Growth of Other Political Parties

At a Glance

• Congress rule The Centre and most states in the 1950s and 1960s
• First non-Congress vote Communists elected in Kerala, 1957
• Swatantra Party Founded August 1959; 18 Lok Sabha seats in 1962
• Communist split CPI and CPM, 1964
• Exam link UPSC Prelims, Modern History: The Nehru Era, 1947-64

Where Does It Fit?

This is the third topic of the category on the Nehru era. The previous topic covered the linguistic reorganisation of states. This topic covers the growth of political parties other than the Congress. The next topic covers planning, science and technology. Previous topic: Linguistic Reorganisation of States.

How Did the Opposition Begin?

People voted for the Congress mainly because they saw it as the legatee of the freedom struggle and because its leaders were thought to be persons of character and integrity. The first time people exercised the choice of a party other than the Congress was perhaps in 1957, when they voted the communists into power in Kerala. In 1963 three notable opponents of the Congress, the socialist Rammanohar Lohia, the liberal M.R. Masani and the Gandhian Acharya Kripalani, were elected to the Lok Sabha. The elections that set up this system are in First General Elections, 1951-52.

How Did the Socialist Parties Evolve?

The Congress Socialist Party, formed in 1934 with its own constitution, membership and ideology, stayed within the Congress until March 1948, when it disassociated itself at a meeting at Nashik on 28 March 1948 in protest against the Congress’s move to the right and its growing authoritarian tendencies. Its origins are in Spread of Socialist and Marxist Ideas, Youth Activism and Trade Unionism. In September 1952 the Socialist Party merged with the Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party to form the Praja Socialist Party (PSP), with J.B. Kripalani as chairman and Ashoka Mehta as general secretary, and it became the largest opposition party with an all-India presence. It could not hold together.

How Did the Communist Party Change?

The CPI first accepted India’s independent foreign policy while still calling the government an agent of imperialism; it later accepted that India was a sovereign republic but thought its policies pro-capitalist and anti-people, and offered a democratic front to replace the Congress. The earlier phase is in Communists and Independence. At Amritsar in 1958 the party declared that it was possible to advance to socialism by peaceful and parliamentary means and that it would grant full civil liberties, including the right to oppose socialism by constitutional means. At Vijayawada in 1961 it chose a policy of both struggle and unity towards the Congress, supporting progressive policies and opposing others.

Differences arose over the Soviet critique of Stalin, the Russia-China ideological split and the Sino-Indian war of 1962, which is in Panchsheel agreement 1954 Asylum Dalai Lama…">India and China, 1947-62. Some communists fully supported the government against China, while others, though opposed to the Chinese stand on the frontier, also opposed unqualified support to Nehru because of the government’s class character. The Chinese call to revolutionary elements to distance themselves from the revisionist Soviet line influenced many. In 1964 the party divided into the CPI, representing the earlier right and centrist trends, and the CPM, the Communist Party (Marxist), representing the earlier left. The CPM held that the state was ruled by a big bourgeoisie in collaboration with foreign finance capital, and that an agrarian revolution with armed struggle led by the working class and the CPM was needed. A critical account adds that the CPM did not believe in peaceful and parliamentary means and had contempt for the Constitution; this is a characterisation by its critics, and the CPM took part in elections and formed state governments in later years.

What Were the Bharatiya Jana Sangh and the Swatantra Party?

The Bharatiya Jana Sangh was founded on 21 October 1951 on a right-wing ideology. According to Bipan Chandra it was a communal party created by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, from which it drew its organised strength, centralised character and ideological uniformity. It was strongly anti-Pakistan at first, stood for Bharatiya culture and nationalism with the slogan one country, one culture, one nation, and favoured Sanskritised Hindi as the link language, a demand it gave up in 1965 to keep English along with Hindi as long as non-Hindi states wanted. Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, who resigned from the cabinet over the Liaquat-Nehru Pact, was the main force behind its formation; some accounts put the resignation in April 1951, while the pact was signed on 8 April 1950, as in Rehabilitation of Refugees and the Delhi Pact on Minorities. Mookerjee claimed it to be non-communal and a broad democratic opposition, but without an alternative programme and mass support it became a subsidiary of the RSS. It won 3 Lok Sabha seats with 3.06 per cent of votes in 1952. Mauli Chandra Sharma, its second president, resigned in protest at RSS domination. The party later joined the Janata coalition against the Emergency, as in The Janata Party Years, 1977-80.

The Swatantra Party was founded in August 1959 as a non-socialist, constitutionalist and secular conservative party. Its leaders were veteran Congressmen such as C. Rajagopalachari, Minoo Masani, N.G. Ranga and K.M. Munshi. Its base was narrow: industrialists unhappy with controls, quotas and licences; landlords, jagirdars and princes; ex-landlord capitalist farmers and rich and middle peasants fearing loss of land; and a few retired civil servants. It favoured a laissez-faire state and private enterprise, opposed nationalisation and land reforms and criticised non-alignment and Indo-Soviet collaboration, wanting closer ties with the United States and Western Europe. It won 18 Lok Sabha seats in 1962 and was the main opposition in Bihar, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Orissa. Factions, defections and Rajagopalachari’s death in 1967 hurt it, and most leaders joined the Bharatiya Lok Dal in 1974.

What Happened in Kerala in 1957-59?

In 1957 the Congress was unexpectedly defeated in Kerala, where the CPI became the largest party and E.M.S. Namboodiripad formed a government with the support of some independents, perhaps the first communist government formed through democratic elections. Trouble began with an Education Bill, a progressive measure that the Catholic Church, which ran many schools, opposed as an encroachment. Local Congress members who had lost in the elections organised state-wide protests and strikes, and the government used lathi charges and firing. Nehru had little objection to the Bill, kept a neutral public front, and admonished the state government for excessive force while trying to restrain Congress workers, but he failed to change the situation and, under pressure from within and outside his party, advised the dismissal of the government. President’s Rule was imposed in July 1959. Critics called this an undemocratic deed, since a democratically elected government was for the first time in independent India dismissed under emergency powers.

As an analytical point, the Kerala episode set a pattern in which the Centre used the power of dismissal against a rival government, and it is cited in later debates on the use of President’s Rule. Other small parties are listed below.

Why Is This Topic Important?

• Party genealogy Mergers and splits are frequent Prelims facts
• Kerala 1959 The first dismissal of an elected government
• Ideological spectrum Left, right and regional parties in the first two decades

What Came Next?

The next topic covers planning for economic development and progress in science and technology. Next topic: Planning for Economic Development and Progress in Science and Technology.

Key People and Terms

• Praja Socialist Party Formed in 1952 from the Socialist Party and the KMPP
• Samyukta Socialist Party Formed in 1964 from Lohia’s party and the PSP
• CPM Communist Party (Marxist), formed in 1964
• Bharatiya Jana Sangh Founded October 1951
• Swatantra Party Conservative party founded August 1959
• President’s Rule Used in Kerala in July 1959

Exam Corner

Mains Angle

Questions ask about opposition politics. These points add depth.

• Fragmentation Mergers and splits on the left
• Right Jana Sangh and Swatantra
• Kerala Use of President’s Rule