Era of one-party dominanceClass 12 Politics in India Since Independence NCERT Solutions
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Solution 1 of 5
Q1Exercises
Choose the correct option to fill in the blanks.
(a)
The First General Elections in 1952 involved simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and ......................(The President of India/ State Assemblies/ Rajya Sabha/ The Prime Minister)
(b)
The party that won the second largest number of Lok Sabha seats in the first elections was the ________ (Praja Socialist Party/ Bharatiya Jana Sangh/ Communist Party of India/Bharatiya Janata Party)
(c)
One of the guiding principles of the ideology of the Swatantra Party was ________ (Working class interests/ protection of Princely States / economy free from State control / Autonomy of States within the Union)
Solution
(a) State Assemblies
The First General Elections in 1952 involved simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies.
(b) Communist Party of India
The party that won the second largest number of Lok Sabha seats in the first elections was the Communist Party of India. As mentioned in the chapter, they won 16 seats.
(c) economy free from State control
One of the guiding principles of the ideology of the Swatantra Party was economy free from State control.
Q2Exercises
Match the following leaders listed in List A with the parties in List B. List A
(a)
S. A. Dange
(b)
Shyama Prasad Mukherjee
(c)
Minoo Masani
(d)
Asoka Mehta
List B
i. Bharatiya Jana Sangh
ii. Swatantra Party
iii. Praja Socialist Party
iv. Communist Party of India
Solution
The correct matches are as follows:
-
(a) S. A. Dange - (iv) Communist Party of India
- The chapter lists S.A. Dange as one of the notable leaders of the CPI.
-
(b) Shyama Prasad Mukherjee - (i) Bharatiya Jana Sangh
- The text states that the Bharatiya Jana Sangh was formed in 1951 with Shyama Prasad Mukherjee as its founder-President.
-
(c) Minoo Masani - (ii) Swatantra Party
- Minoo Masani was a prominent leader of the Swatantra Party, which is listed as an opposition party in the exercises.
-
(d) Asoka Mehta - (iii) Praja Socialist Party
- The chapter identifies Asoka Mehta as a leader of the socialist parties and mentions the Praja Socialist Party as one of the parties formed after splits and reunions.
Q3Exercises
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 nation's colonial past.
(d)
One-party dominance reflects the absence of democratic ideals in a country.
Solution
(a) True. The chapter explains that the Congress had a significant head start with a well-organized structure across the country, while other parties were still being formed or were organizationally weak. This lack of strong, organized alternatives contributed to Congress's dominance.
(b) False. The chapter highlights that voter turnout in the first general election was encouraging, with more than half the eligible voters participating. The results were widely accepted as fair, indicating an active and decisive public opinion, not a weak one.
(c) True. The chapter explicitly states that the roots of the Congress party's success go back to the legacy of the freedom struggle. As the primary party of the national movement against colonial rule, it was seen as the natural inheritor of power.
(d) False. The chapter makes a clear distinction between India's one-party dominance and that in other countries. It emphasizes that Congress's dominance occurred under democratic conditions with free and fair elections where multiple parties contested, unlike one-party states where democracy was compromised.
Q4Exercises
Take a political map of India (with State outlines) and mark:
(a)
two states where Congress was not in power at some point during 1952-67.
(b)
two states where the Congress remained in power through this period.
Solution
(a) Two states where Congress was not in power at some point during 1952-67:
- Kerala: The chapter highlights the victory of the Communist Party of India in the 1957 assembly elections in Kerala. The CPI formed the government, which was a significant instance of the Congress losing power at the state level.
- Orissa: The text mentions that in the first general election, the Congress won a majority in all states except Travancore-Cochin (part of Kerala), Madras, and Orissa. This indicates that Orissa was a state where Congress did not secure a majority at the beginning of this period.
(b) Two states where the Congress remained in power through this period:
- Uttar Pradesh: The electoral map and general description of Congress dominance indicate that it maintained control over large Hindi-speaking states. Uttar Pradesh was a major stronghold for the Congress throughout this era.
- Madhya Pradesh: Similar to Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh was another state where the Congress party consistently held power during the first two decades after independence.
Q5Exercises
Read the following passage and answer the questions below: "Patel, the organisational man of the Congress, wanted to purge the Congress of other political groups and sought to make of it a cohesive and disciplined political party. He .... sought to take the Congress away from its all-embracing character and turn it into a close-knit party of disciplined cadres. Being a 'realist' he looked more for discipline than for comprehension. While Gandhi took too romantic a view of "carrying on the movement," Patel's idea of transforming the Congress into strictly political party with a single ideology and tight discipline showed an equal lack of understanding of the eclectic role that the Congress, as a government, was to be called upon to perform in the decades to follow." - Rajni Kothari
(a)
Why does the author think that Congress should not have been a cohesive and disciplined party?
(b)
Give some examples of the eclectic role of the Congress party in the early years.
(c)
Why does the author say that Gandhi's view about Congress' future was romantic?
Solution
(a) Why does the author think that Congress should not have been a cohesive and disciplined party?
The author, Rajni Kothari, believes that a cohesive and disciplined party with a single ideology would have been unsuitable for governing a country as diverse as India. He argues that Patel's approach showed a "lack of understanding of the eclectic role" the Congress needed to play. This eclectic or all-embracing role was necessary to manage the contradictory interests of various groups (classes, castes, religions, etc.) within the nation. A rigid, disciplined party would not have been able to accommodate these differences, which was the key to Congress's success and to maintaining national unity in the early decades.
(b) Give some examples of the eclectic role of the Congress party in the early years.
The chapter describes the eclectic, or coalition-like, nature of the Congress party in detail. Examples include:
- Social Coalition: It brought together diverse and often conflicting social groups under one umbrella, including "Peasants and industrialists, urban dwellers and villagers, workers and owners, middle, lower and upper classes and castes."
- Ideological Coalition: The party accommodated a wide spectrum of ideologies. It had space for "the revolutionary and pacifist, conservative and radical, extremist and moderate and the right, left and all shades of the centre." This allowed different factions to exist and compete within the party, preventing splits.
- Inclusivity of other parties: In the pre-independence era, organizations like the Congress Socialist Party were allowed to exist and function within the broader Congress platform.
(c) Why does the author say that Gandhi's view about Congress' future was romantic?
The author describes Gandhi's view as romantic because it was idealistic and perhaps impractical for a political party that had to transition from a freedom movement to a governing body. Gandhi had suggested that the Congress should be dissolved after independence and transformed into a 'Lok Sevak Sangh' (a society for public service). This vision prioritized social work and grassroots service over the practical necessities of running a government and competing for political power in a modern state. The author implies that this was a noble but unrealistic expectation in the context of the political realities of a newly independent nation.