Deinstitutionalization of the Congress ‘party system’ in Indian competitive politics
| Published date | 01 December 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/20578911231162690 |
| Author | Praveen Rai |
| Date | 01 December 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Original Research Articles |
Deinstitutionalization of the
Congress ‘party system’in
Indian competitive politics
Praveen Rai
Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, India
Abstract
The conference in Poona that led to the foundation of Indian National Congress in 1885 aimed to
serve as the germ of a native parliament to provide a reply to the assertion that India was still unfit
for any form of representative institution. It spearheaded the Indian independence movement and
post 1947 ushered in a ‘Congress system’of one-party dominance that represented a historical
consensus with few parallels in any political party system in the world. Dialectical contradiction
has been a historic recurrence in the Congress as ‘personality cults’of Jawaharlal Nehru and
Indira Gandhi in the early years and a ‘high command culture’later on decimated its hegemon ic
power in competitive party politics. The Congress declined due to a deficit of political vision,
lack of forward-thinking ideas, engagement in competitive pseudo-secularism and diminishing
electoral returns of dynastic (Nehru-Gandhi) politics. The institutionalization of BJP as a dominant
party in 2014 coincided with the deinstitutionalization of the Congress party system. The grand
old party needs to relegitimize itself by revamping its ideology, formulating a populist model of
governance, creating son-of-the-soil leadership, revitalizing the party system, re-engaging with citi-
zens, altering its politics to meritocracy and embracing new age electoral grammar.
Keywords
Congress party, deinstitutionalization, Indian politics, one-party dominance, party systems
Introduction
The Indian National Congress (INC), informally called the ‘Congress’or ‘Grand Old Party of India’
in contemporary media parlance, is one of the oldest political parties in the world. It was formed in
1885 and one of its stated objectives was that ‘[i]ndirectly it will form the germ of a native
Corresponding author:
Praveen Rai, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, 29 Rajpur Road, Delhi 110054, India.
Email: praveenrai@csds.in
Original Research Article
Asian Journal of Comparative Politics
2023, Vol. 8(4) 825–839
© The Author(s) 2023
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DOI: 10.1177/20578911231162690
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