Abhinandan Granth (English Article)

Political Parties in Opposition

Since Independence, Congress has successfully faced two General Elections and emerged the best organised Party in the country. All other political parties which had wielded some influence at the time of Independence and after have largely dis­integrated in the course of last ten years. New politi­cal parties or alignments which were formed after freedom have either suffered the same fate or remained as local pressure groups in the States. In short no political party in the country, besides Con­gress, is organised on country-wide basis or is in a position to command confidence and trust of the people of the entire country. In other words, as things stand today, Congress is the only political party in the country which is best organised and has net-work of its branches in all the States and almost in every district, tahsil and the village, and being in power, can speak to the outside world on behalf of the people of India. Further, it is the only political party which is genuinely interested in the maintenance of communal, social and industrial peace in the coun­try ; believes in the indivisible unity of the country in all respects—political, economic and cultural ; strives to promote emotional integration of all the people of the land ; adopts a constructive policy towards the solution of country's problems ; adheres scrupulously to the purity of means for the achievement of national ends. Further, Congress is the only political party which has unshakable faith in democracy wherein every individual, irrespective of the fact whether he belongs to the majority com­munity or minorities, has a significant place to occupy and a role to perform in the scheme of things; adheres to the ideal of socialistic pattern of society to be achieved democratically and peacefully, that is, through people's consent and participation and as Bernard Shaw has put it through " TRIAL AND ERROR ". Congress is the only political party which regards truth and non-violence as fundamental principles of political and social action.

In contrast, all other political parties are opposites of what Congress has been all these years. None of them has as comprehensive organisational and ideological character as Congress. It is true that some opposition political parties subscribe to demo­cracy and socialism in theory, but violate the spirit of these human ideals in practice. None of the opposition political parties has an integrated ap­proach to the problems of the country. In fact, their complete identification with linguistic conflicts, parochial agitations and class tensions, which, in effect, have sought to undermine national unity and emotional solidarity of the Indian people, has given a lie to their professions. For all political parties other than Congress, the ideals of democracy and socialism lost their meaning, because these political parties never rose above linguistic and ethnic group-loyalties to concern themselves  with the wider national issues and because they developed narrow outlook and exploited every minor issue or event for sectarian political purposes—thus losing in the process the broad humanistic perspectives of demo­cracy and socialism. The opposition parties natu­rally alienated themselves from national conscious­ness which Mahatma Gandhi had so assiduously built through successive national struggles. Some opposition political parties are obviously communal in character or seek to serve feudal class interests or are pledged to protect capitalistic exploitation or laissez faire by ostensible advocacy of free enter­prise. The Communist Party of India and its allied front organisations are essentially anti-democratic and totalitarian and, if voted to power, will destroy the very basis of democracy and socialism and the finest elements of Indian Culture.