The Congress was receding in the country for the first time in the late 60s. It was now upon the venturesome to seize the moment. The Bhartiya Kranti Dal was born from such an optimistic impulse among patrons of the new order who wanted to make the best of this momentum. 

Contrary to the belief in conventional scholarship, Charan Singh did not found the party, but was only a member-constituent among the many ex-Congressmen from various regions in the country who felt the need to have an all-India organisation. 

It formally constituted itself as a party on November 10, 1967. Professor Humayun Kabir from Bengal was elected the convener of a six-member committee that produced the draft constitution, of which Charan Singh was a key part. Delegates arrived in throngs from Bengal, Bihar, UP, MP and Rajasthan in the convening session held at Indore. We reproduce here a resolution moved by Singh on agricultural production, which he stressed should be accorded supreme priority along with rural industrialisation in the running of the country and as a defining mandate of the party.