Discuss the major issue which led to the formal split of the Congress Party in 1969.

The major issue which led to the formal split of the Congress Party in 1969 was the differences between Indira Gandhi and the ‘syndicate'. Its discussed below:

(i) She launched a series of initiatives to give the government policy a Left orientation. She got the Congress working committee to adopt a Ten Point Programme in May 1967. This programme included social control of banks, nationalisation of General Insurance, ceiling on urban property and income, land reforms and other items. While (syndicate) leaders approved this left wing programme, they had serious reservations about the same.

(ii) The factional rivalry between the syndicate and Indira Gandhi came in the open in the Presidential election in 1969. The official Congress candidate was N. Sanjeeva Reddy. Indira Gandhi, however, encouraged V.V. Giri, to file nomination as an independent candidate. The Congress President issued a whip but Indira Gandhi called for a ‘conscience vote’ leading to V.V. Giri victory.

(iii) In the meantime, Indira Gandhi also announced the nationalisation of fourteen leading private banks and the abolition of privy purses which led differences between Indira Gandhi and the Finance Minister Morarji Desai resulting in Desai leaving the government.

These events led to the split in the Congress in 1969 into two - Congress (Organisation) and Congress (Requisitionists).