Key Points

After Jawaharlal Nehru's death in May 1964, Lal Bahadur Shastri became the Prime Minister through a peaceful consensus, proving fears about India's democratic instability wrong. His tenure saw the 1965 Indo-Pak war and the slogan 'Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan'.

Following Shastri's sudden death in 1966, there was a contest between Morarji Desai and Indira Gandhi. Indira Gandhi, backed by senior party leaders known as the 'Syndicate', was elected Prime Minister.

Held amidst a severe economic crisis, the 1967 elections were a 'political earthquake'. The Congress party's majority in the Lok Sabha was significantly reduced, and it lost power in nine states for the first time.

Coined by socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia, 'non-Congressism' was a political strategy where diverse opposition parties formed anti-Congress fronts. They argued that Congress rule was undemocratic and needed to be removed.

The 1967 elections marked the beginning of coalition politics, with various non-Congress parties forming Samyukt Vidhayak Dal (SVD) governments in states. This period also saw a rise in defections, where elected representatives switched parties for personal gain.

This phrase came to describe the practice of frequent floor-crossing by legislators after a Haryana MLA, Gaya Lal, changed his party three times in a fortnight in 1967. It symbolized the political instability of the era.

The Syndicate was an informal but powerful group of senior Congress leaders, including K. Kamraj and S.K. Patil, who controlled the party organization. They initially supported Indira Gandhi but later came into conflict with her.

Indira Gandhi sought to establish her own authority and challenged the Syndicate's dominance. She converted this power struggle into an ideological one, adopting a left-leaning agenda with policies like the 'Ten Point Programme'.

The conflict peaked when the Syndicate nominated N. Sanjeeva Reddy as the official Congress candidate for President. Indira Gandhi supported the independent candidate V.V. Giri, asking for a 'conscience vote', which led to Giri's victory.

The defeat of the official candidate led to Indira Gandhi's expulsion from the party, formalizing the split in 1969. The Syndicate's faction became Congress (Organisation), while Indira's faction was called Congress (Requisitionists).

Indira Gandhi made the abolition of the 'privy purse', a special payment to former princes, a major populist issue. After her massive victory in 1971, the Constitution was amended to abolish these privileges.

Indira Gandhi called for early elections in 1971, campaigning on the famous slogan 'Garibi Hatao' (Remove Poverty). The opposition parties formed a 'Grand Alliance' with the slogan 'Indira Hatao' (Remove Indira).

Indira Gandhi's Congress (R) and its allies won a landslide victory, securing 375 seats in the Lok Sabha. This massive mandate established her as the supreme leader and her faction as the 'real' Congress.

Her popularity was boosted by her pro-poor socialist policies, the victory in the 1971 Indo-Pak war which led to the creation of Bangladesh, and her image as a strong nationalist leader.

While Congress dominance was restored, it was a new, reinvented party. The 'new' Congress was highly centralized, depended entirely on the leader's popularity, and had a weaker organizational structure compared to the old Congress system.