Politics Flashcards
The roots of the Indian National Congress
Established in 1885 by English-speaking professionals who wanted a greater involvement in government. Under Gandhi it became a popular movement of liberation from the British empire.
It promoted itself as the true voice of India but many Muslims - who made up a quarter of the population - felt excluded by the largely Hindu idiom.
The Muslim elite, which still retained much of its influence after the decline of the Mughals and the rise of European powers, was not attracted by what Gandhi represented. For all the talk of inclusivity, the Congress leadership was largely made up of Hindus from the higher end of the caste system who, it was felt, would undermine the security and status of Muslims if India gained independence.
The constitution
Arrived at after vigorous discussion between rival interest groups including tribal people, communists, Muslim women and Hindu fundamentalists. The final document was overseen by a formidable lawyer, born an untouchable, and an opponent of Nehru, Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar.
The longest constitution in the world, it was inspired by the American constitution and is justly regarded as the most practical and workable republican constitution in the world.
It formed a parliamentary democracy and article one declared “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”. At the stroke of a pen, untouchability was abolished.
The naming of India
India was the name given to the subcontinent by Persian outsiders. The constitution began: “India, that is Bharat, shall be a union of states”. It had been presumed before 1947 that the new leaders would pick the less inclusive ‘Hindustan’.’
Jawaharlal Nehru
Born in 1889. His father, Motilal, was a highly successful lawyer. Motilal moved to Allahabad, the capital of the United Provinces. In 1900, the family moved to a huge 42 room house, Anand Bhagwan, the ‘Abode of Happiness’.
Jawaharlal was educated at Harrow. Arrived in Cambridge in 1907. Studied natural sciences, attended lectures by Keynes, Bertrand Russell and other notables. He read HG Wells and GB Shaw. He travelled in Europe.
He became a barrister. He had an arranged marriage to Kamala Kaul in 1916.
Only back in India in the 1920s that he found real direction, entering politics. Joined the Indian National Congress and became its president in 1929, taking over from his father. Designated by Mahatma Gandhi as his political heir.
The Quit India Movement was launched at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi on 8 August 1942, during World War II, demanding an end to British rule in India. Senior Congress leaders including Nehru were imprisoned and for a time the organisation was suppressed.
His premiership lasted nearly 17 years until his death in 1964. He made a point of consulting parliament and refused to give preemptive orders.
He did not believe in Mahatma Gandhi’s idea of village industry and a spinning wheel in every hut. He wanted new, fast, scientific progress. His economic thinking was a hardened version of Clement Atlee’s postwar Labour government, a Keynsian idea of a mixed economy taken to extremes.
Unlike other world leaders, he did not seek personal wealth. In his later years, he was supported by his widowed daughter, Indira Gandhi.
The rise of the Bharatiya Janara Party
It had been around for decades not making progress. In 1984, gained only two MPs out of 542 in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament. But a decade later it was becoming the most important force in politics.
The Gandhi family seemed to have disappeared; middle class shopkeepers and business people were ever more unimpressed by the controls and regulations laid down by Congress; and by their willingness to manipulate communal politics for political gain.
The BJP wanted to redefine Indian identity by linking it to a mythologised Hindu past and at the same time turn itself into a busy, modern political movement.
