Interview with Dr. Vijay Rana, BBC Hindi

This audio interview - most probably the last recorded interview of Ch. Charan Singh before his incapacitating stroke later that year - was recorded in Delhi on 12 April 1985, as part of Dr. Vijay Rana's radio series '100 Years of Indian National Congress' for the BBC Hindi Service. He was then a young broadcast journalist, and rose to become the Editor in 2001 - we are greatly indebted to Dr. Rana for sharing this valuable piece of oral history. Dr. Rana is settled in the United Kingdom and, among other academic pursuits, manages www.nrifm.com a hub of information on Indian history, politics, art and culture for non resident Indians.

Summary 

This interview touches upon various problems Charan Singh saw in the leadership of the Indian National Congress (INC). Singh talks about the simultaneous revolt by senior Congressmen in 7 states of Haryana, UP, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal and Bihar in 1967 against Indira Gandhi. The twin reasons for this revolt, according to Singh, were inefficiency and corruption.

Singh notes that the deterioration of the INC had begun during British rule as it started getting distant from the masses. He mentions the example of Nehru’s insistence on cooperative farming to show that those who possessed political power did not understand the workings of the rural society and had no social relations with the villagers. The Congress leadership and its policies were deeply marked by an urban bias. The rising losses of public enterprises and their consequent handover to private actors and mounting unemployment were manifestations of the government’s poor economic policies. 

While talking about the Punjab problem, Singh notes that Bhindrawala is Indira Gandhi’s creation to gather votes by communal polarization, and he informs us he had shared this with Gandhi in as clear words in his meeting with her. Her desire for power was the highest consideration for her ‘It may cost the country whatever it may’.

Singh concludes this short interview by reiterating his Gandhian vision for the future: that agriculture and small industries must be the priority.