question_answer

Examine the three main reasons responsible for the split of the Congress Party during 1969.

Or

Evaluate any three consequences of the emergency imposed in 1975.

Answer:

The Indian National Congress (Organization) or Congress (0) was a political party in India formed when Indira Gandhi (then the Congress president) broke away from the leadership of the Congress Party (which became known as Congress (I)). As Indira had control over the state machinery, her faction was recognized as the "real? WC by die Election Commission of India, so the rump INC became known as the INC (O), or informally the "Old Congress". Kingmaker Kamaraj and later Morarji Desai became the leader of the INC (O). The Indian National Congress (Organization) was also occasionally referred to as the Syndicate (by its opponents).

On 12 November 1969 Indira Gandhi was expelled from the Congress party for violating the party discipline. The party finally split with Indira Gandhi setting up a rival organization, which came to be known as Congress (R) - R for Requisition. In the All India Congress Committee, 446 of its 705 members walked over to Indira?s side.

The split can in some ways be seen as a left-wing/right - wing division. Indira wanted to use a populist agenda in order to mobilize popular support for the party. The regional party elites, who formed the INC (O), stood for a more right-wing agenda, and distrusted Soviet help.

At the 1971 general election, the INC (O) won about 10% of the vote and 16 Lok Sabha seats, against 44% of the vote and 352 seats for Indira?s Congress. In 1977, their vote share was almost halved and they lost 3 seats. Later the same year, INC (O) merged with the much larger Bharatiya Lok Dal and other parties to form the Janata Party as a more united opposition to Indira?s rule. Congress (O)?s leader Morarji Desai served as Prime Minister of India of the Janata government from 1977 to 1979.

Or

The serious attack on democracy was sparked off by a sharp conflict between the ruling and the opposition bourgeois-landlord parties which in itself was a manifestation of the deep crisis within the bourgeois-landlord system. The experiment in truncated democracy and the repressive regime could not be sustained for very long. The stifling of democratic rights and the atrocities carried out in the sterilization programme created the conditions for a mass upsurge.

The popular anger against the authoritarian regime burst out and found expression in the March 1977 elections, which was suddenly called by Mrs Gandhi. She had miscalculated that with a cowed down opposition, the Congress would easily come back to power. Instead, for the first time, the Congress was swept away from power at the centre. Then followed the first non-Congress coalition government headed by the Janata Party.

Indian unity has shown the tensile strength to withstand rebellions in the north-west and north-east and murmurs in the south. But it is only as strong as Indian democracy, for it is democracy that gives every Indian a practical stake in his country?s present and future. The Emergency of 1975 was a turning point precisely because time stood still during those 19 months.