question_answer

Assess any three challenges that the Congress Party had to face during the period 1964 to 1971.

Or

Assess any three happenings which, were responsible for the downfall of the Congress Party in die 1977 elections.

Answer:

(i) In the election of 1971, Indira Gandhi succeeded in bringing victories both at the Central as well as at the State level. This certainly was a step towords restoring dominant position of the Congress Party The Congress Party further strengthened its position after defeating ?Pakistan in 1971 war. Congress (R) became the real Congress in power.

(ii) Indira Government made conscious attempts to project its socialist credentials by implementing the existing land reforms and undertaking further land ceiling legislation.

(iii) Indira Gandhi focussed on the growth of the public sector and renewal of disparities in income and opportunities as well as abolition of princely purses. Any other relevant arguement.

Or

(i) The election came after the end of the Emergency that Prime Minister Gandhi had imposed in 1975; it effectively suspended democracy, suppressed the opposition, and took control of the media with authoritarian measures. The opposition called for a restoration of democracy and Indians saw the election results as a repudiation of the Emergency.

(ii) Gandhi had become extremely unpopular for her decision and paid for it during the elections. Mrs, Gandhi, on 23 January, called for fresh elections and released all political prisoners.

(iii) Four Opposition parties, the Congress (Organization), the Jan Sangh, the Bharatiya Lok Dal and the Socialist Party, decided to fight the elections under a single banner called the Janata alliance. The alliance used the symbol allocated to Bharatiya Lok Dal as their symbol on the ballot papers. The Janata alliance reminded voters of the excesses and human rights violations during the Emergency, like compulsory sterilization and imprisonment of political leaders.