Indian National Congress

{{Infobox Indian political party
, name = Indian National Congress
, abbreviation = INC
, logo =
, colorcode = {{party color, Indian National Congress
, founder = A.O. Hume
W.C. Bonnerjee
S.N. Banerjee
Monomohun Ghose
William Wedderburn
Dadabhai Naoroji
Badruddin Tyabji
Pherozeshah Mehta
Dinshaw Wacha
Mahadev Ranade
, presidium = All India Congress Committee
, president = Mallikarjun Kharge{{cite web, url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/mallikarjun-kharge-wins-congress-presidential-elections-set-to-become-first-non-gandhi-head-of-party-in-24-years/articleshow/94961760.cms , title=Mallikarjun Kharge wins Congress Presidential elections, set to become first non-Gandhi head of party in 24 years, work=The Economic Times, publisher=The Times Group, date=3 June 2021 , accessdate=2022-10-21{{cite news , url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/congress-president-poll-mallikarjun-kharge-set-to-be-partys-new-chief-polls-over-7000-votes/article66030419.ece , title=Mallikarjun Kharge wins Congress presidential election with over 7,800 votes , newspaper=The Hindu , date=19 October 2022 , last1=Phukan , first1=Sandeep
, ppchairman = Sonia Gandhi
, loksabha_leader =Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury
, rajyasabha_leader = Mallikarjun Kharge (Leader of Opposition)
, foundation = {{Start date and age, df=yes, p=y, 1885, 12, 28
, headquarters = 24, Akbar Road, New Delhi-110001
, publication = ''Congress Sandesh''
''National Herald''
, students = National Students' Union of India
, youth = Indian Youth Congress
, women = All India Mahila Congress
, labour = Indian National Trade Union Congress
, peasants = Kisan and Khet Mazdoor Congress{{cite news , title=Kisan and Khet Mazdoor Congress sets 10-day deadline for Centre to concede demands , url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/Kisan-and-Khet-Mazdoor-Congress-sets-10-day-deadline-for-Centre-to-concede-demands/article14427968.ece , access-date=10 March 2022 , work=The Hindu , agency=The Hindu Group , date=16 June 2016
, think tank =
, membership = 55 million (2023)
, ideology = {{ublist , item_style=white-space:nowrap;

, Big tent{{refn , {{cite book, author=Lowell Barrington, title=Comparative Politics: Structures and Choices, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3uuAtazupnAC&pg=PA379, year=2009, publisher=Cengage Learning, isbn=978-0-618-49319-7, page=379
, Secularism{{cite book , last1=Soper , first1=J. Christopher , last2=Fetzer , first2=Joel S. , date=2018 , title=Religion and Nationalism in Global Perspective , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y7BoDwAAQBAJ , publisher=Cambridge University Press , pages=200–210 , isbn=978-1-107-18943-0
, Civic nationalism
, Liberalism (Indian){{refn , {{cite book , last=DeSouza , first=Peter Ronald , date=2006 , title=India's Political Parties Readings in Indian Government and Politics series , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eeRhDwAAQBAJ&q=Indian+National+Congress+liberal+ideology , location= , publisher= SAGE Publishing , page=420 , isbn=978-9-352-80534-1 , author-link={{cite book , last1=Rosow , first1=Stephen J. , last2=George , first2=Jim , date=2014 , title=Globalization and Democracy , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v3mVoAEACAAJ , location= , publisher=Rowman & Littlefield , pages=91–96 , isbn=978-1-442-21810-9 , author-link=

, Economic liberalism{{Cite book, last=Mohan, Rakesh., url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1056070747, title=India Transformed : Twenty-Five Years of Economic Reforms., date=2018, publisher=Brookings Institution Press, isbn=978-0-8157-3662-2, location=Washington, DC, pages=44–49, oclc=1056070747

, position = {{nowrap, Centre{{refn , {{cite web , title=Political Parties – NCERT , url=https://ncert.nic.in/textbook/pdf/jess406.pdf , publisher=National Council of Educational Research and Training , access-date=8 May 2021
, international = {{nowrap, Progressive Alliance
{{nowrap, Socialist International{{cite book , author=Gabriel Sheffer, title=Innovative Leaders in International Politics, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=__efKLSD3M0C&pg=PA202, access-date=30 January 2013, year=1993, publisher=SUNY Press, isbn=978-0-7914-1520-7, page=202
, eci = National Party
, alliance = Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance
( All India)
Sanjukta Morcha
(West Bengal)
United Democratic Front
(Kerala)
, loksabha_seats = {{Composition bar, 47, 543, hex={{party color, Indian National Congress (522 MPs & 21 Vacant)
, rajyasabha_seats = {{Composition bar, 28, 245, hex={{party color, Indian National Congress (237 MPs & 8 Vacant){{cite web, url=http://164.100.47.5/newlob/party_position.pdf, title=Party Position in the Rajya Sabha, publisher=Rajya Sabha, access-date=14 July 2018
, state_seats_name = State Legislative Assemblies
, state_seats = {{Composition bar, 676, 4036, hex={{party color, Indian National Congress
(4030 MLAs & 5 Vacant)
( see complete list)
, state2_seats_name = State Legislative Councils
, state2_seats = {{Composition bar, 55, 426, hex={{party color, Indian National Congress
(390 MLCs & 36 Vacant)
( see complete list)
, no_states = {{Composition bar, 5, 31, hex={{party color, Indian National Congress
(28 States & 3 UTs)
, colours = {{colour box, {{party color, Indian National Congress Sky blue (customary)
, symbol =
, flag = Indian National Congress Flag.svg
, website = {{Official URL
, general_secretary= {{ubl, class=nowrap,
, Avinash Pandey
, Jairam Ramesh
, Jitendra Singh
, K. C. Venugopal
, Mukul Wasnik
, Priyanka Gandhi
, Randeep Singh Surjewala
, Sachin Pilot, split=
, treasurer=Ajay Maken
{{Indian National Congress sidebar

The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party or simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Empire in Asia and Africa.{{efn, "The first modern nationalist movement to arise in the non-European empire, and one that became an inspiration for many others, was the Indian Congress." From the late 19th century, and especially after 1920, under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, the Congress became the principal leader of the Indian independence movement.{{cite web, title=Information about the Indian National Congress, url=http://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/makingbritain/content/indian-national-congress, website=www.open.ac.uk , publisher=Arts & Humanities Research council, access-date=29 July 2015 The Congress led India to independence from the United Kingdom,{{efn, "South Asian parties include several of the oldest in the post-colonial world, foremost among them the 129-year-old Indian National Congress that led India to independence in 1947" {{citation, last=Chiriyankandath, first=James , title=Parties and Political Change in South Asia, url={{Google books, c4n7CwAAQBAJ, page=PA2, keywords=, text=, plainurl=yes, year=2016, publisher=Routledge, isbn=978-1-317-58620-3, page=2{{efn, "The organization that led India to independence, the Indian National Congress, was established in 1885." {{citation, last1=Kopstein, first1=Jeffrey, last2=Lichbach, first2=Mark, last3=Hanson , first3=Stephen E., title=Comparative Politics: Interests, Identities, and Institutions in a Changing Global Order, url={{Google books, L2jwAwAAQBAJ, page=PA344, keywords=, text=, plainurl=yes, year=2014, publisher=Cambridge University Press, isbn=978-1-139-99138-4, page=344 and significantly influenced other anti-colonial nationalist movements in the British Empire.{{efn, "... anti-colonial movements ... which, like many other nationalist movements elsewhere in the empire, were strongly influenced by the Indian National Congress."{{citation, last=Marshall, first=P. J., title=The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire, url={{Google books, S2EXN8JTwAEC, page=PA179, keywords=, text=, plainurl=yes, year=2001, publisher=Cambridge University Press, isbn=978-0-521-00254-7, page=179

Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, alongside the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is a "big tent" party whose platform is generally considered to lie in the centre of Indian politics.{{cite journal, last1=Saez, first1=Lawrence, last2=Sinha, first2=Aseema, title=Political cycles, political institutions and public expenditure in India, 1980–2000, journal=British Journal of Political Science, volume=40, issue=1, year=2010, pages=91–113, doi=10.1017/s0007123409990226, s2cid=154767259 The Party held its first session in 1885 in Bombay where W.C. Bonnerjee presided over it. After Indian independence in 1947, Congress emerged as a catch-all and secular party, dominating Indian politics for the next 50 years. The party's first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, led the Congress to support socialist policies by creating the Planning Commission, introducing Five-Year Plans, implementing a mixed economy, and establishing a secular state. After Nehru's death and the short tenure of Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi became the leader of the party. In the 17 general elections since independence, it has won an outright majority on seven occasions and has led the ruling coalition a further three times, heading the central government for more than 54 years. There have been six Prime Ministers from the Congress party, the first being Jawaharlal Nehru (1947–1964), and the most recent being Manmohan Singh (2004–2014).

In 1969, the party suffered a major split, with a faction led by Indira Gandhi leaving to form the Congress (R), with the remainder becoming the Congress (O). The Congress (R) became the dominant faction, winning the 1971 general election by a huge margin. From 1975 to 1977, Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency in India, resulting in widespread oppression and abuses of power. Another split in the party occurred in 1979, leading to the creation of the Congress (I), which was recognized as the Congress by the Electoral Commission in 1981. Under Rajiv Gandhi's leadership, the party won a massive victory in the 1984 general elections, nevertheless losing the election held in 1989 to the National Front. The Congress then returned to power under P. V. Narasimha Rao, who moved the party towards an economically liberal agenda, a sharp break from previous leaders. However, it lost the 1996 general election and was replaced in government by the National Front (then the BJP). After a record eight years out of office, the Congress-led coalition known as the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) under Manmohan Singh formed a government the 2004 general elections. Subsequently, the UPA again formed the government after winning the 2009 general elections, and Singh became the first Prime Minister since Indira Gandhi in 1971 to be re-elected after completing a full five-year term. However, in the 2014 general election, the Congress suffered a heavy defeat, winning only 44 seats of the 543-member Lok Sabha (the lower house of the Parliament of India). In the 2019 general election, the party again suffered defeat, winning only 52 seats in the Lok Sabha.

On social issues, it advocates secular policies that encourage equal opportunity, right to health, right to education, civil liberty, and support social market economy, and a strong welfare state. Being a centrist party, its policies predominantly reflected balanced positions including secularism, egalitarianism, and social stratification. The INC supports contemporary economic reforms such as liberalisation, privatisation and globalization. A total of 61 people have served as the president of the INC since its formation. Sonia Gandhi is the longest-serving president of the party, having held office for over twenty years from 1998 to 2017 and again from 2019 to 2022 (as interim). Mallikarjun Kharge is the currently serving President. The district party is the smallest functional unit of Congress. There is also a Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC), present at the state level in every state. Together, the delegates from the districts and PCCs form the All India Congress Committee (AICC). The party is additionally structured into various committees and segments including the Working Committee (CWC), Seva Dal, Indian Youth Congress (IYC), Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), and National Students' Union of India (NSUI).

History

{{Main, History of the Indian National Congress

Foundation

{{See also, Indian independence movement

During the latter part of the 1870s, there were concerted efforts among Indians to establish a pan-Indian organization for nationalist political influence.{{cite book , last=Gehlot , first=N.S. , title=The Congress Party in India: Policies, Culture, Performance , publisher=Deep & Deep Publications , year=1991 , isbn=978-81-7100-306-8 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=06HLD2_3Qj4C&pg=PA35 , page=35, quote=The activities of Mr. A.O. Hume were pro - Indian and full of patriotic spirit for the youths. In 1883, Allan Octavian Hume, a retired British Civil Servant also known for his pro-Indian activities, outlined his idea for a body representing Indian interests in an open letter to graduates of the University of Calcutta. The aim was to obtain a greater share in government for educated Indians and to create a platform for civic and political dialogue between them and the British Raj. Hume initiated contact with prominent leaders in India and conducted the first session of the Indian National Congress at Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College in Bombay from December 28 to 31, 1885.{{cite book , title=The Nehrus: Motilal and Jawaharlal: With a New Preface , publisher=Oxford Academic , page=45 , url=https://academic.oup.com/book/12151/chapter-abstract/161561532?redirectedFrom=fulltext , access-date=5 December 2023 A notice convening the first meeting of the Indian National Union to be held in Poona the following December, was issued.Sitaramayya, B. Pattabhi. 1935. The History of the Indian National Congress. Working Committee of the Congress
Scanned version
/ref> However, due to a cholera outbreak there it was moved to Bombay. In its first two decades of formation, Congress was an assembly for politically minded individuals interested in various reforms, but it did not express desires for independence from the British Empire.{{cite web , title=Indian National Congress , url=https://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/makingbritain/content/indian-national-congress , access-date=30 March 2022 , publisher=The Open University

Hume organized the first meeting in Bombay with the approval of the Viceroy Lord Dufferin. Umesh Chandra Banerjee was the first president of Congress; the first session was attended by 72 delegates, representing each province of India. Notable representatives included Scottish ICS officer William Wedderburn, Dadabhai Naoroji, Badruddin Tyabji and Pherozeshah Mehta of the Bombay Presidency Association, Ganesh Vasudeo Joshi of the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha, social reformer and newspaper editor Gopal Ganesh Agarkar, Justice K. T. Telang, N. G. Chandavarkar, Dinshaw Wacha, Behramji Malabari, journalist, and activist Gooty Kesava Pillai, and P. Rangaiah Naidu of the Madras Mahajana Sabha.{{cite book, first=Judith E., last=Walsh, title=A Brief History of India, publisher=Infobase Publishing, isbn=978-1-4381-0825-4, pag
154
year=2006, url=https://archive.org/details/briefhistoryofin0000wals/page/154 The majority of the founding members of Congress has been educated or lived in Britain. As a result, unrepresentative of the Indian masses at the time,{{cite book, author1=Richard Sisson, author2=Stanley A. Wolpert, title=Congress and Indian Nationalism: The Pre-independence Phase, url={{Google books, QfOSxFVQa8IC, page=, keywords=, text=, plainurl=yes, year=1988, publisher=University of California Press, isbn=978-0-520-06041-8, page=21, quote=Those fewer than 100 English-educated gentlemen of means and property, mostly lawyers and journalists, could hardly claim to 'represent' some 250 million illiterate impoverished peasants it functioned more as a stage for elite Indian ambitions than a political party for the first two decade of its existence.{{cite book, author1=Richard Sisson, author2=Stanley A. Wolpert, title=Congress and Indian Nationalism: The Pre-independence Phase, url={{Google books, QfOSxFVQa8IC, page=, keywords=, text=, plainurl=yes, year=1988, publisher=University of California Press, isbn=978-0-520-06041-8, pages=22–23, quote=Without any funds or any secretariat, however (other than Hume) Congress remained, during its first decade at least, more of a sounding board for elite Indian aspirations than a political party.

