CONTEMPORARY

WORLD POLITICS
TEXTBOOK IN POLITICAL SCIENCE FOR CLASS XII

2018-19
 ISBN 81-7450-693-4

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 iii

Foreword

The National Curriculum Framework (NCF), 2005, recommends that children’s life at school
must be linked to their life outside the school. This principle marks a departure from the
legacy of bookish learning which continues to shape our system and causes a gap between
the school, home and community. The syllabi and textbooks developed on the basis of
NCF signify an attempt to implement this basic idea. They also attempt to discourage rote
learning and the maintenance of sharp boundaries between different subject areas. We
hope these measures will take us significantly further in the direction of a child-centred
system of education outlined in the National Policy on Education (1986).
The success of this effort depends on the steps that school principals and teachers
will take to encourage children to reflect on their own learning and to pursue
imaginative activities and questions. We must recognise that given space, time and
freedom, children generate new knowledge by engaging with the information passed
on to them by adults. Treating the prescribed textbook as the sole basis of examination
is one of the key reasons why other resources and sites of learning are ignored.
Inculcating creativity and initiative is possible if we perceive and treat children as
participants in learning, not as receivers of a fixed body of knowledge.
These aims imply considerable change in school routines and mode of functioning.
Flexibility in the daily timetable is as necessary as rigour in implementing the annual
calendar so that the required number of teaching days is actually devoted to teaching.
The methods used for teaching and evaluation will also determine how effective this
textbook proves for making children’s life at school a happy experience, rather than a
source of stress or boredom. Syllabus designers have tried to address the problem of
curricular burden by restructuring and reorienting knowledge at different stages
with greater consideration for child psychology and the time available for teaching.
The textbook attempts to enhance this endeavour by giving higher priority and space
to opportunities for contemplation and wondering, discussion in small groups, and
activities requiring hands-on experience.
The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) appreciates
the hard work done by the textbook development committee responsible for this book.
We wish to thank the Chairperson of the advisory group in Social Sciences, Professor
Hari Vasudevan, the Chief Advisors, Professor Yogendra Yadav and Professor Suhas
Palshikar and the Advisor, Professor Kanti Bajpai for guiding the work of this
committee. Several teachers contributed to the development of this textbook; we are
grateful to their principals for making this possible. We are indebted to the institutions
and organisations which have generously permitted us to draw upon their resources,
material and personnel. We are especially grateful to the members of the National
Monitoring Committee, appointed by the Department of Secondary and Higher
Education, Ministry of Human Resources Development under the Chairpersonship of
Professor Mrinal Miri and Professor G.P. Deshpande, for their valuable time and contribution.

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 iv

As an organisation committed to systemic reform and continuous improvement in the

quality of its products, NCERT welcomes comments and suggestions which will enable
us to undertake further revision and refinement.

Director
New Delhi National Council of Educational
20 November 2006 Research and Training

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 v

Preface
Contemporary World Politics is part of the NCERT’s effort to help students understand
politics. Other books for students of Political Science in Classes XI and XII deal with
various facets of politics — the Indian Constitution, politics in India, and political
theory. Contemporary World Politics enlarges the scope of politics to the world stage.
The new Political Science syllabus has finally given space to world politics. This is
a vital development. As India becomes more prominent in international politics and as
events outside the country influence our lives and choices, we need to know more
about the world outside. International affairs are discussed with great passion in
India, but not always with sufficient understanding. We tend to rely on the daily
newspaper, television, and casual conversation for our knowledge of how the world
works. We hope this book will help students comprehend what is happening outside
and India’s relations with it.
Before we go any further, it is necessary to say something about why the book is
titled ‘world politics’ rather than the more traditional ‘international politics’ or
‘international relations’. In this world, the relationship between governments of different
countries, or what we call international politics or international relations, is of course
crucial. In addition, though, there are vital connections between governments,
non-government institutions, and ordinary people. These are often referred to as
transnational relations. To understand the world, it is not possible any longer to
understand only the links between governments. It is necessary to understand what
happens across boundaries also — and governments are not the only agents of what
happens.
In addition, world politics includes politics within other countries, understood in
comparative perspective. For instance, the chapter on events in the “second world” of
the communist countries after the Cold War deals with internal developments in this
region. The South Asia chapter presents the state of democracy amongst India’s
neighbours. This is the field of comparative politics.
The book is concerned with world politics as it is today, more or less. It does not
deal with world politics through the 19th or 20th centuries. The politics of those eras
is dealt with in the History textbooks. We deal with the 20th century only to the extent
that it is the background to present events and trends. For instance, we begin with
the Cold War because it is impossible to comprehend where we are today without an
understanding of what the Cold War was and how it ended.
How should you use this book? Our hope is that this book will serve as an
introduction to world politics. Teachers and students will use the book as a springboard
to find out more about contemporary world politics. Each chapter will give you a certain
amount of information. It will also, though, give you some useful concepts with which
to understand the world: the Cold War; the notion of hegemony; international
organisations; national security and human security; environmental security;
globalisation; and so on.
Each chapter begins with an overview to quickly give you an idea of what to expect.
Each chapter also has maps, tables, graphics, boxes, cartoons, and other illustrations
to enliven your reading and to get you to reflect on world politics by provoking,
challenging, or amusing you. The characters — Unni and Munni, introduced in earlier

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 vi

books, reappear. They ask their innocent, often mischievous, frequently probing
questions. The chapters have suggestions on group activity (“Let’s Do It Together”)—
collecting materials together, solving an international problem, making you negotiate
as if you were a diplomat. Then there are the “plus boxes” which provide information
not so much for tests and examination questions but rather to fill out knowledge, to
summarise information that would burden the text, and, sometimes, to urge you to
think further about the subject. The exercises at the end of each chapter should help
review materials that you have read and take you beyond what has been said in the
chapter.
You will notice also that the book is filled with maps. It is difficult if not impossible
to understand world politics without a sense of where various places are located, who
lives next door to whom, where boundaries, rivers, and other political and geographical
features are in relation to each other. We have, therefore, been quite liberal in providing
maps. These maps are to help orient you, to visualise the political and geographical
spaces that you read about. They are not intended to be things you have to draw and
memorise for tests!
This brings us to a crucial point about how to use the book. We have made a
conscious effort not to load you down with information—with names, dates, events.
We have tried to keep these to a minimum. The idea is not for you to become an expert
on world politics but instead to begin to grapple with the complexity and urgency of
this new world around us. At the same time, should you wish to know more about
world politics, you can consult the various sources mentioned separately under, “If
you want to read more…”.
If the book succeeds in stimulating you, in making you ask even more questions
than we have posed for you, and in making you impatient with what you have read
here, then we have succeeded! We sincerely hope that you will like this book and find
it engaging and useful.
We are grateful to Professor Krishna Kumar, Director, NCERT, for his support and
guidance in the preparation of this book. He encouraged us in making this book as
student-friendly as possible. He also patiently waited for the final draft of the book.
Contemporary World Politics would not have been possible without the valuable
time and academic expertise of the members of the Textbook Development Committee.
Each of the members gave us their precious time and set aside prior commitments at
various junctures. Professor Sanjay Chaturvedi and Dr. Siddharth Mallavarapu deserve
our special thanks for their help in selecting maps and in editing the text. We are
grateful for the devotion and sincerity of Dr. M. V. S. V. Prasad, the coordinator of this
textbook from the NCER T, as also Mr. Alex M. George and Mr. Pankaj Pushkar who
worked day and night to ensure the quality of the text, the authenticity of the contents,
and above all, the readability of this book. Ms. Padmavathi worked on all the exercises.
The designer of this book, Ms. Shweta Rao, gave the book the attractive look and feel
that it has. Without their unstinting and creative help, we could not have produced
the book in its present form.

Kanti Bajpai Yogendra Yadav, Suhas Palshikar

Advisor Chief Advisors

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 vii

Textbook Development Committee

CHAIRPERSON, ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR TEXTBOOKS AT THE SENIOR SECONDARY LEVEL

Hari Vasudevan, Professor, Department of History, University of Calcutta, Kolkata

CHIEF ADVISORS
Yogendra Yadav, Senior Fellow, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS),
Delhi

Suhas Palshikar, Professor, Department of Politics and Public Administration,

University of Pune, Pune

ADVISOR
Kanti P. Bajpai, Headmaster, The Doon School, Dehradun

MEMBERS
Alex M. George, Independent Researcher, Eruvatty, District Kannur, Kerala
Anuradha M. Chenoy, Professor, Centre for Russian and Central Asian Studies, SIS,
JNU, New Delhi
Madhu Bhalla, Professor, Department of East Asian Studies, University of Delhi, Delhi
Navnita Chadha Behera, Reader, Department of Political Science, University of Delhi,
Delhi
Padmavathi, B.S., Faculty, Social Sciences, International Academy for Creative Teaching
(iACT), Bangalore
Pankaj Pushkar, Senior Lecturer, Directorate of Higher Education (Uttarakhand), Haldwani
Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudhury, Reader, Department of Political Science, Rabindra
Bharati University, Kolkata
Samir Das, Reader, Department of Political Science, University of Calcutta, Kolkata
Sanjay Chaturvedi, Reader, Centre for Study of Geopolitics, Department of Political
Science, Panjab University, Chandigarh
Sanjay Dubey, Reader, DESSH, NCERT
Shibashis Chatterjee, Lecturer, Department of International Relations, Jadavpur University,
Kolkata
Siddharth Mallavarapu, Assistant Professor, Centre for International Politics, Organisation
and Disarmament, SIS, JNU, New Delhi
Varun Sahni, Professor, Centre for International Politics, Organisation and Disarmament,
SIS, JNU, New Delhi

MEMBER-COORDINATOR
Malla V. S. V. Prasad, Lecturer, Department of Education in Social Sciences and Humanities
(DESSH), NCERT, New Delhi

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 viii

Acknowledgements

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) acknowledges

all those who contributed – directly and indirectly – to the development of this textbook.

We offer thanks to Professor Savita Sinha, Head, DESSH for her support. We gratefully
acknowledge the efforts of the administrative staff of DESSH.

We want to record our sincere appreciation of the generous institutional support provided
by the Lokniti programme of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS). We
would like to thank Professor Peter R. De Souza, Director, Lokniti, in particular.

The Council gratefully acknowledges the contribution of the following individuals

and institutions: Mr. Robert W. Gray, Chief, United Nations Postal Administration,
New York for granting approval to use UN stamps; Professor K. C. Suri for valuable
inputs; Cagle Cartoons Inc. for providing copyrights of the cartoons of Andy Singer,
Angel Boligan, Ares, Cam Cardow, Christo Komarnitski, Deng Coy Miel, Harry
Harrison, Mike Lane, Milt Priggee, Pat Bagley, Petar Pismestrovic and Tab; Mr. Kutty
(Laughing with Kutty), The Hindu, and Pakistan Tribune for the cartoons; cartoonist
Irfaan Khan for the drawings; M/s. Cartographic Designs for providing two maps
(India and its neighbours and the world map); the Parliament Library, the United
Nations Information Centre, New Delhi and Gobar Times (Down to Earth supplements)
for providing materials; and wikipedia and flickr.com (downloaded before 31 Dec 2006)
for providing images.

The production of the book benefited greatly from the efforts of the Publications
Department. Our special thanks to Purnendu Kumar Barik, Copy Editor, and
Neelam Walecha, DTP Operator.

Request for Feedback

How did you like this textbook? What was your experience in reading or using this? What were the difficulties you
faced? What changes would you like to see in the next version of this book?
Write to us on all these and any other matter related to this textbook. You could be a teacher, a parent, a student
or just a general reader. We value any and every feedback.
Please write to:
Coordinator (Political Science)
DESS, NCERT, Sri Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi 110 016

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 ix

Contents

Foreword iii
Preface v

Chapter 1
The Cold War Era 1

Chapter 2
The End of Bipolarity 17

Chapter 3
US Hegemony in World Politics 31

Chapter 4
Alternative Centres of Power 51

Chapter 5
Contemporary South Asia 65

Chapter 6
International Organisations 81

Chapter 7
Security in the Contemporary World 99

Chapter 8
Environment and Natural Resources 117

Chapter 9
Globalisation 135

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If You Want to Read More ...

