State which of these were reasons for the defeat of the Congress in 1967. Give reasons for your answer.

(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) The absence of a charismatic leader in the Congress party : There was no charismatic leader like Nehru in the Congress party. Nehru was very popular among the masses. No opposition leader could match him in politics till his death in 1964. The Congress party was fighting a general election without Nehru. On the other hand, the new Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi was seen as a political novice. She had been in office for less than a year.

(b)Split within the party: The party got split into Congress(O) and Congress(R) over the issue presendential canditure and even the Prime Minister herself was expelled from the party. This presented the Party in poor light to public.

(c)Increased mobilisation of regional, ethnic and communal groups: DMK, a regional Party in Tamil Nadu had secured a clear majority by leading a massive anti- Hindi agitation against the centre on the issue of imposition of Hindi as the official as the official language.                                           
(d)Increased unity among non-Congress parties : Non-Congressism led to the defeat of the Congress in 1967. There was grave economic crisis in the country. The opposition parties were oraganising public protests against the government. These parties also realised that the division of their votes in the previous elections had kept Congress in power. This brought opposition parties with different ideologies and programmes together. These parties formed anti-Congress fronts and entered into electoral adjustments of sharing of seats in different states.

(e) Internal differences within the Congress party : There were some internal differences within the Congress. For example, after the death of Shastri, there was intense competition between Morarji Desai and Indira Gandhi. The contest was decided through a secret ballot among Congress MPs. The opposition thought that this internal factionalism within the Congress provided them an opportunity to topple the Congress.