Indian National Congress

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Not to be confused with Indian National Congress (Organisation).
Indian National Congress
भारतीय राष्ट्रीय काँग्रेस
President Sonia Gandhi
Parliamentary Chairperson Sonia Gandhi
Lok Sabha leader Mallikarjun Kharge
Rajya Sabha leader Ghulam Nabi Azad
(Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha)
Founded 28 December 1885 (138 years ago) (1885-12-28)
Headquarters 24, Akbar Road, New Delhi 110001
Newspaper Congress Sandesh
Student wing National Students Union of India
Youth wing Indian Youth Congress
Women's wing Mahila Congress
Labour wing Indian National Trade Union Congress
Membership c. 20 million[1]
Ideology Populism
Democratic socialism
Social democracy
Social liberalism
Gandhian socialism
Secularism
Political position Centre-left[2]
International affiliation Progressive Alliance[3]
Socialist International[4]
Colours      Deep sky blue[5][6][7][8]
ECI Status National Party[9]
Alliance United Progressive Alliance (UPA)
Seats in Lok Sabha
45 / 545
[10] (currently 544 members + 1 Speaker)
Seats in Rajya Sabha
67 / 245
[11] (currently 242 members)
Seats in Vidhan Sabha
908 / 4,121
Seats in Vidhan Parishad
64 / 454
Election symbol
125px
Website
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Politics of India
Political parties
Elections

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The Indian National Congress (<phonos file="Indian National Congress pronounciation.ogg">pronunciation</phonos>) (INC, often called the Congress), is one of two major political parties in India; the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. Congress is one of the largest and oldest democratically run political parties in the world.[12][not in citation given] The party was founded in 1885 during the British Raj; its founders include Allan Octavian Hume (a prominent member of the Theosophical Society), Dadabhai Naoroji and Dinshaw Wacha. In the late nineteenth and early to mid-twentieth centuries, Congress became a pivotal participant in the Indian Independence Movement, with over 15 million members and over 70 million participants in its opposition to British colonial rule in India.

After independence in 1947, Congress became India's dominant political party; as of 2015, in the 15 general elections since independence, it has won an outright majority on six occasions and has led the ruling coalition a further four times, heading the central government for 49 years. There have been seven Congress Prime Ministers, the first being Jawaharlal Nehru (1947–64), and the most recent Manmohan Singh (2004–14). The party's social liberal platform is generally considered to be on the centre-left of Indian politics.[13]

From 2004 to 2014, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance, a coalition of several regional parties, formed the Indian government and was headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. In November 2014, the party was in power in ten states and had a majority in six – Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Manipur, Meghalaya and Mizoram. In Assam, Kerala and Uttarakhand it shared power with its alliance partners. The Congress has previously directly ruled Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab and Goa. In the 2014 general election, the Congress had its poorest post-independence general election performance, winning only 44 seats of the 543-member house.

The Congress' social policy is based upon the Gandhian principle of Sarvodaya – the lifting up of all sections of society – which involves the improvement of the lives of economically underprivileged and socially marginalised people. The party primarily endorses social liberalism – seeking to balance individual liberty and social justice, and secularism – asserting the right to be free from religious rule and teachings.

History

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Main article: History of the Indian National Congress

The history of the Indian National Congress (INC) falls into two distinct eras:

  • The pre-independence era, when the party was the umbrella organisation leading the campaign for independence;
  • The post-independence era, when the party has had a prominent place in Indian politics.
A. O. Hume, one of the founders of the Indian National Congress

Pre-independence

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See also: Indian independence movement
First session of Indian National Congress, Bombay, 28–31 December 1885
Mahatma Gandhi spinning yarn, in the late 1920s

Foundation

The Congress was founded in 1885 by Indian and British members of the Theosophical Society movement, including Scotsman Allan Octavian Hume.[14] It has been suggested[by whom?] that the idea was conceived in a private meeting of 17 men after a Theosophical Convention held in Madras in December 1884. Hume took the initiative, and in March 1885 the first notice convening the first Indian National Union to meet in Poona the following December was issued.[15]

Its objective was to obtain a greater share in government for educated Indians and to create a platform for civic and political dialogue between educated Indians and the British Raj. The Congress met each December. The first meeting was scheduled to be held in Poona, but due to a cholera outbreak there it was shifted to Bombay. Hume organised the first meeting in Bombay with the approval of the Viceroy Lord Dufferin. Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee was the first president of the Congress; the first session was held from 28–31 December 1885, and was attended by 72 delegates. Representing each province of India, the Party's delegates comprised 54 Hindus and 2 Muslims; the rest were of Parsi and Jain backgrounds.[16]