Early years

By 1905, two factions had emerged within the party, leading to different approaches and ideologies regarding the methods to achieve self-rule for India.
A division arose between the Moderates, led by Gopal Krishna Gokhale, who believed in a peaceful and constitutional approach to achieve reforms and self-governance within the framework of the British Empire.{{cite web , title=The Making of the National Movement: 1870s--1947 , url=https://ncert.nic.in/ncerts/l/hess205.pdf , publisher=National Council of Educational Research and Training , access-date=3 December 2023 They aimed to collaborate with British authorities and use constitutional means, such as petitions, resolutions, and dialogue, to address the grievances of Indians. On the other hand, the faction led by Extremist or Radical leaders, including Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal, and Lala Lajpat Rai, was more radical in their approach. They believed in direct action and criticized the moderate approach, advocating for more assertive and aggressive means to achieve self-rule. They were less willing to compromise with the British and focused on building mass support and national unity to attain their objectives.{{cite web , title=Moderates, Extremists and Revolutionaries , url=https://egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/63798/1/Unit-13.pdf , publisher=Indira Gandhi National Open University , access-date=3 December 2023 Bal Gangadhar Tilak, tried to mobilise Hindu Indians by appealing to an explicitly Hindu political identity displayed in the annual public Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav and Shiv Jayanti festivals that he inaugurated in western India. However, the ideological differences between the extremists and moderates led to a deep divide. During its session held in Surat in December 1907, a split occurred between two factions within the Congress known as Surat Split.{{cite web , title=Surat Split, 1907 - History, Causes, Aftermath & Impact , url=https://egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/19929/1/Unit-10.pdf , publisher=eGyanKosh, IGNOU , access-date=3 December 2023

Annie Besant, an Irish theosophist, moved to India in 1893 and became actively involved in the Congress. Recognizing the importance of full cooperation from the extremists for the success of the movement, both Tilak and Besant realized that it was necessary to secure the full cooperation of the extremists. In 1915, during the annual session of the Congress held at Lucknow under the presidency of Ambica Charan Mazumdar, it was decided that the extremists led by Tilak would be admitted to the Congress. Congress included several prominent political figures. Dadabhai Naoroji, a member of the sister Indian National Association, was elected president of the party in 1886 and was the first Indian Member of Parliament in the British House of Commons (1892–1895). Congress also included Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal, Lala Lajpat Rai, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, and Mohammed Ali Jinnah. Jinnah was a member of the moderate group in the Congress, favouring Hindu–Muslim unity in achieving self-government.{{sfn, Mahendra Prasad Singh, 1981, pp=41–42 Later he became the leader of the Muslim League and instrumental in the creation of Pakistan. Congress was transformed into a mass movement by Surendranath Banerjee during the partition of Bengal in 1905, and the resultant Swadeshi movement.

Congress as a mass movement

In 1915, Mahatma Gandhi returned from South Africa and joined Congress.{{cite web , title=Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/mohandas-karamchand-gandhi , publisher=South African History Online , access-date=25 May 2020 His efforts in South Africa were well known not only among the educated but also among the masses. During 1917 and 1918, Mahatma Gandhi was involved in three struggles– known as Champaran Satyagraha, Ahmedabad Mill Strike and Kheda Satyagraha.{{cite book , last1=Gandhi , first1=Mohandas Karamchand , title=My experiments with truth , date=1 February 1931 , publisher=Sarvodaya , location=Ahmedabad {{cite journal , last1=Patel , first1=Sujata , title=Class Conflict and Workers' Movement in Ahmedabad Textile Industry, 1918–23 , journal=Economic and Political Weekly , year=1984 , volume=19 , issue=20/21 , pages=853–864 , url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4373280 , publisher=JSTOR , jstor=4373280 , access-date=10 March 2022 After the First World War, the party came to be associated with Gandhi, who remained its unofficial spiritual leader and icon.{{cite book, author1=Mahatma Gandhi, author-link1=Gandhi, title=The Gandhi Reader: A Sourcebook of His Life and Writings, publisher=Grove Press, isbn=978-0-8021-3161-4, pag
254
year=1994, url=https://archive.org/details/gandhireadersou00gand/page/254 He formed an alliance with the Khilafat Movement in 1920 as part of his opposition to British rule in India, and fought for the rights for Indians using civil disobedience or {{lang, hi, Satyagraha as the tool for agitation. In 1922, after the deaths of policemen at Chauri Chaura, Gandhi suspended the agitation.

With the help of the moderate group led by Gokhale, in 1924 Gandhi became president of Congress. The rise of Gandhi's popularity and his ''satyagraha'' art of revolution led to support from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajendra Prasad, Khan Mohammad Abbas Khan, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Chakravarti Rajgopalachari, Anugrah Narayan Sinha, Jayaprakash Narayan, Jivatram Kripalani, and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. As a result of prevailing nationalism, Gandhi's popularity, and the party's attempts at eradicating caste differences, untouchability, poverty, and religious and ethnic divisions, Congress became a forceful and dominant group. Although its members were predominantly Hindu, it had members from other religions, economic classes, and ethnic and linguistic groups.

At the Congress 1929 Lahore session under the presidency of Jawaharlal Nehru, {{lang, hi, Purna Swaraj (complete independence) was declared as the party's goal, declaring 26 January 1930 as {{lang, hi, Purna Swaraj Diwas (Independence Day).{{cite web , title=Declaration of Purna Swaraj (Indian National Congress, 1930) Clipboard , url=https://www.constitutionofindia.net/historical_constitutions/declaration_of_purna_swaraj__indian_national_congress__1930__26th%20January%201930 , publisher=CAD India , access-date=25 May 2020 The same year, Srinivas Iyenger was expelled from the party for demanding full independence, not just home rule as demanded by Gandhi.

After the passage of the Government of India Act 1935, provincial elections were held in India in the winter of 1936–37 in eleven provinces: Madras, Central Provinces, Bihar, Orissa, United Provinces, Bombay Presidency, Assam, NWFP, Bengal, Punjab, and Sindh. The final results of the elections were declared in February 1937.{{cite book, author=Rohit Manglik, title=SSC Sub Inspector CPO (Tier I and II) 2020, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cx_kDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA639, date=21 May 2020, publisher=EduGorilla, page=639, id=GGKEY:AWW79B82A9H The Indian National Congress gained power in eight of them – the three exceptions being Bengal, Punjab, and Sindh. The All-India Muslim League failed to form a Government in any Province.

Congress Ministers resigned in October and November 1939 in protest against Viceroy Lord Linlithgow's declaration that India was a belligerent in the Second World War without consulting the Indian people. In 1939, Subhas Chandra Bose, the elected President of India in both 1938 and 1939, resigned from Congress over the selection of the working committee. Congress was an umbrella organisation, sheltering radical socialists, traditionalists, and Hindu and Muslim conservatives. Mahatma Gandhi expelled all the socialist groupings, including the Congress Socialist Party, the Krishak Praja Party, and the Swaraj Party, along with Subhas Chandra Bose, in 1939.

After the failure of the Cripps Mission launched by the British government to gain Indian support for the British war effort, Mahatma Gandhi made a call to "''Do or Die''" in his Quit India movement delivered in Bombay on 8 August 1942 at the Gowalia Tank Maidan and opposed any help to the British in World War 2. The British government responded with mass arrests including that of Gandhi and Congress leaders and killed over 1,000 Indians who participated in this movement. A number of violent attacks were also carried out by the nationalists against the British government. The movement played a role in weakening the control over the South Asian region by the British regime and ultimately paved the way for Indian independence.{{cite book , last1=Anderson , first1=D. , last2=Killingray , first2=D. , title=Policing and Decolonisation: Politics, Nationalism, and the Police, 1917-65 , publisher=Manchester University Press , series=Studies in imperialism , year=1992 , isbn=978-0-7190-3033-8 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rni7AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA51 , quote=Britain's hold over India weakened and an early resumption of Congress rule appeared inevitable, page=51{{cite book, author=Arthur Herman, title=Gandhi & Churchill: The Epic Rivalry that Destroyed an Empire and Forged Our Age, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tquxD6dk914C, year=2008, publisher=Random House, isbn=978-0-553-90504-5, pages=467–70, url-status=live, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140913065817/http://books.google.com/books?id=tquxD6dk914C, archive-date=13 September 2014

In 1945, when World War 2 almost came to an end, the Labour Party of the United Kingdom won elections with a promise to provide independence to India. The jailed political prisoners of the Quit India movement were released in the same year.

In 1946, the British tried the soldiers of Japanese-sponsored Indian National Army in the INA trials. In response, Congress helped form the INA Defence Committee, which assembled a legal team to defend the case of the soldiers of the Azad Hind government. The team included several famous lawyers, including Bhulabhai Desai, Asaf Ali, and Jawaharlal Nehru. The British Empire eventually backtracked in the face of opposition by the Congress.

Post-independence

After Indian independence in 1947, the Indian National Congress became the dominant political party in the country. In 1952, in the first general election held after Independence, the party swept to power in the national parliament and most state legislatures. It held power nationally until 1977 when it was defeated by the Janata coalition. It returned to power in 1980 and ruled until 1989 when it was once again defeated. The party formed the government in 1991 at the head of a coalition, as well as in 2004 and 2009 when it led the United Progressive Alliance. During this period the Congress remained centre-left in its social policies while steadily shifting from a socialist to a neoliberal economic outlook. The Party's rivals at state level have been national parties including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPIM), and various regional parties, such as the Telugu Desam Party, Trinamool Congress and Aam Aadmi Party.

A post-partition successor to the party survived as the Pakistan National Congress, a party which represented the rights of religious minorities in the state. The party's support was strongest in the Bengali-speaking province of East Pakistan. After the Bangladeshi War of Independence, it became known as the Bangladeshi National Congress, but was dissolved in 1975 by the government.{{cite book, title=Major governments of Asia, author=George McTurnan Kahin, Harold C. Hinton, publisher=Cornell University Press, page=439, year=1958{{cite book, title=Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations: Asia and Australasia, author=Moshe Y. Sachs, publisher=Worldmark Press, year=1967{{cite book, title=War and Secession: Pakistan, India and the Creation of Bangladesh, author=Richard Sisson, Leo E. Rose, publisher=University of California Press, pages=1–15, year=1991, isbn=978-0-520-07665-5

Nehru and Shastri era (1947–1966)

{{see also, Premiership of Lal Bahadur Shastri

From 1951 until his death in 1964, Jawaharlal Nehru was the paramount leader of the party. Congress gained power in landslide victories in the general elections of 1951–52, 1957, and 1962.{{cite web, title=Nehru Years in Indian Politics, url=http://www.sps.ed.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/38480/WP16_Suranjan_Das.pdf , author=Suranjan Das , date=2001 , publisher=School of Social and Political Science, Edinburgh, access-date=23 June 2014, archive-date=24 September 2015, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924105051/http://www.sps.ed.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/38480/WP16_Suranjan_Das.pdf, url-status=dead During his tenure, Nehru implemented policies based on import substitution industrialisation, and advocated a mixed economy where the government-controlled public sector co-existed with the private sector.{{cite web, title=Economic Ideology of Jawaharlal Nehru, url=http://www.epw.in/system/files/pdf/1964_16/29-30-31/economic_ideology_of_jawaharlal_nehru.pdf , publisher=Economic and Political Weekly, access-date=23 June 2014 He believed the establishment of basic and heavy industries was fundamental to the development and modernisation of the Indian economy. The Nehru government directed investment primarily into key public sector industries—steel, iron, coal, and power—promoting their development with subsidies and protectionist policies. Nehru embraced secularism, socialistic economic practices based on state-driven industrialisation, and a non-aligned and non-confrontational foreign policy that became typical of the modern Congress Party.{{cite news, title=History of Indian Economy Part II, url=http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/column-why-jawaharlal-nehru-is-the-root-cause-of-indias-economic-troubles-1564479, access-date=23 June 2014, work=Daily News and Analysis , date=11 July 2011 The policy of non-alignment during the Cold War meant Nehru received financial and technical support from both the Eastern and Western Blocs to build India's industrial base from nothing.{{cite news, title=Nehru: Founding member of The non-aligned movement, url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/574242.stm, publisher= The British Broadcasting Corporation, access-date=23 June 2014{{cite web, title=History and Evolution of Non-Aligned Movement, url=http://mea.gov.in/in-focus-article.htm?20349/History+and+Evolution+of+NonAligned+Movement, website=mea.gov.in, publisher=Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, access-date=23 June 2014

During his period in office, there were four known assassination attempts on Nehru.{{cite book, author=Nayantara Sahgal, title=Jawaharlal Nehru: Civilizing a Savage World, url={{Google books, KycnN-MlfY4C, page=PA58, keywords=, text=, plainurl=yes, date=1 January 2010, publisher=Penguin Books India, isbn=978-0-670-08357-2, page=58 The first attempt on his life was during partition in 1947 while he was visiting the North-West Frontier Province in a car. The second was by a knife-wielding rickshaw-puller in Maharashtra in 1955.{{cite book, author=Nayantara Sahgal, title=Jawaharlal Nehru: Civilizing a Savage World, url={{Google books, KycnN-MlfY4C, page=PA58, keywords=, text=, plainurl=yes, date=1 January 2010, publisher=Penguin Books India, isbn=978-0-670-08357-2, page=60 A third attempt happened in Bombay in 1956.{{cite book, author=Nayantara Sahgal, title=Jawaharlal Nehru: Civilizing a Savage World, url={{Google books, KycnN-MlfY4C, page=PA58, keywords=, text=, plainurl=yes, date=1 January 2010, publisher=Penguin Books India, isbn=978-0-670-08357-2, page=61 The fourth was a failed bombing attempt on railway tracks in Maharashtra in 1961. Despite threats to his life, Nehru despised having excess security personnel around him and did not like his movements to disrupt traffic. K. Kamaraj became the president of the All India Congress Committee in 1963 during the last year of Nehru's life.{{cite web, title=K. Kamaraj – Life History, publisher=The Perun Thalaivar organization, url=http://www.perunthalaivar.org/english/life-history/, website=www.perunthalaivar.org, access-date=23 June 2014, archive-date=5 July 2014, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140705202836/http://www.perunthalaivar.org/english/life-history/, url-status=dead Prior to that, he had been the chief minister of Madras state for nine years.{{cite web, title=The Syndicate: Kingmakers of India , url=http://pib.nic.in/feature/feyr2003/fjul2003/f150720031.html, website=pib.nic.in, publisher=Press Information Bureau: Government of India, access-date=23 June 2014 Kamaraj had also been a member of "the syndicate", a group of right wing leaders within Congress. In 1963 the Congress lost popularity following the defeat in the Indo-Chinese war of 1962. To revitalise the party, Kamaraj proposed the Kamaraj Plan to Nehru that encouraged six Congress chief ministers (including himself) and six senior cabinet ministers to resign to take up party work.{{sfn, Mahendra Prasad Singh, 1981, p=46{{cite book, author=Bala Jeyaraman, title=Kamaraj: The Life and Times of K. Kamaraj, url={{Google books, BqWeAwAAQBAJ, page=PT55, keywords=, text=, plainurl=yes, date=2 September 2013 , publisher=Rupa Publications , isbn=978-81-291-3227-7, pages=55–56{{cite book, author=N. S. Gehlot, title=The Congress Party in India: Policies, Culture, Performance, url={{Google books, 06HLD2_3Qj4C, page=PA177, plainurl=yes , year=1991, publisher=Deep & Deep Publications, isbn=978-81-7100-306-8, page=180

