WHAT WE WILL READ IN THIS CHAPTER???
WHAT IS POLITICAL PARTIES
NEED, FUNCTIONS And types;
CHALLENGES OF BUILDING DEMOCRACY
CONGRESS DOMINANCE
NATURE AND IDEOLOGY OF CONGRESS
NON CONGRESSISM
INFIRA GANDHI AS AN TOWERING LEADER
SPLIT IN CONGRESS
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
ELECTORAL VERDICT OF 1971
WHAT IS A POLITICAL PARTY??
Meaning-
A political party is an organized group of people who have the same ideology, or who otherwise have the same political positions, and who field candidates for elections, in an attempt to get them elected and thereby implement the party's agenda(policies and programmes).
Three components of political party-
1. Strong leader
2. Active member
3. followers
Why do we need political parties?
Imagine a situation where there is a no political party and each and every candidate would be independent to contest election to the next question arises whether it can bring diverse problems a single solution can it can can the independent candidate can better take care of the country.
It is very difficult for a single individual to address all issues of the country hence we need political party because they can take care of bigger issues very effectively and efficiently.
Functions of politicalparties-
1.. Contesting elections
political parties contest elections. A political parties nominates its candidate for the electoral contest in various constituents sees.
Policies political parties put forward different policies and programmes so that the voters can choose the best from them.
2.. Making laws political parties play a very disease role in making laws for the country.
3..Formation of government
political parties form and run government. The executive body is formed by people from the ruling party various political leaders are assigned the front ministries to carry out the task of governance.
4..Playing a position
a party which does not get majority or come under major reticulation need to play the role of opposition.
5..Shape Public opinion
political parties shape public opinion. they do so by using and highlighting issues in the legislature and in the media.
6...Access government machinery and welfare schemes-
parties provide people access to government machinery and welfare schemes, since it is easy to approach local party leader than government officers.
Types of party system-
1..One party system
In single-party systems, one political party is legally allowed to hold effective power.
Although minor parties may sometimes be allowed, they are legally required to accept the leadership of the dominant party.
North Korea and China are examples.
2..Two party or bi-party system
Two-party systems are states in which there are two political parties dominant to such an extent that electoral success under the banner of any other party is almost impossible and political parties are traditionally parties that are ideologically broad and inclusive.
Example-USA
3.. MULTI-PARTY SYSTEM
Multi-party systems are systems in which more than two parties come together in the form of coalition to form the government.
Australia, Canada, People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Ireland, United Kingdom, and Norway are examples of countries with two strong parties and additional smaller parties that have also obtained representation.
The smaller or “third” parties may hold the balance of power in a parliamentary system, and thus may be invited to form a part of a coalition government together with one of the larger parties; or may instead act independently from the dominant parties.
Indian context
India is not the only country to have experienced the dominance of one party but there many countries with this experience.
But there is a crucial difference between these and the Indian experience. In the rest of the cases the dominance of one party was ensured by compromising democracy.
In some countries like China, Cuba and Syria the constitution permits only a single party to rule the country. Some others like Myanmar, Belarus, Egypt, and Eritrea are effectively one-party states due to legal and military measures.
Challenges of building democracy
Indian constitution was adopted on 26th January 1950. at the time of independence, it was a big question towards success of democracy in India.
Why???
After independence problems or issues we have to dealt with-
1.Poverty
2.Unemployment
3.Merging princely states with Indian union
4.To accommodate diversities.
5.To protect our sovereignty
6.To ensure democracy
critics
# The biggest gamble in the history
# J.L. Nehru would live to confess the failure of universal adult franchise in india.
# A future and more enlightened age will view with astonishment the absurd farce of recording the votes of millions of illiterate people.
Why so much of critisim?
1.. It was believed that democracy is suitable for only western countries
2... For a poor illiterate country it is hard to understand the system of democracy.
Democracy- an accepted norms
■REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCCRACY
■PEOPLE INDIRECTLY PARTICIPATE IN THE GOVERNANCE PROCESS
■WE NEED POLITICAL PARTIES
■GROUP OF PEOPLE- COMING TOGETHER- CONTEST ELECTION- WELFRE PROGRAMMES
■FUNCTIONS OF POLITICAL PARTIES
■TYPES OF POLITICAL PARTIES
Election commission was setup in 1950. Sukar sen become 1st chief election commission and 1st general election were held in oct 1951 to feb 1952.........
First election was difficult to conduct as they were facing many challenges-
1...Drawing boundaries was required.
2...Voters list was to be prepared
3....40 lakhs women were not recorded.
4....There were 17 crore eligible voters but only 15% are literate.
Other difficuties
Why such issues emerged?
5... India got its independence very late
6...India's vast size
7...Huge population
8...Lack of resources and lack of awareness
solution:: To elect 3,200 MLAs and 489 members of loksabha MPs,
3 lakhs polling officers were trained
CONGRESS SYSTEM
NEHRU ERA(1952-64)
FIRST GENERAL ELETION
CONGRESS AS SOCIAL AND IDEOLOGICAL COALITION
CONGRESS AS A DOMINANT PARTY
First general election- (1952 to 1957)
It took 6 months for the campaining, polling and counting to be completed.