Early years

Within the next few years, the demands of the Congress became more radical in the face of constant opposition from the British government, and the party decided to advocate in favour of the independence movement because it would allow a new political system in which the Congress could be a major party. By 1905, a division between the moderates led by Gokhale – who downplayed public agitation – and the new "extremists" – who advocated agitation and regarded the pursuit of social reform as a distraction from nationalism – opened. Bal Gangadhar Tilak – who tried to mobilise Hindu Indians by appealing to an explicitly Hindu political identity displayed in the annual public Ganapati festivals he inaugurated in western India – was prominent among the extremists.[17]

The Congress included a number of prominent political figures; Dadabhai Naoroji, a member of the sister Indian National Association was elected president of the party in 1886 and was the first Indian Member of Parliament in the British House of Commons (1892–95). It also included Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal, Lala Lajpat Rai, Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Mohammed Ali Jinnah – later leader of the Muslim League and instrumental in the creation of Pakistan. The Congress was transformed into a mass movement by Surendranath Banerjea and Sir Henry Cotton during the partition of Bengal in 1905 and the resultant Swadeshi movement.[16]
Gopal Krishna Gokhale, a constitutional social reformer and moderate nationalist, was elected president of the Indian National Congress in 1905. 
Congress "extremist" Bal Gangadhar Tilak speaking in 1907 as the Party split into the Moderates and the Extremists. Seated at the table is Aurobindo Ghosh and to his right (in the chair) is G. S. Khaparde, both allies of Tilak. 

Congress as a mass movement

Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, when he was president of the Congress Party

Mahatma Gandhi returned from South Africa in 1915. With the help of the moderate group led by Ghokhale, Gandhi became president of the Congress, and formed an alliance with the Khilafat Movement. In protest, a number of leaders – Chittaranjan Das, Annie Besant, and Motilal Nehru – resigned to set up the Swaraj Party. The Khilafat movement collapsed and the Congress was split.[18] After the First World War, the party became associated with Mahatma Gandhi, who remained its unofficial spiritual leader and icon.[19] The rise of Gandhi's popularity and his Satyagraha art of revolution led to support from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Khan Mohammad Abbas Khan, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Chakravarti Rajgopalachari, Dr. Anugraha Narayan Sinha, Jayaprakash Narayan, Jivatram Kripalani, and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. The prevailing nationalism, Gandhi's popularity, and polices aimed at eradicating caste differences, untouchability, poverty, and religious and ethnic divisions, the Congress became a forceful and dominant group. Although its members were predominantly Hindu, it had members from other religions, economic classes, and ethnic and linguistic groups.[citation needed]

At the Congress' 1929 Lahore session under the presidency of Jawaharlal Nehru, Purna Swaraj (complete independence) was declared as the party's goal, declaring 26 January 1930 as "Purna Swaraj Diwas", Independence Day. The same year, Srinivas Iyenger was expelled from the party for demanding full independence, not just home rule as demanded by Gandhi.[20]

The British government allowed provincial elections in India in the winter of 1936–37 under the Government of India Act 1935. Elections were held in eleven provinces – Madras, Central Provinces, Bihar, Orissa, United Provinces, Bombay Presidency, Assam, NWFP, Bengal, Punjab and Sindh. After contesting these elections, the Indian National Congress gained power in eight of the provinces – the three exceptions were Bengal, Punjab, and Sindh. The All-India Muslim League failed to form the government in any province.[21] The Congress ministries resigned in October and November 1939 in protest against Viceroy Lord Linlithgow's declaration that India was a belligerent in the Second World War without consulting the Indian people.[22]

In 1939, Subhas Chandra Bose, the elected president in both 1938 and 1939, resigned from the Congress over the selection of the working committee. The party was not the sole representative of the Indian polity – other parties including Hindu Mahasabha and Forward Bloc.[23] The party was an umbrella organisation, sheltering radical socialists, traditionalists, and Hindu and Muslim conservatives. All the socialist groupings, including the Congress Socialist Party, Krishak Praja Party, and Swarajya Party, were expelled by Gandhi, along with Subhas Chandra Bose in 1939.[19]

In 1943 Azad Hind – an Indian provisional government – had been established in Singapore and was supported by Japan.[24][25]

In 1946 Indian soldiers, who had fought alongside the Japanese during World War II, were tried by the British in the INA trials. In response the Congress helped to form the INA Defence Committee, which assembled a legal team to defend the case of the soldiers of the Azad Hind government. The team included several famous lawyers, including Bhulabhai Desai, Asaf Ali, and Jawaharlal Nehru.[26] The same year, Congress members initially supported the sailors who led the Royal Indian Navy mutiny, but they withdrew support at the critical juncture and the mutiny failed.[citation needed]