In 1964, Nehru died because of an aortic dissection, raising questions about the party's future.{{cite news, title=The death of Nehru, work=The Guardian, publisher=The Guardian archive, date=28 May 2013 , url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2013/may/28/death-of-nehru-archive-1964, access-date=23 June 2014{{cite web, title=Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) , url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/nehru_jawaharlal.shtml, website=bbc.co.uk, publisher= The British Broadcasting Corporation, access-date=23 June 2014{{cite news, title=1964: Light goes out in India as Nehru dies, publisher= The British Broadcasting Corporation , url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/27/newsid_3690000/3690019.stm , access-date=23 June 2014 Following the death of Nehru, Gulzarilal Nanda was appointed as the interim Prime Minister on 27 May 1964, pending the election of a new parliamentary leader of the Congress party who would then become Prime Minister.{{cite web , title=Shri Gulzari Lal Nanda , url=https://www.pmindia.gov.in/en/former_pm/shri-gulzari-lal-nanda-2/ , publisher=PMO India , access-date=24 July 2021 During the leadership contest to succeed Nehru, the preference was between Morarji Desai and Lal Bahadur Shashtri. Eventually, Shashtri was selected as the next parliamentary leader thus the Prime Minister. Kamaraj was widely credited as the "kingmaker" in for ensuring the victory of Lal Bahadur Shastri over Morarji Desai.{{sfn, Mahendra Prasad Singh, 1981, p=42

As prime minister, Shastri retained most of members of Nehru's Council of Ministers; T. T. Krishnamachari was retained as Finance Minister of India, as was Defence Minister Yashwantrao Chavan.{{cite book, author1=R. D. Pradhan, author2=Madhav Godbole, title=Debacle to Revival: Y. B. Chavan as Defence Minister, 1962–65, url={{Google books, 9vDvpB_sqB0C, page=PA15, keywords=, text=, plainurl=yes, date=1 January 1999, publisher=Orient Blackswan, isbn=978-81-250-1477-5, page=17 Shastri appointed Swaran Singh to succeed him as External Affairs Minister.{{cite book, author=Arvind Panagariya Professor of Economics and Jagdish Bhagwati Professor of Indian Political Economy Columbia University School of International & Public Affairs, title=India: The Emerging Giant: The Emerging Giant, url={{Google books, 6eO1-yP7o4MC, page=PA27, keywords=, text=, plainurl=yes, date=1 February 2008, publisher=Oxford University Press, isbn=978-0-19-804299-0, page=27 Shastri appointed Indira Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru's daughter and former party president, Minister of Information and Broadcasting.{{cite web, title=History and Politics of India, url=https://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/Independent/Indira.html, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991112105947/http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/Independent/Indira.html, url-status=dead, archive-date=12 November 1999, website=socialsciences.ucla.edu, publisher=UCLA Division of Social Sciences, access-date=23 June 2014 Gulzarilal Nanda continued as the Minister of Home Affairs.{{cite web, title=Biography of Gulzarilal Nanda , url=http://pmindia.gov.in/pm_gulzari.html , website=pmindia.gov.in, publisher=Prime Minister's Office , access-date=23 June 2014 , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120828142039/http://pmindia.gov.in/pm_gulzari.html , archive-date=28 August 2012 As Prime Minister, Shastri continued Nehru's policy of non-alignment,{{cite book, author1=Narayan Agrawal Narayan, author2=Lal Bahadur Shastri, author3=Vivek Misra, author4=Subha Ravi, title=Lal Bahadur Shastri, Churn of Conscience, url={{Google books, Lwoae1jbcc0C, page=PA100, keywords=, text=, plainurl=yes, year=2006, publisher=Eternal Gandhi, isbn=978-81-231-0193-4, page=88 but built closer relations with the Soviet Union. In the aftermath of the Sino-Indian War of 1962, and the formation of military ties between China and Pakistan, Shastri's government expanded the defence budget of India's armed forces. He also promoted the White Revolution—a national campaign to increase the production and supply of milk by creating the National Dairy Development Board.{{cite web, title=The White Revolution: A beginning, url=http://www.unicef.org/india/media_2643.htm, website=unicef.org, publisher=UNICEF, access-date=23 June 2014, archive-date=19 August 2014, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819085943/http://www.unicef.org/india/media_2643.htm, url-status=dead The Madras anti-Hindi agitation of 1965 occurred during Shastri's tenure.{{cite book, author=Jyotirindra Dasgupta, title=Language Conflict and National Development: Group Politics and National Language Policy in India, url={{Google books, qGACL5YJRjEC, page=PA237, keywords=, text=, plainurl=yes, year=1970, publisher=University of California Press, isbn=978-0-520-01590-6, page=237{{cite journal, title=The Madras anti-Hindi agitation, journal=Pacific Affairs, volume=39, issue=1/2, pages=19–36, publisher=Digital library of academic journals, jstor=2755179, last1=Forrester, first1=Duncan B., year=1966, doi=10.2307/2755179

Shastri became a national hero following victory in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.{{cite web, title=The Indo-Pakistan war of 1965, url=http://indiannavy.nic.in/book/1965-indo-pakistan-war, website=indiannavy.nic.in, publisher=Indian Navy, access-date=23 June 2014 His slogan, "Jai Jawan Jai Kisan" ("Hail the soldier, Hail the farmer"), became very popular during the war.{{cite news, title=Life of Lal Bahadur Shastri, url=http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/life-of-lal-bahadur-shastri-to-be-captured-on-celluloid-113032600267_1.html, access-date=23 June 2014, work=Business Standard, agency=Ananda Bazar Patrika (ABP) Group, publisher= Ananda Publishers, date=26 March 2013 On 11 January 1966, a day after signing the Tashkent Declaration, Shastri died in Tashkent, reportedly of a heart attack; but the circumstances of his death remain mysterious.{{cite web, title=Controversial death of Shastri, url=http://www.wikileaks-forum.com/india/68/dead-silence-on-the-killers-and-contract-killers-of-lal-bahadur-shastri/8620/, website=wikileaks-forum.com, publisher=Wikileaks Forum, access-date=23 June 2014, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140501224743/http://www.wikileaks-forum.com/india/68/dead-silence-on-the-killers-and-contract-killers-of-lal-bahadur-shastri/8620/, archive-date=1 May 2014, url-status=dead{{cite web, title=Lal Bahadur Shastri's death in Tashkent, url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/legacy/thereporters/soutikbiswas/2009/08/was_mr_shastri_murdered.html, website=bbc.com, publisher=BBC, access-date=23 June 2014{{cite web, title=Lal Bahadur Shastri , url=https://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/Independent/Shastri.html, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000422080114/http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/Independent/Shastri.html, url-status=dead, archive-date=22 April 2000, website=socialsciences.ucla.edu/, publisher=UCLA Division of Social Science, access-date=23 June 2014 After Shastri's death, Congress elected Indira Gandhi as leader over Morarji Desai. Once again, K. Kamaraj was instrumental in achieving this result. The differences among the top leadership of the Congress regarding the future of the party during resulted in the formation of several breakaway parties such as Orissa Jana Congress, Bangla Congress, Utkal Congress, and, Bharatiya Kranti Dal.

Indira era (1966–1984)

{{See also, The Emergency (India), Assassination of Indira Gandhi, Indian general election, 1977, 1984 anti-Sikh riots

In 1967, following a poor performance in the 1967 Indian general election, Indira Gandhi started moving toward the political left. On 12 July 1969, Congress Parliamentary Board nominated Neelam Sanjiva Reddy as Congress's candidate for the post of President of India by a vote of four to two. K. Kamaraj, Morarji Desai and S. K. Patil voted for Reddy. Indira Gandhi and Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed voted for V. V. Giri and Congress President S. Nijalingappa, Home Minister Yashwantrao Chavan and Agriculture Minister Jagjivan Ram abstained from voting.{{Cite book , last=Austin , first=Granville , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r42bAAAAMAAJ , title=Working a Democratic Constitution: The Indian Experience , publisher=Oxford University Press , year=1999 , isbn=0195648889 , pages=178 , language=en

In mid-1969, she was involved in a dispute with senior party leaders on several issues. Notably – Her support for the independent candidate, V. V. Giri, rather than the official Congress party candidate, Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, for the vacant post of the president of India{{sfn, Mahendra Prasad Singh, 1981, pp=65–80 and Gandhi's abrupt nationalisation of the 14 biggest banks in India.

Congress split, 1969

In November 1969, the Congress party president, S. Nijalingappa, expelled Indira Gandhi from the party for indiscipline.{{cite news , title=March to socialism under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, work=The Economic Times, agency=Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd, publisher=The Times Group, date=24 August 2011{{cite news, title=1969: S. Nijalingappa expelled Indira Gandhi from the Party, url=http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/1969-congress-splits/1/155566.html, access-date=25 June 2014, work=India Today, publisher=Aroon Purie, date=2 July 2007 Subsequently, Gandhi launched her own faction of the INC which came to be known as Congress (R).{{efn, The "R" stood for Requisition or Ruling The original party then came to be known as Indian National Congress (O).{{efn, The "O" stands for organisation/Old Congress. Its principal leaders were Kamraj, Morarji Desai, Nijalingappa and S. K. Patil who stood for a more right-wing agenda.{{cite book, last=Sanghvi, first=Vijay , title=The Congress, Indira to Sonia Gandh, year=2006, publisher=Kalpaz Publications, location=New Delhi , isbn=978-81-7835-340-1, page=77, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=npdqD_TXucQC&q=%22indira+gandhi%22+cow++calf+symbol&pg=PA77 The split occurred when a united opposition under the banner of Samyukt Vidhayak Dal, won control over several states in the Hindi Belt. Indira Gandhi, on the other side, wanted to use a populist agenda in order to mobilise popular support for the party. Her faction, called Congress (R), was supported by most of the Congress MPs while the original party had the support of only 65 MPs.{{Cite book, publisher = MIT Press, pages = 468–470, url={{Google books, y3Mr6TgalqMC, page=PA470, plainurl=yes , isbn=978-0-262-18234-8, last1=Rosser, first1=J. Barkley, last2=Rosser, first2=Marina V., title=Comparative Economics in Transforming the World Economy, year=2004 In the All India Congress Committee, 446 of its 705 members walked over to Indira's side. The "Old Congress" retained the party symbol of a pair of bullocks carrying a yoke while Indira's breakaway faction was given a new symbol of a cow with a suckling calf by the Election Commission as the party election symbol. The Congress (O) eventually merged with other opposition parties to form the Janata Party.
{{quote box, bgcolor=#CCDDFF, width=25%, align=quote="India might be an ancient country but was a young democracy and as such should remain vigilant against the domination of few over the social, economic or political systems. Banks should be publicly owned so that they catered to not just large industries and big businesses but also agriculturists, small industries and entrepreneurs. Furthermore, the private banks had been functioning erratically with hundreds of them failing and causing loss to the depositors who were given no guarantee against such loss.", source=—Gandhi's remarks after the nationalisation of private banks.{{cite news , last1=Menon , first1=Vandana , title='We simply don't have time': Read Indira Gandhi's letters defending bank nationalisation , url=https://theprint.in/politics/letters-indira-gandhi-defending-bank-nationalisation/17110/ , access-date=10 March 2022 , work=ThePrint , agency=Printline Media Pvt. Ltd , date=November 16, 2017
In the mid-term 1971 Indian general election, the Gandhi-led Congress (R) won a landslide victory on a platform of progressive policies such as the elimination of poverty ({{lang, hi, Garibi Hatao).{{cite web, title=General Elections, India, 1971: Statistical report , url=http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/statisticalreports/LS_1971/Vol_I_LS71.pdf , website=eci.nic.in , publisher=Election Commission of India , access-date=25 June 2014 , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140718175452/http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/LS_1971/Vol_I_LS71.pdf , archive-date=18 July 2014 The policies of the Congress (R) under Gandhi before the 1971 elections included proposals to abolish the Privy Purse to former rulers of the Princely states, and the 1969 nationalisation of India's 14 largest banks.{{cite news, title=Economic Milestone: Nationalisation of Banks (1969), url=http://forbesindia.com/article/independence-day-special/economic-milestone-nationalisation-of-banks-(1969)/38415/1, access-date=17 September 2015, work=Forbes India, date=17 September 2015, archive-date=29 October 2015, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151029061931/http://forbesindia.com/article/independence-day-special/economic-milestone-nationalisation-of-banks-(1969)/38415/1, url-status=dead The 1969 attempt by Indira Gandhi government to abolish privy purse and the official recognition of the titles did not meet with success. The constitutional Amendment bill to this effect was passed in Lok Sabha, but it failed to get the required two-thirds majority in the Rajya Sabha. However, in 1971, with the passage of the Twenty-sixth Amendment to the Constitution of India, the privy purses were abolished.

Due to Sino-Indian War 1962, India faced a huge budgetary deficit resulting in its treasury being almost empty, high inflation, and dwindling forex reserves. The brief War of 1962 exposed weaknesses in the economy and shifted the focus towards the defence industry and the Indian Army. The government found itself short of resources to fund the Third Plan (1961–1966). Subhadra Joshi a senior party member, proposed a non-official resolution asking for the nationalisation of private banks stating that nationalisation would help in mobilising resources for development.{{cite web , title=The Defining Event , url=https://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/content/PDFs/90069.pdf , publisher=Reserve Bank of India , access-date=10 March 2022 In July 1969, Indira Gandhi through the ordinance nationalised fourteen major private banks. After being re-elected in 1971 on a campaign that endorsed nationalisation, Indira Gandhi went on to nationalise the coal, steel, copper, refining, cotton textiles and insurance industries. The main reason was to protect employment and the interest of the organised labour.

On 12 June 1975, the High Court of Allahabad declared Indira Gandhi's election to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India's parliament, void on the grounds of electoral malpractice.{{cite web, title=The Emergency, and Indian democracy, url=https://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/Independent/Indira.html, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991112105947/http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/Independent/Indira.html, url-status=dead, archive-date=12 November 1999, website=sscnet.ucla.edu, publisher=UCLA Division of Social Science, access-date=25 June 2014 However, Gandhi rejected calls to resign and announced plans to appeal to the Supreme Court. In response to increasing disorder and lawlessness, Gandhi's ministry recommended that President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed declare a State of Emergency, based on the provisions of Article 352 of the Constitution. During the nineteen-month emergency, widespread oppression and abuse of power by Gandhi's unelected younger son and political heir Sanjay Gandhi and his close associates occurred.{{cite journal , last=Dasgupta , first=Swapan , title=The Life of Indira Gandhi , date=July 1985 , volume=7 , issue=3 , journal=Third World Quarterly , department=Book Reviews , doi=10.1080/01436598508419863 , pages=731–778 Implemented on 25 June 1975, the Emergency officially ended on 21 March 1977.{{cite news, author=Inder Malhotra, title=What Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's Emergency proved for India, date=23 June 2010 , url=http://www.rediff.com/news/column/inder-malhotra-on-35-years-after-the-emergency/20100623.htm , access-date=25 June 2014, work=Rediff.com All political prisoners were released and fresh elections for the Lok Sabha were called.{{cite web, title=Indian general election, 1977, url=http://www.ipu.org/parline-e/reports/arc/INDIA_1977_E.PDF , website=ipu.org, publisher=Inter-Parliamentary Union, access-date=25 June 2014 In parliamentary elections held in March, the Janata alliance of anti-Indira opposition parties won a landslide victory over Congress, winning 295 seats in the Lok Sabha against Congress' 153. Gandhi lost her seat to her Janata opponent Raj Narain.