Where can you read more on contemporary world politics? There are hundreds of thousands
of sources, but here are a few suggestions. We focus here on English language sources.
These are by no means the only good sources, but they are easier for Indian students to
access.
Wikipedia (on the net) often has interesting entries on many of the subjects, countries,
people, and events referred to in the book. Encyclopaedias such as the Encyclopaedia
Britannica are rich sources of information. There are many more advanced introductory
books on world politics. Some useful and fairly contemporary ones include The Globalization
of World Politics: An Introduction to International Relations edited by John Baylis, Steve
Smith and Patricia Owens (Oxford University Press, 2004), The Global Future: A Brief
Introduction to World Politics by Charles W. Kegley and Gregory A. Raymond (Wadsworth
Publishing, 2007), United States and the Great Powers: World Politics in the Twenty-First
Century by Barry Buzan (Polity Press, 2004), International Relations by Joshua S. Goldstein
and Jon C. Pevehouse (Longman, 2005) and World Politics by Peter Calvocoressi (Longman,
2001).
Among the magazines you could read regularly are Frontline, India Today, Outlook
and The Week, all Indian publications. Also in India, there are more academic journals
such as China Report, Economic and Political Weekly, India International Centre Quarterly,
India Quarterly, International Studies, Seminar, South Asian Survey, Strategic Analysis
and World Affairs. Outside India, there are a huge number of journals but the most popular
include the following US and British journals: Atlantic Monthly, The Economist, The National
Interest, Newsweek and Time. The American journals, Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy
will give you an idea how leading US thinkers regard the world. Among the academic
journals, internationally, are Alternatives, Arms Control Today, Asian Security, Asian
Survey, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, China Quarterly, Comparative Politics, European
Journal of International Relations, Global Governance, Harvard International Review,
India Review, International Affairs, International Journal, International Organization,
International Security, Millennium, Orbis, Pacific Affairs, Review of International Studies,
Russian Review, Survival, Security Dialogue, Security Studies, Slavic Review, World Policy
Journal, World Politics and YaleGlobal Online.
Of course, you should get into the habit of reading the daily newspaper and keeping
up with what is going on in the world. The television news channels also report regularly
on world events: do watch the world unfold before your eyes!

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 Chapter 1
The Cold War Era

OVERVIEW
This chapter provides a backdrop
to the entire book. The end of the
Cold War is usually seen as the
beginning of the contemporary era
in world politics which is the
subject matter of this book. It is,
therefore, appropriate that we
begin the story with a discussion
of the Cold War. The chapter shows
how the dominance of two
superpowers, the United States of
America and the Soviet Union,
was central to the Cold War. It
tracks the various arenas of the
Cold War in different parts of the
world. The chapter views the Non-
Aligned Movement (NAM) as a
challenge to the dominance of the
two superpowers and describes
the attempts by the non-aligned
countries to establish a New
International Economic Order
(NIEO) as a means of attaining The end of the Second World War led to the rise of two major
economic development and centres of power. The two pictures above symbolise the
victory of the US and the USSR in the Second World War.
political independence. It 1. American soldiers raising the US flag during the Battle of
concludes with an assessment of Iwo Jima, Japan, on 23 February 1945
India’s role in NAM and asks how Credit: Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima,
successful the policy of non- Photograph by Joe Rosenthal/The Associated Press
2. Soviet soldiers raising the USSR flag on the Reichstag
alignment has been in protecting
building in Berlin, Germany, in May 1945
India’s interests. Credit: Reichstag flag, Photograph by Yevgeny Khaldei/TASS

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 2 Contemporary World Politics

CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS

In April 1961, the leaders of the
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
(USSR) were worried that the
United States of America (USA)
would invade communist-ruled
Cuba and overthrow Fidel Castro,
the president of the small island
nation off the coast of the United
States. Cuba was an ally of the
Soviet Union and received both
We are on a world tour! Will meet you in different countries. Feels good diplomatic and financial aid from
to be around where events have happened.
it. Nikita Khrushchev, the leader
of the Soviet Union, decided to
convert Cuba into a Russian base.
In 1962, he placed nuclear missiles
in Cuba. The installation of these
weapons put the US, for the first
time, under fire from close range
and nearly doubled the number of
bases or cities in the American
mainland which could be
threatened by the USSR.
Three weeks after the Soviet
Union had placed the nuclear
weapons in Cuba, the Americans
became aware of it. The US
President, John F. Kennedy, and
his advisers were reluctant to do
anything that might lead to
full-scale nuclear war between
the two countries, but they were
determined to get Khrushchev to
remove the missiles and nuclear
weapons from Cuba. Kennedy
ordered American warships to
intercept any Soviet ships
heading to Cuba as a way of
war ning the USSR of his
seriousness. A clash seemed
Map showing the range of the nuclear missiles under construction imminent in what came to be
in Cuba, used during the secret meetings on the Cuban missile crisis known as the Cuban Missile
Source: John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum Crisis. The prospects of this

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The Cold War Era
clash made the whole world
nervous, for it would have been
no ordinary war. Eventually, to
the world’s great relief, both
sides decided to avoid war. The
Soviet ships slowed down and
turned back.
The Cuban Missile Crisis was
a high point of what came to be
known as the Cold War. The Cold
War referred to the competition,
the tensions and a series of
confrontations between the
United States and Soviet Union,
backed by their respective allies.
Fortunately, however, it never
escalated into a ‘hot war’, that is,
a full-scale war between these two
powers. There were wars in
various regions, with the two
powers and their allies involved
in warfare and in supporting
regional allies, but at least the
world avoided another global war.
T h e C o l d Wa r w a s n o t
simply a matter of power
rivalries, of military alliances,
and of the balance of power.
These were accompanied by a
real ideological conflict as well,
a difference over the best and
the most appropriate way of
organising political, economic,
and social life all over the world.
The western alliance, headed by
the US, represented the
ideology of liberal democracy
and capitalism while the
eastern alliance, headed by the
Soviet Union, was committed to
the ideology of socialism and
communism. You have already
studied these ideologies in
Class XI.
3
WHAT IS THE COLD WAR?
The end of the Second World War
is a landmark in contemporary
world politics. In 1945, the Allied
Forces, led by the US, Soviet
Union, Britain and France
defeated the Axis Powers led by
Germany, Italy and Japan, ending
the Second World War (1939-
1945). The war had involved
almost all the major powers of the
world and spread out to regions
outside Europe including
Southeast Asia, China, Burma
(now Myanmar) and parts of
India’s northeast. The war
devastated the world in terms of
loss of human lives and civilian
property. The First World War had
earlier shaken the world between
1914 and 1918.
The end of the Second World
War was also the beginning of the
Cold War. The world war ended
when the United States dropped
two atomic bombs on the
Japanese cities of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki in August 1945, causing
Japan to surrender. Critics of the
US decision to drop the bombs
have argued that the US knew that
Japan was about to surrender and
that it was unnecessary to drop
the bombs. They suggest that the
US action was intended to stop the
Soviet Union from making military
and political gains in Asia and So near yet so far!
I can't believe that
elsewhere and to show Moscow
Cuba survived as a
that the United States was
communist country
supreme. US supporters have for so long despite
argued that the dropping of the being located so
atomic bombs was necessary to close to the US. Just
end the war quickly and to stop look at the map.
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4 Contemporary World Politics
further loss of American and Allied
lives. Whatever the motives, the
consequence of the end of the
Second World War was the rise of
two new powers on the global stage.
With the defeat of Germany and
Japan, the devastation of Europe
and in many other parts of the
world, the United States and the
Soviet Union became the greatest
powers in the world with the ability
to influence events anywhere on
earth.
While the Cold War was an
outcome of the emergence of the
US and the USSR as two
superpowers rival to each other,
it was also rooted in the
understanding that the destruction
caused by the use of atom bombs
is too costly for any country to
bear. The logic is simple yet
powerful. When two rival powers
are in possession of nuclear
These pictures depict the destruction
caused by the bombs dropped by the
US on Hiroshima (the bomb was code-
named ‘Little Boy’) and Nagasaki
(code-named ‘Fat Man’). Yet, these
bombs were very small in their
destructive capacity (measured in
terms of kiloton yield) as compared to
the nuclear bombs that were to be
available in the stockpiles assembled by
the superpowers. The yield of Little Boy
and Fat Man were 15 and 21 kilotons
respectively. By the early 1950s the US
and the USSR were already making
thermonuclear weapons that had a
yield between 10 and 15 thousand
kilotons. In other words, these bombs
were a thousand times more destructive
than the bombs used in Hiroshima and
Nagasaki. During much of the Cold War,
both the superpowers possessed
thousands of such weapons. Just
imagine the extent of destruction that
these could cause all over the globe.
2018-19
weapons capable of inflicting death
and destruction unacceptable to
each other, a full-fledged war is
unlikely. In spite of provocations,
neither side would want to risk war
since no political gains would
justify the destruction of their
societies.
In the event of a nuclear war,
both sides will be so badly harmed
that it will be impossible to declare
one side or the other as the winner.
Even if one of them tries to attack
and disable the nuclear weapons
of its rival, the other would still be
left with enough nuclear weapons
to inflict unacceptable destruction.
This is called the logic of
‘deterrence’: both sides have the
capacity to retaliate against an
attack and to cause so much
destruction that neither can afford
to initiate war. Thus, the Cold War
— in spite of being an intense form
of rivalry between great powers —
remained a ‘cold’ and not hot or
shooting war. The deterrence
relationship prevents war but not
the rivalry between powers.
Note the main military
features of the Cold War. The two
superpowers and the countries in
the rival blocs led by the
superpowers were expected to
behave as rational and
responsible actors. They were to
be rational and responsible in the
sense that they understood the
risks in fighting wars that might
involve the two superpowers.
When two superpowers and the
blocs led by them are in a
deterrence relationship, fighting
wars will be massively destructive.
The Cold War Era 5

Responsibility, therefore, meant The smaller states in the

being restrained and avoiding the alliances used the link to the 1. Identify three
risk of another world war. In this superpowers for their own countries from each
sense the Cold War managed to purposes. They got the promise of of the rival blocs.
ensure human survival. protection, weapons, and 2. Look at the map
economic aid against their local of the European
Union in Chapter 4
rivals, mostly regional neighbours
THE EMERGENCE OF with whom they had rivalries. The
and identify four
countries that were
TWO POWER BLOCS alliance systems led by the part of the Warsaw
two superpowers, therefore, Pact and now
The two superpowers were keen threatened to divide the entire belong to the EU.

on expanding their spheres of world into two camps. This 3. By comparing this
influence in different parts of the division happened first in Europe. map with that of
the European Union
world. In a world sharply divided Most countries of western Europe
map, identify three
between the two alliance systems, sided with the US and those of new countries that
a state was supposed to remain eastern Europe joined the Soviet came up in the
tied to its protective superpower camp. That is why these were also post-Cold War
period.
to limit the influence of the other called the ‘wester n’ and the
superpower and its allies. ‘eastern’ alliances.

NATO Members NORWAY FINLAND

Warsaw Pact Members Helsinki
Other Communist Nations Oslo Stockholm
Others SWEDEN
North
Sea
IRELAND DENMARK
Dublin Moscow
Copenhagen
BRITAIN NETH.
USSR
ATLANTIC London Berlin
The Hague Warsaw
OCEAN EAST
Brussels
BELG. Bonn
GERMANY POLAND
LUX.
Paris Prague
CZEC
WEST HOS
LOV
Bern GERMANY AKIA
FRANCE Vienna
SWITZ. AUSTRIA Budapest
HUNGARY ROMANIA

PORTUGAL Bucharest Yalta

Belgrade
SPAIN Black Sea
Lisbon ITALY YUGOSLAVIA
BULGARIA
Madrid Rome Sofia
ALBANIA Ankara
Tirana
TURKEY
GREECE
Map showing the way Europe was divided into rival alliances during the Cold War