Post-independence

After Indian independence in 1947, the Indian National Congress became the dominant political party in the country. In 1952, in the first general election held after Independence, the party swept to power in the national parliament and most state legislatures. The party held power nationally until 1977 when it was defeated by the Janata coalition. It returned to power in 1980 and ruled until 1989, when it was once again defeated. It formed the government in 1991 at the head of a coalition, as well as in 2004 and 2009, when it led the United Progressive Alliance. During this period the Congress remained centre-left in its social policies while steadily shifting from a socialist to a neoliberal economic outlook. The Party's rivals at state level has been national parties the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM), and various regional parties such as Telgu Desam.[citation needed]

Nehru/Shastri era (1947–66)

Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Congress Prime Minister of India (1947–64)

From 1951 until his death in 1964, Jawaharlal Nehru was the Congress' paramount leader under the tutelage of Mahatma Gandhi, whose Indian independence movement dominated the Congress Party. Congress gained power in landslide victories in the general elections of 1951–52, 1957, and 1962.[27] During his tenure, Nehru implemented policies based on import substitution industrialisation and advocated a mixed economy, where the government-controlled public sector co-existed with the private sector.[28] He believed the establishment of basic and heavy industries was fundamental to the development and modernisation of the Indian economy.[27] The Nehru government directed investment primarily into key public sector industries – steel, iron, coal, and power – promoting their development with subsidies and protectionist policies.[28] Nehru embraced secularism, socialistic economic practices based on state-driven industrialisation, and a non-aligned and non-confrontational foreign policy that became typical of the modern Congress Party.[29] The policy of non-alignment during the Cold War meant Nehru received financial and technical support from both the Eastern Bloc and the Western Bloc to build India's industrial base from nothing.[30][31]

During his period in office, there were four known assassination attempts on Nehru.[32] The first attempt on his life was during partition in 1947 while he was visiting North-West Frontier Province in a car. The second was by a knife-wielding rickshaw-puller in Maharashtra in 1955.[32] The third attempt happened in Bombay in 1956.[32] The fourth was a failed bombing attempt on railway tracks in Maharashtra in 1961.[32] Despite threats to his life, Nehru despised having excess security personnel around him and did not like his movements to disrupt traffic.[32] In 1964, Nehru died because of an aortic dissection, raising questions about the party's future.[33][34][35]

After Nehru's death, K. Kamaraj became the president of the All India Congress Committee.[36] Kamaraj had also been involved in the Indian independence movement and he introduced education to millions of the rural poor by providing free education along with a free midday meal, when he was chief minister of Tamil Nadu (1954–63).[37]

As a member of "the syndicate" – a group within the Congress – he proposed the Kamaraj Plan that encouraged six Congress chief ministers and six senior cabinet ministers to resign to take up party work.[38][39][40] Kamaraj was widely credited as the "kingmaker" in Indian politics for bringing Lal Bahadur Shastri to power in 1964.[38] No leader except Shastri had Nehru's popular appeal.[41] Shastri became a national hero following the victory in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.[42] His slogan, "Jai Jawan Jai Kisan" ("Hail the soldier, Hail the farmer"), became very popular during the war.[43] Shastri retained many members of Nehru's Council of Ministers; T. T. Krishnamachari was retained as the Finance Minister of India, as was Defence Minister Yashwantrao Chavan.[44] Shastri appointed Swaran Singh to succeed him as External Affairs Minister.[45]

Shashtri appointed Indira Gandhi – Jawaharlal Nehru's daughter and former party president – Minister of Information and Broadcasting.[46] Gulzarilal Nanda continued as the Minister of Home Affairs.[47] As Prime Minister, Shastri continued Nehru's policy of non-alignment[48] but built closer relations with the Soviet Union. In the aftermath of the Sino-Indian War of 1962, and the formation of military ties between the China and Pakistan, Shastri's government expanded the defence budget of India's armed forces. He also promoted the White Revolution – a national campaign to increase the production and supply of milk by creating National Dairy Development Board.[49]

The Madras anti-Hindu agitation of 1965 occurred during Shastri's tenure.[50][51] On 11 January 1966, a day after signing the Tashkent Declaration, Shastri died in Tashkent – reportedly due to a heart attack but the circumstances of his death remain mysterious.[52][53][54]

Indira era (1966–84)

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See also: The Emergency (India), Assassination of Indira Gandhi, and 1984 anti-Sikh riots

