Indian National Congress (INC)

Indian National Congress (INC) is one of the oldest party in India. Its membership base makes it the world’s largest political party. It is also known as Congress party. It was founded in 1885 as an organization to lead the independence movement of India. Various congress leaders in pre-independence era had played a pivotal role in Indian Independence Movement. In the history of independent India, Congress party has been the dominant force.

After independence, INC was established as a major political party and Pandit(Mr.) J. L. Nehru, who was the President of INC, elected as the first Prime Minster of India in 1952.  and under his leadership, INC won other two elections in succession (1957 and 1962). After Pt. J.L. Nehru’s death in 1964, Mr. Lal Bahadur Shastri took over as the leader of congress party and after his death, Mrs. Indira Gandhi became the next president of Congress in 1966.

In 1967, INC was split into two parties. One faction of which was led by Mrs. Gandhi and the other was led by Mr. Kamraj. Later the faction led by Mrs. Gandhi was recognized as INC & In 1975 she declared a National Emergency in the face of growing opposition. It curtailed the power of courts and unleashed a police state.

After the emergency was lifted in 1977, more congress factions were formed and joined hand with other political parties. The faction which remained with Mrs. Indira Gandhi was called Congress (I). In 1977 General Elections, Janata Party won by a substantial margin and formed the government. The Janata Party coalition government could not stay for long due to infighting and next General Elections were held in 1980, in which Congress party won the elections with a huge margin and returned to power. After the assassination of Mrs. Gandhi in 1984, her son, Mr. Rajiv Gandhi took over and led the Congress party to a large victory in 1984.  In the next General Election 1989, Congress party was defeated and in 1991 election campaign, Mr. Rajiv Gandhi was also assassinated and Mr. P V Narasimha Rao took over as the party president.  In the last two decades congress party (INC)  has seen huge up and downs. With Mrs. Sonia Gandhi acceptance for party leadership, there was another break up of the INC. The breakaway group called Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). General elections in 1999 saw the congress tally to an all time low. Since then, Congress Party regained/re-established itself as one of the major political force in Indian Politics. Currently, INC is leading the UPA government in the centre.

Congress(INC) remianed in the power for 30 years in succession after independence.

In the 2009 General Elections, Congress perfromed well and won 206 seats. A significant improvement (+60) from the last elections and attaining a level above 200 after 1991.

President:  Mrs. Sonia Gandhi

Symbol: Hand

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