Why Today's India Needs a Resurrected Swatantra Party The farmers' protests prove that the agrarian class and small industries need a liberal party transcending religious, regional and caste identities. Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari. Photo: Wikimedia Commons Politics17/Jan/2021 The Swatantra Party was a rainbow-like phenomenon in Indian politics: bright and beautiful; yet short lived. It represented different socio-economic classes, and interests across both business and agriculture. It had an elitist complexion, yet had large numbers of peasantry in its ranks. The party played a conspicuous role in Indian politics from 1959 to 1974. It posed an ideological alternative to the dominant Congress partyâs statism under the guise of a âsocialistic pattern of societyâ. The Swatantra Party floated the idea of Gandhian liberalism, against the Congressâs Nehruvian socialism. Its leaders stood for occupational politics