Plus Two Political Science Chapter Wise Questions and Answers Chapter 5 Challenges to and Restoration of Congress System

Kerala Plus Two Political Science Chapter Wise Questions and Answers Chapter 5 Challenges to and Restoration of Congress System

Question 1.
Which of these statements about the 1967 election is are correct ?
a) Congress won the Lok Sabha elections but lost the Assembly elections in many states.
b) Congress lost both Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.
c) Congress lost majority in the Lok Sabha but formed a coalition government with the support of some other parties.
d) Congress retained power at the Center with an increased majority.
Answer:
a) Congress won the Lok Sabha elections but lost the Assembly elections in many states.

Question 2.
The term “Aya Ram, Gaya Ram” is associated with :

1. Corruption
2. Green Revolution
3. Politics of Defection
4. Decentralisation

Answer:
Politics of Defection

Question 3.
Match the following.

Answer:
a-iv; b-i; c-ii; d-iii

Question 4.
Whom would you identify with the following slogans/ phrases ?
a) Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan
b) Indira Hatao
c) Garibi Hatao
Answer:
a. Lai Bahadur Sastri
b. Grand Alliance
c. Indira Gandhi

Question 5.
Which of the following statement about the Grand Alliance of 1971 is correct?
The Grand Alliance
a) was formed by non- Communist, non- Congress parties.
b) had a clear political and ideological programme.
c) was formed by all non- Congress parties.
Answer:
a) was formed by non- Communist, non- Congress parties.

Question 6.
Among the following leaders who is associated with the concept of ‘Non Congressism’
a) N. Sanjeeva Reddy.
b) Ram ManoharLohia
c) V.V.Giri
d) S. Nijalingappa
Answer:
b) Ram ManoharLohia

Question 7.
In the Presidential Election of 1969 one of the following leaders contested as the official candidate of congress. Identify the leader.
a) N.Sanjeeva Reddy.
b) V.V.Giri
c) Moraiji Deasi
d) Charan Singh
Answer:
a) N.Sanjeeva Reddy.

Question 8.
One of the following Prime Ministers proposed the slogan ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’. Identify the Prime Minister.
a) Indira Gandhi.
b) Jawaharlal Nehru
c) Lai Bahadur Sastri
d) Morarji Desai
Answer:
c) Lai Bahadur Sastri

Question 9.
The slogan “ Garibi Hatao” is associated with one of the following Prime Ministers Identify the Prime Minister.
a) N.Sanjeeva Reddy.
b) V.V.Giri
c) Morarji Deasi
d) Indira Gandhi
Answer:
d) Indira Gandhi

Question 10.
Identify the personalities associated with Tashkent
Agreement
a) Lai Bahadur Sastri
b) ……………..
Answer:
Muhammad Ayub Khan

Question 11.
Due to the split in the Congress, it was divided into two in 1969. Identify the ‘Groups’
a) Congress (O)
b) …………….
Answer:
Congress (R)

Question 12.
In 1971 General Election the opposition parties formed an alliance against congress. Identify the alliance.
a) National DemocraticAlliance
b) Great Alliance
c) GrandAlliance
d) United Progressive Alliance
Answer:
c) Grand Alliance

Question 13.
Succession was a major problem in almost all newly democratic countries. India faced this problem after the death of Nehru. Give a brief explanation about the successful outcome of this issue.
OR
“The new Prime Minister of India in spite of all forebodings, had been named with more dispatch, and much more dignity, than was the new Prime Minister of Britain”. This was the editorial comment of a news paper comparing the political succession after Nehru with the succession drama after Harold Macmillan in Britain. Do you think the succession after Nehru provided a sign of maturity of India’s democracy? Express your opinion.
Answer:
Nehru died on 27 May 1964. It brought a lot of confusion. Two questions arose: “Who would be his successor?” And “Will Democracy remain in India after the death of Nehru?” Democracy could not continue in many new countries. More over we faced many problems during that period, poverty, inequality, caste, religion, divisive tendencies etc were bothering us. Two incidents proved that democracy was strong in India and its leaders were mature enough to handle any situation.

