Leps202 PDF
Leps202 PDF
Leps202 PDF
In this chapter
This famous sketch
by Shankar appeared
on the cover of his
collection Dont Spare
Me, Shankar. The
original sketch was
drawn in the context of
Indias China policy. But
this cartoon captures
the dual role of the
Congress during the era
of one-party dominance.
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chapter
era of one-party
dominance
The conditions in India were not very different. But the leaders of
the newly independent India decided to take the more difficult path.
Any other path would have been surprising, for our freedom struggle
was deeply committed to the idea of democracy. Our leaders were
conscious of the critical role of politics in any democracy. They did not
see politics as a problem; they saw it as a way of solving the problems.
Every society needs to decide how it will govern and regulate itself.
There are always different policy alternatives to choose from. There
are different groups with different and conflicting aspirations. How
do we resolve these differences? Democratic politics is an answer to
this question. While competition and power are the two most visible
things about politics, the purpose of political activity is and should be
deciding and pursuing public interest. This is the route our leaders
decided to take.
Last year you studied how our Constitution was drafted.
You would remember that the Constitution was adopted on
26 November 1949 and signed on 24 January 1950 and it came into
effect on 26 January 1950. At that time the country was being ruled
by an interim government. It was now necessary to install the first
democratically elected government of the country. The Constitution
had laid down the rules, now the machine had to be put in place.
Initially it was thought that this was only a matter of a few months. The
Election Commission of India was set up in January 1950. Sukumar
Sen became the first Chief Election Commissioner. The countrys first
general elections were expected sometime in 1950 itself.
In India,.
hero-worship, plays a part
in its politics unequalled
in magnitude by the part
it plays in the politics of
any other country.But in
politics, .. ..hero-worship is a
sure road to degradation and
eventual dictatorship.
Whats so special
about our being a
democracy? Sooner
or later every country
has become a
democracy, isnt it?
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It was not just the size of the country and the electorate that made
this election unusual. The first general election was also the first big
test of democracy in a poor and illiterate country. Till then democracy
had existed only in the prosperous countries, mainly in Europe and
North America, where nearly everyone was literate. By that time
many countries in Europe had not given voting rights to all women.
In this context Indias experiment with universal adult franchise
A cartoonists impression of the election committee formed by the Congress to choose party
candidates in 1951. On the committee, besides Nehru: Morarji Desai, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai,
Dr B.C. Roy, Kamaraj Nadar, Rajagopalachari, Jagjivan Ram, Maulana Azad, D.P. Mishra,
P.D. Tandon and Govind Ballabh Pant.
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A sample of the
ballot paper
used from
the third to
the thirteenth
general
elections to Lok
Sabha
Did anyone vote in the first or second general election? Who did
they vote for and why?
Is there someone who has used all the three methods of voting?
Which one did they prefer?
Lets re-search
After the first two elections this method was changed. Now the ballot paper
carried the names and symbols of all the candidates and the voter was required
to put a stamp on the name of the candidate they wanted to vote for. This method
worked for nearly forty years. Towards the end of 1990s the Election Commission
started using the EVM. By 2004 the entire country had shifted to the EVM.
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Note: This illustration is not a map drawn to scale and should not be taken to be
an authentic depiction of Indias external boundaries.
Can you identify the places where the Congress had a strong presence?
In which States, did the other parties perform reasonably well?
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:
Credit
indu
The H
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33
On losing power in the State, the Congress party began a liberation struggle
against the elected government. The CPI had come to power on the promise of
carrying out radical and progressive policy measures. The Communists claimed
that the agitation was led by vested interests and religious organisations.
In 1959 the Congress government at
the Centre dismissed the Communist
government in Kerala under Article 356
of the Constitution. This decision proved
very controversial and was widely cited
as the first instance of the misuse of
constitutional emergency powers.
Credit: Hindu
As early as in 1957, the Congress party had the bitter taste of defeat in Kerala.
In the assembly elections held in March 1957, the Communist Party won the
largest number of seats in the Kerala legislature. The party won 60 of the
126 seats and had the support of five independents. The governor invited
E. M. S. Namboodiripad, the leader of the Communist legislature party, to form
the ministry. For the first time in the world, a Communist party government
had come to power through democratic elections.
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Socialist Party
The origins of the Socialist Party can be traced
back to the mass movement stage of the Indian
National Congress in the pre-independence era.
The Congress Socialist party (CSP) was formed
within the Congress in 1934 by a group of young
leaders who wanted a more radical and egalitarian
Congress. In 1948, the Congress amended its
constitution to prevent its members from having a
dual party membership. This forced the Socialists
to form a separate Socialist Party in 1948. The
Partys electoral performance caused much
disappointment to its supporters. Although the
Party had presence in most of the states of India,
it could achieve electoral success only in a few
pockets.
Acharya Narendra
Dev (1889-1956):
Freedom fighter and
founding President of
the Congress Socialist
Party; jailed several
times during the
freedom movement;
active in peasants
movement; a scholar
of Buddhism; after
independence led the
Socialist Party and
later the Praja Socialist
Party.
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Earlier we had
coalition in a
party, now we
have coalition of
parties. Does it
mean that we have
had a coalition
government since
1952?
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A.K. Gopalan
(1904-1977): Communist
leader from Kerala,
worked as a Congress
worker initially; joined
the Communist Party in
1939; after the split in
the Communist Party
in 1964, joined the
CPI (M) and worked
for strengthening the
party; respected as a
parliamentarian; Member
of Parliament from 1952.