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6 Contemporary World Politics
FIRST WORLD
SECOND WORLD
THIRD WORLD
The western alliance was
formalised into an organisation,
the North Atlantic T reaty
Organisation (NATO), which came
into existence in April 1949. It was
In the following an association of twelve states
column, write which declared that armed attack
the names of
on any one of them in Europe or
three countries,
which belong to: North America would be regarded
as an attack on all of them. Each
Capitalist Bloc of these states would be obliged
________________ to help the other. The eastern
________________ alliance, known as the Warsaw
________________
Pact, was led by the Soviet Union.
It was created in 1955 and its
principal function was to counter
Communist Bloc
NATO’s forces in Europe.
________________
________________ International alliances during
the Cold War era were determined
________________
by the requirements of the
superpowers and the calculations
Non-Aligned
of the smaller states. As noted
Movement
above, Europe became the main
________________ arena of conflict between the
________________ superpowers. In some cases, the
________________ superpowers used their military
power to bring countries into their
2018-19
respective alliances. Soviet
intervention in east Eur ope
provides an example. The Soviet
Union used its influence in
eastern Europe, backed by the
very large presence of its armies
in the countries of the region, to
ensure that the eastern half of
Eur ope remained within its
sphere of influence. In East and
Southeast Asia and in West Asia
(Middle East), the United States
built an alliance system called —
the Southeast Asian T reaty
Organisation (SEATO) and the
Central T reaty Organisation
(CENTO). The Soviet Union and
communist China responded by
having close relations with
regional countries such as North
Vietnam, North Korea and Iraq.
The Cold War threatened to
divide the world into two alliances.
Under these circumstances, many
of the newly independent
countries, after gaining their
independence from the colonial
The Cold War Era
powers such as Britain and
France, were worried that they
would lose their freedom as soon
as they gained for mal
independence. Cracks and splits
within the alliances were quick to
appear. Communist China
quarrelled with the USSR towards
the late 1950s, and, in 1969, they
fought a brief war over a territorial
dispute. The other important
development was the Non-Aligned
Movement (NAM), which gave the
newly independent countries a
way of staying out of the alliances.
You may ask why the
superpowers needed any allies at
all. After all, with their nuclear
weapons and regular armies, they
were so powerful that the combined
power of most of the smaller states
in Asia and Africa, and even in
Europe, was no match to that of
the superpowers. Yet, the smaller
states were helpful for the
superpowers in gaining access to
(i) vital resources, such as oil
and minerals,
(ii) territory, from where the
superpowers could launch
their weapons and troops,
(iii) locations from where they
could spy on each other, and
(iv) economic support, in that
many small allies together
could help pay for military
expenses.
They were also important for
ideological reasons. The loyalty of
allies suggested that the
superpowers were winning the
war of ideas as well, that liberal
7
democracy and capitalism were
better than socialism and
communism, or vice versa.
ARENAS OF THE COLD WAR
The Cuban Missile Crisis that we
began this chapter with was only
one of the several crises that
occurred during the Cold War.
The Cold War also led to several
shooting wars, but it is important
to note that these crises and wars
did not lead to another world war.
How come there are
The two superpowers were poised still two Koreas while
for direct confrontations in Korea the other divisions
(1950 - 53), Berlin (1958 - 62), the created by the Cold
Congo (the early 1960s), and in War have ended?
several other places. Crises Do the people of
deepened, as neither of the parties Korea want the
division to continue?
involved was willing to back down.
When we talk about arenas of the
Cold War, we refer, therefore, to
areas where crisis and war
occurred or threatened to occur
between the alliance systems but
did not cross certain limits. A
great many lives were lost in some
of these arenas like Korea,
Vietnam and Afghanistan, but the
world was spared a nuclear war
and global hostilities. In some
cases, huge military build-ups
were reported. In many cases,
diplomatic communication
between the superpowers could
not be sustained and contributed
to the misunderstandings.
Locate the
Sometimes, countries outside flashpoints
the two blocs, for example, the of the Cold
non-aligned countries, played a War on a
role in reducing Cold War conflicts world map.
and averting some grave crises.
Jawaharlal Nehru — one of the key
2018-19
8 Contemporary World Politics

leaders of the NAM — played a


1947 American President Harry Truman’s Doctrine
about the containment of communism
1947 - 52 Marshall Plan: US aid for the reconstruction of
the Western Europe
1948 - 49 Berlin blockade by the Soviet Union and the
airlift of supplies to the citizens of West Berlin
by the US and its allies
1950 - 53 Korean War
1954 Defeat of the French by the Vietnamese at
Dien Bien Phu
Signing of the Geneva Accords
Division of Vietnam along the 17th Parallel
Formation of SEATO
1954 - 75 American intervention in Vietnam
1955 Signing of the Baghdad Pact, later CENTO
1956 Soviet intervention in Hungary
1961 US-sponsored Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba
Construction of the Berlin Wall
1962 Cuban Missile Crisis
1965 American intervention in the Dominican
Republic
1968 Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia
1972 US President Richard Nixon’s visit to China
1978 - 89 Vietnamese intervention in Cambodia
1979 - 89 Soviet intervention in Afghanistan
1985 Gorbachev becomes the President of the
USSR; begins the reform process
1989 Fall of the Berlin Wall; mass protests against
governments in eastern Europe
1990 Unification of Germany
1991 Disintegration of the Soviet Union
End of the Cold War era
crucial role in mediating between
the two Koreas. In the Congo
crisis, the UN Secretary-General
played a key mediatory role. By
and large, it was the realisation
on a superpower’s part that war
by all means should be avoided
that made them exercise restraint
and behave more responsibly in
international affairs. As the Cold
War rolled from one arena to
another, the logic of restraint was
increasingly evident.
However, since the Cold War
did not eliminate rivalries between
the two alliances, mutual
suspicions led them to ar m
themselves to the teeth and to
constantly prepare for war. Huge
stocks of arms were considered
necessary to prevent wars from
taking place.
The two sides understood that
war might occur in spite of
restraint. Either side might
miscalculate the number of
weapons in the possession of the
other side. They might
misunderstand the intentions of
the other side. Besides, what if
there was a nuclear accident?
What would happen if someone
fired off a nuclear weapon by
mistake or if a soldier
mischievously shot off a weapon
deliberately to start a war? What
if an accident occurred with a
nuclear weapon? How would the
leaders of that country know it
was an accident and not an act of
sabotage by the enemy or that a
missile had not landed from the
other side?

2018-19
The Cold War Era 9

Drawn by well-
known Indian
cartoonist Kutty,
these two
cartoons depict
an Indian view
of the Cold War.
The first cartoon
was drawn when
the US entered
into a secret
understanding
with China,
keeping the
USSR in the dark.
Find out more
about the
characters in the
cartoon. The
second cartoon
depicts the
American
misadventure in
Vietnam. Find
out more about
the Vietnam
War. POLITICAL SPRING China makes overtures to the USA.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT President Johnson is in more troubles over Vietnam.

2018-19
10
In time, therefore, the US and
USSR decided to collaborate in
limiting or eliminating certain
FOUNDER kinds of nuclear and non-nuclear
FIGURES weapons. A stable balance of
weapons, they decided, could be
OF NAM
maintained through ‘arms
control’. Starting in the 1960s, the
two sides signed three
significant agreements within a
decade. These were the Limited
Test Ban Treaty, Nuclear Non-
Proliferation Treaty and the
Josip Broz Tito Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
(1892-1980) Thereafter, the superpowers held
President of several rounds of arms limitation
Yugoslavia (1945- talks and signed several more
80); fought against
treaties to limit their arms.
Germany in World
War II; communist;
maintained some
distance from the
CHALLENGE TO BIPOLARITY
Soviet Union;
forged unity in
We have already seen how the
Yugoslavia. Cold War tended to divide the
world into two rival alliances. It
was in this context that non-
alignment of fered the newly
decolonised countries of Asia,
Africa and Latin America a third
option—not to join either alliance.
The roots of NAM went back
to the friendship between three
Jawaharlal Nehru
(1889-1964) leaders — Yugoslavia’s Josip Broz
First Prime Minister Tito, India’s Jawaharlal Nehru,
of India (1947-64); and Egypt’s leader Gamal Abdel
made efforts for Nasser — who held a meeting in
Asian unity, 1956. Indonesia’s Sukarno and
decolonisation,
Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah
nuclear
disarmament; strongly supported them. These
advocated five leaders came to be known as
peaceful the five founders of NAM. The first
coexistence for non-aligned summit was held in
securing world Belgrade in 1961. This was the
peace.
culmination of at least three
factors:
2018-19
Contemporary World Politics
(i) cooperation among these five
countries,
(ii) growing Cold War tensions
and its widening arenas, and
(iii) the dramatic entry of many
newly decolonised African
countries into the inter -
national arena. By 1960,
there were 16 new African
members in the UN.
The first summit was attended
by 25 member states. Over the
years, the membership of NAM
has expanded. The latest meeting,
the 14th summit, was held in
Havana in 2006. It included 116
member states and 15 observer
countries.
As non-alignment grew into a
popular international movement,
countries of various different
political systems and interests
joined it. This made the movement
less homogeneous and also made
it more difficult to define in very
neat and precise terms: what did
it really stand for? Increasingly,
NAM was easier to define in terms
of what it was not. It was not about
being a member of an alliance.
The policy of staying away
from alliances should not
be considered isolationism or
neutrality. Non-alignment is not
isolationism since isolationism
means remaining aloof from world
affairs. Isolationism sums up the
foreign policy of the US from the
American War of Independence in
1787 up to the beginning of the
First World War. In comparison,
the non-aligned countries,
including India, played an active
The Cold War Era
role in mediating between the two
rival alliances in the cause of
peace and stability. Their strength
was based on their unity and their
resolve to remain non-aligned
despite the attempt by the two
superpowers to bring them into
their alliances.
Non-alignment is also not
neutrality. Neutrality refers
principally to a policy of staying
out of war. States practising
neutrality are not required to help
end a war. They do not get
involved in wars and do not
take any position on the
appropriateness or morality of a
war. Non-aligned states, including
India, were actually involved in
wars for various reasons. They
also worked to prevent war
between others and tried to end
wars that had broken out.
NEW INTERNATIONAL
ECONOMIC ORDER
The non-aligned countries were
more than merely mediators during
the Cold War. The challenge for most
of the non-aligned countries — a
majority of them were categorised
as the Least Developed Countries
(LDCs) — was to be more developed
economically and to lift their people
out of poverty. Economic
development was also vital for the
independence of the new countries.
Without sustained development, a
country could not be truly free. It
would remain dependent on the
richer countries including the
colonial powers from which political
freedom had been achieved.
11
The idea of a New Inter -
national Economic Order (NIEO)
originated with this realisation.
The United Nations Conference FOUNDER
on T r a d e a n d D e v e l o p m e n t
FIGURES
(UNCTAD) brought out a report
OF NAM
in 1972 entitled Towards a New
T rade Policy for Development.
The report proposed a reform of
the global trading system so
as to:
(i) give the LDCs control over
their natural resources
exploited by the developed Gamal Abdel
Western countries, Nasser (1918-70)
Ruled Egypt from
(ii) obtain access to Western 1952 to 1970;
markets so that the LDCs espoused the
could sell their products and, causes of Arab
therefore, make trade more nationalism,
socialism and
beneficial for the poorer
anti-imperialism;
countries, nationalised the
Suez Canal,
(iii) reduce the cost of technology
leading to an
from the Western countries, and
international
(iv) provide the LDCs with a conflict in 1956.
greater role in international
economic institutions.
Gradually, the nature of non-
alignment changed to give greater
importance to economic issues.
In 1961, at the first summit in
Belgrade, economic issues had
not been very important. By the Sukarno (1901-70)
mid-1970s, they had become the First President of
most important issues. As a Indonesia (1945-
65); led the
result, NAM became an economic
freedom struggle;
pressure group. By the late espoused the
1980s, however, the NIEO causes of
initiative had faded, mainly socialism and
because of the stiff opposition anti-imperialism;
organised the
from the developed countries who
Bandung
acted as a united group while the Conference;
non-aligned countries struggled overthrown in a
to maintain their unity in the face military coup.
of this opposition.
2018-19
12
INDIA AND THE COLD WAR
As a leader of NAM, India’s
FOUNDER response to the ongoing Cold War
FIGURES was two-fold: At one level, it took
OF NAM particular care in staying away
from the two alliances. Second, it
raised its voice against the newly
decolonised countries becoming
part of these alliances.
India’s policy was neither
negative nor passive. As Nehru
reminded the world, non-
alignment was not a policy of
Kwame Nkrumah
‘fleeing away’. On the contrary,
(1909-72)
First Prime Minister India was in favour of actively
of Ghana (1952- intervening in world affairs to
66); led the soften Cold War rivalries. India
freedom tried to reduce the differences
movement; between the alliances and thereby
advocated the
prevent dif ferences fr om
causes of
escalating into a full-scale war.
socialism and
African unity; Indian diplomats and leaders were
opposed neo- often used to communicate and
colonialism; mediate between Cold War rivals
removed in a such as in the Korean War in the
military coup.
early 1950s.
It is important to remember
that India chose to involve other
members of the non-aligned group
in this mission. During the Cold
So, NIEO was just an
War, India repeatedly tried to
idea that never activate those regional and
became an order. international organisations, which
Right? were not a part of the alliances led
by the US and USSR. Nehru
Name any five reposed great faith in ‘a genuine
countries,
commonwealth of free and
which were
cooperating nations’ that would
decolonised
play a positive role in softening, if
following the
not ending, the Cold War.
end of the
Second World Non-alignment was not, as
War. some suggest, a noble international
2018-19
Contemporary World Politics
cause which had little to do with
India’s real interests. A non-aligned
posture also served India’s interests
very directly, in at least two ways:
First, non-alignment allowed
India to take international
decisions and stances that
served its interests rather than
the interests of the super-
powers and their allies.
Second, India was often able
to balance one superpower
against the other. If India felt
ignored or unduly pressurised
by one superpower, it could tilt
towards the other. Neither
alliance system could take
India for granted or bully it.
India’s policy of non-alignment
was criticised on a number of
counts. Here we may refer to only
two criticisms:
First, India’s non-alignment
was said to be ‘unprincipled’.
In the name of pursuing its
national interest, India, it was
said, often refused to take a
firm stand on crucial
international issues.
Second, it is suggested that
India was inconsistent and
took contradictory postures.
Having criticised others for
joining alliances, India signed
the Treaty of Friendship in
August 1971 with the USSR
for 20 years. This was
regarded, particularly by
outside observers, as
virtually joining the Soviet
alliance system. The Indian
government’s view was that
The Cold War Era 13