Formation of Congress (I)

On 2 January 1978, Indira and her followers seceded and formed a new opposition party, popularly called Congress (I)—the "I" signifying Indira. During the next year, her new party attracted enough members of the legislature to become the official opposition.{{cite book, last1=Basu , first1=Manisha , title=The Rhetoric of Hindutva, year=2016 , publisher=Cambridge University Press , isbn=978-1-107-14987-8 , pages=73– , url={{Google books, E7gtDQAAQBAJ , page=PA73, plainurl=yes In November 1978, Gandhi regained a parliamentary seat. In January 1980, following a landslide victory for Congress (I), she was again elected prime minister.{{cite web , title=Statistical report general elections, 1980 , website=eci.nic.in , publisher=Election Commission of India , url=http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/statisticalreports/LS_1980/Vol_I_LS_80.pdf , access-date=25 June 2014 , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140718175926/http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/LS_1980/Vol_I_LS_80.pdf , archive-date=18 July 2014 The national election commission declared Congress (I) to be the real Indian National Congress for the 1984 general election.{{citation needed, date=January 2023 However, the designation I was dropped only in 1996.

Punjab crisis

Gandhi's premiership witnessed increasing turmoil in Punjab, with demands for Sikh autonomy by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his militant followers.{{cite news, title=Operation Blue Star 1984, url=http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-7-things-you-need-to-know-about-operation-blue-star-1993952, access-date=25 June 2014, work=Daily News and Analysis, agency=Dainik Bhaskar, publisher=Deepak Rathi, date=6 June 2014 In 1983, Bhindranwale with his armed followers headquartered themselves in the Golden Temple in Amritsar and started accumulating weapons.{{cite news, title=1984: Operation Blue Star, url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/10881115/Operation-Blue-Star-How-an-Indian-army-raid-on-the-Golden-Temple-ended-in-disaster.html , archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/10881115/Operation-Blue-Star-How-an-Indian-army-raid-on-the-Golden-Temple-ended-in-disaster.html , archive-date=10 January 2022 , url-access=subscription , url-status=live, access-date=25 June 2014, work=The Daily Telegraph, date=6 June 2014{{cbignore In June 1984, after several futile negotiations, Gandhi ordered the Indian Army to enter the Golden Temple to establish control over the complex and remove Bhindranwale and his armed followers. This event is known as Operation Blue Star.{{cite news, title=Operation Blue Star, url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/operation-blue-star-the-untold-story/article4798102.ece, access-date=25 June 2014, work=The Hindu, date=10 June 2013 On 31 October 1984, two of Gandhi's bodyguards, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh, shot her with their service weapons in the garden of the prime minister's residence in response to her authorisation of Operation Blue Star. Gandhi was due to be interviewed by British actor Peter Ustinov, who was filming a documentary for Irish television.{{cite news, title=1984: Indian prime minister shot dead, url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/31/newsid_2464000/2464423.stm, access-date=23 June 2014, work=BBC News, date=31 October 1984 Her assassination prompted the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, during which 3,000–17,000 people were killed.{{cite news, title=Violence follows Gandhi killing, url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/, work=BBC News, access-date=23 June 2014{{cite book , last=Joseph , first=Paul , title=The SAGE Encyclopedia of War: Social Science Perspectives , date=11 October 2016 , publisher=SAGE , isbn=978-1483359885 , page=433 , quote=around 17,000 Sikhs were burned alive or killed{{cite news , last1=Nelson , first1=Dean , date=30 January 2014 , title=Delhi to reopen inquiry in to massacre of Sikhs in 1984 riots , website=The Daily Telegraph , url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/10607451/Delhi-to-reopen-inquiry-in-to-massacre-of-Sikhs-in-1984-riots.html , url-status=live , url-access=subscription , access-date=3 May 2016 , archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/10607451/Delhi-to-reopen-inquiry-in-to-massacre-of-Sikhs-in-1984-riots.html , archive-date=12 January 2022{{cbignore

Rajiv Gandhi and Rao era (1984–1998)

{{See also, Indian intervention in the Sri Lankan Civil War, Economic liberalisation in India

In 1984, Indira Gandhi's son Rajiv Gandhi became nominal head of Congress, and went on to become prime minister upon her assassination.{{cite web, title=Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, complete profile , url=http://pmindia.gov.in/pm_rajiv.html , website=pmindia.gov.in, publisher=Prime Minister's Office , access-date=23 June 2014 , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120901121841/http://pmindia.gov.in/pm_rajiv.html , archive-date=1 September 2012 In December, he led Congress to a landslide victory, where it secured 401 seats in the legislature.{{cite web, title=India General or the 8th Lok Sabha Election Results – 1984, url=http://www.elections.in/parliamentary-constituencies/1984-election-results.html, access-date=23 June 2014 His administration took measures to reform the government bureaucracy and liberalise the country's economy.{{cite news, title=Resurgent India, url=http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-hamid-ansari-launches-book-resurgent-india-glimpses-of-rajiv-gandhi-vision-of-india-1955270, access-date=23 June 2014, work=Daily News and Analysis, date=22 January 2014 Rajiv Gandhi's attempts to discourage separatist movements in Punjab and Kashmir backfired. After his government became embroiled in several financial scandals, his leadership became increasingly ineffectual.{{cite web, title=Rajiv Gandhi and the story of Indian modernization, url=http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/NYPeyCrc6NyfwmlxqjtumJ/Rajiv-Gandhi-and-the-story-of-Indian-modernization.html, website=Mint, date=19 May 2013 , access-date=23 June 2014 Gandhi was regarded as a non-abrasive person who consulted other party members and refrained from hasty decisions.{{cite web, title=Rajiv Gandhi, History and Politics, url=https://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/Independent/Rajiv.html, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000226203915/http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/Independent/Rajiv.html, url-status=dead, archive-date=26 February 2000, website=UCLA, Division of Social Sciences, access-date=23 June 2014 The Bofors scandal damaged his reputation as an honest politician, but he was posthumously cleared of bribery allegations in 2004. On 21 May 1991, Gandhi was killed by a bomb concealed in a basket of flowers carried by a woman associated with the Tamil Tigers.{{cite web, title=The assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzdoMbYnb7w , archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/CzdoMbYnb7w, archive-date=11 December 2021 , url-status=live, author=NDTV India, website = YouTube, access-date=21 June 2014, author-link = NDTV India{{cbignore He was campaigning in Tamil Nadu for upcoming parliamentary elections. In 1998, an Indian court convicted 26 people in the conspiracy to assassinate Gandhi.{{cite news, title=Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Rajiv-Gandhi-assassination-case-SC-stays-release-of-4-convicts-issues-notice-to-Tamil-Nadu-govt/articleshow/31089717.cms, access-date=21 June 2014, work=The Times of India, date=27 February 2014 The conspirators, who consisted of Tamil militants from Sri Lanka and their Indian allies, had sought revenge against Gandhi because the Indian troops he sent to Sri Lanka in 1987 to help enforce a peace accord there had fought with Tamil Militant guerrillas.{{cite book, author1=D. R. Kaarthikenyan, Radhavinod Raju, author2=Radhavinod Raju, title=Rajiv Gandhi Assassination, url={{Google books, 7MqfCkBGdQ8C, page=, keywords=, text=, plainurl=yes, year=2008, publisher=Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd, isbn=978-81-207-3265-0, pages=89–91{{cite news, title=SC refers Rajiv Gandhi killers' release case to Constitution Bench, url=http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/rajiv-gandhi-assassination-case-supreme-court/, access-date=21 June 2014, work=The Indian Express, date=25 April 2014

The mid-1990s marked a period of political flux in India, with frequent changes in government and coalition dynamics. Rajiv Gandhi was succeeded as party leader by P. V. Narasimha Rao, who was elected prime minister in June 1991.{{cite web, title=PV Narasimha Rao Biography , url=http://pmindia.nic.in/pm_narasimha.html , website=Website of the Prime Minister of India , access-date=23 June 2014 , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121227115219/http://pmindia.nic.in/pm_narasimha.html , archive-date=27 December 2012 His rise to the prime ministership was politically significant because he was the first person from South India to hold the office, marking a shift from the traditionally northern-dominated leadership in Indian politics. After the election, he formed a minority government. Rao himself did not contest elections in 1991, but after he was sworn in as prime minister, he won in a by-election from Nandyal in Andhra Pradesh.{{cite news , last1=Lakshman , first1=Ganesh , title=Nandyal bypoll: It was P V Narasimha Rao's backyard when he .. , url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/amaravati/it-was-p-v-narasimha-raos-backyard-when-he-was-the-pm/articleshow/60168304.cms , access-date=10 March 2022 , work=The Times of India, agency=The Times Group , date=22 August 2017 His administration oversaw major economic change and experienced several domestic incidents that affected India's national security."Narasimha Rao – a Reforming PM"
''BBC News'' (23 December 2004). Retrieved 2 March 2007. Rao, who held the Industries portfolio, was personally responsible for the dismantling of the Licence Raj, which came under the purview of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.Arvind Kumar, Arun Narendhranath (3 October 2001)
"India must embrace unfettered free enterprise"
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130312095826/http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/column_india-must-embrace-unfettered-free-enterprise_1594401 , date=12 March 2013 . ''Daily News and Analysis''. Rao accelerated the dismantling of the Licence Raj, reversing the socialist policies of previous governments.{{cite web, title=PV Narasimha Rao reinvented India, url=http://www.thenational.ae/lifestyle/pv-narasimha-rao-reinvented-india-so-why-is-he-the-forgotten-man, website= The National, date=19 May 2012 , location=Abu Dhabi, access-date=23 June 2014{{cite web, title=Foreign Policies of India's Prime Ministers, url=http://www.transnational-perspectives.org/transnational/articles/article495.pdf, website=Transnational Organization, access-date=23 June 2014, archive-date=14 July 2014, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714230255/http://www.transnational-perspectives.org/transnational/articles/article495.pdf, url-status=dead He employed Manmohan Singh as his finance minister to begin historic economic changes. With Rao's mandate, Singh launched reforms for India's globalisation that involved implementing International Monetary Fund (IMF) policies to prevent India's impending economic collapse. Future prime ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh continued the economic reform policies begun by Rao's government. He is often called the "Father of Indian economic reforms".{{cite news, title=Narasimha Rao led India at crucial juncture, was father of economic reform: Pranab, access-date=25 January 2013, url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-12-31/india/36078990_1_economic-reforms-president-pranab-mukherjee-finance-minister, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130520071110/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-12-31/india/36078990_1_economic-reforms-president-pranab-mukherjee-finance-minister, url-status=dead, archive-date=20 May 2013, work=The Times of India, date= 31 December 2012 Rao was also referred to as ''Chanakya'' for his ability to push tough economic and political legislation through the parliament while heading a minority government.{{cite journal , url=http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=20050114008013000.htm&date=fl2201/&prd=fline& , title=Obituary: A scholar and a politician, author=V. Venkatesan , journal=Frontline , volume=22 , issue=1 , date=1–14 January 2005 , access-date=30 March 2010{{dead link, date=March 2016{{cbignore

By 1996, party found itself in a complex political landscape. It faced internal challenges, including factionalism and leadership struggles, allegations of corruption, and a degree of anti-incumbency sentiment. The 1996 general elections witnessed the emergence of a fractured mandate, leading to the absence of a clear majority for any single party. Congress was reduced to 140 seats in elections that year, its lowest number in the Lok Sabha yet. Rao later resigned as prime minister and, in September, as party president.{{cite web, author=ABP News, title=Atal Bihari Vajpayee's 13-day govt., url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ4F8KNB3ao , archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/eQ4F8KNB3ao, archive-date=11 December 2021 , url-status=live, publisher=YouTube, access-date=24 June 2014{{cbignore He was succeeded as president by Sitaram Kesri, the party's first non-Brahmin leader.{{cite news, title=The Sitaram Kesri case, url=http://www.dnaindia.com/lifestyle/report-the-sitaram-kesri-case-how-dynasty-trumped-ethics-1564149, access-date=23 June 2014, work=Daily News and Analysis, date=10 July 2011 During the tenure of both Rao and Kesri, the two leaders conducted internal elections to the Congress working committees and their own posts as party presidents.{{cite book, author1=Subrata Kumar Mitra, author2=Mike Enskat, author3=Clemens Spiess, title=Political Parties in South Asia, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dObxI9xahSYC&pg=PR7, year=2004, publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group, isbn=978-0-275-96832-8, pages=42–43

Modern era (1998–present)

The 1998 general elections saw Congress win 141 seats in the Lok Sabha, its lowest tally until then. To boost its popularity and improve its performance in the forthcoming election, Congress leaders urged Sonia Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi's widow, to assume leadership of the party. She had previously declined offers to become actively involved in party affairs and had stayed away from politics. After her election as party leader, a section of the party that objected to the choice because of her Italian ethnicity broke away and formed the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), led by Sharad Pawar.
Sonia Gandhi struggled to revive the party in her early years as its president; she was under continuous scrutiny for her foreign birth and lack of political acumen. In the snap elections called by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in 1999, Congress' tally further plummeted to just 114 seats. Although the leadership structure was unaltered as the party campaigned strongly in the assembly elections that followed, Gandhi began to make such strategic changes as abandoning the party's 1998 Pachmarhi resolution of ''ekla chalo'' (go it alone) policy, and formed alliances with other like-minded parties. In the intervening years, the party was successful at various legislative assembly elections; at one point, Congress ruled 15 states. For the 2004 general election, Congress forged alliances with regional parties including the NCP and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. The party's campaign emphasised social inclusion and the welfare of the common masses{{emdashan ideology that Gandhi herself endorsed for Congress during her presidency{{emdashwith slogans such as {{lang, hi, Congress ka haath, aam aadmi ke saath ("Congress hand in hand with the common man"), contrasting with the NDA's "India Shining" campaign.{{cite web, url=https://www.news18.com/news/politics/sonia-gandhis-legacy-she-reinvented-herself-to-fight-off-challenges-but-also-had-her-share-of-failures-1606229.html, title=Sonia Gandhi's Legacy: She Reinvented Herself to Fight Off Challenges but also Had Her Share of Failures, last=Negi, first=Saroj, website=India Today, access-date=2 March 2018, date=16 December 2017 The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) won 222 seats in the new parliament, defeating the NDA by a substantial margin. With the subsequent support of the communist front, Congress won a majority and formed a new government.{{cite news, url=http://m.hindustantimes.com/india-news/sonia-gandhi-s-19-years-as-congress-president-from-husband-rajiv-s-death-to-son-rahul-s-elevation/story-nmW3hNiG2zDo6abGYc38YO.html , title=Sonia Gandhi's 19 years as Congress president: From husband Rajiv's death to son Rahul's elevation, last=Naqshbandi, first=Aurangzeb, work=Hindustan Times, date=16 December 2017, access-date=20 December 2017 Despite massive support from within the party, Gandhi declined the post of prime minister, choosing to appoint Manmohan Singh instead. She remained as party president and headed the National Advisory Council (NAC).

