Split in a Predominant Party: The Indian National Congress in 1969

337 Pages·1981·7.533 MB·English

by  Mahendra Prasad Singh

SPLIT IN A PREDOMINANT PARTY
In its less public typescript form as a doctoral dissertation
I had dedicated it to my wife Munni; we are now jointly dedi­
cating the book to my teachers on two continents.
Christian Bay
Frederick C. Engelmann
Robert R. Gilsdorf
Chetakar Jha
J. Paul Johnston
Roberta M app-Mackown
Vina Mazumdar
Elwood P. M urray
R. C. Prasad
Haridwar Rai
James F. Reynolds
Rameshwar Sharma
VlSHWANATH PRASAD VARMA
SPLIT IN A PREDOMINANT
PARTY
The Indian National Congress in 1969
MAHENDRA PRASAD SINGH
ABHINAV
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© Mahendra Prasad Singh
First Edition: 1981
PUBLISHER Shakti Malik
Abhinav Publications
E-37 Hauz Khas
New Delhi-110016
PRINTER Patel Enterprises
• at Sunil Printers
1067 Ajay Palace, Naraina
New Delhi-110028
Preface
This work is based on my Ph.D. dissertation completed
in the middle of 1975 at the University of Alberta and is
being published without revisions excepting the addition of an
introduction which seeks to provide an analytic panoramic
view of Congress politics since the 1969 party split. Professor
Robert R. Gilsdorf offered useful comments on the first draft.
I also benefited from the advice of other members of my
dissertation committee—political scientists Frederick C.
Engelmann, Roberta Mapp*Mackown, Thomas A. Rusch, and
historian J. Barrington. Party factionalism being an important
strand of his scholarly interests since his own doctoral
research under Professor Robert A. Dahl at the Yale
University on factionalism in the Italian Christian Democratic
Party, Professor Gilsdorf was an excellent adviser and
supervisor. I am deeply indebted to all of them for these
scholarly favours.
I also take this opportunity to acknowledge my gratitude
to my course teachers at Alberta: to Professors James F.
Reynolds and J. Paul Johnston for sharpening my logical and
methodological awareness, to Professors Engelmann, Gilsdorf,
and Mapp-Mackown for deeply orienting me towards macro
comparative politics and political sociology, to Professors
Christian Bay and Elwood P. Murray for exposing me to
political psychology, and to Professor Saleem M. M. Qureshi
for helping expand my interest in politics in countries of
South Asia beyond India.
I am indebted to the University of Alberta for granting me
a graduate teaching assistantship, several summer bursaries
including one allowing a trip to India, and generous
allocation of computer time for analysing my data. The
Magadh University kindly allowed me a study leave for higher
studies in Canada.
vi Split in a Predominant Party
Mrs Marilyn Wahl and Mrs Evelyn Brady cheerfully
typed the manuscript, often at short notice, and occasionally
denying themselves the pleasures of outing in the absolutely
glorious Canadian summer of 1975. I sincerely thank both of
them.
In my hurry to get back from Canada I left in my office
there the computer printouts of the correlation matrices
relating to factor analyses reported in the book that I
intended to include in an appendix. On getting home
I rushed a letter to my classmate Jim Anderson who
shared the office with me to look for them but I was informed
that the janitors had cleared them out. Another effect of this
rush was my decision to postpone completing the full citation
of some bibliographical references used in the work on
reaching India. At least in a few cases it has turned out to be
a hopeless omission where the source is acknowledged in the
text but missing in the bibliography. I am sure neither of
these omissions pertaining to accessories is likely to bother
the reader much.
I am also thankful to the former Vice-Chancellors Professors
P. Dayal and Hargovind Singh, Syndic Dr S. P. N. Puri,
Professor R. C. Prasad, Professor Upendra Thakur, Dr B. K.
Jha, Dr K. L. Julka, Dr Paramanada Singh, Dr Dayadhar Jha,
Dr S. N. Mishra, and Dr Bidyananda—all from the Magadh
University—for their encouragement, friendship, and support
in a variety of ways.
My thanks are also due to the UGC for a publication
grant through the Magadh University on the typescript. I
warmly thank Mr Shakti Malik, my publisher, for his keen
interest in the publication of this book and for insisting that I
write an introduction to the book putting the 1969 Congress
split in a retrospective perspective from today. This is done in
Chapter 1 which is also scheduled for publication in The Times
of India Sunday Review.
ICSSR Mahendra Prasad Singh
New Delhi
October 2, 1980
Contents
PREFACE V
SINCE 1969: THE INDIRA FACTOR 1
The Mobilizational Factor 3
The Ethnic Factor 4
The Generational Factor 6
The Personalistic Factor 7
The Nationalist Factor 9
The Depoliticization Factor 9
Conclusion 12
Note 12
PARTY SCHISM AND ELITE TRANSFORMA­
TION IN A PREDOMINANT PARTY: A
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK 13
Introduction 13
Schism in a Predominant Party 14
The Predominant Party System 14
A Model of Party Schism 22
Intraparty Elite Conflicts 23
Social Mobilization 24
Party System Institutionalization and the
Nature of the Party 26
Elite Displacement and Party Schism 30
Notes 35
THE SPLIT IN THE INDIAN NATIONAL
CONGRESS: THE BACKGROUND 40
The Background 41
The Syndicate 42
The Kamaraj Plan 46
Split in a Predominant Party
The Sbastri Succession 48
The Indira Gandhi Succession 50
The 1967 Election and Mrs Gandhi’s Election
as CPP Leader 51
The Congress Presidential Succession, 1967 54
Notes 59
THE SPLIT IN THE INDIAN NATIONAL
CONGRESS: THE DYNAMICS AND IMPACT 62
The Dynamics 62
The First Round 62
The Second Round 71
The Third Round 87
The Final Round 104
The Impact 108
Notes 111
THE CONGRESS SPLIT: AN ANALYTICAL
SYNTHESIS 114
Elite Conflicts 114
Syndicate Images 118
Pro-Indira Images 118
Social Mobilization 120
The Party and the Party System 127
Notes 132
A PARADIGM OF FACTIONAL AFFILIATION 134
The Paradigm 134
The Elite Backgrounds 135
The Contextual Variables 142
The Settings 152
The Methodology 153
Notes 155
Contents ix
7. ELITE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL BACK­
GROUNDS AND THE CONGRESS SPLIT 157
Socio-Economic Background 157
Age and Generation 158
Social Stratification 161
Religion 167
Organized Interest Group Activity 171
Attitudes and Orientation! 174
Constructive Polit icf 175
Ideological Leanings? 176
Political Career Backgrounds 179
Past Party Affiliatiocf 179
Mass Membership P^rty Organization 182
Parliamentary Party'Career 186
Local-Level Experience 192
Personal Electoral Proficiency 196
Summary fc 198
Notes 199
i
i
8. SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL
CONTEXTS AND FACTIONAL
AFFILIATION 202
Socio-Economic Context and Factional Affiliation 205
Ethnic Context 211
Developmental or Mobilizational Context 214
Political Context and Factional Affiliation 223
Summary 241
Notes 243
9. PERSONAL AND CONTEXTUAL BACK­
GROUNDS AND FACTIONAL AFFILIATION 246
Social Stratification and Contextual Variables 247
Age 247
Religion 249
Caste 253
Education 255
Occupation 259
Split in a Predominant Party
Organized Group Affiliation and Contextual Variables 259
Political Career Patterns and Contextual Variables 266
Career in External Party 266
Parliamentary Party Career 274
. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 281
BIBLOGRAPHY 291
INDEX 315