India needed diplomatic and

possibly military support
during the Bangladesh crisis
and that in any case the
treaty did not stop India from
having good relations with
other countries including
the US.
Non-alignment as a strategy
evolved in the Cold War context.
As we will see in Chapter 2, with
the disintegration of the USSR and
the end of the Cold War in 1991,
non-alignment, both as an
international movement and as
the core of India’s foreign policy, STEPS
lost some of its earlier relevance  Divide the classroom into three groups of even
and effectiveness. However, non- number. Each group is to represent three
alignment contained some core different worlds - first world/capitalist world,
values and enduring ideas. It was second world/communist world and the third
based on a recognition that world/non-aligned world.
decolonised states share a
historical affiliation and can  The teacher is to select any two critical issues
become a powerful force if they which posed a threat to world peace and
come together. It meant that the security during the Cold War days. ( The Korean
poor and often very small and Vietnam Wars would be good examples).
countries of the world need not  Assign each group to work on developing an
become followers of any of the big ‘event profile’. They have to develop, from the
powers, that they could pursue an vantage point of the bloc they represent, a
independent foreign policy. It was presentation that contains a timeline of the
also based on a resolve to event, its causes, their preferred course of action
democratise the international to solve the problem.
system by thinking about an  Each group is to present their event profile
alternative world order to redress
before the class.
existing inequities. These core
Ideas for the Teacher
ideas remain relevant even after
 Draw students’ attention to the repercussions these crises had
the Cold War has ended.
on the rest of the world and on the respective countries.
Connect to the present situation in these countries.
 Highlight the role played by the leaders of the Third World
(India’s stand and contribution in Korea and Vietnam could
be taken up for reference) and the UN to bring back peace in
these regions.
 Open a debate on ‘how we could avert these kind of crises’
in the post-Cold War world.

2018-19
14 Contemporary World Politics



LIMITED TEST BAN TREATY (LTBT)

Banned nuclear weapon tests in the atmosphere, in outer space and under water.
Signed by the US, UK and USSR in Moscow on 5 August 1963.
Entered into force on 10 October 1963.

NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION TREATY (NPT)

Allows only the nuclear weapon states to have nuclear weapons and stops others from
aquiring them. For the purposes of the NPT, a nuclear weapon state is one which has
manufactured and exploded a nuclear weapon or other nuclear explosive device prior to 1
January 1967. So there are five nuclear weapon states: US, USSR (later Russia), Britain, France
and China. Signed in Washington, London, and Moscow on 1 July 1968.
Entered into force on 5 March 1970. Extended indefinitely in 1995.

STRATEGIC ARMS LIMITATION TALKS I (SALT-I)

The first round of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks began in November 1969. The Soviet
leader Leonid Brezhnev and the US President Richard Nixon signed the following in Moscow
on 26 May 1972 – a) Treaty on the limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems (ABM Treaty); and
b) Interim Agreement on the limitation of strategic offensive arms.
Entered into force on 3 October 1972.

STRATEGIC ARMS LIMITATION TALKS II (SALT-II)

The second round started in November 1972. The US President Jimmy Carter and the Soviet
leader Leonid Brezhnev signed the Treaty on the limitation of strategic offensive arms in Vienna
on 18 June 1979.

STRATEGIC ARMS REDUCTION TREATY I (START-I)

Treaty signed by the USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev and the US President George Bush (Senior)
on the reduction and limitation of strategic offensive arms in Moscow on 31 July 1991.

STRATEGIC ARMS REDUCTION TREATY II (START-II)

Treaty signed by the Russian President Boris Yeltsin and the US President George Bush (Senior)
on the reduction and limitation of strategic offensive arms in Moscow on 3 January 1993.

2018-19
The Cold War Era 15

1. Which among the following statements about the Cold War is

wrong?
a) It was a competition between the US and Soviet Union and
their respective allies.


b) It was an ideological war between the superpowers.
c) It triggered off an arms race.
d) the US and USSR were engaged in direct wars.
2. Which among the following statements does not reflect the
objectives of NAM
a) Enabling newly decolonised countries to pursue independent
policies
b) No to joining any military alliances
c) Following a policy of ‘neutrality’ on global issues
d) Focus on elimination of global economic inequalities
3. Mark correct or wrong against each of the following statements
that describe the features of the military alliances formed by the
superpowers.
a) Member countries of the alliance are to provide bases in their
respective lands for the superpowers.
b) Member countries to support the superpower both in terms of
ideology and military strategy.
c) When a nation attacks any member country, it is considered
as an attack on all the member countries.
d) Superpowers assist all the member countries to develop their
own nuclear weapons.
4. Here is a list of countries. Write against each of these the bloc they
belonged to during the Cold War.
a) Poland
b) France
c) Japan
d) Nigeria
e) North Korea
f) Sri Lanka
5. The Cold War produced an arms race as well as arms control. What
were the reasons for both these developments?
6. Why did the superpowers have military alliances with smaller
countries? Give three reasons.

2018-19
16 Contemporary World Politics

7. Sometimes it is said that the Cold War was a simple struggle for
power and that ideology had nothing to do with it. Do you agree
with this? Give one example to support your position.

8. What was India’s foreign policy towards the US and USSR during
the Cold War era? Do you think that this policy helped India’s
interests?
9. NAM was considered a ‘third option’ by Third World countries. How
did this option benefit their growth during the peak of the Cold
War?
10. What do you think about the statement that NAM has become
irrelevant today. Give reasons to support your opinion.

2018-19
 Chapter 2
The End of Bipolarity

OVERVIEW
The Berlin Wall, which had been
built at the height of the Cold War
and was its greatest symbol, was
toppled by the people in 1989.
This dramatic event was followed
by an equally dramatic and
historic chain of events that led
to the collapse of the ‘second
world’ and the end of the Cold War.
Germany, divided after the Second
World War, was unified. One after
another, the eight East European
countries that were part of the
Soviet bloc replaced their
communist gover nments in
response to mass demonstrations.
The Soviet Union stood by as the
Cold War began to end, not by The Berlin Wall
military means but as a result of symbolised the division
mass actions by ordinary men and between the capitalist
and the communist
women. Eventually the Soviet world. Built in 1961 to
Union itself disintegrated. In this separate East Berlin from West Berlin, this more than 150
chapter, we discuss the meaning, kilometre long wall stood for 28 years and was finally broken
the causes and the consequences by the people on 9 November 1989. This marked the
unification of the two parts of Germany and the beginning
of the disintegration of the ‘second
of the end of the communist bloc. The pictures here depict:
world’. We also discuss what 1. People making a tiny hole in the wall
happened to that part of the world 2. A section of the wall opened to allow free movement
after the collapse of communist 3. The Berlin Wall as it stood before 1989
Credit: 1. and 2. Frederik Ramm,
regimes and how India relates to
www.remote.org/frederik/culture/berlin
these countries now. 3. www.cs.utah.edu

2018-19
18
WHAT WAS THE SOVIET
SYSTEM?
LEADERS OF THE The Union of Soviet Socialist
SOVIET UNION Republics (USSR) came into being
after the socialist revolution in
Russia in 1917. The revolution was
inspired by the ideals of socialism,
as opposed to capitalism, and the
need for an egalitarian society. This
was perhaps the biggest attempt
in human history to abolish the
institution of private property and
Vladimir Lenin
consciously design a society based
(1870-1924)
Founder of the
on principles of equality. In doing
Bolshevik so, the makers of the Soviet system
Communist party; gave primacy to the state and the
leader of the institution of the party. The Soviet
Russian Revolution political system centred around
of 1917 and the the communist party, and no other
founder-head of
political party or opposition was
the USSR during
allowed. The economy was planned
the most difficult
period following and controlled by the state.
the revolution
After the Second World War,
(1917-1924); an
outstanding the east European countries that
theoretician and the Soviet army had liberated from
practitioner of the fascist forces came under the
Marxism and a control of the USSR. The political
source of
and the economic systems of all
inspiration for
these countries were modelled
communists all
after the USSR. This group of
over the world.
countries was called the Second
World or the ‘socialist bloc’. The
Warsaw Pact, a military alliance,
held them together. The USSR was
the leader of the bloc.
The Soviet Union became a
great power after the Second
World War. The Soviet economy
was then more developed than the
rest of the world except for the US.
It had a complex communications
network, vast energy resources
including oil, iron and steel,
2018-19
Contemporary World Politics
machinery production, and a
transport sector that connected its
remotest areas with efficiency. It
had a domestic consumer
industry that produced everything
from pins to cars, though their
quality did not match that of the
Western capitalist countries. The
Soviet state ensured a minimum
standard of living for all citizens,
and the government subsidised
basic necessities including health,
education, childcare and other
welfare schemes. There was no
unemployment. State ownership
was the dominant for m of
ownership: land and productive
assets were owned and controlled
by the Soviet state.
The Soviet system, however,
became very bureaucratic and
authoritarian, making life very
difficult for its citizens. Lack of
democracy and the absence of
freedom of speech stifled people who
often expressed their dissent in
jokes and cartoons. Most of the
institutions of the Soviet state
needed reform: the one-party
system represented by the
Communist Party of the Soviet
Union had tight control over all
institutions and was unaccountable
to the people. The party refused to
recognise the urge of people in the
fifteen different republics that formed
the Soviet Union to manage their
own affairs including their cultural
affairs. Although, on paper, Russia
was only one of the fifteen republics
that together constituted the USSR,
in reality Russia dominated
everything, and people from other
regions felt neglected and often
suppressed.
The End of Bipolarity
In the arms race, the Soviet
Union managed to match the US
from time to time, but at great
cost. The Soviet Union lagged
behind the West in technology,
infrastructure (e.g. transport,
power), and most importantly, in
fulfilling the political or economic
aspirations of citizens. The Soviet
invasion of Afghanistan in 1979
weakened the system even
further. Though wages continued
to grow, productivity and
technology fell considerably
behind that of the West. This led
to shortages in all consumer
goods. Food imports increased
every year. The Soviet economy
was faltering in the late 1970s and
became stagnant.
GORBACHEV AND THE
DISINTEGRATION
Mikhail Gorbachev, who had
become General Secretary of the
Communist Party of the Soviet
Union in 1985, sought to reform
this system. Refor ms were
necessary to keep the USSR
abreast of the information and
technological revolutions taking
place in the West. However,
Gorbachev’s decision to normalise
relations with the West and
democratise and reform the Soviet
Union had some other effects that
neither he nor anyone else
intended or anticipated. The
people in the East European
countries which were part of the
Soviet bloc started to protest
against their own governments
and Soviet control. Unlike in the
past, the Soviet Union, under
19
Gorbachev, did not intervene
when the disturbances occurred,
and the communist regimes
collapsed one after another.
LEADERS OF THE
These developments were SOVIET UNION
accompanied by a rapidly
escalating crisis within the USSR
that hastened its disintegration.
Gorbachev initiated the policies of
economic and political reform and
democratisation within the
country. The refor ms were
opposed by leaders within the
Joseph Stalin
Communist Party.
(1879-1953)
A coup took place in 1991 that Successor to Lenin
was encouraged by Communist and led the Soviet
Party hardliners. The people had Union during its
tasted freedom by then and did not consolidation
(1924-53); began
want the old-style rule of the
rapid
Communist Party. Boris Yeltsin industrialisation
emerged as a national hero in and forcible
opposing this coup. The Russian collectivisation of
Republic, where Yeltsin won a agriculture;
credited with
popular election, began to shake
Soviet victory in
off centralised control. Power the Second World
began to shift from the Soviet War; held
centre to the republics, especially responsible for the
in the more Europeanised part of Great Terror of the
1930s,
the Soviet Union, which saw
authoritarian
themselves as sovereign states.
functioning and
The Central Asian republics did elimination of
not ask for independence and rivals within the
wanted to remain with the Soviet party.
Federation. In December 1991,
under the leadership of Yeltsin,
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus,
three major republics of the
USSR, declared that the Soviet
Union was disbanded. The
Communist Party of the Soviet
Union was banned. Capitalism
and democracy were adopted as
the bases for the post-Soviet
republics.
2018-19
20
A Communist Party bureaucrat drives down from Moscow to a collective farm
to register a potato harvest.
“Comrade farmer, how has the harvest been this year?” the official asks.
LEADERS OF THE “Oh, by the grace of God, we had mountains of potatoes,” answers the
SOVIET UNION farmer.
“But there is no God,” counters the official.
“Huh”, says the farmer, “And there are no mountains of potatoes either.”
The declaration on the
disintegration of the USSR and the
formation of the Commonwealth
of Independent States (CIS) came
as a surprise to the other
Nikita Khrushchev
(1894-1971) republics, especially to the Central
Leader of the Asian ones. The exclusion of these
Soviet Union republics was an issue that was
(1953-64); quickly solved by making them
denounced founding members of the CIS.
Stalin’s leadership
Russia was now accepted as the
style and
introduced some successor state of the Soviet
reforms in 1956; Union. It inherited the Soviet seat
suggested in the UN Security Council. Russia
“peaceful accepted all the international
coexistence” with treaties and commitments of the
the West;
involved in
Soviet Union. It took over as the
only nuclear state of the post-
suppressing
Soviet space and carried out some
popular rebellion
in Hungary and in
nuclear disarmament measures
the Cuban missile
with the US. The old Soviet Union
crisis.
was thus dead and buried.
WHY DID THE SOVIET UNION
DISINTEGRATE?
How did the second most powerful
country in the world suddenly
disintegrate? This is a question
worth asking not just to
I am amazed! How
understand the Soviet Union and
could so many the end of communism but also
sensitive people all because it is not the first and may
over the world not be the last political system to
admire a system like collapse. While there are unique
this? features of the Soviet collapse,
2018-19
Contemporary World Politics
there may be more general lessons
to be drawn from this very
important case.
There is no doubt that the
internal weaknesses of Soviet
political and economic institutions,
which failed to meet the
aspirations of the people, were
responsible for the collapse of the
system. Economic stagnation for
many years led to severe
consumer shortages and a large
section of Soviet society began to
doubt and question the system
and to do so openly.
Why did the system become so
weak and why did the economy
stagnate? The answer is partially
clear. The Soviet economy used
much of its resources in
maintaining a nuclear and
military arsenal and the
development of its satellite states
in Eastern Europe and within the
Soviet system (the five Central
Asian Republics in particular).
This led to a huge economic
burden that the system could not
cope with. At the same time,
ordinary citizens became more
knowledgeable about the
economic advance of the West.
They could see the disparities
between their system and the
systems of the West. After years
of being told that the Soviet
The End of Bipolarity
system was better than Western
capitalism, the reality of its
backwardness came as a political
and psychological shock.
The Soviet Union had become
stagnant in an administrative and
political sense as well. The
Communist Party that had ruled
the Soviet Union for over 70 years
was not accountable to the people.
Ordinary people were alienated by
slow and stifling administration,
rampant corruption, the inability
of the system to correct mistakes
it had made, the unwillingness to
allow more openness in
government, and the centralisation
of authority in a vast land. Worse
still, the party bureaucrats gained
more privileges than ordinary
citizens. People did not identify
with the system and with the
rulers, and the gover nment
increasingly lost popular backing.
Gorbachev’s reforms promised
to deal with these problems.
Gorbachev promised to reform the
economy, catch up with the West,
and loosen the administrative
system. You may wonder why the
Soviet Union collapsed in spite of
Gorbachev’s accurate diagnosis of
the problem and his attempt to
implement reforms. Here is where
the answers become more
controversial, and we have to
depend on future historians to
guide us better.
The most basic answer seems
to be that when Gorbachev carried
out his reforms and loosened the
system, he set in motion forces and
expectations that few could have
predicted and became virtually
21
impossible to control. There were
sections of Soviet society which felt
that Gorbachev should have
moved much faster and were
disappointed and impatient with LEADERS OF THE
SOVIET UNION
his methods. They did not benefit
in the way they had hoped, or they
benefited too slowly. Others,
especially members of the
Communist Party and those who
were served by the system, took
exactly the opposite view. They felt
that their power and privileges
were eroding and Gorbachev was Leonid Brezhnev
moving too quickly. In this ‘tug of (1906-82)
war’, Gorbachev lost support on all Leader of the
sides and divided public opinion. Soviet Union (1964-
82); proposed
Even those who were with him
Asian Collective
became disillusioned as they felt Security system;
that he did not adequately defend associated with
his own policies. the détente phase
in relations with
All this might not have led to the US; involved in
the collapse of the Soviet Union but suppressing a
for another development that popular rebellion
surprised most observers and in Czechoslovakia
and in invading
indeed many insiders. The rise of
Afghanistan.
nationalism and the desire for
sovereignty within various
republics including Russia and the
Baltic Republics (Estonia, Latvia
and Lithuania), Ukraine, Georgia,
and others proved to be the final
and most immediate cause for the
disintegration of the USSR. Here
again there are differing views.
One view is that nationalist
urges and feelings were very much
at work throughout the history of
the Soviet Union and that whether
or not the reforms had occurred
there would have been an internal
struggle within the Soviet Union.
This is a ‘what-if’ of history, but
surely it is not an unreasonable
2018-19
22 Contemporary World Politics

