Challenges to and Restoration of the Congress system
Analyse the circumstances that led to the restoration of Congress system after
the party’s split in 1969.
Socialists credentials, Ten point programme, Nationalisation of Banks, Nationalisation of General Insurance, Pro-poor programmes.
Land Reforms, Land Celling Act.
GaribiHatao – Positive programme.
Abolition of Privy Purse.
Generation of a support base among the disadvantaged, landless Labourors, dalits, adivasis, minorities, women and unemployed youth.
Results of the General Elections 1971 – Congress Victory.
Victory in the Indo-Pak War 1971 – Indira Gandhi seen as the protector of the poor & the underprivileged but also as a strong nationalist leader.
Sweeping through State Assembly Elections in 1972 by the Congress. With two successive election victories, one at the Center and the other at the State level, the dominance of the Congress was restored.
Indira Gandhi had reinvented the party – It relied on the popularity of a supreme leader. It had a weak organizational structure and did not have many factions. She restored the Congress by changing the nature of the Congress itself.
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(a) Follow the footsteps of the party president
(b) Listen to the majority group
(c) Secret ballot voting on every issue
(d) Consult the senior and experienced leaders of the party
(a) The absence of a charismatic leader in the Congress party
(b) Split within the Congress party
(c) Increased mobilisation of regional, ethnic and communal groups
(d) Increased unity among non-Congress parties
(e) Internal differences within the Congress party
(a) What according to the author is the difference between the strategies of Nehru and Indira Gandhi ?
(b) Why does the author say that the Congress party ‘died’ in the seventies ?
(c) In what way, did the change in the Congress party affect other political parties also ?
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