The then Congress President K. Kamaraj and the leaders discussed the issue of succession and they chose Lai Bahadur Sastri to be the next leader and naturally he became the PM. Thus it was proved that the big question “Who After Nehru?” was not all that important.

There was also uncertainty at the untimely death of Lai Bahadur Sastri. He died soon after signing the Tashkent Agreement (10 January 1966). The competition was between Morarji Desai and Indira Gandhi. The elders of the Party supported Indira Gandhi. But her choice was not unanimous. Through secret ballot she was elected to the post of the PM. Thus democracy continued without any serious problem.

Question 14.
The senior Congress leaders believed that it must have been difficult for Indira Gandhi to lead the government. So her inexperience would compel her to be dependent on them for support and guidance. But she was able to gain control overthe party and started demonstrating her leadership skills. Can you explain how Indira Gandhi overcame the difficulties?
Hints :

1. Fourth general election, 1967.
2. Non Congressism.
3. Syndicate.
4. Defection.
5. Presidential Election 1969
6. The 1971 Election

Answer:
After Lai Bahadur Sastri, Indira Gandhi became the PM. Her coming to power was not through a unanimous decision. Morarji Desai had contested against Indira Gandhi. Indira was chosen through a secret ballot among the members of the Congress. The elderly leaders supported Indira. They thought that because of her lack of experience in administration, she would come to them for advice and suggestions. But Indira Gandhi soon proved that she could handle even difficult problems by herself.

During the 4th General Election, the country was experiencing some very difficult problems. There was lack of rain. There were droughts and food production was very low. Industrial output and export were also low. The Wars of 1962 and 1965 increased military expenses greatly. She overcame these problems through

proper planning, utilization of available resources and changes brought about in the economic policies. One of her first decision was to fight inflation by devaluing the Indian Rupee. Many people thought that she devalued the Rupee under pressure from the US. This devaluation increased the price of essential goods. The lack of foodstuff and unemployment adversely affected the financial well-being of the nation. People started reacting. There were hartals and bandhs here and there. The government looked at them as a law and order problem. Indira had to answer questions put forward by the Opposition.

The Communist Party and the Socialist Party began protests. The CPI (M) even organized armed struggle and agricultural worker’s protests. The Opposition Parties came together against the policies of the government. They thought that Indira’s inexperience and the groupism in the ruling party would enable them to topple the government. Ram Manohar Lohia spoke about “Non-Congressism”. In his view the Congress rule was
anti-democratic and against the interest of the masses. The big Hindu-Muslim riots after independence also occurred at this time.

It was during this confused state of affairs, the first election after Nehru’s death was conducted. The result was favourable to Congress. It was a ‘political earthquake’. Congress was able to retain its majority in the Lok Sabha. But it was a very small majority. In many States it lost power.

There was a popular talk at that time. It meant that if you took a train from Delhi to Howrah, you would not pass through any Congress ruled State. Defections helped in forming non-Congress governments in many places. The biggest challenge Indira Gandhi had to face was not from the Opposition but from her own party.

She had to a face a powerful Syndicate in the party itself working against her. But soon she was able to take control and took strong measures. She did certain things showing her leaning towards the Left. In 1967, she formed a 10-point action plan. Banks were controlled, insurance was nationalized, and ceiling was set for urban property. She also carried out public distribution of food grains, land reforms, village housing schemes. Although the Syndicate agreed to these changes, it was not happy.

When Dr. Zakir Hussain died in 1969, there was election for the President. During this election the difference between Indira Gandhi and the Syndicate came in the open. The Syndicate nominated Mr Sanjeeva Reddy. Indira Gandhi supported the then Vice President V.V. Giri as an independent candidate. It was around this time that she nationalized 14 banks and stopped the Privy Purse
given to the rulers of the Princely Sates. Morarji Desai opposed both these actions. He resigned from the Ministry.