view given the size and diversity of
the Soviet Union and its growing
internal problems. Others think
that Gorbachev’s reforms speeded
LEADERS OF THE up and increased nationalist
SOVIET UNION dissatisfaction to the point that
the government and rulers could
not control it.
Ironically, during the Cold War
many thought that nationalist
unrest would be strongest in the
Central Asian republics given their
ethnic and religious differences with
the rest of the Soviet Union and their
economic backwardness. However,
as things turned out, nationalist

TIMELINE OF DISINTEGRATION
OF THE SOVIET UNION
1985 March: Mikhail Gorbachev elected as the General Secretary of the
Mikhail Communist Party of the Soviet Union; appoints Boris Yeltsin as the head of the
Gorbachev Communist Party in Moscow; initiates a series of reforms in the Soviet Union
(Born 1931)
Last leader of the 1988: Independence movement begins in Lithuania; later spreads to Estonia
Soviet Union and Latvia
(1985-91);
introduced 1989 October: Soviet Union declares that the Warsaw Pact members are free
economic and to decide their own futures; Berlin Wall falls in November
political reform
policies of 1990 February: Gorbachev strips the Soviet Communist Party of its 72-year-long
perestroika monopoly on power by calling on the Soviet parliament (Duma) to permit multi-
(restructuring) party politics
and glasnost
(openness); 1990 March: Lithuania becomes the first of the 15 Soviet republics to declare its
stopped the arms independence
race with the US;
withdrew Soviet 1990 June: Russian parliament declares its independence from the Soviet Union
troops from
Afghanistan and 1991 June: Yeltsin, no longer in the Communist Party, becomes the President of
eastern Europe; Russia
helped in the
unification of 1991 August: The Communist Party hardliners stage an abortive coup against
Germany; ended Gorbachev
the Cold War;
blamed for the 1991 September: Three Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania become
disintegration of UN members (later join NATO in March 2004)
the Soviet Union.
1991 December: Russia, Belarus and Ukraine decide to annul the 1922 Treaty
on the Creation of the USSR and establish the Commonwealth of Independent
States (CIS); Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan join the CIS (Georgia joins later in 1993); Russia
takes over the USSR seat in the United Nations

