to save the country, we will have to save the party from this complex of suicide. Let us realise that there is something dynamic in the party; there is something historically great in this party. May be, we are faltering today. But let us try to find out the way we can overcome this faltering and try to follow the future programme with confidence and faith.
Let us also take into consideration the problem of Centre-State relations. The question of Centre-State relations has a history in India. Not only after the independence but even before independence, there was the problem of Centre-State relations. In a country of continental size, and particularly with a Constitution wherein we have accepted a sort of federal set up, there is bound to be problem of Centre-State relations.
A dialogue between the Centre and the States is an inevitability. Nobody wants to deny that. But after some States have become non-Congress, as it is popularly called, this dialogue has taken a different form. It has been raised as a political issue. I think in order to understand it in the correct perspective, it is much better to analyse that problem threadbare. There are two ways of looking at the problem of Centre-State relations. One is that every State and the people of the State have every right to make progress, and towards that end they certainly have every right to ask for their shares of resources /assistance from the Centre. There is nothing wrong about it. In order to keep the Centre strong, it is very necessary that the States are themselves strong within the limits of the Constitution. There is no denying of the fact. But it is not this that matters. What matters is the other the Dry. The other theory is — and some of the Communist parties particularly, I do not say about the Governments, for sometimes these Communist governments talk a different language, but Communist parties and their theoreticians are explaining it loudest — that the Centre-State relationship also is a sort of a class struggle. They think the Centre represents a different class and these new States represent a different class. Therefore, they advocate that the State Governments' power must be used as the instrument of struggle. Their ultimate theory is that every State is a nationality by itself. According to them the Centre should have only Defence, communications and the right of deciding external affairs — i.e. foreign affairs, defence and communications should be the only responsibilities of the Centre, and other things should be given to States.