During its first term in office, the UPA government passed several social reform bills. These included an employment guarantee bill, the Right to Information Act, and a right to education act. The NAC, as well as the Left Front that supported the government from the outside, were widely seen as being the driving force behind such legislation. The Left Front withdrew its support of the government over disagreements about the U.S.–India Civil Nuclear Agreement. Despite the effective loss of 62 seats in parliament, the government survived the trust vote that followed. In the Lok Sabha elections held soon after, Congress won 207 seats, the highest tally of any party since 1991. The UPA as a whole won 262, enabling it to form a government for the second time. The social welfare policies of the first UPA government, and the perceived divisiveness of the BJP, are broadly credited with the victory.

By the 2014 election, the party had lost much of its popular support, mainly due to several years of poor economic conditions in the country, and growing discontent over a series of corruption allegations involving government officials, including the 2G spectrum case and the Indian coal allocation scam.{{cite news, title=2G spectrum scam, url=http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/what-is-the-2g-scam-all-about/1/188832.html, access-date=22 June 2014, work=India Today, date=19 October 2012{{cite news, title=Coal Block Allocations Scam, url=http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-what-is-the-indian-coal-allocation-scam-1828830, access-date=22 June 2014, work=Daily News and Analysis, date=30 April 2013 The Congress won only 44 seats in the Lok Sabha, compared to the 336 of the BJP and the NDA.{{cite news, title=List of Congress winners, url=http://ibnlive.in.com/news/lok-sabha-election-results-list-of-congress-winners/472493-37-64.html, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140519170158/http://ibnlive.in.com/news/lok-sabha-election-results-list-of-congress-winners/472493-37-64.html, url-status=dead, archive-date=19 May 2014, access-date=22 June 2014, work=CNN-IBN, date=17 May 2014 The UPA suffered a landslide defeat, which was the party's worst-ever national electoral performance with its vote share dipping below 20 per cent for the first time.{{cite news, title=Congress Vote Share Dips Below 20 Per Cent for First Time, url=http://www.ndtv.com/elections/article/election-2014/election-results-2014-congress-vote-share-dips-below-20-per-cent-for-first-time-526000, access-date=22 June 2014, work=NDTV India, date=17 May 2014 Sonia Gandhi retired as party president in December 2017, having served for a record nineteen years. She was succeeded by her son Rahul Gandhi, who was elected unopposed in the 2017 INC presidential election.

Rahul Gandhi resigned from his post after the 2019 election, due to the party's dismal electoral performance. The party only won 52 seats, eight more than the previous election. Its vote percentage once again fell below 20 per cent. Following Gandhi's resignation, party leaders began deliberations for a suitable candidate to replace him. The Congress Working Committee met on 10 August to make a final decision on the matter and passed a resolution asking Sonia Gandhi to take over as interim president until a consensus candidate could be picked.{{cite news, url= https://m.economictimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/cwc-chooses-sonia-gandhi-as-interim-chief-of-congress/articleshow/70623767.cms, title=CWC chooses Sonia Gandhi as interim chief of Congress, work= Economic Times, date=11 August 2019, access-date=14 September 2019 Following the election, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury was chosen as the leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha,{{cite news , title=Chowdhury to stay as leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha , url=https://www.dailypioneer.com/2021/india/chowdhury-to-stay-as-leader-of-opposition-in-lok-sabha.html , access-date=18 January 2022 , work=The Pioneer , date=15 July 2021 Gaurav Gogoi was chosen as the deputy leader in Lok Sabha, and Ravneet Singh Bittu was chosen as the party whip. Based on an analysis of the candidates' poll affidavits, a report by the National Election Watch (NEW) and the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) says that, the Congress has highest political defection rate since 2014. According to the report, a total of 222 electoral candidates had left the Congress to join other parties during elections held between 2014 and 2021, as 177 MPs and MLAs quit the party.{{cite news , last1=Joy , first1=Shemin , title=Congress has lost six governments to BJP since PM Narendra Modi assumed power in 2014 , url=https://www.deccanherald.com/national/national-politics/congress-has-lost-six-governments-to-bjp-since-pm-narendra-modi-assumed-power-in-2014-954411.html , access-date=10 March 2022 , work=Deccan Herald, agency=The Printers, Mysore , date=23 February 2021 The defections resulted in a loss of the party's established governments in Arunachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka, Puducherry, and Manipur.

On 28 August 2022, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) decided to hold 2022 INC Presidential Election. The election was held on 17 October 2022 and the counting took place on 19 October 2022. A formal notification for the election was issued on 22 September 2022. The main two contenders were Shashi Tharoor and Mallikarjun Kharge.
Mallikarjun Kharge won this election. He secured 7,897 out of the 9,385 votes polled. His rival, Shashi Tharoor, however, sprung a surprise by securing 1,072 votes.

General election results

In the first parliamentary elections held in 1952, the INC won 364 seats, which was 76 per cent of the 479 contested seats. The vote share of the INC was 45 per cent of all votes cast. Till the 1971 general elections, the party's voting percentage remain intact at 40 per cent. However, the 1977 general elections resulted in a heavy defeat for the INC. Many notable INC party leader lost their seats, winning only 154 seats in the Lok Sabha.{{cite news , last1=Gupta , first1=Abhinav , title=Lok Sabha Poll Results: A vote-share and performance analysis of BJP vs Congress from 1996 to 2019 , url=https://english.newsnationtv.com/election/lok-sabha-election/lok-sabha-poll-results-a-vote-share-and-performance-analysis-of-bjp-vs-congress-from-1996-to-2019-225277.html , access-date=8 March 2022 , work=News Nation , agency=News Nation Network Pvt Ltd. , date=24 May 2019 The INC again returned to power in the 1980 Indian general election securing a 42.7 per cent vote share of all votes, winning 353 seats. INC's vote share kept increasing till 1980 and then to a record high of 48.1 per cent by 1984/85. Rajiv Gandhi on assuming the post of Prime Minister in October 1984 recommended early elections. The general elections were to be held in January 1985; instead, they were held in December 1984. The Congress won an overwhelming majority, securing 415 seats out of 533, the largest ever majority in independent India's Lok Sabha elections history. This winning recorded a vote share of 49.1 per cent resulting in an overall increase to 48.1 per cent. The party got 32.14 per cent of voters in polls held in Punjab and Assam in 1985.

In November 1989, general elections were held to elect the members of the 9th Lok Sabha. The Congress did badly in the elections, though it still managed to be the largest single party in the Lok Sabha. Its vote share started decreasing to 39.5 per cent in the 1989 general elections. The 13th Lok Sabha term was to end in October 2004, but the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government decided on early polls. The Lok Sabha was dissolved in February itself and the country went to the polls in April–May 2004. The INC, led by Sonia Gandhi unexpectedly emerged as the single largest party.{{cite news , last1=Chakravarty , first1=Shubhodeep , title=INKredible India: The story of 2004 Lok Sabha election – All you need to know , url=https://zeenews.india.com/lok-sabha-general-elections-2019/inkredible-india-the-story-of-2004-lok-sabha-election-all-you-need-to-know-2204202.html , access-date=10 March 2022 , work=Zee News, agency=Essel Group , date=18 May 2019 After the elections, Congress joined up with minor parties to form the United Progressive Alliance (UPA). The UPA with external support from the Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party, Kerala Congress, and the Left Front managed a comfortable majority. Congress has lost nearly 20% of its vote share in general elections held between 1996 and 2009.

{, class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"
, -
! style="background:#00bfff; color:white;", Year
! style="background:#00bfff; color:white;", Legislature
! style="background:#00bfff; color:white;", Party leader
! style="background:#00bfff; color:white;", Seats won
! style="background:#00bfff; color:white;", Change
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! style="background:#00bfff; color:white;", Percentage
of votes
! style="background:#00bfff; color:white;", Vote
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! style="background:#00bfff; color:white;", Outcome
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, -
, 1934
, 5th Central Legislative Assembly
, Bhulabhai Desai
, {{Composition bar, 42, 147, {{party color, Indian National Congress
, {{increase 42
, {{n/a
, {{n/a
, {{n/a
, "Elections in India The New Delhi Assembly, Congress Party's Position", ''The Times'', 10 December 1934, p15, Issue 46933
, -
, 1945
, 6th Central Legislative Assembly
, Sarat Chandra Bose
, {{Composition bar, 59, 102, {{party color, Indian National Congress
, {{increase 17
, {{n/a
, {{n/a
, {{partial, Interim Government of India (1946–1947)
,
, -
, 1951
, 1st Lok Sabha
, rowspan=3, Jawaharlal Nehru
, {{Composition bar, 364, 489, {{party color, Indian National Congress
, {{increase 364
, 44.99%
, {{n/a
, {{yes2, Government
,
, -
, 1957
, 2nd Lok Sabha
, {{Composition bar, 371, 494, {{party color, Indian National Congress
, {{increase 7
, 47.78%
, {{increase 2.79%
, {{yes2, Government
, {{cite web , url=http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/LS_1957/Vol_I_57_LS.pdf , title=Statistical Report on General Election, 1957 : To the Second Lok Sabha Volume-I , work=Election Commission of India , page=5 , access-date=11 July 2015
, -
, 1962
, 3rd Lok Sabha
, {{Composition bar, 361, 494, {{party color, Indian National Congress
, {{decrease 10
, 44.72%
, {{decrease 3.06%
, {{yes2, Government
,
, -
, 1967
, 4th Lok Sabha
, rowspan=4, Indira Gandhi
, {{Composition bar, 283, 520, {{party color, Indian National Congress
, {{decrease 78
, 40.78%
, {{decrease 2.94%
, {{yes2, Government (1967–69)
Coalition (1969–71)
, {{cite web, title=General Election of India 1967, 4th Lok Sabha , url=http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/LS_1967/Vol_I_LS_67.pdf , publisher=Election Commission of India , access-date=13 January 2010 , page=5 , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140718185108/http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/LS_1967/Vol_I_LS_67.pdf , archive-date=18 July 2014
, -
, 1971
, 5th Lok Sabha
, {{Composition bar, 352, 518, {{party color, Indian National Congress
, {{increase 69
, 43.68%
, {{increase 2.90%
, {{yes2, Government
,
, -
, 1977
, 6th Lok Sabha
, {{Composition bar, 153, 542, {{party color, Indian National Congress
, {{decrease 199
, 34.52%
, {{decrease 9.16%
, {{no2, Opposition
,
, -
, 1980
, 7th Lok Sabha
, {{Composition bar, 351, 542, {{party color, Indian National Congress
, {{increase 198
, 42.69%
, {{increase 8.17%
, {{yes2, Government
,
, -
, 1984
, 8th Lok Sabha
, rowspan=2, Rajiv Gandhi
, {{Composition bar, 415, 533, {{party color, Indian National Congress
, {{increase 64
, 49.01%
, {{increase 6.32%
, {{yes2, Government
,
, -
, 1989
, 9th Lok Sabha
, {{Composition bar, 197, 545, {{party color, Indian National Congress
, {{decrease 218
, 39.53%
, {{decrease 9.48%
, {{no2, Opposition
,
, -
, 1991
, 10th Lok Sabha
, rowspan=2, P. V. Narasimha Rao
, {{Composition bar, 244, 545, {{party color, Indian National Congress
, {{increase 47
, 35.66%
, {{decrease 3.87%
, {{yes2, Government
, {{cite web, title=1991 India General (10th Lok Sabha) Elections Results, url=https://www.elections.in/parliamentary-constituencies/1991-election-results.html, access-date=7 September 2020, website=www.elections.in
, -
, 1996
, 11th Lok Sabha
, {{Composition bar, 140, 545, {{party color, Indian National Congress
, {{decrease 104
, 28.80%
, {{decrease 7.46%
, {{partial, Opposition, later outside support for UF
,
, -
, 1998
, 12th Lok Sabha
, Sitaram Kesri
, {{Composition bar, 141, 545, {{party color, Indian National Congress
, {{increase 1
, 25.82%
, {{decrease 2.98%
, {{no2, Opposition
,
, -
, 1999
, 13th Lok Sabha
, rowspan="2" , Sonia Gandhi
, {{Composition bar, 114, 545, {{party color, Indian National Congress
, {{decrease 27
, 28.30%
, {{increase 2.48%
, {{no2, Opposition
,
, -
, 2004
, 14th Lok Sabha
, {{Composition bar, 145, 543, {{party color, Indian National Congress
, {{increase 31
, 26.7%
, {{decrease 1.6%
, {{yes2, Coalition
,
, -
, 2009
, 15th Lok Sabha
, Manmohan Singh
, {{Composition bar, 206, 543, {{party color, Indian National Congress
, {{increase 61
, 28.55%
, {{increase 2.02%
, {{yes2, Coalition
,
, -
, 2014
, 16th Lok Sabha
, rowspan="2" , Rahul Gandhi
, {{Composition bar, 44, 543, {{party color, Indian National Congress
, {{decrease 162
, 19.3%
, {{decrease 9.25%
, {{no2, Opposition
,
, -
, 2019
, 17th Lok Sabha
, {{Composition bar, 52, 543, {{party color, Indian National Congress
, {{increase 8
, 19.5%
, {{increase 0.2%
, {{no2, Opposition
,
, -
, 2024
, 18th Lok Sabha
, Mallikarjun Kharge
, colspan="6" , TBD

Political positions

{{Liberalism sidebar

Social affairs

The Congress party emphasizes social equality, freedom, secularism, and equal opportunity.{{cite book, author=N. S. Gehlot, title=The Congress Party in India: Policies, Culture, Performance, url={{Google books, 06HLD2_3Qj4C, page=PM177, keywords=, text=, plainurl=yes, year=1991, publisher=Deep & Deep Publications, isbn=978-81-7100-306-8, pages=150–200 Its political position is generally considered to be in the centre. Historically, the party has represented farmers, labourers, and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).{{cite web , title=National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 , url=https://rural.nic.in/sites/default/files/nrega/Library/Books/1_MGNREGA_Act.pdf , publisher=Ministry of Law and Justice , access-date=11 July 2021 The MGNREGA was initiated with the objective of "enhancing livelihood security in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year, to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work." Another aim of MGNREGA is to create durable assets (such as roads, canals, ponds, and wells).

