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Era of One-party Dominance
Question
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Describe any four factors which were responsible for the dominance of the Congress Party in India 1967.

Answer

The factors responsible for the dominance of the Congress Party in India are-

(i) It had inherited the legacy of national movement.

(ii) The Congress was the only party to have organisation spread all over the country.

(iii) The party had Jawaharlal Nehru the most popular and charismatic leader in Indian politics. He led the congress campaign and toured through the country.

(iv) Congress was all inclusive- a social and ideological coalition and had transformed into a rainbow-like social coalition, which accommodated the revolutionary as well as the pacifist.

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Some More Questions From Era of One-party Dominance Chapter

The party that won the second largest number of Lok Sabha seats in the first elections was the _________ (Praja Socialist Party/Bharatiya Jana Sangh/Communist Party of India/Bharatiya Janata Party)

One of the guiding principles of the ideology of the Swatantra Party was ________ (Working class interests/ protection of Princely States/economy free from State control/Autonomy of States within the Union)

Match the following leaders listed in List A with the parties in List B:

Four statements regarding one-party dominance are given below. Mark each of them as true or false:

If Bharatiya Jana Sangh or the Communist Party of India had formed the government after the first election, in which respects would the policies of the government have been different ? Specify three differences each for both the parties.

In what sense was the Congress an ideological coalition ? Mention the various ideological currents present within the Congress.

Did the prevalence of a ‘one-party dominant system’ affect adversely the democratic nature of Indian politics ?

Bring out three differences each between Socialist parties and the Communist Party and between Bharatiya Jana Sangh and Swatantra Party.

What would you consider as the main differences between Mexico and India under one-party domination ?

Read the following passage and answer the questions below:

“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 ?