After Shastri's death, the Congress elected Indira Gandhi as leader over Morarji Desai. Once again, politician K. Kamaraj was instrumental in achieving this result. In 1967, following a poor performance in the general election, Indira Gandhi started moving towards the political left. In 1969, she was in dispute with senior party leaders on a number of issues; the party president S. Nijalingappa expelled her from the Congress.[55][56] Gandhi launched her own faction of the IRC, retaining the support of most of the Congress MPs, 65 of which supported the original party.[citation needed]

In the mid-term parliamentary elections held in 1971, the Gandhi-led Congress (R) Party won a landslide victory on a platform of progressive policies such as the elimination of poverty (Garibi Hatao).[57] The policies of the Congress (R) Party under Gandhi before the 1971 elections included proposals to abolish the Privy Purse to former rulers of the Princely states and the 1969 nationalisation of the 14 largest banks in India.[58]

Indira Gandhi, second-longest-serving Prime Minister of India and the only woman to hold the office

In the mid-1970s, the New Congress Party’s popular support began to wane. From 1975, Gandhi’s government grew increasingly more authoritarian and unrest among the opposition grew. On 12 June 1975, the High Court of Allahabad declared Indira Gandhi's election to the Lok Sabha &ndash: the lower house of India’s parliament – void on the grounds of electoral malpractice.[59] However, Gandhi rejected calls to resign and announced plans to appeal to the Supreme Court. She moved to restore order by ordering the arrest of most of the opposition participating in the unrest. In response to increasing disorder and lawlessness, Gandhi's cabinet and government recommended that President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed declare a State of Emergency, which he declared on 25  June 1975 based on the provisions of Article 352 of the Constitution.[citation needed]

During the nineteen-month emergency, widespread oppression and abuse of power by Gandhi's unelected younger son and political heir Sanjay Gandhi and his close associates occurred.[60][61][62] This period of oppression ended on 23 January 1977, when Gandhi released all political prisoners and called fresh elections to the Lok Sabha to be held in March.[63] The Emergency officially ended on 23 March 1977;[64] in that month's parliamentary elections, the opposition Janata Party Won a landslide victory over the Congress, winning 295 seats in the Lok Sabha against the Congress' 153. Gandhi lost her seat to her Janata opponent, Raj Narain. On 2 January 1978, she and her followers seceded and formed a new opposition party, popularly called Congress (I)—the I signifying Indira. During the next year, her new party attracted enough members of the legislature to become the official opposition.[citation needed]

In November 1978, Gandhi regained a parliamentary seat. In January 1980, following a landslide victory for the Congress (I), she was again elected prime minister.[65] The national election commission declared Congress (I) to be the real Indian National Congress in 1986 and the designation I was dropped.[66]

During Gandhi's new term as prime minister, her youngest son Sanjay died in an aeroplane crash in June 1980.[36][67] This led her to encourage her elder son Rajiv, who was working as a pilot, to enter politics. Gradually, Indira Gandhi's politics and outlook grew more authoritarian and autocratic, and she became the central figure of the Congress. As prime minister, she became known for her political ruthlessness and unprecedented centralisation of power.[citation needed]

Gandhi's term as prime minister also saw increasing turmoil in Punjab with demands for Sikh autonomy by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his militant followers.[68] In 1983, they headquartered themselves in the Golden Temple in Amritsar and started accumulating weapons.[69] In June 1984, after several futile negotiations, Gandhi ordered the Indian Army to enter the Golden Temple to establish control over the temple complex and remove Bhindranwale and his armed followers. This event is known as Operation Blue Star.[70]

On 31 October 1984, two of Gandhi's bodyguards, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh, shot her with their service weapons in the garden of the prime minister's residence in response to her authorisation of Operation Blue Star.[69] Gandhi was due to be interviewed by the British actor Peter Ustinov, who was filming a documentary for Irish television.[71] Her assassination prompted the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, during which more than 3,000 people were killed.[72]

Rajiv Gandhi and Rao era (1985–98)

Rajiv Gandhi, Prime Minister of India (1984–1989) and President of the Indian National Congress

In 1984, Indira Gandhi's son Rajiv Gandhi became nominal head of the Congress and became prime minister upon her assassination.[73] In December, he led the Congress to a landslide victory, in which it secured 401 seats in the legislature.[74] His administration took measures to reform the government bureaucracy and liberalise the country’s economy.[75] Rajiv Gandhi's attempts to discourage separatist movements in Punjab and Kashmir backfired. After his government became embroiled in several financial scandals, his leadership became increasingly ineffectual.[76] Gandhi was regarded as a non-abrasive person who consulted other party members and refrained from hasty decisions.[77] The Bofors scandal damaged his image as an honest politician but he was posthumously cleared of bribery allegations in 2004.[78] On 21 May 1991, Gandhi was killed by a bomb concealed in a basket of flowers carried by a woman associated with the Tamil Tigers.[71] He was campaigning in Tamil Nadu for upcoming parliamentary elections. In 1998, an Indian court convicted 26 people in the conspiracy to assassinate Gandhi.[79] The conspirators, who consisted of Tamil militants from Sri Lanka and their Indian allies, had sought revenge against Gandhi because the Indian troops he sent to Sri Lanka in 1987 to help enforce a peace accord there had fought with Tamil separatist guerrillas.[80][81]

P. V. Narasimha Rao served as the tenth Prime Minister of India (1991–96). He was the first prime minister from South India and the state of Andhra Pradesh.