The Congress has positioned itself as both pro-Hindu and protector of the minorities. The party supports Mahatma Gandhi's doctrine of {{lang, hi, Sarva Dharma Sama Bhava, collectively termed by its party members as secularism. Former Chief Minister of Punjab and senior Congress member Amarinder Singh said, "India belongs to all religions, which is its strength, and the Congress would not allow anyone to destroy its cherished secular values."{{cite news , title='Congress will safeguard secularism' , url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/congress-will-safeguard-secularism/article27074338.ece , access-date=6 July 2021 , work=The Hindu , agency=The Hindu Group , date=9 May 2019 On 9 November 1989, Rajiv Gandhi had allowed {{lang, hi, Shilanyas (foundation stone-laying ceremony) adjacent to the then disputed Ram Janmabhoomi site.{{cite news , last1=Kundu , first1=Chayan , title=Fact Check: False claims of Rajiv Gandhi at Ram temple 'bhoomi pujan' go viral , url=https://www.indiatoday.in/fact-check/story/fact-check-false-claims-of-rajiv-gandhi-at-ram-temple-bhoomi-pujan-go-viral-1704708-2020-07-26 , access-date=6 July 2021 , work=India Today , agency=Living Media Pvt. Ltd. , date=26 July 2020 Subsequently, his government faced heavy criticism over the passing of The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act 1986, which nullified the Supreme Court's judgment in the Shah Bano case. The 1984 violence made the Congress party lose a moral argument over secularism. The BJP questioned the Congress party's moral authority in questioning it about the 2002 Gujarat riots.{{cite news , last1=Vij , first1=Shivam , title=Reclaiming Indian pluralism will need annihilation of the Congress party , url=https://theprint.in/opinion/reclaiming-indian-pluralism-will-need-annihilation-of-congress/485212/ , access-date=6 July 2021 , work=ThePrint , publisher=Shekhar Gupta , date=19 August 2020 The Congress has distanced itself from Hindutva ideology, though the party has softened its stance after defeat in the 2014 and 2019 general elections.{{cite news , title='Rajiv Gandhi opened locks, called for Ram Rajya in 1985': Kamal Nath , url=https://www.timesnownews.com/india/article/rajiv-gandhi-opened-locks-called-for-ram-rajya-in-1985-kamal-nath/632586 , access-date=6 July 2021 , work=Times Now , agency=The Times Group , date=6 August 2020

Under Narsimha Rao's premiership, the Panchayati Raj and Municipal Government got constitutional status. With the enactment of the 73rd and 74th amendments to the constitution, a new chapter, Part- IX added to the constitution.{{cite web , title=Panchayati Raj System in Independent India , url=http://www.pbrdp.gov.in/documents/6205745/98348119/Panchayati%20Raj%20System%20in%20Independent%20India.pdf , publisher=Department of Rural Development and Panchayats, Punjab , access-date=10 March 2022 States have been given the flexibility to take into consideration their geographical, politico-administrative, and other consideration while adopting the Panchayati-raj system. In both panchayats and municipal bodies, in an attempt to ensure that there is inclusiveness in local self-government, reservations for SC/ST and women were implemented.{{cite web , title=Governance and Development , url=https://niti.gov.in/planningcommission.gov.in/docs/plans/mta/midterm/english-pdf/chapter-17.pdf , publisher=NITI Aayog , access-date=10 March 2022

After independence, Congress advocated the idea of establishing Hindi as the sole national language of India. Nehru led the faction of the Congress party which promoted Hindi as the ''lingua franca'' of the Indian nation.{{cite journal , url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43950462 , publisher=JSTOR , jstor=43950462 , access-date=5 July 2021, title=Jawaharlal Nehru and the Language Problem , last1=Agrawala , first1=S. K. , journal=Journal of the Indian Law Institute , year=1977 , volume=19 , issue=1 , pages=44–67 However, the non-Hindi-speaking Indian states, especially Tamil Nadu, opposed it and wanted the continued use of the English language. Lal Bahadur Shastri's tenure witnessed several protests and riots including the Madras anti-Hindi agitation of 1965.{{cite news , last1=Nair , first1=Chitralekha , title=A brief history of anti-Hindi imposition agitations in India , url=https://www.theweek.in/news/india/2019/06/07/brief-history-anti-hindi-imposition-agitations-india.html , access-date=5 July 2021 , work=The Week (Indian magazine) , publisher=Jacob Mathew , date=7 June 2019 Shashtri's appealed to agitators to withdraw the movement and assured them that the English would continue to be used as the official language as long as the non-Hindi speaking states wanted.{{cite news , last1=Madan , first1=Karuna , title=Anti-Hindi agitation: How it all began , url=https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/india/anti-hindi-agitation-how-it-all-began-1.2018146 , access-date=5 July 2021 , work=Gulf News , agency=Al Nisr Publishing , date=28 April 2017 Indira Gandhi assuaged the sentiments of the non-Hindi speaking states by getting the Official Languages Act amended in 1967 to provide that the use of English could continue until a resolution to end the use of the language was passed by the legislature of every state that had not adopted use Hindi as its official language, and by each house of the Indian Parliament.{{cite web , title=THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGES ACT, 1963 , url=https://rajbhasha.gov.in/en/official-languages-act-1963 , publisher=Department of Official Language, Government of India , access-date=10 March 2022 This was a guarantee of de facto use of both Hindi and English as official languages, thus establishing bilingualism in India.{{cite web , title=Complete Text of the Official Languages Act , url=https://www.uottawa.ca/clmc/india-official-languages-act#:~:text=Bill%2019%20(1963)%20as%20amended%201967&text=An%20Act%20to%20provide%20for,certain%20communication%20purposes%20in%20HighCourts.&text=1)%20This%20Act%20may%20be,the%20Official%20Languages%20Act%2C%201963. , publisher=The University of Ottawa , access-date=10 March 2022 The step led to the end of the anti-Hindi protests and riots in states.

Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which, among other things, criminalizes homosexuality; former Congress president Rahul Gandhi said, "Sexuality is a matter of personal freedom and should be left to individuals". Leading party figure and former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram stated that the ''Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India'' judgment must be quickly reversed". On 18 December 2015, Shashi Tharoor leading member of the party introduced a private member's bill to replace Section 377 in the Indian Penal Code and decriminalize consensual same-sex relations. The bill was defeated in the first reading. In March 2016, Tharoor again reintroduce the private member's bill to decriminalize homosexuality but was voted down for the second time.

Economic policies

{{See also, Economic liberalisation in India
The history of the economic policy of Congress-led governments can be divided into two periods. The first period lasted from independence, in 1947, to 1991 and put great emphasis on the public sector. The second period began with economic liberalisation in 1991. At present, Congress endorses a mixed economy in which the private sector and the state both direct the economy, which has characteristics of both market and planned economies. The Congress advocates import substitution industrialisation—the replacement of imports with the domestic product, and believes the Indian economy should be liberalised to increase the pace of development.

At the beginning of the first period, erstwhile prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru implemented policies based on import substitution industrialisation and advocated a mixed economy where the government-controlled public sector would co-exist with the private sector. He believed that the establishment of basic and heavy industry was fundamental to the development and modernisation of the Indian economy. The government, therefore, directed investment primarily into key public-sector industries—steel, iron, coal, and power—promoting their development with subsidies and protectionist policies. This period was called the Licence Raj, or Permit Raj, which was the elaborate system of licences, regulations, and accompanying red tape that were required to set up and run businesses in India between 1947 and 1990. The Licence Raj was a result of Nehru and his successors' desire to have a planned economy where all aspects of the economy were controlled by the state, and licences were given to a select few. Up to 80 government agencies had to be satisfied before private companies could produce something; and, if the licence were granted, the government would regulate production.{{cite news, url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/55427.stm, title=India: the economy, year=1998, publisher=BBC The licence raj system continued under Indira Gandhi. In addition, many key sectors such as banking, steel coal, and oil were nationalized.{{Cite book
, publisher=Academic Foundation, page=126, url={{Google books, de66PkzcfusC, page=PA126, plainurl=yes , isbn=978-8171881055, last1=Kapila, first1=Raj, last2=Kapila, first2=Uma, title=Understanding India's economic Reforms, year=2004 Under Rajiv Gandhi, the trade regime were liberalised with reduction in duties on several import items and incentives to promote exports.{{cite journal , author1=Philippe Aghion, author2=Robin Burgess , author3=Stephen J. Redding, author4=Fabrizio Zilibotti , date=2008, url=http://www.princeton.edu/~reddings/pubpapers/ABRZ_AER_Sept2008.pdf, title=The Unequal Effects of Liberalization: Evidence from Dismantling the License Raj in India, journal=American Economic Review , volume=98, issue=4, pages=1397–1412, doi=10.1257/aer.98.4.1397, s2cid=966634 Tax rates were reduced and curbs on company assests loosened.

In 1991, the new Congress government, led by P. V. Narasimha Rao, initiated reforms to avert the impending 1991 economic crisis.{{cite web, url=http://www.globaleconomicgovernance.org/wp-content/uploads/ghosh-pathways_india.pdf, archive-date=25 October 2013, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131025042847/http://www.globaleconomicgovernance.org/wp-content/uploads/ghosh-pathways_india.pdf, title= India's Pathway through Financial Crisis, work=globaleconomicgovernance.org, first=Arunabha , last=Ghosh, publisher=Global Economic Governance Programme, access-date=2 March 2007 The reforms known as New Economic Policy (NEP) or "1991 economic reforms" or "LPG reforms", progressed furthest in opening up areas to foreign investment, reforming capital markets, deregulating domestic business, and reforming the trade regime. The reforms were implemented during a time when India grappled with a balance of payments crisis, elevated inflation, underperforming public sector undertakings (PSUs), and a substantial fiscal deficit.{{cite news , last1=Tiwari , first1=Brajesh Kumar , title=Dr Manmohan Singh: The Architect Of India's Economic Reform , url=https://news.abplive.com/blog/dr-manmohan-singh-the-architect-of-india-s-economic-reform-1632067 , access-date=3 December 2023 , work=ABP News , agency=ABP Group , date=26 Sep 2023 It also aimed to transition the economy from a socialist model to a market economy.{{cite news , last1=Chundawat , first1=Keshav Singh , title=Dr Manmohan Singh, the man who opened up Indian economy , url=https://www.cnbctv18.com/politics/pm-modi-extends-birthday-wishes-to-dr-manmohan-singh-the-man-who-opened-up-indian-economy-17886361.htm , access-date=3 December 2023 , work=CNBC TV18 , agency=Network18 Group , date=26 September 2023 The goals of Rao's government were to reduce the fiscal deficit, privatise the public sector, and increase investment in infrastructure. Trade reforms and changes in the regulation of foreign direct investment were introduced to open India to foreign trade while stabilising external loans. Rao chose Manmohan Singh for the job. Singh, an acclaimed economist and former governor of the Reserve Bank of India, played a central role in implementing these reforms.

In 2004, Singh became prime minister of the Congress-led UPA government. Singh remained prime minister after the UPA won the 2009 general elections. The UPA government introduced policies aimed at reforming the banking and financial sectors, as well as public sector companies. It also introduced policies aimed at relieving farmers of their debt. In 2005, Singh government introduced the value-added tax, replacing the sales tax. India was able to resist the worst effects of the global economic crisis of 2008. Singh's government continued the Golden Quadrilateral, the Indian highway modernisation program that was initiated by Vajpayee's government. Then Finance Minister of India Pranab Mukherjee implemented many tax reforms, notably scrapping the Fringe Benefits Tax and the Commodities Transaction Tax. He implemented the Goods and Services Tax (GST) during his tenure. His reforms were well received by major corporate executives and economists. The introduction of retrospective taxation, however, has been criticised by some economists. Mukherjee expanded funding for several social sector schemes including the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). He also supported budget increases for improving literacy and health care. He expanded infrastructure programmes such as the National Highway Development Programme. Electricity coverage was also expanded during his tenure. Mukherjee also reaffirmed his commitment to the principle of fiscal prudence as some economists expressed concern about the rising fiscal deficits during his tenure, the highest since 1991. Mukherjee declared the expansion in government spending was only temporary.

National defence and home affairs

Since its independence, India was in pursuing of nuclear capabilities, as Nehru felt that nuclear energy could take the country forward and help achieve its developmental goals.{{cite web , title=Indian Nuclear Program , url=https://www.atomicheritage.org/history/indian-nuclear-program , publisher=National Museum of Nuclear Science & History , access-date=7 July 2021 Consequently, Nehru began to seek assistance from the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States.{{cite book, author=C. Philip Skardon, title=A Lesson for Our Times: How America Kept the Peace in the Hungary-Suez Crisis of 1956, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aRUgkjbBvBAC&pg=PA695, date=19 March 2010, publisher=Author House, isbn=978-1-4520-3033-3, pages=695–696{{cite web , title=The end of the British empire in India , url=https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/empire/g3/cs3/background.htm , publisher=The National Archives , access-date=7 July 2021 In 1958 the government of India with the help of Homi J. Bhabha adopted a three-phase power production plan and the Nuclear Research Institute was established in 1954.{{cite book, author=George Perkovich, title=India's Nuclear Bomb: The Impact on Global Proliferation, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UDA9dUryS8EC&pg=PA22, year=2001, publisher=University of California Press, isbn=978-0-520-23210-5, page=22 Indira Gandhi witnessed continuous nuclear testing by China from 1964 onwards, which she considered an existential threat to India.{{cite journal , last1=Couper , first1=Frank E. , title=Indian Party Conflict on the Issue of Atomic Weapons , journal=The Journal of Developing Areas , year=1969 , volume=3 , issue=2 , pages=191–206 , url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4189559 , publisher=JSTOR , jstor=4189559 , access-date=7 July 2021{{cite news , last1=Tempest , first1=Rone , title=India's Nuclear Tests Jolt Its Relations With China , url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-jun-11-mn-58841-story.html , access-date=7 July 2021 , work=Los Angeles Times , agency=Los Angeles Times Communications LLC , date=11 June 1998 India conducted its first nuclear test in the Pokhran desert in Rajasthan on 18 May 1974, under the name Operation Smiling Buddha.{{cite news , last1=Nair , first1=Arun , title=Smiling Buddha: All You Need To Know About India's First Nuclear Test At Pokhran , url=https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/smiling-buddha-all-you-need-to-know-about-indias-first-nuclear-test-at-pokhran-2230645 , access-date=5 July 2021 , work=NDTV , date=18 May 2020 India asserted that the test was for " peaceful purposes", However, the test was criticized by other countries and the United States and Canada suspended all nuclear support to India.{{cite web , title=India's Nuclear Weapons Program Smiling Buddha: 1974 , url=https://nuclearweaponarchive.org/India/IndiaSmiling.html , publisher=The Nuclear Weapon Archive , access-date=5 July 2021 Despite intense international criticism, the nuclear test was domestically popular and caused an immediate revival of Indira Gandhi's popularity, which had flagged considerably from its heights after the 1971 war.{{cite news , last1=Chaturvedi , first1=Amit , title=Smiling Buddha: How India successfully conducted first nuclear test in Pokhran , url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/smiling-buddha-how-india-successfully-conducted-first-nuclear-test-in-pokhran-101621301524390.html , access-date=4 July 2021 , work=Hindustan Times , agency=HT Media Ltd , date=18 May 2021{{cite news , last1=Malhotra , first1=Inder , title=When the Buddha first smiled , url=https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/when-the-buddha-first-smiled/ , access-date=5 July 2021 , work=Indian Express , agency=Indian Express Group , date=15 May 2009

