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Era of One-party Dominance
“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 ?
(a) The author thinks that Congress should not have been a cohesive and disciplined party as it would have stopped Congress from becoming a platform for numerous groups, interests and even political parties to take part in the national movement.
(b) Congress played the eclectic role in the early years. For example, from 1935 the Communists worked mainly from within the fold of the Indian National Congress. Similarly the Congress Socialists Party was formed within the Congress in 1934 by a group of young leaders who wanted a more radical and egalitarian Congress.
(c) Gandhi’s view about Congress’s future was romantic because there were all groups of people representing India’s diversity. It was an ideological coalition and was a necessity for ‘carrying on the movement’ to hold these people together.
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Four statements regarding one-party dominance are given below. Mark each of them as true or false:
“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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