The election were competitive.
Level of participation was encouraging.
When the result were declared theses were accepted as fair even by the loosers.
Observers outside india were equally impressed.
India’s 1st general election of 1952 became the landmark in the history of democracy all over the world.
How did congress win the elections?
The results of the first general election did not surprise anyone.
The Indian National Congress was expected to win this election.
When the final results were declared, the extent of the victory of the Congress did surprise many. The party won 364 of the 489 seats in the first Lok Sabha elections and finished way ahead of any other challenger.
The Communist Party of India that came next in terms of seats won only 16 seats. The state elections were held with the Lok Sabha elections. The Congress scored big victory in those elections as well. It won a majority of seats in all the states
Why was the congress dominant after first three elections?
The roots of this extraordinary success of the Congress party go back to the legacy of the freedom struggle. Congress was seen as inheritor of the national movement.
In Jawaharlal Nehru, the party had the most popular and charismatic leader in Indian politics. He led the Congress campaign and toured through the country
Many leaders who were in the forefront of that struggle were now contesting elections as Congress candidates.
The Congress was already a very well-organised party and by the time the other parties could even think of a strategy, the Congress had already started its campaign.
Thus, the Congress had the ‘first off the blocks’ advantage. By the time of Independence the party had not only spread across the length and breadth of the country as we had seen in the maps but also had an organisational network down to the local level.
Most importantly, as the Congress was till recently a national movement, its nature was all-inclusive. All these factors contributed to the dominance of the Congress party.
Congress as an ideological and social coalition
SOCIAL COALITION
Congress evolved from its origins in 1885 as a pressure group for the newly educated, professional and commercial classes to a mass movement in the twentieth century.
This laid the basis for its eventual transformation into a mass political party and its subsequent domination of the political system.
Thus the Congress began as a party dominated by the English speaking, upper caste, upper middle-class and urban elite. But with every civil disobedience movement it launched, its social base widened.
It brought together diverse groups, whose interests were often contradictory. Peasants and industrialists, urban dwellers and villagers, workers and owners, middle, lower and upper classes and castes, all found space in the Congress.
Gradually, its leadership also expanded beyond the upper caste and upper class professionals to agriculture based leaders with a rural orientation
IDEOLOGICAL COALITION
Many of these groups merged their identity within the Congress. Very often they did not and continued to exist within the Congress as groups and individuals holding different beliefs.
In this sense the Congress was an ideological coalition as well. It accommodated the revolutionary and pacifist, conservative and radical, extremist and moderate and the right, left and all shades of the centre.
The Congress was a ‘platform’ for numerous groups, interests and even political parties to take part in the national movement.
In pre-Independence days, many organisations and parties with their own constitution and organisational structure were allowed to exist within the Congress.
Challenges of political succession-
1. FROM NEHRU TO SHASTRI(1964-1966)
2. FROM SHASTRI TO INDIRA GANDHI
3. FROM INDIRA GANDHI TO MORAJI DESAI(1977-1979)
1964
PM JAWAHARLAL NEHRU passed away in may 1964.
Any outsiders questioned whether India's democratic experiment will survive after Nehru or not.
There were doubts if he new leadership would be able to handle the multiple crisis that awaited a solution.
The 1960s were labeled as the “dangerous decade” with unresolved problems like poverty, communal riots, inequality and regional division etc.
The ease with which the succession after Nehru took place all the critics were proved wrong
Nehru to shastri
K Kamal raj the party president consulted party leaders and members and found that there was a consensus in favor of LAL BAHADUR SHASTRI.
Shastri was non controversial leader. He had been a minister in Nehru's cabinet for many years.
He was known for his simplicity and commitment to his principles.
He served as PM from 1964 to 1966
The country faced major challenges like failed monsoon, drought, food crisis war with Pakistan (1965), war with China (1962).
Slogan “Jai Jawan Jai Kisan” symbolized- the country's resolve to face both this challenges.
His prime minister ship came to an abrupt end on 10 January 1966 expired in TASHKENT UZBEKISTAN.
He was there to sign an agreement with Ayub Khan the then President of Pakistan
Shastri to Indira Gandhi
Congress face the challenge of political succession again in 1966.
An intense competition between Morarji Desai and Indira Gandhi has emerged this time.
Morarji Desai had earlier served as chief minister of Bombay state and also minister at centre
Indira Gandhi had been Congress President in the past and had also been union minister for information in the Shastri cabinet (1964-66)
The senior leaders decided to back Indira Gandhi but the decision was not unanimous. Senior Congress leader supported Indira Gandhi in the belief that the administrative and political in explains would encourage her to be dependent on them for support and guidance
The contest was resolved through a secret ballot.
Indira Gandhi defeated Morarji Desai by securing the support of more than two third of party MP.