The transition to statehood for parts of Northeast India was successfully overseen under Indira Gandhi's premiership.{{cite news , last1=Karmakar , first1=Rahul , title=Renewed push for Statehood in the Northeast , url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/renewed-push-for-statehood-in-the-northeast/article25032429.ece , access-date=20 July 2021 , work=The Hindu , agency=The Hindu Group , date=25 September 2018 In 1972, her administration granted statehood to Meghalaya, Manipur and Tripura, while the North-East Frontier Agency was declared a union territory and renamed Arunachal Pradesh. This was followed by the annexation of Sikkim in 1975. In the late 1960s and 1970s, Gandhi ordered the Indian army to militant Communist uprisings in the state of West Bengal. The Naxalite–Maoist insurgency in India was entirely suppressed during the state of emergency.{{cite web , title=A historical introduction to Naxalism in India , url=https://www.efsas.org/publications/study-papers/an-introduction-to-naxalism-in-india/ , publisher=European Foundation for South Asian Studies , access-date=3 December 2023

Manmohan Singh's administration initiated a massive reconstruction effort in Kashmir to stabilize the region and strengthened anti-terrorism laws with amendments to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).{{cite web, title=The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) , url=http://mha.nic.in/hindi/sites/upload_files/mhahindi/files/pdf/UAPA-1967.pdf, website=www.nic.in , publisher=National Informatics Centre, access-date=17 August 2016, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161017053842/http://mha.nic.in/hindi/sites/upload_files/mhahindi/files/pdf/UAPA-1967.pdf, archive-date=17 October 2016, url-status=dead After a period of initial success, insurgent infiltration and terrorism in Kashmir have increased since 2009. However, the Singh administration was successful in reducing terrorism in Northeast India.Infiltration has not reduced in Kashmir, insurgency down in North East: Chidambaram
{{webarchive , url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160107072045/http://buzz7.com/news/infiltration-has-not-reduced-in-kashmir-insurgency-down-in-north-east-chidambaram.html , date=7 January 2016 Under the background of the Punjab insurgency, the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) was passed. The aim of the law is mainly directed toward eliminating the infiltrators from Pakistan. The law gave wide powers to law enforcement agencies for dealing with national terrorist and socially disruptive activities. The police were not obliged to produce a detainee before a judicial magistrate within 24 hours. The law was widely criticized by human rights organizations. After the 2008 Mumbai attacks, November 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, the UPA government created the National Investigation Agency (NIA), in response to the need for a central agency to combat terrorism. The Unique Identification Authority of India was established in February 2009 to implement the proposed Multipurpose National Identity Card, to increase national security.

Education and healthcare

The Congress government under Nehru oversaw the establishment of many institutions of higher learning, including the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, the Indian Institutes of Technology, the Indian Institutes of Management and the National Institutes of Technology. The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) was established in 1961 as a literary, scientific, and charitable Society under the Societies Registration Act.{{cite web , title=NCERT Full form , url=https://www.vedantu.com/full-form/ncert-full-form , publisher=Vedantu , access-date=7 July 2021 Jawahar Lal Nehru outlined a commitment in his Five-Year Plans of India, five-year plans to guarantee free and compulsory primary education to all of India's children. Rajiv Gandhi's premiership pioneered public information infrastructure and innovation in India.{{cite news , last1=Shakti Shekhar , first1=Kumar , title=5 ways how Rajiv Gandhi changed India forever , url=https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/5-ways-how-rajiv-gandhi-changed-india-forever-1318979-2018-08-20 , access-date=4 July 2021 , work=India Today , agency=Living Media Pvt. Ltd. , date=20 August 2018 His government allowed the import of fully assembled motherboards, which led to the price of computers being reduced.{{cite web , last1=Singal , first1=Aastha , title=Rajiv Gandhi –The Father of Information Technology & Telecom Revolution of India , url=https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/338415 , website=www.entrepreneur.com/ , date=20 August 2019 , publisher=Entrepreneur India , access-date=4 July 2021 The concept of having Navodaya Vidyalaya in every district of India was born as a part of the National Policy on Education (NPE).{{cite news , last1=Sharma , first1=Sanjay , title=National Education Policy 2020: All You Need to Know , url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/national-education-policy-2020-all-you-need-to-know/articleshow/77239854.cms , access-date=24 July 2021 , work=The Times of India , agency=The Times Group , date=30 July 2020

In 2005, The Congress-led government started the National Rural Health Mission, which employed about 500,000 community health workers. It was praised by economist Jeffrey Sachs.{{cite news, title=The End of Poverty, url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1034738,00.html, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050317031951/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1034738,00.html, url-status=dead, archive-date=17 March 2005, first=Jeffrey D., last=Sachs, date=6 March 2005, magazine=Time In 2006, it implemented a proposal to reserve 27 per cent of seats in the All India Institute of Medical Studies (AIIMS), the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), and other central higher education institutions, for Other Backward Classes, which led to the 2006 Indian anti-reservation protests. The Singh government also continued the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan program, which includes the introduction and improvement of mid-day school meals and the opening of new schools throughout India, especially in rural areas, to fight illiteracy. During Manmohan Singh's prime ministership, eight Institutes of Technology were opened in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Orissa, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Himachal Pradesh.

Foreign policies

Throughout much of the Cold War period, Congress supported a foreign policy of Non-Aligned Movement, non-alignment that called for India to form ties with both the Western and Eastern Blocs, but to avoid formal alliances with either. US support for Pakistan led the party to endorse a friendship treaty with the Soviet Union in 1971. Congress has continued the foreign policy started by P. V. Narasimha Rao. This includes the India–Pakistan relations, peace process with Pakistan, and the exchange of high-level visits by leaders from both countries.{{cite news, title=Position of negotiation., url=http://www.firstpost.com/india/loc-violation-are-talks-enough-or-should-india-take-action-582121.html, access-date=18 August 2014, work=Firstpost, agency=Network 18, publisher=Firstpost staff, date=9 January 2013 The UPA government has tried to end the border dispute with the People's Republic of China through negotiations.{{cite news, title=India's prime minister, Manmohan Singh, in Beijing to discuss matters of trade and border defence., url=https://www.economist.com/news/world-week/21588422-politics-week
, access-date=18 August 2014, newspaper=The Economist, agency=The Economist Group, publisher=John Micklethwait, date=26 October 2013{{cite news, title=Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits Beijing, url=http://www.china-briefing.com/news/2008/01/14/indian-prime-minister-manmohan-singh-visits-beijing.html, access-date=18 August 2014, work=China Briefing, agency=Dezan Shira & Associates, publisher=Business Intelligence, date=14 January 2008
Afghanistan–India relations, Relations with Afghanistan have also been a concern for Congress. During Afghan President Hamid Karzai's visit to New Delhi in August 2008, Manmohan Singh increased the aid package to Afghanistan for the development of schools, health clinics, infrastructure, and defence.{{cite news, url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7540204.stm, title=India announces more Afghan aid, date=4 August 2008, via=bbc.co.uk India is now one of the single largest aid donors to Afghanistan. To nourish political, security, cultural and economical connections with central Asian countries, it launched Connect Central Asia policy in 2012. This policy is aimed at strengthening and expanding India's relations with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Look East policy (India), Look East policy was initiated in 1992 by Narsimha Rao, Narasimha Rao to cultivate extensive economic and strategic relations with the nations of Southeast Asia to bolster its standing as a regional power and a counterweight to the strategic influence of the People's Republic of China. Subsequently, in 1992 Rao decided to bring into open India's relations with Israel, which had been kept covertly active for a few years during his tenure as a Foreign Minister, and permitted Israel to open an embassy in New Delhi.{{cite news , title=A timeline of India's ties with Israel , url=https://www.livemint.com/Politics/9zCAQDe5L5mKdtU21A6pkN/Narendra-Modi-in-Israel-A-timeline-of-Indias-ties-with-Isr.html , access-date=2 August 2021 , work=Mint (newspaper) , agency=HT Media , date=4 July 2017 Rao decided to maintain a distance from the Dalai Lama to avoid aggravating Beijing's suspicions and concerns, and made successful overtures to Tehran.{{cite news , last1=Bedi , first1=Rahul , title=Permission for Dalai Lama films denied , url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/permission-for-dalai-lama-films-denied-1.41053 , access-date=2 August 2021 , newspaper=The Irish Times , agency=Irish Times Trust , date=19 April 1996

Even though the Congress foreign policy doctrine stands for maintaining friendly relations with all the countries of the world, it has always exhibited a special bias towards the Afro-Asian nations. It played active role in forming Group of 77 (1964, Group of 15 (1990), Indian Ocean Rim Association, and SAARC. Indira Gandhi firmly tied Indian anti-imperialist interests in Africa to those of the Soviet Union. She openly and enthusiastically supported liberation struggles in Africa.{{cite web , title=India – Zambia Relations , url=https://mea.gov.in/Portal/ForeignRelation/Zambia_Jan_2016.pdf , publisher=Ministry of External Affairs (India) , access-date=7 July 2021 In April 2006, New Delhi hosted an India–Africa summit attended by the leaders of 15 African states.

The party opposes arms race and advocates disarmament, both conventional and nuclear.{{cite news , last1=Mitra , first1=Sumit , title=Congress divided against itself on whether India should have more nuclear tests , url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/nation/story/20000508-congress-divided-against-itself-on-whether-india-should-have-more-nuclear-tests-777525-2000-05-08 , access-date=7 July 2021 , work=India Today , agency=Living Media Pvt. Ltd. , date=8 May 2000 When in power between 2004 and 2014, Congress worked on India–United States relations, India's relationship with the United States. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited the US in July 2005 to negotiate an India–United States Civil Nuclear Agreement. US president George W. Bush visited India in March 2006; during this visit, a nuclear agreement that would give India access to nuclear fuel and technology in exchange for the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA inspection of its civil nuclear reactors was proposed. Over two years of negotiations, followed by approval from the IAEA, the Nuclear Suppliers Group and the United States Congress, the agreement was signed on 10 October 2008. However, it has not signed Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) due to their discriminatory and hegemonistic nature.{{cite web , title=Indian Nuclear Weapons Program , url=https://www.nti.org/learn/countries/india/nuclear/ , publisher=The Nuclear Threat Initiative, access-date=7 July 2021{{cite report , last1=Gopalaswamy , first1=Bharat , title=India and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty: To Sign or not to Sign? , date=January 2010 , url=https://www.sipri.org/publications/sipri-policy-briefs/india-and-comprehensive-nuclear-test-ban-treaty-sign-or-not-sign , publisher=SIPRI , access-date=7 July 2021

Congress' policy has been to cultivate friendly relations with Japan as well as European Union countries including the United Kingdom, France, and Germany.{{cite web, last1=Haass, first1=Richard N., title=A Conversation with Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, url=http://www.cfr.org/india/conversation-prime-minister-dr-manmohan-singh/p20840, date=23 November 2009, website=cfr.org, publisher=Council on Foreign Relations, access-date=18 August 2014, url-status=dead, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819083228/http://www.cfr.org/india/conversation-prime-minister-dr-manmohan-singh/p20840, archive-date=19 August 2014 Diplomatic relations with Iran have continued, and negotiations over the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline have taken place.{{cite web, title=The 'peace pipeline', url=http://www.thenational.ae/news/the-peace-pipeline, website=www.thenational.ae, date=28 May 2009, publisher= The National, access-date=18 August 2014 Congress' policy has also been to improve relations with other developing countries, particularly Brazil and South Africa.

Structure and composition

{{See also, List of presidents of the Indian National Congress, All India Congress Committee, Congress Working Committee

At present, the president and the All India Congress Committee (AICC) are elected by delegates from state and district parties at an annual national conference; in every Indian state and union territory—or ''pradesh''—there is a Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC),{{cite web , title=President of Pradesh Congress Committee , url=https://www.inc.in/en/pcc-presidents , publisher=INC web portal , access-date=26 May 2020 , archive-date=16 April 2020 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200416160136/https://www.inc.in/en/pcc-presidents , url-status=dead which is the state-level unit of the party responsible for directing political campaigns at local and state levels, and assisting the campaigns for parliamentary constituencies. Each PCC has a working committee of twenty members, most of whom are appointed by the party president, the leader of the state party, who is chosen by the national president. Those elected as members of the states' legislative assemblies form the Congress Legislature Parties in the various state assemblies; their chairperson is usually the party's nominee for Chief Ministership. The party is also organised into various committees, and sections; it publishes a daily newspaper, the ''The National Herald (India), National Herald''.{{cite book, author=Kedar Nath Kumar, title=Political Parties in India, Their Ideology and Organisation, url={{Google books, x3pJ8t4rxIsC, page=PA41, keywords=, text=, plainurl=yes, date=1 January 1990, publisher=Mittal Publications, isbn=978-81-7099-205-9, pages=41–43 Despite being a party with a structure, Congress under Indira Gandhi did not hold any organisational elections after 1972. Nonetheless, in 2004, when the Congress was voted back into power, Manmohan Singh became the first Prime Minister not to be the president of the party since establishment of the practice of the president holding both positions.

The AICC is composed of delegates sent from the PCCs. The delegates elect Congress committees, including the Congress Working Committee, consisting of senior party leaders and office-bearers. The AICC takes all-important executive and political decisions. Since Indira Gandhi formed Congress (I) in 1978, the Congress President, President of the Indian National Congress has effectively been the party's national leader, head of the organisation, head of the Working Committee and all chief Congress committees, chief spokesman, and Congress' choice for Prime Minister of India. Constitutionally, the president is elected by the PCCs and members of the AICC; however, this procedure has often been bypassed by the Working Committee, which has elected its candidate.

The Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) consists of elected MPs in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. There is also a Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader in each state. The CLP consists of all Congress Member of the Legislative Assembly (India), Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) in each state. In cases of states where the Congress is single-handedly ruling the government, the CLP leader in the chief minister. Other directly affiliated groups include:

* National Students' Union of India (NSUI), the students' wing of the Congress.
* Indian Youth Congress, the party's youth wing.
* Indian National Trade Union Congress, the labour union.
* All India Mahila Congress, its women's division.
* Kisan and Khet Mazdoor Congress, its peasant's wing.
* Congress Seva Dal, its voluntary organisation.
* All India Congress Minority Department, also referred to as Minority Congress is the minority wing of the Congress party. It is represented by the ''Pradesh Congress Minority Department'' in all the States and territories of India, states of India.

Election symbols

{{as of, 2021, the election symbol of Congress, as approved by the Election Commission of India, is an image of a right hand with its palm facing front and its fingers pressed together;{{cite news, title=A Short History of the Congress Hand, url=https://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2012/03/28/a-short-history-of-the-congress-hand/, access-date=27 June 2014, work=The Wall Street Journal, agency=Dow Jones & Company, publisher=News Corp (2013–present), News Corp, date=28 March 2012 this is usually shown in the centre of a tricolor flag. The hand symbol was first used by Indira Gandhi when she split from the Congress (R) faction following the 1977 elections and created the New Congress (I).{{cite news, title=How Indira's Congress got its hand symbol, url=http://www.ndtv.com/article/lifestyle/how-indira-s-congress-got-its-hand-symbol-74104, access-date=27 June 2014, work=NDTV, date=22 December 2010 The hand is symbolic of strength, energy, and unity.

