A Rival to Congress
There has never been much doubt that the Indian Congress would have to split ; the only question was at what moment the split would come, and along what lines. The official forma- tion last week-end of a new party, to be called the Peasants' and Workers' Democratic Party, really answers only the first of these two questions ; what the new party will stand for, or what it would try to do if it ever had a chance of office, are far from clear. Its name, and the declared intention to establish " a free. democratic, casteless and classless society." are presumably designed to catch Left-wing voters. though on the subject of nationalisation it is lukewarm. But probably the Indian voters will be less interested in the new party's philosophy than in the fact that it exists, and that by the simple fact of existing it offers an. alternative to Congress. All that the new party's leaders really have to do is to point out the glaring shortcomings of Congress rule and say that they will put a stop to them. The flourishing black market. administrative inefficiency and corrup- tion are all abuses which Congress has failed to check ; Mr. Kripalani and his colleagues in the Peasants' and Workers' Party say that they have the will and the power to check them. But it is still an advantage for any party in India if it can prove that it has inherited part at least of the mantle of Mr. Gandhi, and there is much in the new party's make-up which shows unmistakable traces of the teaching of the master. Its call for decentralisation and the strengthening of local units of govern- ments is one that Mr. Gandhi would have approved of, as he would of its suspicion of big business and its encouragement of local crafts. But it will still be the official Congress which, under the leadership of Mr. Gandhi's lieutenant, Mr. Nehru, preserves direct continuity with the Gandhian tradition. This will be of great importance in the coming elections, and even more impor- tant will be the existing Congress political organisation. Mr. Kripalani can hardly hope to build up anything comparable to this in the space of a few months.