Indira Gandhi
PM from 1966 to 1977 and 1980 to 1984
- Famous slogan garibi hatao (in 1971 election)
- Abolition of privy purse
- Nationalisation of banks
- Nuclear test
- Environmental protection
- 31st October 1984 she was assassinated
Emergence of opposition party
Parties that were entirely different in their programs and ideology got together to form anti Congress fronts.
Ram Manohar Lohiya call this a new strategy known as now “non congressism”
FOURTH GENERAL ELECTION OF 1967
1… BACKGROUD UNDER WHICH ELECTION HELD CHALLENGES FACED.
2… IDEOLOGY OF NON CONGRESSISM
3... ELETORAL VERDICT
4… COALITIONAND DEFECTION
Time period of 1967
At that time the country was witnessing many major changes such as-
Decline in agricultural production
Serious food shortage
Depletion of foreign exchange price rise
Food scarcity
Growing unemployment
Band, hartal were frequently called because of price hike. the governments of the protest as the law and order problem.
The communist and socialist parties launched struggles for greater equality
Devaluation of Indian rupee- 1 dollar = 5 rupees but after devaluation $1 became 7.2 rupees.
4th general election 1967-result declaration
The four general election to the lok sabha and the state assemblies held in February 1967.
The Congress was facing the electorate for the first time without Nehru.
The Congress did manage to get a majority in the lok sabha but with its lowest tally of seats and share of votes since 1952.
Political experts like Kamaraj in Tamilnadu, SK Patil in Maharashtra, Atul Ghosh in West Bengal and K.B. sahay in Bihar got defecion.
In 7 state Congress cannot form government and in 2 States because of Defeaction.
In Madras state regional party the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam(DMK) come to power by securing a clear majority. The DMK had laid a massive anti- Hindu agitation by students against the centre on the issue of imposition of Hindi as official language.
SPLIT IN CONGRESS
1. INDIRA GANDHI VS SYNDICATE
2. PRESIDENT ELECTION OF 1969
DISCUSS THE MAJOR ISSUES WHICH LED TO THE FORMAL SPLIT OF THE CONGRESS.
After 1967 elections there was seen many ups and down in the Congress party. The Congress party was totally split into two parts that is one led by Indira Gandhi and another by the Syndicate.
SYNDICATE- It was a formal name given to a group of Congress leaders who were in control of party’s organisation.
One major challenges faced by Ms Indira Gandhi from within her own party she had to deal with the Syndicate.
While Syndicate played a vital role in the installation of Indira Gandhi, as the prime ministers and in return they were expecting her to follow their advises but however gradually Indira Gandhi attempted to asset her position within the government and within the party she choose her trusted groups of advisers from outside the party.
Two challenges faced by Indira Gandhi
She need to work towards her again in the ground that the Congress has lost its in the 1967 election point number
2.. she need to build her independence from the Syndicate.
Series of initiatives launched by Indira Gandhi
10 point programs adopted in May 1967
Social control of banks nationalisation of general insurance
ceiling on urban property and income
Public distribution of food grains land reforms and provisions of how sides to the ruler poor.
The Syndicate leaders had serious reservations about these programs.
president election 1969
Many changes took over in 1969 when the rivalry came to open.
Syndicate managed to nominate her longtime opponent and the speaker of the lok sabha . N sanjeeva Reddy as the official Congress candidate for the presidential election.
Indira Gandhi encouraged the then President V V Giri to file his nomination as an independent candidate.
president election 1969
The then party president S Nilagappa issued a whip, asking all the Congress MPS and MLS to vote in favor of Neelam sanjeeva Reddy.
Indira Gandhi called for account science vote which meant that the MP and MLA should be free to vote the way they want.
Morarji Desai was the deputy PM and finance minister serious issues emerged between Indira Gandhi and Morarji Desai and as a result he left the government.
V V Giri got elected this formula and the spirit in the party the Congress President expelled the PM from the party.
She came that her group was the real Congress. The Congress led by the Syndicate was known as Congress organisation (O) and the group led by the Indira Gandhi was known as congress requisitionist (R).
1971 ELECTION AND RESTORATION OF CONGRESS
1. THE CONTEST
2. THE OUTCOME
3. RESTORATION
The split in the Congress reduced Indira Gandhi government to a minority get her government continued in office with issue base support of few other parties including the communist party of India and the DMK.
All major non communist, non Congress opposition parties formed and electoral alliance called “grand alliance” but the new Congress had something which is opponent's lacked.
It had an issue and agenda and a positive slogan.
Indira Gandhi put forward a positive program based on the slogan- garibi hatao.
The Congress are CPI alliance won more fields and votes than the Congress had ever won.
374 seats in lok sabha and secured 48. 4% votes.
Congress 352 seats with about 44% votes at its own the Congress could win only 16 seats.
The Congress led by Indira Gandhi claimed to be the real Congress and distributed to its dominant position in Indian politics..
The grand alliances prove to be a failure.
It was followed by the crisis in Pakistan and the establishment of Bangladesh and aid to the popularity of Indira Gandhi..
Har party swept through all the state assembly elections held in 1972.
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