In the Presidential election, the Congress President N. Nijalingappa asked the Congress MPs and MLAs sto vote for N. Sanjeeva Reddy. Silently supporting V.V. Giri, Indira asked the MPs and MLAs to vote according to their conscience. Ultimately V.V. Giri was elected President. The failure of the official candidate to win, split the Party. The Party ousted Indira Gandhi. But she claimed the real party was her party. The Congress Party of the Syndicate was called Congress (O) and the Congress Party of Indira was called Congress (R). (O) meant Organization and (R) meant Requisitionist. Indira Gandhi termed this division as an ideological division between Socialists and Conservatives and the poor and the rich.

The split in the Congress Party reduced the majority of Indira Gandhi’s government. But with help from the CPI and DMK, the government continued. During this time Indira Gandhi brought strong land reforms bills. In 1970 she recommended the dissolution of the Lok Sabha as she did not want to rule with the help of some other parties. This election was between Congress (O) and Congress (R) and also the Grand Alliance.

The Opposition had only one agenda – remove Indira Gandhi from power. But Indira Gandhi came out with another powerful slogan “Garibi Hatao” (Remove Poverty). Her dream was to have a self-sufficient India. The 1971 election was favourable to the Congress (R) and the CPI. They got 375 seats. By claiming that her Congress was the original Congress, Indira was able to gain the upper hand in Indian politics.

Question 15
After the fourth general election there emerged a popular saying that “one could take a train from Delhi to Howrah and not pass through a single congress ruled state”. Can you recollect the reason behind this saying?
OR
The observers described the election result of the fourth election as a political earthquake’. This result brought some fundamental changes in Indian politics. Can you evaluate the general election result of 1967?
Answer:
From 1952 elections, until the 4th election, Congress could gain clear majority in both the Centre and States. But with the 4th election things changed. The financial crisis, succession following the death of Lai Bahadur Sastri, the devaluation ofthe Indian Rupee, inflation – all these things adversely affected the Congress. It was the first election after the death of Nehru. The Opposition Parties joined togetherto fight the Congress.

In the circumstances, the election result was a real earthquake. Although Congress could maintain its majority in the LokSabha, it was the smallest majority so far. Almost half of the ministers in the Indira Ministry failed to be relected. In 7 States Congress lost power. In two other States, because of Defection, Congress could not form governments. Thus 9 States – Punjab, Haryana, UP, MP, Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa, Madras and Kerala were lost by the Congress. In Madras a regional party, the DMK, came to power with clear majority. This was the first Non-Congress, single party government. In the other 8 States coalition governments were formed. That is how the popular saying emerged.

Question 16.
Aya Ram, Gaya Ram’ was a political usage developed after 1967 general election. Can you identify the feature this usage represents.
1. Coalition.
2. Non-Congressism.
3. Defection.
4. Syndicate.
Answer:
Defection

Question 17.
“Aya Ram, Gaya Ram” is a usage developed due to defection which means an elected representative leaves the party on whose symbol he/she was elected and joins another party. Can you narrate the story of Aya Ram, Gaya Ram’?
Answer:
Literally speaking the saying means “Ram came, Ram went”. But this shows defection by MPs and MLAs, In 1967, an MLA named Gayalal made a defection in Haryana. He changed his party 3 times in 2 weeks. From Congress he went to the United Front, then he came back to the Congress and then, after 9 hours, he went back to the United Front. It was his quick defections that gave birth to this saying.

Question 18.
The period of 1960s was labeled as the ‘Dangerous Decade’ for Indian Democracy. Can you briefly list the reasons for this description?
Answer:

1. During this period we had to fight two wars – with China and Pakistan.
2. The death of Nehru adversely affected the rebuilding of the nation.
3. Problems like poverty, inequality, religious and caste differences, regional divisive tendencies etc became challenges to democracy and nation-building.
4. Lack of rain causing droughts, insufficient food production, shortage of grain, shortfall in industrial production etc threatened our economic security.
5. Increased military expenses, spending money earmarked for certain projects for other things adversely affected developmental programmes.
6. Because of the devaluation of the Indian Rupee, prices of things went up.
7. The Hindu-Muslim Riots.
8. The split in the Congress because of the issue of succession.
9. The lack of a political party which could replace Congress in power.

