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Era of One-party Dominance
The prevalence of a one-party dominant system did not affect adversely the democratic nature of Indian politics because the dominance of the Congress party in India had not happened in compromising democracy. It had happened under democratic conditions. Many parties contested elections in conditions of free and fair elections and yet the Congress managed to win elections. The Indian condition was similar to the dominance of the African National Congress in South Africa after the end of apartheid.
The roots of extraordinary success of Congress Party go back to the legacy of freedom struggle. Congress was seen as the inheritor of national movement. Many of our leaders contested elections as Congress candidates and won the elections.
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“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 ?
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