Discuss the major issue which led to the formal split of the Congress Party in 1969.
Mrs. Gandhi’s attempt to assert her position and dominance within the Congress and to sideline the syndicate was not appreciated by the senior leaders who always had an important say in Congress’ policy formulation.
The reason for the formal split in 1969 was over the following issues:
a. The growing differences between the Syndicate and Mrs. Gandhi surfaced over the Presidential elections in 1969, after the death of Zakir Hussain.
b. Syndicate nominated Sanjeeva Reddy as the official candidate of the Congress for the post of the president.
c. Indira Gandhi retaliated by encouraging the then Vice-President, V.V. Giri, to file his nomination as an independent candidate.
d. Mrs. Gandhi, in order to counter Syndicate’s move which had issued whip to all Congress leaders to vote for Sanjeeva Reddy, called for a ‘conscience vote’ which meant that the MPs and MLAs from the Congress should be free to vote the way they want.
e. The victory of V.V. Giri resulted in the formal split of the Congress.
f. The Syndicate expelled Mrs. Gandhi for violating party discipline. When she left, more than 400 congress supporters walked out and came to be regarded as the Congress (R), where ‘R’ stood for Requisitionists. It came to be regarded as the New Congress and projected itself to be pro-poor in nature.
g. In 1971 elections, almost all the leaders of the Syndicate were defeated and the Indira Congress won two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha.
The reason for the formal split in 1969 was over the following issues:
a. The growing differences between the Syndicate and Mrs. Gandhi surfaced over the Presidential elections in 1969, after the death of Zakir Hussain.
b. Syndicate nominated Sanjeeva Reddy as the official candidate of the Congress for the post of the president.
c. Indira Gandhi retaliated by encouraging the then Vice-President, V.V. Giri, to file his nomination as an independent candidate.
d. Mrs. Gandhi, in order to counter Syndicate’s move which had issued whip to all Congress leaders to vote for Sanjeeva Reddy, called for a ‘conscience vote’ which meant that the MPs and MLAs from the Congress should be free to vote the way they want.
e. The victory of V.V. Giri resulted in the formal split of the Congress.
f. The Syndicate expelled Mrs. Gandhi for violating party discipline. When she left, more than 400 congress supporters walked out and came to be regarded as the Congress (R), where ‘R’ stood for Requisitionists. It came to be regarded as the New Congress and projected itself to be pro-poor in nature.
g. In 1971 elections, almost all the leaders of the Syndicate were defeated and the Indira Congress won two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha.