1991 December 25: Gorbachev resigns as the President of the Soviet Union; the
end of the Soviet Union

2018-19
The End of Bipolarity
dissatisfaction with the Soviet Union
was strongest in the more
“European” and prosperous part –
in Russia and the Baltic areas as
well as Ukraine and Georgia.
Ordinary people here felt alienated
from the Central Asians and from
each other and concluded also that
they were paying too high an
economic price to keep the more
backward areas within the Soviet
Union.
CONSEQUENCES OF
DISINTEGRATION
The collapse of the second world
of the Soviet Union and the
socialist systems in eastern Europe
had profound consequences for
world politics. Let us note here
three broad kinds of enduring
changes that resulted from it.
Each of these had a number of
effects that we cannot list here.
First of all, it meant the end of
Cold War confrontations. The
ideological dispute over whether
the socialist system would beat the
capitalist system was not an issue
any more. Since this dispute had
engaged the military of the two
blocs, had triggered a massive
arms race and accumulation of
nuclear weapons, and had led to
the existence of military blocs, the
end of the confrontation demanded
an end to this arms race and a
possible new peace.
Second, power relations in
world politics changed and,
therefore, the relative influence of
ideas and institutions also
23
changed. The end of the Cold War
left open only two possibilities:
either the remaining superpower
would dominate and create a
unipolar system, or different LEADERS OF THE
countries or groups of countries SOVIET UNION
could become important players in
the international system, thereby
bringing in a multipolar system
where no one power could
dominate. As it turned out, the US
became the sole superpower.
Backed by the power and prestige
of the US, the capitalist economy
was now the dominant economic Boris Yeltsin
system internationally. Institutions (1931-2007)
like the World Bank and The first elected
International Monetary Fund President of
became powerful advisors to all Russia (1991-
1999); rose to
these countries since they gave
power in the
them loans for their transitions to Communist Party
capitalism. Politically, the notion of and was made
liberal democracy emerged as the the Mayor of
best way to organise political life. Moscow by
Gorbachev; later
Third, the end of the Soviet bloc joined the critics
meant the emergence of many new of Gorbachev
countries. All these countries had and left the
their own independent aspirations Communist Party;
led the protests
and choices. Some of them,
against the Soviet
especially the Baltic and east regime in 1991;
European states, wanted to join the played a key role
European Union and become part in dissolving the
of the North Atlantic T reaty Soviet Union;
Organisation (NATO). The Central blamed for
hardships
Asian countries wanted to take
suffered by
advantage of their geographical Russians in their
location and continue their close ties transition from
with Russia and also to establish ties communism to
with the West, the US, China and capitalism.
others. Thus, the international
system saw many new players
emerge, each with its own identity,
interests, and economic and political
difficulties. It is to these issues that
we now turn.
2018-19
24
SHOCK THERAPY IN
POST-COMMUNIST REGIMES
The collapse of communism was
followed in most of these
countries by a painful process of
transition from an authoritarian
socialist system to a democratic
I heard someone say
capitalist system. The model of
“The end of the
transition in Russia, Central Asia
Soviet Union does
not mean the end of
and east Eur ope that was
socialism.” Is that influenced by the World Bank
possible? and the IMF came to be known
as ‘shock therapy’. Shock therapy
varied in intensity and speed
amongst the former second world
countries, but its direction and
features were quite similar.
MAP OF CENTRAL, EASTERN EUROPE AND THE
Locate the
Central Asian
Republics on Source: https://www.unicef.org/hac2012/images/HAC2012_CEE-CIS_map_REVISED.gif
the map. Note: The boundaries and names shown and the designations used on this map do not imply
official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations.
2018-19
Contemporary World Politics
Each of these countries was
required to make a total shift to
a capitalist economy, which
meant rooting out completely
any structures evolved during
the Soviet period. Above all, it
meant that private ownership
was to be the dominant pattern
of ownership of property.
Privatisation of state assets and
corporate ownership patterns
were to be immediately brought
in. Collective farms were to be
replaced by private farming and
capitalism in agriculture. This
transition ruled out any
alternate or ‘third way’, other
than state-controlled socialism
or capitalism.
COMMONWEALTH OF INDEPENDENT STATES
The End of Bipolarity
Shock therapy also involved a
drastic change in the external
orientation of these economies.
Development was now envisaged
through more trade, and thus a
sudden and complete switch to
free trade was considered
essential. The free trade regime
and foreign direct investment
(FDI) were to be the main engines
of change. This also involved
openness to foreign investment,
financial opening up or
deregulation, and currency
convertibility.
Finally, the transition also
involved a break up of the existing
trade alliances among the
countries of the Soviet bloc. Each
state from this bloc was now
linked directly to the West and not
to each other in the region. These
states were thus to be gradually
absorbed into the Wester n
economic system. The Western
capitalist states now became the
leaders and thus guided and
controled the development of the
region through various agencies
and organisations.
CONSEQUENCES OF SHOCK
THERAPY
The shock therapy administered in
the 1990s did not lead the people
into the promised utopia of mass
consumption. Generally, it
brought ruin to the economies and
disaster upon the people of the
entire region. In Russia, the large
state-controlled industrial
complex almost collapsed, as
25
about 90 per cent of its industries
were put up for sale to private
individuals and companies. Since
the restructuring was carried out
through market forces and not by
government-directed industrial
policies, it led to the virtual
disappearance of entire industries.
This was called ‘the largest garage
sale in history’, as valuable
industries were undervalued and
sold at throwaway prices. Though
all citizens were given vouchers to
participate in the sales, most
citizens sold their vouchers in the
black market because they needed
the money.
The value of the ruble, the
Russian currency, declined
dramatically. The rate of inflation
was so high that people lost all
their savings. The collective farm
system disintegrated leaving
people without food security, and
Russia started to import food. The
real GDP of Russia in 1999 was
below what it was in 1989. The old
trading structure broke down with
no alternative in its place.
The old system of social welfare
was systematically destroyed. The
withdrawal of government
subsidies pushed large sections of
the people into poverty. The middle
classes were pushed to the
periphery of society, and the
academic and intellectual
manpower disintegrated or
migrated. A mafia emerged in most
of these countries and started I can see the shock.
controlling many economic But where is the
activities. Privatisation led to new therapy? Why do we
disparities. Post-Soviet states, talk in such
especially Russia, were divided euphemisms?
2018-19
26
between rich and poor regions.
Unlike the earlier system, there
was now great economic inequality
between people.
The construction of democratic
As a result of institutions was not given the
‘shock therapy’
same attention and priority as
about half of
the demands of economic
Russia’s 1,500
banks and other transformation. The constitutions
finacial institutions of all these countries were drafted
went bankrupt. in a hurry and most, including
This image is that Russia, had a strong executive
of Inkombank,
president with the widest possible
Russia’s second
largest bank, that powers that rendered elected
parliaments relatively weak. In
went bankrupt in
1998. As a result, Central Asia, the presidents had
the money of great powers, and several of them
10,000 corporate became very authoritarian. For
and private
example, the presidents of
shareholders was
lost, along with the Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan
money kept in the appointed themselves to power
bank by first for ten years and then
customers. extended it for another ten years.
They allowed no dissent or
opposition. A judicial culture and
independence of the judiciary was
yet to be established in most of
these countries.
Most of these economies,
especially Russia, started
reviving in 2000, ten years after
their independence. The reason
for the revival for most of their
economies was the export of
natural resources like oil, natural
gas and minerals. Azerbaijan,
What is the difference
Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan
between nationalism
and Uzbekistan are major oil and gas
and secessionism? If
you succeed, you are producers. Other countries have
celebrated as a gained because of the oil
nationalist hero, and if pipelines that cross their
you fail you are territories for which they get rent.
condemned for crimes Some amount of manufacturing
of secessionism.
has restarted.
2018-19
Contemporary World Politics
TENSIONS AND CONFLICTS
Most of the former Soviet
Republics are prone to conflicts,
and many have had civil wars and
insurgencies. Complicating the
picture is the growing involvement
of outside powers.
In Russia, two republics,
Chechnya and Dagestan, have
had violent secessionist
movements. Moscow’s method of
dealing with the Chechen rebels
and indiscriminate military
bombings have led to many
human rights violations but failed
to deter the aspirations for
independence.
In Central Asia, Tajikistan
witnessed a civil war that went on
for ten years till 2001. The region
as a whole has many sectarian
conflicts. In Azerbaijan’s province
of Nagorno-Karabakh, some local
Armenians want to secede and
join Armenia. In Georgia, the
demand for independence has
come from two provinces,
resulting in a civil war. There are
movements against the existing
regimes in Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan
and Georgia. Countries and
provinces are fighting over river
waters. All this has led to
instability, making life difficult for
the ordinary citizen.
The Central Asian Republics are
areas with vast hydrocarbon
resources, which have brought
them economic benefit. Central
Asia has also become a zone of
competition between outside
powers and oil companies. The
region is next to Russia, China,
Afghanistan, and Pakistan, and
The End of Bipolarity
close to West Asia. After 11
September 2001, the US wanted
military bases in the region and
paid the governments of all Central
Asian states to hire bases and to
allow airplanes to fly over their
territory during the wars in
Afghanistan and Iraq. However,
Russia perceives these states as its
‘Near Abroad’ and believes that they
should be under Russian influence.
China has interests here because
of the oil resources, and the Chinese
have begun to settle around the
borders and conduct trade.
In easter n Europe,
Czechoslovakia split peacefully
into two, with the Czechs and the
Slovaks forming independent
countries. But the most severe
conflict took place in the Balkan
republics of Yugoslavia. After
1991, it broke apart with several
provinces like Croatia, Slovenia
and Bosnia and Herzegovina
declaring independence. Ethnic
Serbs opposed this, and a
massacre of non-Serb Bosnians
followed. The NATO intervention
and the bombing of Yugoslavia
followed the inter-ethnic civil war.
INDIA AND POST-COMMUNIST
COUNTRIES
India has maintained good
relations with all the post-
communist countries. But the
strongest relations are still those
between Russia and India. India’s
relations with Russia are an
important aspect of India’s foreign
policy. Indo-Russian relations are
27
embedded in a history of trust and
Make a list of
common interests and are
the similarities
matched by popular perceptions.
between
Indian heroes from Raj Kapoor to
India and the
Amitabh Bachchan are household
USSR in their
names in Russia and many post-
political and
Soviet countries. One can hear
economic
Hindi film songs all over the
ideologies.
region, and India is part of the
popular memory.
Russia and India share a vision
of a multipolar world order. What
they mean by a multipolar world
BOLLYWOOD STIRS UZBEK
PASSIONS
Seven years after the Soviet Union collapsed, the Uzbek
passion for Indian films continues. Within months of the
release of the latest film in India, pirate copies were already
on sale in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent.
Mohammed Sharif Pat runs a shop selling Indian films near
one of Tashkent’s biggest markets. He is an Afghan who
brings videos from the Pakistani frontier town Peshawar.
“There are many people who love Indian films here. I’d say
at least 70% of the people in Tashkent buy them. We sell
about 100 videos a day. I’ve just had to put in an order for a
thousand more,” he says. “The Uzbeks are Central Asians,
they are part of Asia. They have a common culture. That’s
why they like Indian films.”
Despite the shared history, for many Indians living in
Uzbekistan, the passion the Uzbeks have for their films and
film stars has come as a bit of a surprise. “Wherever we go
and meet local dignitaries - even ministers or cabinet
ministers - during our conversation it is always mentioned,”
says Ashok Shamer from the Indian embassy in Tashkent. “This
shows that Indian films, culture, songs and especially Raj
Kapoor have been household names here. Most of them
can sing some Hindi songs, they may not know the meaning
but their pronunciation is correct and they know the music,”
he says. “I have found out that almost all my neighbours
can sing and play Hindi songs. This was really a big surprise
to me when I came to Uzbekistan.”
A report by the BBC’s Central Asia Correspondent Louise Hidalgo
2018-19
28
FLASHBACK: INDIA
AND THE USSR
During the Cold War era, India and
the USSR enjoyed a special
relationship which led critics to say
that India was part of the Soviet
camp. It was a multi-dimensional
relationship:
Economic: The Soviet Union assisted
India’s public sector companies at a
time when such assistance was
difficult to get. It gave aid and
technical assistance for steel plants
like Bhilai, Bokaro, Visakhapatnam,
and machinery plants like Bharat
Heavy Electricals Ltd., etc. The Soviet
Union accepted Indian currency for
trade when India was short of foreign
exchange.
Political: The Soviet Union supported
India’s positions on the Kashmir issue
in the UN. It also supported India
during its major conflicts, especially
during the war with Pakistan in 1971.
India too supported Soviet foreign
policy in some crucial but indirect
ways.
Military: India received most of its
military hardware from the Soviet
Union at a time when few other
countries were willing to part with
military technologies. The Soviet Union
entered into various agreements
allowing India to jointly produce
military equipment.
Culture: Hindi films and Indian culture
were popular in the Soviet Union. A
large number of Indian writers and
artists visited the USSR.
Contemporary World Politics
order is the co-existence of several powers in the
international system, collective security (in which an
attack on any country is regarded as a threat to all
countries and requires a collective response), greater
regionalism, negotiated settlements of international
conflicts, an independent foreign policy for all countries,
and decision making through bodies like the UN that
should be strengthened, democratised, and empowered.
More than 80 bilateral agreements have been signed
between India and Russia as part of the Indo-Russian
Strategic Agreement of 2001.
India stands to benefit from its relationship with
Russia on issues like Kashmir, energy supplies,
sharing information on international terrorism,
STEPS
© Select any five Cold War allies each of the Soviet
Union and the US.
© Divide the class accordingly (10 groups). Allot a
country to each group. Assign the group to
collect information on the political, social and
economic profile of these countries during the
Cold War days.
© They should also prepare a profile of that
country after the collapse of communism and
say what difference, if any, the disintegration of
the second world made to that country.
© Each group is to present its findings to the entire
class. Ensure that students talk about how
people of these countries felt about themselves
as citizens.
Ideas for the Teacher
* You could link the students’ findings to the working of the
democratic system and communist system and highlight
the pros and cons of both these systems.
* You could encourage the students to discuss if there is an
alternative to both communism and capitalism.
2018-19
The End of Bipolarity 29

access to Central Asia, and imports from Russia and the

balancing its relations with
China. Russia stands to benefit
from this relationship because
India is the second largest arms
market for Russia. The Indian
military gets most of its hardware
from Russia. Since India is an oil-
importing nation, Russia is
important to India and has
repeatedly come to the assistance
of India during its oil crises. India
is seeking to increase its energy
republics of Kazakhstan and
Turkmenistan. Cooperation with
these r epublics includes
partnership and investment in
oilfields. Russia is important for
India’s nuclear energy plans and
assisted India’s space industry by
giving, for example, the cryogenic
rocket when India needed it.
Russia and India have
collaborated on various scientific
projects.

E x e r c i s e s
1. Which among the following statements that describe the nature
of Soviet economy is wrong?
a. Socialism was the dominant ideology
b. State ownership/control existed over the factors of production
c. People enjoyed economic freedom
d. Every aspect of the economy was planned and controlled by
the State
2. Arrange the following in chronological order:
a. Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
b. Fall of the Berlin Wall
c. Disintegration of the Soviet Union
d. Russian Revolution
3. Which among the following is NOT an outcome of the disintegration
of the USSR?
a. End of the ideological war between the US and USSR
b. Birth of CIS
c. Change in the balance of power in the world order
d. Crises in the Middle East
4. Match the following:
i. Mikhail Gorbachev a. Successor of USSR
ii. Shock Therapy b. Military pact
iii. Russia c. Introduced reforms
iv. Boris Yeltsin d. Economic model
v. Warsaw e. President of Russia

2018-19
30 Contemporary World Politics

5. Fill in the blanks.

a. The Soviet political system was based on ___________________
ideology.
b. _________________ was the military alliance started by the USSR.
E x e r c i s e s
c. ____________________ party dominated the Soviet Union’s
political system.
d. ______________________ initiated the reforms in the USSR in 1985.
e. The fall of the ____________________ symbolised the end of the
Cold War.
6. Mention any three features that distinguish the Soviet economy from
that of a capitalist country like the US.
7. What were the factors that forced Gorbachev to initiate the reforms
in the USSR?
8. What were the major consequences of the disintegration of the
Soviet Union for countries like India?
9. What was Shock Therapy? Was this the best way to make a transition
from communism to capitalism?
10. Write an essay for or against the following proposition: “With the
disintegration of the second world, India should change its foreign
policy and focus more on friendship with the US rather than with
traditional friends like Russia”.

2018-19
 Chapter 3
US Hegemony in World Politics

OVERVIEW
We have seen that the end of Cold
War left the US without any
serious rival in the world. The era
since then has been described as
a period of US dominance or a
unipolar world. In this chapter, we
try to understand the nature,
extent and limits of this
dominance. We begin by narrating
the story of the rise of the new
world order from the First Gulf
War to the US-led invasion of Iraq.
We then pause to understand the
nature of US domination with the
help of the concept of ‘hegemony’.
After exploring the political, The attack on the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in
economic and cultural aspects of New York on 11 September 2001 has been seen as a
US hegemony, we assess India’s watershed event in contemporary history.
policy options in dealing with the
US. Finally, we turn to see if there
are challenges to this hegemony
and whether it can be overcome.