The party under the stewardship of Nehru had the symbol 'Pair of bullocks carrying a yoke' which struck a chord with masses who were predominantly farmers.{{cite news, title=Indian political party election symbols from 1951, url=http://ibnlive.in.com/news/indian-political-party-election-symbols-from-1951-when-congress-had-bullocks-and-the-hand-was-forward-blocs/462504-81.html, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407090702/http://ibnlive.in.com/news/indian-political-party-election-symbols-from-1951-when-congress-had-bullocks-and-the-hand-was-forward-blocs/462504-81.html, url-status=dead, archive-date=7 April 2014, access-date=27 June 2014, work=CNN-IBN, date=4 April 2014 In 1969, due to internal conflicts within the Congress party, Indira Gandhi decided to break out and form a party of her own, with the majority of the Congress party members in support of her in the new party which was named Congress(R). The symbol of Indira's Congress (R) or Congress (Requisitionists) during the 1971–1977 period was a cow with a suckling calf.{{cite news , title=A tale of changing election symbols of Congress, BJP , url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/elections/news/a-tale-of-congress-bjp-election-symbols/articleshow/68732103.cms , access-date=26 May 2020 , work=The Times of India , agency=The Times Group , publisher=Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. , date=5 April 2019 After losing the support of 76 out of the party's 153 members in the Lok Sabha, Indira's new political outfit the Congress (I) or Congress (Indira) evolved and she opted for the hand (open palm) symbol.

Dynasticism

Dynasticism is fairly common in many List of political parties in India, political parties in India, including the Congress party.{{cite book, author=Simon Denyer, title=Rogue Elephant: Harnessing the Power of India's Unruly Democracy, url=https://archive.org/details/rogueelephanthar0000deny, url-access=registration, date=24 June 2014, publisher=Bloomsbury USA, isbn=978-1-62040-608-3, page
115
��116 Six members of the Nehru–Gandhi family have been presidents of the party.{{cite news , last1=Radhakrishnan , first1=Sruthi , title=Presidents of Congress past: A look at the party's presidency since 1947 , url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/presidents-of-congress-past-a-look-at-the-partys-presidency-since-1947/article21639174.ece , access-date=26 May 2020 , work=The Hindu , agency=The Hindu Group , date=14 December 2017 The party started being controlled by Indira Gandhi's family during The Emergency (India), the emergency with her younger son, Sanjay taking on a prominent role.{{cite book, author=Emma Tarlo, title=Unsettling Memories: Narratives of the Emergency in Delhi, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3IO1WB2H8UUC&pg=PR5, date=24 July 2003, publisher=University of California Press, isbn=978-0-520-23122-1, pages=27–29 This was characterized by servility and sycophancy towards the family which later led to a hereditary succession of Rajiv Gandhi as successor after Indira Gandhi's assassination, as well as the party's selection of Sonia Gandhi as Rajiv's successor after his assassination, which she turned down.{{cite book, author=Sumantra Bose, title=Transforming India, url={{Google books, reiwAAAAQBAJ, page=PP8, keywords=, text=, plainurl=yes, date=16 September 2013, publisher=Harvard University Press, isbn=978-0-674-72819-6, pages=28–29 Since the formation of Congress (I) by Indira Gandhi in 1978, the party president has been from her family except for the period between 1991 and 1998. In the last three elections to the Lok Sabha combined, 37 per cent of Congress party MPs had family members precede them in politics.{{cite book, editor1=Kanchan Chandra, editor-link1=Kanchan Chandra, author1=Adam Ziegfeld, title=Democratic Dynasties: State, Party and Family in Contemporary Indian Politics, url={{Google books, tesIDAAAQBAJ, page=PR10, keywords=, text=, plainurl=yes, date=28 April 2016, publisher=Cambridge University Press, isbn=978-1-107-12344-1, page=105 However, in recent times there have been calls from within the party to restructure the organization. A group of senior leaders wrote a letter to the party president to reform the Congress allowing others to take charge. There was also visible discontent post the loss in 2019 elections after which a G-23 (political group), group of 23 senior leaders wrote to the Congress President to restructure the party.

Presence/Alliance in states and UTs

{{See also, List of chief ministers from the Indian National Congress
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Indian National Congress is the only political party in India, which has experience of running the state government of every Indian states in post-independence Indian history. From the first general election in 1952 when Jawaharlal Nehru led it to a landslide victory, the Congress won in the majority of the following state elections and paved the way for a Nehruvian era of single-party dominance. The party during the post-independence era has governed most of the States and union territories of India.{{cite web , title=ERA OF ONE PARTY DOMINANCE , url=https://old.amu.ac.in/emp/studym/100017103.pdf , publisher=Aligarh Muslim University , access-date=12 March 2022 As of December 2023, the INC is in power in the states of Telengana, Himachal Pradesh, and Karnataka. In Jharkhand, it shares power as a junior ally with Jharkhand Mukti Morcha.{{cite news , last1=Joshi , first1=Poornima , title=Jharkhand polls: JMM-led alliance trounces the BJP in Jharkhand , url=https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/national/jharkhand-polls-jmm-congress-alliance-set-to-trounce-bjp/article30381608.ece , access-date=12 March 2022 , work=Business Line , agency=The Times Group , date=23 December 2019 In Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, Tamil Nadu its a junior ally of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, DMK, Communist Party of India, CPI, Communist Party of India (Marxist), CPI(M), Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, VCK under the coalition Secular Progressive Alliance or SPA. The Congress has previously been the sole party in power in Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Meghalaya, Haryana, Uttarakhand and in the States and union territories of India, Union Territory of Puducherry. Congress has enjoyed overwhelming electoral majority for over decades in Arunachal Pradesh, Delhi, Kerala, Maharashtra and Punjab. It has a regional political alliance in Bihar it is named as Mahagathbandhan (Bihar), Mahagathbandhan, in Tamil Nadu it is the Secular Progressive Alliance, and in Kerala, it is the United Democratic Front (Kerala), United Democratic Front.{{cite news , title=DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance wins 21 Corporations in sweep of urban civic polls , url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/tamil-nadu/2022/feb/22/dmk-led-secular-progressive-alliance-wins-21-corporations-in-sweep-of-urban-civic-polls-2422590.html , access-date=12 March 2022 , work=The New Indian Express , agency=Express Publications (Madurai) Limited , date=23 February 2022{{cite news , last1=Chandran , first1=Cynthia , title=MM Hassan takes charge as the UDF convener , url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/kerala/2020/oct/03/mm-hassan-takes-charge-as-the-udf-convener-2205259.html , access-date=12 March 2022 , work=The New Indian Express , agency=Express Publications (Madurai) Limited

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Legislative leaders

List of prime ministers

{{Further, List of prime ministers of India
The Congress has governed a majority of the period of independence India (for 55 years), whereby Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Manmohan Singh are the country's longest-serving Prime Minister of India, prime ministers. The first general election the Congress contested after the Indian independence was in 1951–52 Indian general election, 1951–52 general elections, in which it won 364 of the 489 seats and 45 per cent of the total votes.{{cite news , title=First general elections in India: All you need to know , url=https://www.indiatoday.in/education-today/gk-current-affairs/story/general-elections-308073-2016-02-10 , access-date=21 July 2021 , work=India Today , agency=Living Media Pvt Ltd. , date=10 February 2016 The Indian National Congress became the largest party in the Lok Sabha for next four consecutive general elections viz. 2nd Lok Sabha, 3rd Lok Sabha, 4th Lok Sabha, and 5th Lok Sabha.

Gulzarilal Nanda took office in 1966 following the death of Lal Bahadur Shastri for 13 days as the acting Prime Minister of India. His earlier 13-day stint as the second Prime Minister of India followed the death of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1964. Indira Gandhi, also the first and so far the only woman Prime Minister of India, served the second-longest term as a prime minister.{{cite news, url=https://www.theweek.in/content/archival/news/india/1966-indira-gandhi.html, title=Today in 1966: Indira Gandhi becomes Prime Minister, last=Vijaykumar, first=Neeti, work=The Week (Indian magazine), The Week, date=19 January 2017, access-date=4 February 2019, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180216132208/http://www.theweek.in/content/archival/news/india/1966-indira-gandhi.html, archive-date=16 February 2018, url-status=live Rajiv Gandhi served from 1984 to 1989. He took office on the day of the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984 after the Sikh riots and at age 40 was the youngest PM of India. Known for economic reforms that were brought under his tenure, PV Narasimha Rao served as the 10th prime minister of India. He was also the first PM to come from southern India.{{cite web , title=Shri P. V. Narasimha Rao , url=https://www.pmindia.gov.in/en/former_pm/shri-p-v-narasimha-rao-2/ , publisher=PMO India , access-date=25 July 2021 The Congress party and its allies achieved a majority in the Lok Sabha in 2004 and 2009 general elections. Manmohan Singh served two complete terms as the Prime Minister and headed United Progressive Alliance (UPA) governments two times. Though party suffered a heavy defeat in general elections held in 2014 and 2019. As of January 2024, there are 30 members of the party in Rajya Sabha (upper house of the parliament).

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, rowspan ="2" , 6
, rowspan ="2" , Manmohan Singh
, rowspan ="2" ,
, rowspan ="2" , {{dts, 22 May 2004
, rowspan ="2" , {{dts, 26 May 2014
, rowspan="2" , {{age in years and days, 2004, 5, 22, 2014, 5, 26
, 14th Lok Sabha, 14th
, rowspan ="2" , List of Rajya Sabha members from Assam, Rajya Sabha MP from Assam
, -
, 15th Lok Sabha, 15th

List of deputy prime ministers

{{further, Deputy Prime Minister of India
{, class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"
!rowspan=2 style="background-color:#19AAED;color:black", No.
!rowspan=2 style="background-color:#19AAED;color:black", Portrait
!rowspan=2 style="background-color:#19AAED;color:black", Name
{{small, (Birth–Death)
!colspan=3 style="background-color:#19AAED;color:black", Term in office
!rowspan=2 style="background-color:#19AAED;color:black", Lok Sabha, {{black, Lok Sabha
{{small, (Elections in India, {{black, Election)
!rowspan=2 style="background-color:#19AAED;color:black", Constituency
{{small, (House)
!rowspan=2 style="background-color:#19AAED;color:black", Prime Minister of India, {{black, Prime Minister
, -
!style="background-color:#19AAED;color:black", Assumed office
!style="background-color:#19AAED;color:black", Left office
!style="background-color:#19AAED;color:black", Time in office
, -
!1
,
, Vallabhbhai Patel
(1875–1950)
, 15 August 1947
, 15 December 1950
, 3 years, 122 days
, Constituent Assembly of India, Constituent Assembly
, N/A
, Jawaharlal Nehru
, -
!2
,
, Morarji Desai
(1896–1995)
, 13 March 1967
, 19 July 1969
, 2 years, 128 days
, 4th Lok Sabha, 4th
(1967)
, Surat Lok Sabha constituency, Surat
(Lok Sabha)
, Indira Gandhi

See also

{{Portal, India, Politics, Liberalism, Socialism
{{div col, colwidth=30em
* Electoral history of the Indian National Congress
* Congress Working Committee
* All India Congress Committee
* Pradesh Congress Committee
* List of presidents of the Indian National Congress
* List of Indian National Congress breakaway parties
* Nehru–Gandhi family
* List of political parties in India
* List of chief ministers from the Indian National Congress
* List of state presidents of the Indian National Congress
* Politics of India
* High command culture
* United Progressive Alliance
* Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance
{{div col end

References

Notes

{{Notelist, 40em

Citations

{{Reflist, 30em

Sources

* {{cite book, author=Mahendra Prasad Singh, year=1981, title=Split in a Predominant Party: The Indian National Congress in 1969 , url={{Google books, UOQRWuMXyRMC, page=PA42, plainurl=yes, publisher=Abhinav Publications , isbn=978-81-7017-140-9

Further reading

{{refbegin, 30em
* ''The Indian National Congress: An Historical Sketch'', by Frederick Marion De Mello. Published by H. Milford, Oxford University Press, 1934.
* ''The Indian National Congress'', by Hemendra Nath Das Gupta. Published by J. K. Das Gupta, 1946.
* ''Indian National Congress: A Descriptive Bibliography of India's Struggle for Freedom'', by Jagdish Saran Sharma. Published by S. Chand, 1959.
* ''Social Factors in the Birth and Growth of the Indian National Congress Movement'', by Ramparkash Dua. Published by S. Chand, 1967.
* ''Split in a Predominant Party: The Indian National Congress in 1969'', by Mahendra Prasad Singh. Abhinav Publications, 1981. {{ISBN, 81-7017-140-7.
* ''Concise History of the Indian National Congress, 1885–1947'', by B. N. Pande, Nisith Ranjan Ray, Ravinder Kumar, Manmath Nath Das. Published by Vikas Pub. House, 1985. {{ISBN, 0-7069-3020-7.
* ''The Indian National Congress: An Analytical Biography'', by Om P. Gautam. Published by B.R. Pub. Corp., 1985.
* ''A Century of Indian National Congress, 1885–1985'', by Pran Nath Chopra, Ram Gopal, Moti Lal Bhargava. Published by Agam Prakashan, 1986.
* ''The Congress Ideology and Programme, 1920–1985'', by Pitambar Datt Kaushik. Published by Gitanjali Pub. House, 1986. {{ISBN, 81-85060-16-9.
* ''Struggling and Ruling: The Indian National Congress, 1885–1985'', by Jim Masselos. Published by Sterling Publishers, 1987.
* ''The Encyclopedia of Indian National Congress'', by A. Moin Zaidi, Shaheda Gufran Zaidi, Indian Institute of Applied Political Research. Published by S.Chand, 1987.
* ''Indian National Congress: A Reconstruction'', by Iqbal Singh, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library. Published by Riverdale Company, 1988. {{ISBN, 0-913215-32-5.
* ''INC, the Glorious Tradition'', by A. Moin Zaidi, Indian National Congress. AICC. Published by Indian Institute of Applied Political Research, 1989.
* ''Indian National Congress: A Select Bibliography'', by Manikrao Hodlya Gavit, Attar Chand. Published by U.D.H. Pub. House, 1989. {{ISBN, 81-85044-05-8.
* ''The Story of Congress PilgrFile: 1885–1985'', by A. Moin Zaidi, Indian National Congress. Published by Indian Institute of Applied Political Research, 1990. {{ISBN, 81-85355-46-0. (7 vols)
* ''Indian National Congress in England'', by Harish P. Kaushik. Published by Friends Publications, 1991.
* ''Women in Indian National Congress, 1921–1931'', by Rajan Mahan. Published by Rawat Publications, 1999.
* ''History of Indian National Congress, 1885–2002'', by Deep Chand Bandhu. Published by Kalpaz Publications, 2003. {{ISBN, 81-7835-090-4.
* Bipan Chandra, Amales Tripathi, Barun De. ''Freedom Struggle''. India: National Book Struggle. {{ISBN, 978-81-237-0249-0.
{{Refend

External links

{{Wikiquote
{{Commons and category, Indian National Congress
* {{official website
* {{Curlie, Regional/Asia/India/Society_and_Culture/Politics/Parties/Indian_National_Congress
* {{GovPubs, Indian%20National%20Congress, Congress Party
* {{Internet Archive author, sname=Indian National Congress
* {{Britannica, 285841

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