Rajiv Gandhi was succeeded as party leader by P. V. Narasimha Rao, who was elected prime minister in June 1991.[82] His rise to the prime ministership was politically significant because he was the first holder of this office from South India. His administration oversaw a major economic change and several home incidents that affected India's national security.[83] Rao, who held the Industries portfolio, was personally responsible for the dismantling of the Licence Raj, which came under the purview of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.[84] He is often referred to as the "father of Indian economic reforms".[85][86]

Future prime ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh continued the economic reform policies begun by Rao's government. Rao accelerated the dismantling of the Licence Raj, reversing the socialist policies of previous governments.[87][88] He employed Manmohan Singh as his Finance Minister to begin a historic economic change. With Rao's mandate, Singh launched India's globalisation reforms that involved implementing International Monetary Fund (IMF) policies to prevent India's impending economic collapse.[84] Rao was also referred to as Chanakya for his ability to push tough economic and political legislation through the parliament while he headed a minority government.[89][90]

By 1996, the party's image was suffering from allegations of corruption, and in elections that year the Congress was reduced to 140 seats, its lowest number in the Lok Sabha to that point, becoming parliament’s second largest party. Rao later resigned as prime minister and, in September, as party president.[91] He was succeeded as president by Sitaram Kesri, the party’s first non-Brahmin leader.[92]

Modern era

UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, the leader of INC since 1998.

In the 1998 general election, the Congress won 141 seats in the Lok Sabha, its lowest tally until then. To boost its popularity and improve its performance in the forthcoming election, Congress leaders urged Sonia Gandhi – widow of Rajiv Gandhi – to assume the leadership of the party. She had previously declined offers to become actively involved in party affairs and had hitherto stayed away from politics. After her election as party leader, a section of the party that objected to the choice because of her Italian ethnicity broke away and formed the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), led by Sharad Pawar. The breakaway faction commanded strong support in the state of Maharashtra and limited support elsewhere. The remainder continued to be known as the Indian National Congress.[citation needed]

Sonia Gandhi's appointment initially failed to have an impact; in the snap polls called by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in 1999, the Congress won 114 seats – its lowest tally ever. The leadership structure was unaltered and the party campaigned strongly in the assembly elections that followed. At these elections the party was successful; at one point, the Congress ruled 15 states.[citation needed] In the 2004 general election, the Congress forged an alliance with several regional parties, including the NCP and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. The party's campaign emphasised social inclusion and the welfare of common people, contrasting with the NDA's "India Shining" campaign that sought to highlight the successes of the NDA government in making India into a "modern nation".[citation needed] The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) won 222 seats in the new parliament, defeating the NDA by a substantial margin. With the support of the communist front, the Congress won a majority and formed the new government. Despite massive support from within the Party, Gandhi declined the post of prime minister, choosing to appoint Manmohan Singh instead. She remained as party president and headed the National Advisory Council (NAC).[citation needed]

During its first term in office, the UPA government passed several bills aimed at social reform. These included an employment guarantee bill, the Right to Information Act, and a right to education act. The NAC, as well as the Left Front that supported the government from the outside, were widely seen as being the driving force behind such legislation. The Left Front withdrew its support of the government over disagreements about the U.S.–India Civil Nuclear Agreement. Despite the effective loss of 62 seats in parliament, the government survived the trust vote that followed.[93] In the Lok Sabha elections that occurred soon after, the Congress won 207 seats, the highest tally of any party since 1991. The UPA as a whole won 262, enabling to form the government for the second time. The social welfare policies of the first UPA government and the perceived divisiveness of the BJP are broadly credited for the victory.[94]

By the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the party had lost much of its popular support, mainly because of several years of poor economic conditions in the country and growing discontent over a series of corruption allegations involving government officials, including the 2G spectrum scam and the Indian coal allocation scam.[95][96] The Congress won only 44 seats,[97] which was its worst-ever performance in a national election that brought into question whether it would continue to be identified as an officially recognised party.[98]

