Chapter 5 - Challenges to and Restoration of the Congress System

In previous chapters, you studied about the emergence and immense popularity of Congress, as the strongest party in Indian politics soon after independence. You also studied about the challenges faced by Congress from the opposition parties and differences and conflicts within the party itself.  In this chapter, you’ll study about the political succession in congress party after Nehru’s death, Shastri’s leadership as the Prime Minister of India, his sudden death, emergence of Indira Gandhi as a powerful leader and Prime Minister of India, her two successive victories in the general Lok Sabha elections, conflicts faced by her with the Syndicate group, challenges faced by her due to droughts, decline in foreign exchange reserves and decline in agricultural growth. Finally, you’ll come across the land reforms and other programmes initiated by her to uplift the minorities and the weaker sections of the society.

Thus, an in-depth study of Class 12 Political Science Chapter 5 will give you a good understanding of Challenges to and Restoration of the Congress System.

Let’s take a look at topics and sub-topics of Class 12 Political Science Chapter 5– Challenges to and Restoration of the Congress System

• Challenge of Political Succession

• From Nehru to Shastri

• From Shastri to Indira Gandhi

• Fourth General Elections, 1967

• Context of the Elections

• Non-Congressism

• Electoral Verdict

• Coalitions

• Defection

• Split in the Congress

• Indira vs. the ‘Syndicate’

• Presidential Election, 1969

• The 1971 Election and Restoration of Congress

• The Contest

• The Outcome and After

• Restoration

In Class 12 Political Science Chapter 5, you will learn – 

Challenge of Political Succession – In this section, you will study about Nehru’s death in May 1964, challenges faced by the Government to lead the democratic succession after Nehru, dangerous decade of 1960 leading to poverty, unrest, uncertainty, communal and regional divisions, emergence of Lal Bahadur Shastri as the next Prime Minister of India, challenges faced during Shastri’s leadership, his famous slogan – ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’, his sudden death, competition between Morarji Desai and Indira Gandhi, Indira Gandhi’s victory over Morarji Desai, challenges faced by Indira Gandhi in initial years of leadership, and more.

Fourth General Elections, 1967 – In this section, you’ll study that 1967 was a crucial year for India’s politics. You’ll learn the challenges faced by India such as decline in agricultural progress, failure of monsoons, droughts, depletion foreign exchange reserves, drop in industrial production and exports, rise in prices, devaluation of Indian rupee, growing unemployment, frequent strikes, protests by non-congress leaders for equality, unity among non-congress parties under the leadership of Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia, the phenomenon of coalitions during the elections of 1967, emergence of new parties like the Akali parties, the Republican party, Bharatiya Jana Sangh and the role played by defection in making and breaking the parties.

Split in the Congress – In this section, you’ll learn about Indira Gandhi’s challenges while facing the other group of Congress – ‘Syndicate’ – a group of powerful leaders within congress, two major challenges faced by her after the 1967 elections, initiatives taken by her to restore her party such as Ten Point Programme in May 1967 such as social control of banks, nationalisation of general insurance, public distribution of food grains, land reforms, nationalisation of 14 leading national banks and more. You’ll also study about the Presidential Elections in 1969 and V.V. Giri emerging as the President of India after a lot of conflicts.

The 1971 Election and Restoration of Congress – In this section, you’ll study about the fifth General Lok Sabha elections, victory of Indira Gandhi once again, land reform laws made by her, focus on the public sector and the minorities such as the Dalits, underprivileged, women and unemployed, increase in popularity of Indira Gandhi with establishment of Bangladesh, emergence of Indira Gandhi as a strong national leader and protector of the poor.

In this chapter, you are provided with several maps, images and quotes given by famous leaders to have a clear understanding of Challenges to and Restoration of the Congress System. To know more about Political Science Chapter 5 you should explore the exercises mentioned in this chapter. You can also download the Challenges to and Restoration of the Congress System PDF, solved by our experts.