Question 19.
During 1960’s the Indian political scenario witnessed some major developments. Some of the major con¬cepts during this period are mentioned below. Con you explain them?

• Non-Congressism.
• Coalitions.
• Defections.
• Syndicate.
• Privy Purse.
• Garibi Hatao.

Answer:
Non-Congressism:
With the 4th Lok Sabha elections, the opposition Parties realized that it was their disunity that made the Congress come to power every time. So they decided to work together. They had to make compromises to achieve this unity. They thought that they could defeat Congress by capitalizing on the inexperience of Indira Gandhi and the internal squabbles in the Congress itself, it was Ram Manohar Lohia that put forward this idea. His argument was that Congress rule was not democratic and pro-masses. So he wanted all the Opposition Parties to unite against Congress.

Coalition Partners:
In the 1967 elections, Congress could not get majority in many States. No single party had the majority to make the government. So some non-Congress parties joined together and formed governments. This was known as SVD Governments (Samyukta Vidhayak Dal Governments). Thus there were SVD Popular and United Front governments.

Defection:
This is the name given to a situation where a candidate joins another Party after winning the election. He contests as a member of one party and when he wins, he joins another party because of some selfish interests. After the 1967 elections, Defection helped in the formation of some governments and also the fall of other governments.

Syndicate:
Syndicate is the group of powerful and influential leaders. Syndicate had done a lotto make Indira Gandhi Prime Minister. The Syndicate members thought that Indira would act according to their wishes. The prominent members of the Syndicate were K. Kamaraj, S.K. Patil, S. Nijalingappa, N. Sanjeeva Reddy and Atulya Ghosh.

Privy Purse:
After independence, the Princely States were integrated into the Indian Union. But the ruling families were allowed to keep some landed properties and they were to be given some annual grant by the Government. This grant is called Privy Purse. When Indira Gandhi won in the 1971 election, she stopped the Privy Purse.

Garibi Hatao:
In the 5th election, Indira Gandhi had to fight against Congress (O) as well as the other Opposition Parties. The Opposition had no fixed agenda. Indira Gandhi said they had only one agenda and that was “Remove Indira”. Asa counter slogan to this one she came out with a new slogan “Garibi Hatao (Remove Poverty). This slogan attracted the poor and landless people to her Congress (R).

Question 20.
After the split in congress in 1969 the group led by Indira Gandhi was known as ‘Congress ( R) or Requisitions or New Congress’. Can you identify the reason behind considering this group as requisitions.
Answer:
In 1969, the differences between Indira Gandhi and the Syndicate came out in the open. After the death of Zakir Hussain, the Syndicate nominated N. Sanjeeva Reddy as the Presidential Candidate. But Indira Gandhi supported the then Vice President V.V. Giri as the Presidential candidate. Before the elec¬tion the Congress President S. Nijalingappa asked all the MPs and MLAs of the Congress to vote for Sanjeeva Reddy. The followers of Indira Gandhi wanted a meeting of the AICCto discuss the issue but it was not convened. Because of this requisition forthe meeting, the group supporting Indira Gandhi was called Requisition  Group – (Congress (R).

Additional Questions

Question 1
What do you mean by Coalition government?
Answer:
When, after election, no political party gets a clear majority, many parties join together to form the government. When a government is formed by a group of different parties, it is called Coalition Government (Ministry). In other words in the Coalition Government, there will be two or more political parties. The most important characteristic of this type of government is its uncertainty.

Question 2.
won an election in India with the slogan ‘Garibi Hatao’.
Answer:
Congress

Question 3.
…………… was the founder of Congress Socialist Party.
Answer:
Ram Manohar Lohia

Question 4.
Whom would you identify with the following slogans/ phrase?
Answer:
a) Lai Bahadur Sastri
b) Grand Alliance
c) Indira Gandhi

Plus Two Political Science Chapter Wise Questions and Answers