Election symbol

As of 2014, the election symbol of the Congress, as approved by the Election Commission of India, is an image of a right hand with its palm facing front and its fingers pressed together;[99] this is usually shown in the centre of a tricolor flag. The hand symbol was first used by Indira Gandhi when she split from the Congress (R) faction following the 1977 elections and created the New Congress (I).[100][100]

The symbol of the original Congress during elections held between 1952 and 1971 was an image of two bullocks with a plough.[101] The symbol of Indira's Congress (R) during the period 1971–77 was a cow with a suckling calf.[102]

In general elections

Year General election Seats won Change in # of seats Percentage of vote Vote swing
Indian general election, 1951 1st Lok Sabha 364 44.99%
Indian general election, 1957 2nd Lok Sabha 371 Increase7 47.78% Increase 2.79%
Indian general election, 1962 3rd Lok Sabha 361 Decrease10 44.72% Decrease 3.06%
Indian general election, 1967 4th Lok Sabha 283 Decrease78 40.78% Decrease 2.94%
Indian general election, 1971 5th Lok Sabha 352 Increase69 43.68% Increase 2.90%
Indian general election, 1977 6th Lok Sabha 153 Decrease199 34.52% Decrease 9.16%
Indian general election, 1980 7th Lok Sabha 351 Increase 198 42.69% Increase 8.17%
Indian general election, 1984 8th Lok Sabha 415 Increase 64 49.01% Increase 6.32%
Indian general election, 1989 9th Lok Sabha 197 Decrease218 39.53% Decrease 9.48%
Indian general election, 1991 10th Lok Sabha 244 Increase 47 35.66% Decrease 3.87%
Indian general election, 1996 11th Lok Sabha 140 Decrease 104 28.80% Decrease 7.46%
Indian general election, 1998 12th Lok Sabha 141 Increase 1 25.82% Decrease 2.98%
Indian general election, 1999 13th Lok Sabha 114 Decrease 27 28.30% Increase 2.48%
Indian general election, 2004 14th Lok Sabha 145 Increase 32 26.7% Decrease 1.6%
Indian general election, 2009 15th Lok Sabha 206 Increase 61 28.55% Increase 2.02%
Indian general election, 2014 16th Lok Sabha 44 Decrease 162 19.3% Decrease 9.25%

Current structure and composition

The Congress is structured in a hierarchical manner and the organisational structure, created by Mohandas Gandhi's re-arrangement of the party between 1918 and 1920 has been largely retained.[103] A president and the All India Congress Committee (AICC) are elected by delegates from state and district parties at an annual national conference, In every Indian state and union territory – or pradesh – there is a Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC), which is the state-level unit of the party responsible for directing political campaigns at local and state levels, and assisting the campaigns for parliamentary constituencies.[104] Each PCC has a working committee of twenty members, most of whom are appointed by the party president – the leader of the state party – who is chosen by the prime minister. Those elected as members of the states' legislative assemblies form the Congress Legislature Parties in the various state assemblies; their chairperson is usually the party's nominee for Chief Ministership. The party is also organised into various committees, and sections; it publishes a daily newspaper, the National Herald.[105]

The AICC is composed of delegates sent from the PCCs.[105] The delegates elect Congress committees, including the Congress Working Committee consisting of senior party leaders and office bearers. The AICC takes all important executive and political decisions.[104] Since Indira Gandhi formed the Congress (I) in 1978, the President of the Indian National Congress has effectively been the party's national leader, head of the organisation, head of the Working Committee and all chief Congress committees, chief spokesman, and the Congress' choice for Prime Minister of India. Constitutionally, the president is elected by the PCCs and members of the AICC; however, this procedure has often been by-passed by the Working Committee, which has elected its own candidate.[105]

The Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) consists of elected MPs in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.[104] There is also a Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader in each state. The CLP consists of all Congress Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) in each state. In cases of states where the Congress is single-handedly ruling the government, the CLP leader is the Chief Minister.[104] Other directly affiliated groups include the National Students Union of India (NSUI), the Indian Youth Congress – the party's youth wing – Indian National Trade Union Congress, Mahila Congress, its women's division, and Congress Seva Dal – its voluntary organisation.[citation needed]

State and territorial parties

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Further information: National Students Union of India, Indian Youth Congress, Indian National Trade Union Congress, and Mahila Congress

Ideology and policies

The Congress is a liberal nationalist party that follows a form of nationalism that supports the values of freedom, tolerance, equality, and individual rights.[40]

