Question

Match the following:

(a) Syndicate	i. An elected representative leaving the party on whose ticket he/she has been elected
(b) Defection	ii. A catchy phrase that attracts public attention
(c) Slogan	iii. Parties with different ideological positions coming together to oppose Congress and its policies
(d) Anti-Congressism	iv. A group of powerful and influential leaders within the Congress

Answer 1

(a) Syndicate	iv. A group of powerful and influential leaders within the Congress
(b) Defection	i. An elected representative leaving the party on whose ticket he/she has been elected
(c) Slogan	ii. A catchy phrase that attracts public attention
(d) Anti-Congressism	iii. Parties with different ideological positions coming together to oppose Congress and its policies

Explanation
a. Syndicate → iv. A group of powerful and influential leaders within the Congress

Syndicate was the informal name given to senior influential leaders who existed within the congress. It refers to a group of Congress leaders who were in control of the party’s organisation. It included political leaders like K. Kamraj, S. K. Patil, Atulya Ghosh, N. Sanjeeva Reddy, etc

b. Defection → i. An elected representative leaving the party on whose ticket he /she has been elected

One of the important features of Indian polity during this periodwas defection that helped in making and unmaking of governments in the states in which a person joins another or defects to another party and gives up his allegiance and loyalty. An act of defection is motivated and driven by power and ulterior motives. In the wake of growing cases of defection, an Anti-Defection Act was included in the Constitution in 1985 by the Rajiv Gandhi ministry that provided for disqualification of elected members on the grounds of defection to another political party.

c. Slogan → ii. A catchy phrase that attracts public attention

This period also saw political parties coming up with slogans to capture the attention of people and media and to counter political opponents. These slogans became the main electoral plank on which the elections were fought by political parties. For instance, the Grand alliance coined the slogan of Indira hatao, and Mrs. Gandhi, in order to counter that, came up with a slogan of garibi hatao.

d. Anti-Congressian → iii. Parties with different ideological positions coming together to oppose Congress and its policies

This included those parties that were opposed to the Congress and Mrs. Gandhi, particularly. This was the time when the opposition parties realised that the division of their votes had contributed in the dominance and victory of the Congress. Therefore, these parties, irrespective of their different ideological positions, came together and entered into electoral adjustments of sharing seats in other.