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Simhasan
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Credit: Shankar
I thought factions
were a disease that
needed to be cured.
You make it sound
as if factions are
normal and good.
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Swatantra Party
Swatantra Party was formed in August
1959 after the Nagpur resolution of the
Congress which called for land ceilings,
take-over of food grain trade by the state
and adoption of cooperative farming. The
party was led by old Congressmen like C.
Rajagopalachari, K.M.Munshi, N.G.Ranga
and Minoo Masani. The party stood out
from the others in terms of its position on
economic issues.
The Swatantra Party wanted the
government to be less and less involved
in controlling the economy. It believed
that prosperity could come only through
individual
freedom.
It was critical of the
development strategy
of state intervention
in
the
economy,
centralised planning,
nationalisation and the
public sector. It instead
favoured expansion of a
free private sector. The Swatantra Party was against
land ceilings in agriculture, and opposed cooperative
farming and state trading. It was also opposed to the
progressive tax regime and demanded dismantling
C. Rajagopalachari
of the licensing regime. It was critical of the policy of
(1878-1972): A senior leader
non-alignment and maintaining friendly relations with
of Congress and literary
the Soviet Union and advocated closer ties with the
writer; close associate of
United States. The Swatantra Party gained strength
Mahatma Gandhi; member
in different parts of the Country by way of merger with
of Constituent Assembly; first
numerous regional parties and interests. It attracted
Indian to be the Governor
the landlords and princes who wanted to protect
General of India (1948their land and status that was being threatened by
1950); minister in Union
the land reforms legislation. The industrialists and
Cabinet; later became Chief
business class who were against nationalisation and
Minister of Madras state;
the licensing policies also supported the party. Its
first recipient of the Bharat
narrow social base and the lack of a dedicated cadre
Ratna Award; founder of the
of party members did not allow it to build a strong
Swatantra party (1959).
organisational network.
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Tandons
election is considered
(by Congress members)
more important than my
presence in the Govt or the
Congress.. .. .. ..I have
completely exhausted my
utility both in the Congress
and Govt.
Jawaharlal Nehru
in a letter to Rajaji, after
the election of Tandon
as Congress president
against his wishes.
these parties prevented the resentment with the system from turning
anti-democratic. These parties also groomed the leaders who were to
play a crucial role in the shaping of our country.
In the early years there was a lot of mutual respect between
the leaders of the Congress and those of the opposition. The
interim government that ruled the country after the declaration of
Independence and the first general election included opposition
leaders like Dr. Ambedkar and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee in the
cabinet. Jawaharlal Nehru often referred to his fondness for the
Socialist Party and invited socialist leaders like Jayaprakash Narayan
to join his government. This kind of personal relationship with and
respect for political adversaries declined after the party competition
grew more intense.
Thus this first phase of democratic politics in our country was
quite unique. The inclusive character of the national movement led
by the Congress enabled it to attract different sections, groups and
interests making it a broad based social and ideological coalition. The
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When two buffalos fight, the grass beneath them gets crushed. The
Congress and Socialist parties are fighting with each other. Both of
them are seeking new members. The poor people will be ground
between the two grindstones!
No, the poor people wont be crushed. In fact, theyll benefit, was
someones reply. Things arent accomplished by one party alone. It
is the competition and rivalry between two groups that benefits the
public...
The news of Socialist Party meeting had agitated the Santhals. The
news of the opening of the hospital hadnt made much impression on
them nor did they ever bother much about the fights and quarrels, Fanishwarnath Renu
or the friendly gatherings of the villagers. But this meeting was for the
tillers of the soil. .... To whom does the land belong? To the tiller!
He who tills will sow! He who sows will harvest! He who works will eat, come what may!
Kalicharan lectured....
There was turmoil in the District Office of the Congress Party too. They were about to elect a
Party Chairman. There were four candidates two real contenders and two dummy candidates.
It was a contest between Rajputs and Bhumihars The wealthy businessmen and zamindars
from both the castes were cruising all over the district in their motorcars, campaigning. All
kinds of mudslinging was going on between them. The Seth who owned the Katihar cotton mill
was representing the Bhumihar party, and the owner of Farbigang jute mill was representing
the Rajputs . You should see the money theyre flashing around.
Translated extracts from Fanishwarnath Renus novel Maila Anchal. The novel is set in
Purnia district in North East Bihar in the early years after independence.
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2.
Match the following leaders listed in List A with the parties in List B.
EXERCISES
List A
S. A. Dange
Shyama Prasad Mukherjee
Minoo Masani
Asoka Mehta
List B
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
3.
Four statements regarding one- party dominance are given below. Mark
each of them as true or false.
(a) One-party dominance is rooted in the absence of strong alternative
political parties.
(b) One-party dominance occurs because of weak public opinion.
(c) One-party dominance is linked to the nations colonial past.
(d) One-party dominance reflects the absence of democratic ideals in
a country.
4.
If Bharatiya Jana Sangh or the Communist Party of India had formed the
government after the first election, in which respects would the policies
of the government have been different? Specify three differences each
for both the parties.
5.
6.
7. Bring out three differences each between Socialist parties and the
Communist party and between Bharatiya Jana Sangh and Swatantra
Party.
8.
What would you consider as the main differences between Mexico and
India under one party domination?
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LET US DO IT TOGETHER
Make a chart of elections and governments in your State since 1952.
The chart could have the following columns: year of election, name of
the winning party, name of ruling party or parties, name of the Chief
Minister(s).
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