Throughout much of the Cold War period, the Congress supported a foreign policy of nonalignment that called for India to form ties with both the Western and eastern Blocs but to avoid formal alliances with either.[citation needed] American support for Pakistan led the Party to endorse a friendship treaty with the Soviet Union in 1971.[citation needed] In 2004, when the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance came to power, its chairperson Sonia Gandhi unexpectedly relinquished the premiership to Manmohan Singh. This Singh-led "UPA I" government executed several key legislations and projects, including the Rural Health Mission, Unique Identification Authority, the Rural Employment Guarantee scheme, and the Right to Information Act.[citation needed]

Economic policy

The Congress endorses a mixed economy in which the private sector and the state direct the economy, reflecting characteristics of both market economies and planned economies. The modern Congress advocates import substitution industrialisation; the replacement of foreign imports with domestic products. The party also believes mixed economies are likely to protect the environment, standardise the welfare system, and maintain employment standards and competition.[citation needed] The Congress also believes the Indian economy should be liberalised to increase the pace of development. In 2005, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh introduced value added tax, which replaced sales tax, and has continued the Golden Quadrilateral and the highway modernisation program that was initiated by Vajpayee's government. In 2009, India achieved its highest GDP growth rate of 9% and became the second-fastest growing major economy in the world.[106]

Healthcare and education

In 2005, the Congress-led government started the National Rural Health Mission, which employed about 500,000 community health workers. It was praised by the American economist Jeffrey Sachs.[107] In 2006, it implemented a proposal to reserve 27% of seats in the All India Institute of Medical Studies (AIIMS), the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and other central higher education institutions for Other Backward Classes, which led to 2006 Indian anti-reservation protests.[citation needed] The Singh government also continued the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan programme, which includes the introduction and improvement of mid-day school meals and the opening of new schools throughout India &ndash especially in rural areas &ndash to fight illiteracy.[108] During Manmohan Singh's prime-ministership, eight Institutes of Technology were opened in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Orissa, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh.[109]

Security and home affairs

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. The Congress has strengthened anti-terrorism laws with amendments to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). The National Investigation Agency (India) (NIA) was created soon after the Nov 2008 Mumbai terror attacks in response to the need for a central agency to combat terrorism. The Unique Identification Authority of India was established in February 2009 to implement the proposed Multipurpose National Identity Card with the objective of increasing national security.

Foreign policy

Manmohan Singh with American President Barack Obama at the White House

The Congress has continued the foreign policy started by P. V. Narasimha Rao. This includes the peace process with Pakistan and the exchange of high-level visits by leaders from both countries.[110] The party tried to end the border dispute with the People's Republic of China through negotiations.[111][112] Relations with Afghanistan have also been a concern of the party;[113] during Afghan President Hamid Karzai's visit to New Delhi in August 2008, Manmohan Singh increased the aid package to Afghanistan for the development of schools, health clinics, infrastructure, and defence.[114] India is now as one of the single largest aid donors to Afghanistan.[114]

When in power between 2004 and 2014, the Congress worked on India's relationship with the United States. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited the US in July 2005 to negotiate an Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement. US President George W. Bush visited India in March 2006; during this visit a nuclear agreement that would give India access to American nuclear fuel and technology in exchange for the IAEA inspection of its civil nuclear reactors was proposed. Over two years of negotiations, followed by approval from the IAEA, the Nuclear Suppliers Group and the US Congress, the agreement was signed on 10 October 2008.[115]

The Congress' policy has been to cultivate friendly relations with Japan and European Union countries including the United Kingdom, France, and Germany.[116] Diplomatic relations with Iran have continued and negotiations over the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline have taken place.[117] In April 2006 New Delhi hosted an India–Africa summit that was attended by the leaders of 15 African states.[118] Congress' policy has also been to improve relations with other developing countries, particularly Brazil and South Africa.[119]

Presence in various states

File:Indian states by congress 2015.png
Congress-ruled states in dark green, coalition in light green. Light blue indicates where Congress is the principal opposition party.

As of December 2014, Congress was in power in the states Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Manipur, Meghalaya and Mizoram – in which the party has majority support. In Assam, Kerala, and Uttarakhand it shares power with alliance partners. Before 2014, Congress has directly ruled Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab and Goa.[120]

List of current UPA Chief Ministers

No State/UT Chief Minister Party/Alliance partner CM Since Seats in Assembly
1 Arunachal Pradesh Nabam Tuki Indian National Congress 1 November 2011 42/60
2 Assam Tarun Gogoi Indian National Congress 17 May 2001 78/126
3 Himachal Pradesh Virbhadra Singh Indian National Congress 25 December 2012 36/68
4 Karnataka Siddaramaiah Indian National Congress 13 May 2013 122/225
5 Kerala Oommen Chandy Indian National Congress May 18, 2011 73/140
6 Manipur Okram Ibobi Singh Indian National Congress 7 March 2002 30/60
7 Meghalaya Mukul Sangma Indian National Congress 20 April 2010 31/60
8 Mizoram Pu Lalthanhawla Indian National Congress 11 December 2008 33/40
9 Uttarakhand Harish Rawat Indian National Congress 1 February 2014 36/71

