There is "no Indian industrialist alive today who has the political sagacity or moral courage of (J. R. D) Tata,” wrote historian Ramchandra Guha in the Hindustan Times (HT) of September 24, 2017 rhetorically questioning if one can imagine (a Mukesh or Anil) Ambani or (Gautam) Adani writing to (current Prime Minister) Modi in the manner that Tata wrote to Nehru!
Guha notes that on May 15, 1961, C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji), founder of the Swatantra Party (SP) wrote to Tata asking him to support the Party that was founded two years ago. Calling it the "patriotic duty” of the Tatas to fund SP, in addition to the funds they provided the Congress, Rajaji wrote, "No democracy governs well in the absence of a strong opposition.” Tatas decided to fund SP in the hope that "India’s political life develops in a truly democratic way around two main opposing parties, none of which would be extreme left or right,” wrote Guha.
J. R. D. Tata (left) with Jawaharlal Nehru: funding the opposition
Photo courtesy: K. D. Skandan
Tata also "wrote to the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru expressing his concern at the total absence of a responsible and organized democratic opposition to the (then) dominant Congress party.” The letter said "the single party regime under which we have lived since Independence has been up to now a good thing for the country... but even you will agree that if single party dominance continues indefinitely this situation contains the seeds of trouble and risk in the future...It is inevitable that... some elements in the political life of the country will come to disagree with some of the Congress Party’s policies and seek the means of trying out their own ideas.”
Tata pointed out that in the absence of a strong opposition, the only option for patriots opposed to the Congress was "either to go into the political wilderness where their services will be lost to the country or turn to the Communist Party or some equally undesirable extremist party,” Guha notes. The Tatas saw the SP most suited for the counterbalance, he concludes. Apart from its commitment to individual rights and the promotion of private enterprise, the leaders of this Party, "while conservative in outlook, (were) not reactionary or communal or extreme rightists.”
SP achieved modest electoral successes. It declined rapidly after Rajagopalachari’s death in 1972 and two years later, merged with Bharatiya Kranti Dal, another coalition committed to anti-Congress policies.