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32
AYESHA, JABU AND ANDREI
Ayesha was doing very well in her
studies at a high school in the
outskirts of Baghdad, and was
planning to study medicine in
university. She lost a leg in 2003
when a missile slammed into an
air raid shelter in which she was
hiding with her friends. Now she
is learning to walk all over again.
She still plans to become a doctor,
but only after the foreign armies
leave her country.
Jabu is a talented young artist
who lives in Durban, South Africa.
His paintings are heavily
influenced by traditional tribal art
forms. He wants to go to art school
and later open his own studio.
However, his father wants him to
study for an MBA and then join
the family business. The business
is not doing too well; Jabu’s father
feels that with an MBA degree,
Jabu will be able to make the
family business profitable.
Andrei is a young man living
in Perth, Australia. His parents are
immigrants from Russia. His
mother gets very angry every time
Andrei puts on blue jeans to go to
church. She wants him to look
respectable in church. Andrei tells
his mother that jeans are “cool”,
that they give him the sense of
freedom. Andrei’s father reminds
I’m glad I did not opt his wife how they too used to wear
for the Science jeans when they were youngsters
subjects. Or else I too
in Leningrad, and for the same
would have been a
reason that their son now invokes.
victim of US
hegemony. Can you Andrei has had an argument
think how and why?
with his mother. Jabu may be
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Contemporary World Politics
forced to study a subject that he
has no interest in. In contrast,
Ayesha has lost her leg and is
lucky to be alive. How can we even
discuss their problems in the same
breath? We can, and must, do so.
As we shall see in this chapter, all
three have been, in different ways,
affected by US hegemony. We will
meet Ayesha, Jabu and Andrei
again. But let us first understand
how US hegemony began and how
it operates in the world today.
We will follow the popular
usage of the word ‘America’ to
refer to the United States of
America. But it may be useful to
remind ourselves that the
expression America covers the two
continents of North and South
America and that the US is only
one of the countries of the
American continent. Thus, the use
of the word America solely for the
US is already a sign of the US
hegemony that we seek to
understand in this chapter.
BEGINNING OF THE ‘NEW
WORLD ORDER’
The sudden collapse of the Soviet
Union took everyone by surprise.
While one of the two superpowers
ceased to exist, the other remained
with all its powers intact, even
enhanced. Thus, it would appear
that the US hegemony began in
1991 after Soviet power
disappeared from the international
scene. This is largely correct, but
we need to keep in mind two riders
to this. First, as we shall see in this
US Hegemony in World Politics 33

This picture of burned and broken vehicles was taken on the ‘Highway of Death’, a road between Kuwait and
Basra, on which the retreating Iraqi army was attacked by American aircraft during the First Gulf War in February
1991. Some commentators have suggested that the US forces deliberately bombed this stretch of highway where
fleeing and ‘out of combat’ Iraqi soldiers were stuck in a frenzied traffic jam and that the victims included Kuwaiti
prisoners and hostages and Palestinian civilian refugees. Many observers have called it a ‘war crime’ and a
violation of the Geneva Convention.

chapter, some aspects of US series of diplomatic attempts failed

hegemony did not emerge in 1991
but in fact go back to the end of
the Second World War in 1945.
Second, the US did not start
behaving like a hegemonic power
right from 1991; it became clear
much later that the world was in
fact living in a period of hegemony.
Let us therefore look at this
process by which US hegemony
got established more closely.
In August 1990, Iraq invaded
Kuwait, rapidly occupying and
subsequently annexing it. After a
at convincing Iraq to quit its
aggression, the United Nations
mandated the liberation of Kuwait
by force. For the UN, this was a
dramatic decision after years of
deadlock during the Cold War. The
US President George H.W. Bush
hailed the emergence of a ‘new
world order’.
A massive coalition force of
660,000 troops from 34 countries
fought against Iraq and defeated
it in what came to be known as
the First Gulf War. However, the

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34
UN operation, which was called
‘Operation Desert Storm’, was
overwhelmingly American. An
American general, Nor man
Schwarzkopf, led the UN coalition
and nearly 75 per cent of the
coalition forces were from the US.
Although the Iraqi President,
Saddam Hussein, had promised
“the mother of all battles”, the
Iraqi forces were quickly defeated
and forced to withdraw from
Kuwait.
The First Gulf War revealed the
vast technological gap that had
opened up between the US military
capability and that of other states.
Is it true that the US has The highly publicised use of so-
never fought a war on called ‘smart bombs’ by the US led
its own land? Doesn’t some observers to call this a
that make it easy for ‘computer war’. Widespread
Americans to get into
television coverage also made it a
military adventures?
‘video game war’, with viewers
around the world watching the
destruction of Iraqi forces live
on TV in the comfort of their
living rooms.
Incredibly, the US may
actually have made a profit from
the war. According to many
reports, the US received more
money from countries like
Ger many, Japan and Saudi
Arabia than it had spent on
the war.
THE CLINTON YEARS
Despite winning the First Gulf
War, George H.W. Bush lost the
US presidential elections of 1992
to William Jefferson (Bill) Clinton of
the Democratic Party, who had
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Contemporary World Politics
campaigned on domestic rather
than foreign policy issues. Bill
Clinton won again in 1996 and
thus remained the president of the
US for eight years. During the
Clinton years, it often seemed that
the US had withdrawn into its
internal affairs and was not fully
engaged in world politics. In
foreign policy, the Clinton
government tended to focus on
‘soft issues’ like democracy
promotion, climate change and
world trade rather than on the
‘hard politics’ of military power
and security.
Nevertheless, the US on
occasion did show its readiness to
use military power even during the
Clinton years. The most important
episode occurred in 1999, in
response to Yugoslavian actions
against the predominantly
Albanian population in the
province of Kosovo. The air forces
of the NATO countries, led by the
US, bombarded targets around
Yugoslavia for well over two
months, forcing the downfall of
the government of Slobodan
Milosevic and the stationing of a
NATO force in Kosovo.
Another significant US military
action during the Clinton years was
in response to the bombing of the
US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya
and Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania in
1998. These bombings were
attributed to Al-Qaeda, a terrorist
organisation strongly influenced by
extremist Islamist ideas. Within a
few days of this bombing, President
Clinton ordered Operation Infinite
US Hegemony in World Politics 35

This is ridiculous!
Does it mean
that Sri Lanka
can drop a
missile on Paris if
it suspects that
some of the LTTE
militants are
hiding there?

Reach, a series of cruise missile

strikes on Al-Qaeda terrorist targets
in Sudan and Afghanistan. The US
did not bother about the UN
sanction or provisions of
international law in this regard. It
was alleged that some of the targets
were civilian facilities unconnected
to terrorism. In retrospect, this was
merely the beginning.

9/11 AND THE ‘GLOBAL

WAR ON TERROR’
On 11 September 2001, nineteen
hijackers hailing from a number
of Arab countries took control of
four American commercial aircraft
This is how The New York Times reported 9/11 in its edition the
shortly after takeoff and flew them following morning.
into important buildings in the
US. One airliner each crashed into
write the month first, followed by
the North and South Towers of the
the date; hence the short form ‘9/
World Trade Centre in New York.
11’ instead of ‘11/9’ as we would
A third aircraft crashed into the
write in India).
Pentagon building in Arlington,
Virginia, where the US Defence The attacks killed nearly three
Department is headquartered. thousand persons. In terms of their
The fourth aircraft, presumably shocking effect on Americans, they
bound for the Capitol building of have been compared to the British
the US Congress, came down in a burning of Washington, DC in 1814
field in Pennsylvania. The attacks and the Japanese attack on Pearl
have come to be known as “9/11”. Harbour in 1941. However, in terms
(In America the convention is to of loss of life, 9/11 was the most

2018-19
36 Contemporary World Politics

severe attack on US soil since the Qaeda have remained potent, as

founding of the country in 1776. is clear from the number of
terrorist attacks launched by
The US response to 9/11 was
them against Western targets
swift and ferocious. Clinton had
since.
been succeeded in the US
presidency by George W. Bush The US forces made arrests
of the Republican Party, son of all over the world, often without
the earlier President George H. the knowledge of the government
W. Bush. Unlike Clinton, Bush of the persons being arrested,
had a much harder view of US transported these persons
interests and of the means by across countries and detained
which to advance them. As a part them in secret prisons. Some of
of its ‘Global War on Terror’, the them were brought to
Do they also have US launched ‘Operation Guantanamo Bay, a US Naval
political dynasties in Enduring Freedom’ against all base in Cuba, where the
the US? Or was this the those suspected to be behind prisoners did not enjoy the
only exception? this attack, mainly Al-Qaeda and protection of international law or
the Taliban regime in the law of their own country or
Afghanistan. The Taliban regime that of the US. Even the UN
was easily overthr own, but representatives were not allowed
remnants of the Taliban and Al- to meet these prisoners.
© Andy Singer, Cagle Cartoons Inc.

© Andy Singer, Cagle Cartoons Inc.

Suppose you are the Secretary of State in the US (their equivalent of our Minister of External Affairs).
How would you react in a press conference to these cartoons?

2018-19
US Hegemony in World Politics 37

THE IRAQ INVASION

On 19 March 2003, the US
launched its invasion of Iraq under
the codename ‘Operation Iraqi
Freedom’. More than forty other
countries joined in the US-led
‘coalition of the willing’ after the UN
[Map of Post-Soviet Countries]
refused to give its mandate to the
invasion. The ostensible purpose of
the invasion was to prevent Iraq
from developing weapons of mass
destruction (WMD). Since no
evidence of WMD has been
unearthed in Iraq, it is speculated
that the invasion was motivated by
other objectives, such as controlling
Iraqi oilfields and installing a regime
friendly to the US.
Although the government of
Saddam Hussein fell swiftly, the
US has not been able to ‘pacify’
Iraq. Instead, a full-fledged
insurgency against US occupation
was ignited in Iraq. While the US
Soldier World Map © Ares, Cagle Cartoons Inc.
has lost over 3,000 military
personnel in the war, Iraqi
casualties are very much higher.
WHAT DOES HEGEMONY
It is conservatively estimated that MEAN?
50,000 Iraqi civilians have been
killed since the US-led invasion. Politics is about power. Just as
It is now widely recognised that individuals want to gain and
the US invasion of Iraq was, in retain power, groups too want to
some crucial respects, both a gain and retain power. We
military and political failure. routinely talk of someone
becoming powerful or someone
doing something for power. In the
List the post- case of world politics too,
Cold War countries and groups of countries
conflicts/wars are engaged in constantly trying
in which the to gain and retain power. This
US played a power is in the form of military
critical role. domination, economic power,
political clout and cultural
superiority.

2018-19
 38
© Angel Boligan, Cagle Cartoons Inc.
Entitled ‘Under US Thumb’, this cartoon captures our
commonsensical understanding of what hegemony means.
What does this cartoon say about the nature of US hegemony?
Which part of the world is the cartoonist talking about?
Therefore, if we wanted to
understand world politics, it is
necessary that we understand the
distribution of power among the
countries of the world. For instance,
during the years of the Cold War
(1945-91) power was divided
between the two groups of
countries, and the US and the Soviet
Union represented the two ‘camps’
or centres of power in international
politics during that period. The
collapse of the Soviet Union left the
Why use such
world with only a single power, the
complicated words
United States of America.
like hegemony? In
my town they call it
Sometimes, the international system
dadagiri. Isn’t that dominated by a sole superpower, or
better? hyper-power, is called a ‘unipolar’
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Contemporary World Politics
system. This appears to be a
misapplication of the idea of ‘pole’
derived from physics. It may be
more appropriate to describe an
international system with only one
centre of power by the term
‘hegemony’.
We can identify three very
different understandings of what
hegemony is. Let us examine each
of these meanings of hegemony
and relate them to contemporary
international politics.
HEGEMONY AS HARD
POWER
The roots of the word hegemony lie
in classical Greek. The word implies
the leadership or predominance of
one state, and was originally used
to denote the preponderant
position of Athens vis-à-vis the
other city-states of ancient Greece.
Thus, the first meaning of
hegemony relates to the relations,
patterns and balances of military
capability between states. It is this
notion of hegemony as military
preponderance that is especially
germane to the current position
and role of the US in world politics.
Do you remember Ayesha, who
lost her leg in an American missile
attack? It is hard power hegemony
that has broken Ayesha’s body, if
not her spirit.
The bedrock of contemporary
US power lies in the overwhelming
superiority of its military power.
American military dominance
today is both absolute and
relative. In absolute terms, the US
US Hegemony in World Politics 39
US COMMAND STRUCTURE

Source: http://www.c6f.navy.mil/about/area-responsibility

Note: The representation of boundaries is not necessarily authoritative.

