☰
Era of One-party Dominance
The Congress was an ideological coalition for the following reasons:
(i) It accommodated revolutionary and pacifist, conservative and radical, extremist and moderate and the right left and all shades of the centre.
(ii) The Congress was a ‘platform’ for numerous groups, interests and even political parties to take part in the national movement.
(iii) In pre–Independence days, many organisations and parties with their own constitution and organisational structure were allowed to exist within the Congress.
It was Congress socialist Party. Despite differences regarding the methods, specific programmes and policies the party managed to contain if not resolve differences and build a consensus.
Sponsor Area
“Patel, the organisational man of the Congress; wanted to purge the Congress of other political groups and sought to make of it a cohesive and disciplined political party. He ...sought to take the Congress away from its all–embracing character and turn it into a close-knit party of disciplined cadres. Being a ‘realist’ he looked more for discipline than for comprehension. While Gandhi took too romantic a view of “carrying on the movement”, Patel’s idea of transforming the Congress into strictly political party with a single ideology and tight discipline showed an equal lack of understanding of the eclectic role that the Congress, as a government, was to he called upon to perform in the decades to follow.” — Rajni Kothari
(a) Why does the author think that Congress should not have been a cohesive and disciplined party?
(b) Give some examples of the eclectic role of the Congress party in the early years.
(c) Why does the author say that Gandhi’s view about Congress future was romantic ?
Sponsor Area
Sponsor Area