List of Prime Ministers

No. Prime Ministers Year Duration Constituency
1 Jawaharlal Nehru 1947–64 17 years Phulpur
2 Gulzarilal Nanda May–June 1964; January 1966 26 days Sabarkantha
3 Lal Bahadur Shastri 1964–66 2 years Allahabad
4 Indira Gandhi 1966–77, 1980–84 16 years Uttar Pradesh (Rajya Sabha), Rae Bareli, Medak
5 Rajiv Gandhi 1984–89 5 years Amethi
6 P. V. Narasimha Rao 1991–96 5 years Nandyal
7 Manmohan Singh 2004–14 10 years Assam (Rajya Sabha)

List of Prime Ministers (former Congress members)

A majority of non-Congress prime ministers of India are former Congress members.

No. Prime Ministers Year Duration Constituency
1 Morarji Desai 1977–79 2 years Surat
2 Charan Singh July 1979; January 1980 170 days Baghpat
3 V. P. Singh 1989–90 1 year Fatehpur
4 Chandra Shekhar 1990 223 Days Ballia
5 H. D. Deve Gowda 1996–97 1 year Karnataka (Rajya Sabha)
6 I. K. Gujral 1997–98 1 year Bihar (Rajya Sabha)

See also

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Further reading

  • The Indian National Congress: An Historical Sketch, by Frederick Marion De Mello. Published by H. Milford, Oxford university press, 1934.
  • The Indian National Congress, by Hemendra Nath Das Gupta. Published by J. K. Das Gupta, 1946.
  • Indian National Congress: A Descriptive Bibliography of India's Struggle for Freedom, by Jagdish Saran Sharma. Published by S. Chand, 1959.
  • Social Factors in the Birth and Growth of the Indian National Congress Movement, by Ramparkash Dua. Published by S. Chand, 1967.
  • Split in a Predominant Party: The Indian National Congress in 1969, by Mahendra Prasad Singh. Abhinav Publications, 1981. ISBN 81-7017-140-7.
  • Concise History of the Indian National Congress, 1885–1947, by B. N. Pande, Nisith Ranjan Ray, Ravinder Kumar, Manmath Nath Das. Published by Vikas Pub. House, 1985. ISBN 0-7069-3020-7.
  • The Indian National Congress: An Analytical Biography, by Om P. Gautam. Published by B.R. Pub. Corp., 1985.
  • A Century of Indian National Congress, 1885–1985, by Pran Nath Chopra, Ram Gopal, Moti Lal Bhargava. Published by Agam Prakashan, 1986.
  • The Congress Ideology and Programme, 1920–1985, by Pitambar Datt Kaushik . Published by Gitanjali Pub. House, 1986. ISBN 81-85060-16-9.
  • Struggling and Ruling: The Indian National Congress, 1885–1985, by Jim Masselos. Published by Sterling Publishers, 1987.
  • The Encyclopedia of Indian National Congress, by A. Moin Zaidi, Shaheda Gufran Zaidi, Indian Institute of Applied Political Research. Published by S.Chand, 1987.
  • Indian National Congress: A Reconstruction, by Iqbal Singh, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library. Published by Riverdale Company, 1988. ISBN 0-913215-32-5.
  • INC, the Glorious Tradition, by A. Moin Zaidi, Indian National Congress. AICC. Published by Indian Institute of Applied Political Research, 1989.
  • Indian National Congress: A Select Bibliography, by Manikrao Hodlya Gavit, Attar Chand. Published by U.D.H. Pub. House, 1989. ISBN 81-85044-05-8.
  • The Story of Congress PilgrFile: 1885–1985, by A. Moin Zaidi, Indian National Congress. Published by Indian Institute of Applied Political Research, 1990. ISBN 81-85355-46-0. (7 vols)
  • Indian National Congress in England, by Harish P. Kaushik. Published by Friends Publications, 1991.
  • Women in Indian National Congress, 1921–1931, by Rajan Mahan. Published by Rawat Publications, 1999.
  • History of Indian National Congress, 1885–2002, by Deep Chand Bandhu. Published by Kalpaz Publications, 2003. ISBN 81-7835-090-4.
  • Bipan Chandra, Amales Tripathi, Barun De. Freedom Struggle. India: National Book Struggle. ISBN 978-81-237-0249-0.

External links

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