On Royalty... And Democracy

Warm tributes have poured in for Maharani Gayatri Devi of Jaipur, who died recently at the age of 90. After the Princely States – some 600 of them – were forced to accede to India, Gayatri Devi turned to democratic politics, winning the Jaipur seat for the Swatantra Party in election after election. During the notorious Emergency years, she was jailed for 5 months on trumped up tax evasion charges – after which she quit politics. Read more here.

The Swatantra Party, led by C. Rajagopalachari, Minoo Masani, Piloo Modi, NG Ranga and others, was the only free market, free enterprise party in India those days. Much of its support came from former royals like Gayatri Devi, who was undoubtedly their most glamorous candidate.

The story I heard from old Swatantra hands went as follows: the real motive behind Indira Gandhi’s bank nationalization and withdrawal of privy purses for royals was to kill the Swatantra Party, who were funded mainly by private banks and the erstwhile royals. This worked, for the party soon folded up and is no longer in existence.

This year, 2009, marks the 50th year of the founding of the Swatantra Party. On this occasion, the “21 Principles” of this party have been posted online. However, these make for poor reading, as modern liberalism has advanced well beyond the ideas held 50 years ago. There are many who long for a new Swatantra Party – and they should list out their basic principles anew.

Gayatri Devi was a princess of Cooch Behar – now a district in communist West Bengal famous for Naxalism. She became the third wife of the Jaipur prince, whom she met in Calcutta when he came there to lead his polo team to victory in an important tournament. In Jaipur, she played a major role in the education of girls, starting a school. The Swatantra party came later.

I read a funny story of Gayatri Devi as a mischievous little princess. She was holidaying in London with her mother and her English governess, staying in an apartment on Knightsbridge, just across the road from Harrod’s. Often, she would be taken to the store by her mother, who would buy whatever she needed and, while departing with her purchases, would tell the store manager, imperiously, to “put it on the Cooch Behar account.”

One day, the little princess decided to try this out for herself. She went alone into Harrod’s, bought hundreds of toys, and told the manager, imperiously, “put it on the Cooch Behar account.” And it worked!

The prank only came to light when the English governess complained to Gayatri’s mother saying that her ward was being spoilt with too many toys!

Funny how, under British tutelage, all these little Princely States were rich – and well-governed. According to British “political service” officers, who guided royal policies in all these states, the best government in India was that of a local ruler ruling an area the size of a district in British India. These rulers were closer to the people and did a better job than British ICS officers in the districts.

Today, our The State is broke. They want to borrow 4,50,000 crores. They want to “monetize the deficit.”

And what about our Parliament? Well, the news from there is much the same – the house was “rocked” by a host of issues, and adjourned several times.

Anyone wants to set up another Swtantra Party and try and enter this “rocking house”?

Perhaps we need a better idea than Democracy.

Perhaps a “natural order” under the Rule of Law is best.

Think about it – and stay tuned.