Congress, Indian National

Congress, Indian National The principal Indian political party, founded in 1885 as an annual meeting of educated Indians wanting a greater share in the government of India. The decision of Viceroy Curzon to split Bengal in 1905 resulted in the precipitation of more extremist policies under the leadership of Bal Gangadhar Tilak. From 1920, under the leadership of Mohandas Gandhi, the Congress developed from a party of the educated middle classes to one with urban and rural mass support. The party conducted campaigns of civil disobedience throughout the 1920s. In 1937 it won 70 per cent of the total popular vote in the provincial elections, held under the Government of India Act (1935). In 1939 it withdrew from provincial government in protest over the British declaration of war on India's behalf without prior consultation. Many of its leaders were imprisoned, 1942–5, during the ‘Quit India’ campaign (see Satyagraha), but were released from prison in order to negotiate independence.

Under Jawaharlal Nehru the party continued to dominate the politics of the republic as a broad political movement combining nationalism, Fabian socialism, a commitment to make India economically self-reliant, and the desire to break down the caste system. The breadth of its support has been both the party's strength and its weakness, as Congress has been unusually reliant on strong and charismatic leadership which was acceptable to all sides. The death of Nehru marked the beginning of a gradual process of decline, which could not be reversed under the strong but controversial leadership of Nehru's daughter, Indira Gandhi (1966–77, 1979).

In protest against Indira Gandhi's poor performance in the 1967 elections, and her headstrong leadership of the party in general, Congress split, into the Congress (O) (for ‘Old’), and Congress (I) (for Indira). While Congress (O) withered away, the more dynamic and authoritarian Congress (I) continued as India's dominant political party, though it was weakened by further splits in the 1970s, the most significant of them occurring in 1978. Congress (I) lost power in 1977 to the Janata Alliance Party, largely as a result of the imposition of a state of emergency after Indira Gandhi had been convicted of electoral corruption in 1975.

Owing to divisions in the Janata Alliance Party, Congress (I) returned to power in 1980. After Indira Gandhi's assassination in October 1984 the splits between factions largely healed and the leadership of the Congress (I) Party passed to her son Rajiv Gandhi, who became Prime Minister. Following his assassination in May 1991, the party leadership passed to P. V. Narasimba Rao, whose government ruled on a very slender majority until its defeat in 1996. Given the party's lack of direction since the death of R. Gandhi, and because of internal disagreements, the party offered the leadership to Sonja Gandhi, the Italian-born wife of the late Rajiv. Under her direction, however, the party was unable to return to government, loosing its third parliamentary elections in a row in 1999. In a country increasingly riven by ethnic and religious conflict, it was difficult for the party espousing secularism to find new popular appeal.

http://www.indiannationalcongress.com