Most armed forces
today has military capabilities that chasm that no other power can at in the world divide
their areas of
can reach any point on the planet present conceivably span. operation into
accurately, lethally and in real various
Undoubtedly, the US invasion
time, thereby crippling the ‘commands’
of Iraq reveals several American which are
adversary while its own forces are
vulnerabilities. The US has not assigned to
sheltered to the maximum extent
been able to force the Iraqi people different
possible from the dangers of war. commanders. This
into submitting to the occupation
map depicts the
But even more awesome than forces of the US-led coalition. To
areas of
the absolute capabilities of the US fully understand the nature of responsibility of
is the fact that no other power American weakness, however, we the six Commands
today can remotely match them. need to have a historical of the US armed
forces. It shows
The US today spends more on its perspective. Imperial powers
that the
military capability than the through history have used commands of the
next 12 powers combined. military forces to accomplish only US military are not
Furthermore, a large chunk of the four tasks: to conquer, deter, limited to the area
Pentagon’s budget goes into punish and police. As the Iraq of the United
States; it extends
military research and development, invasion shows, the American to include the
or, in other words, technology. capacity to conquer is formidable. whole world. What
Thus, the military dominance of Similarly, the US capability to does this map tell
the US is not just based on higher deter and to punish is self-evident. us about the
military power of
military spending, but on a Where US military capability has the US?
qualitative gap, a technological thus far been shown to have

2018-19
40 Contemporary World Politics

world economy
without paying the
costs of maintaining
its openness.
Hegemony in this
second sense is
reflected in the role
played by the US in
providing global
public goods. By
public goods we
mean those goods
that can be consumed
by one person
without reducing the
amount of the good
Source: The Military Balance 2017 (International Institute for Strategic Studies, London)
available for someone
The US today spends more on its military capability than the next 12 powers combined. else. Fresh air and
As you can see here, most of the other countries that are big military spenders are US
friends and allies. Thus, balancing US power is not a feasible strategy today.
roads are examples of
public goods. In the
serious weaknesses is in policing context of the world economy, the
an occupied territory. best examples of a global public
good are sea-lanes of
communication (SLOCs), the sea
HEGEMONY AS STRUCTURAL routes commonly used by
merchant ships. Free trade in an
POWER open world economy would not be
The second notion of hegemony is possible without open SLOCs.
very different from the first. It
emerges from a particular
understanding of the world
economy. The basic idea is that
an open world economy requires
a hegemon or dominant power to
support its creation and
existence. The hegemon must
© Ares, Cagle Cartoons Inc.

possess both the ability and the

desire to establish certain norms
for order and must sustain the
global structure. The hegemon
usually does this to its own
advantage but often to its relative
detriment, as its competitors take
advantage of the openness of the
Dollar World

2018-19
US Hegemony in World Politics
It is the naval power of the
hegemon that underwrites the
law of the sea and ensures
freedom of navigation in
international waters. Since the
decline of British naval power
after the Second World War, the
multi-oceanic US Navy has played
this role.
Another example of a global
public good is the Inter net.
Although it is seen today as
making the virtual world of the
World Wide Web possible, we
should not forget that the Internet
is the direct outcome of a US
military research project that
began in 1950. Even today, the
Internet relies on a global network
of satellites, most of which are
owned by the US government.
As we know, the US is present
in all parts of the world, in all
The American economy is the largest in the world, but unlike in the sphere of military power,
the US faces credible competitors in the world economy. This becomes even clearer if we
consider the world economy in Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) terms as in the graphic on the
right. PPP is what a nation’s currency actually buys in goods and services.
41
sectors of the world economy and
in all areas of technology. The US
share of the world economy
remains an enormous 24 per cent.
The US also accounts for
almost 14 per cent of world trade,
if intra-European Union trade is
included in world trade data.
There is not a single sector of the
world economy in which an
American firm does not feature in
the “top three” list.
It is important to remember
that the economic preponderance
of the US is inseparable from its
structural power, which is the
How can this country
power to shape the global economy
be so rich? I see so
in a particular way. After all, the
many poor people
Bretton Woods system, set up by
here. Most of them
the US after the Second World War, are non-White.
still constitutes the basic
structure of the world economy.
Thus, we can regard the World
2018-19
42
Bank, International Monetary
Fund (IMF) and World Trade
Organisation (WTO) as the
products of American hegemony.
A classic example of the
structural power of the US is the
academic degree called the
Master’s in Business Administration
(MBA). The idea that business is
a profession that depends upon
skills that can be taught in a
university is uniquely American.
The first business school in the
world, the Wharton School at the
University of Pennsylvania, was
established in 1881. The first MBA
courses were initiated around
1900. The first MBA course
outside the US was established
only in 1950. Today, there is no
country in the world in which the
MBA is not a prestigious academic
degree. This takes us back to our
South African friend Jabu.
Structural hegemony explains
why Jabu’s father is insisting that
his son gives up painting and
studies for the MBA instead.
HEGEMONY AS SOFT POWER
It would however be a mistake to
see US hegemony in purely military
If I had opted for the
and economic terms without
Science subjects considering the ideological or the
I would have to sit for cultural dimension of US
the entrance exams to hegemony. This third sense of
medical or
hegemony is about the capacity to
engineering college.
‘manufacture consent’. Here,
That would mean
hegemony implies class
competing with so
many others who wish ascendancy in the social, political
to become doctors or and particularly ideological
engineers so as to go spheres. Hegemony arises when
to the US. the dominant class or country can
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Contemporary World Politics
win the consent of dominated
classes, by persuading the
dominated classes to view the
world in a manner favourable to the
ascendancy of the dominant class.
Adapted to the field of world
politics, this notion of hegemony
suggests that a dominant power
deploys not only military power but
also ideological resources to shape
the behaviour of competing and
lesser powers. The behaviour of the
weaker countries is influenced in
ways that favour the interests of
the most powerful country, in
particular its desire to remain pre-
eminent. Consent, in other words,
goes hand-in-hand with, and is
often more effective than, coercion.
The predominance of the US in
the world today is based not only
on its military power and economic
prowess, but also on its cultural
presence. Whether we choose to
recognise the fact or not, all ideas
of the good life and personal
success, most of the dreams of
individuals and societies across
the globe, are dreams churned out
by practices prevailing in
twentieth-century America.
America is the most seductive, and
in this sense the most powerful,
culture on earth. This attribute is
called ‘soft power’: the ability to
persuade rather than coerce. Over
time we get so used to hegemony
that we hardly notice it, any more
than we notice the rivers, birds,
and trees around us.
You couldn’t have forgotten
Andrei and his ‘cool’ pair of blue
jeans. When his parents were
youngsters in the Soviet Union,
US Hegemony in World Politics 43

blue jeans were the ultimate

symbol of ‘liberation’ for their
generation. Young men and
women often spent over a year’s
salary to buy blue jeans from
foreign tourists on the black
market. Somehow, for an entire
Soviet generation blue jeans came
to represent aspirations of the
‘good life’ that were not available
in their own country.
During the Cold War, the US
found it difficult to score victories
against the Soviet Union in the
realm of hard power. It was in the
area of structural power and soft
power that the US scored notable
victories. Although the Soviet
centrally-planned economy
provided an alternate model of
internal economic organisation,
the world economy throughout the
Cold War years remained a world
capitalist economy. But it was in
the area of soft power that the US
was ultimately triumphant. As the
example of blue jeans in the Soviet

That is strange!
I never think of the
US when buying
jeans for myself.
How can I still be
a victim of US
hegemony?

All these images are from Jakarta in

Indonesia. Identify elements of US
hegemony in each of these
photographs. Can you identify similar
elements on your way back from
school to home?

2018-19
44
Union clearly shows, the US was
able to engineer a generational
divide in Soviet society on the basis
of a cultural product.
CONSTRAINTS ON AMERICAN
POWER
History tells us that empires
decline because they decay from
within. Similarly, the biggest
constraints to American
hegemony lie within the heart of
hegemony itself. We can identify
three constraints on American
power. None of these constraints
seemed to operate in the years
following 9/11. However, it now
appears that all three of these
constraints are slowly beginning
to operate again.
The first constraint is the
institutional architecture of the
American state itself. A system of
division of powers between the
three branches of government
These two photographs are from an exhibition on the Human Costs of the Iraq War by the American Friends
Service Committee organised at the National Convention of the Democratic Party in 2004. To what extent do
protests like this constrain the US government?
2018-19
Contemporary World Politics
places significant brakes upon the
unrestrained and immoderate
exercise of America’s military
power by the executive branch.
The second constraint on
American power is also domestic
in nature, and stems from the
open nature of American society.
Although the American mass
media may from time to time
impose or promote a particular
perspective on domestic public
opinion in the US, there is
nevertheless a deep scepticism
regarding the purposes and
methods of government in
American political culture. This
factor, in the long run, is a huge
constraint on US military action
overseas.
However, it is the third
constraint on the US that is
perhaps the most important.
There is only one organisation in
the international system that
could possibly moderate the
US Hegemony in World Politics
exercise of American power today,
and that is the North Atlantic
Treaty Organisation (NATO). The
US obviously has an enormous
interest in keeping the alliance of
democracies that follow the
market economies alive and
therefore it is possible that its
allies in the NATO will be able to
moderate the exercise of US
hegemony.
INDIA’S RELATIONSHIP WITH
THE US
During the Cold War years, India
found itself on the opposite side
of the divide from the US. India’s
closest friendship during those
years was with the Soviet Union.
After the collapse of the Soviet
Union, India suddenly found itself
friendless in an increasingly hostile
international environment. However,
these were also the years when
India decided to liberalise its
economy and integrate it with the
global economy. This policy and
India’s impressive economic
growth rates in recent years have
made the country an attractive
economic partner for a number of
countries including the US.
It is important that we do not
lose sight of the fact that two new
factors have emerged in Indo-US
relations in recent years. These
factors relate to the technological
dimension and the role of the
Indian-American diaspora.
Indeed, these two factors are
45
interrelated. Consider the
following facts:
The US absorbs about 65 per
cent of India’s total exports in
the software sector.
35 per cent of the technical
staff of Boeing is estimated to
be of Indian origin.
300,000 Indians work in
Silicon Valley.
15 percent of all high-tech
start-ups are by Indian-
Americans.
Like all other countries, India
too has to decide exactly what type
of relationship it wants with the US
in this phase of global hegemony.
The choices are not exactly easy.
Within India, the debate seems to As soon as I say I am
be around three possible strategies. from India, they ask
me if I am a
Those Indian analysts who see
computer engineer.
international politics largely in That feels nice.
terms of military power are
fearful of the growing
closeness between India and
the US. They would prefer that
India maintains its aloofness
from Washington and focuses
upon increasing its own
comprehensive national power.
Other analysts see the growing
Collect news
convergence of interests
clippings and
between the US and India as a
articles about
historic opportunity for India.
the recent
They advocate a strategy that
Indo-US civil
would allow India to take
nuclear deal.
advantage of US hegemony
Summarise the
and the mutual convergences
position of the
to establish the best possible
supporters and
options for itself. Opposing the
opponents of
US, they argue, is a futile
the deal.
2018-19
46 Contemporary World Politics

strategy that will only hurt

LOK SABHA DEBATES INDO-US
India in the long run.
RELATIONS
A third group of analysts
Here are three extracts from the speeches by the Prime would advocate that India
Minister and two opposition leaders during the debate should take the lead in
in Lok Sabha on the Indo-US agreement on nuclear establishing a coalition of
energy. Are these three positions in some way linked countries from the developing
to the three strategies mentioned in the chapter? world. Over time, this coalition
would become more powerful
Dr Manmohan Singh, Congress and may succeed in weaning
“Sir, I would respectfully urge this august House to
the hegemon away from its
recognise the changed mood of the world towards
India. This is not to say that power politics is a thing of dominating ways.
the past; that there will never be any attempt to twist India-US relations are perhaps
our arms. We will protect ourselves to ensure against too complex to be managed by a
the risks that are there. But it would be wrong for us
single strategy. India needs to
not to take advantage of the opportunities that are
now on the horizon. I sincerely believe that it is in the develop an appropriate mix of
interest of our country to have good relations with all foreign policy strategies to deal
the major powers. I make no apology that we seek with the US.
good relations with the United States. The United States
is a pre-eminent power.”
HOW CAN HEGEMONY BE
Shri Basu Deb Acharia, CPI(M)
“Since Independence, we have been pursuing
OVERCOME?
independent foreign policy because of our national
interest. What have we seen in case of Iraq and in
How long will hegemony last? How
case of Iran? After the July statement, and when there do we get beyond hegemony?
was voting in International Atomic Energy Agency, we These become, for obvious
found that we sided with the United States of America. reasons, some of the burning
We supported the resolution moved by US and P 5. questions of our time. History
That was not expected before that. When we were provides us with some fascinating
trying to bring gas from Iran via Pakistan which we clues to answer these questions.
need, we supported America’s stand in regard to Iran.
But what about the present and
There we find that the independent foreign policy has
been affected.”
the future? In inter national
politics, very few factors formally
Maj. Gen. (Retd.) B. C. Khanduri, BJP curtail the exercise of military
“We have also to take note of the fact that today US power by any country. There is no
is — whether we like it or not — the only super power world government like the
in this unipolar world. But at the same time, we must government of a country. As we
also remember that India is also emerging as a world shall see in Chapter 6,
power, and a super power. Therefore, we feel that
international organisation is not
we should have good relations with the USA in the
international scenario, but it should not be at the cost
world gover nment. Thus,
of our security.” international politics is ‘politics
without government’. There are
some rules and norms called the
laws of war that restrict, but do

2018-19
US Hegemony in World Politics 47

© Cam Cardow, Cagle Cartoons Inc.

not prohibit, war. But few states
will entrust their security to
international law alone. Does this
mean that there is no escape from
war and hegemony?
In the short term, we must
recognise that no single power is
anywhere near balancing the US
militarily. A military coalition
against the US is even less likely
given the differences that exist
among big countries like China,
India, and Russia that have the
potential to challenge US
hegemony.
How long do you think the US will stay on the super-power
Some people argue that it is stage? If you were to draw this, who would you show as waiting
strategically more prudent to take in the wings?

advantage of the opportunities

that hegemony creates. For
instance, raising economic growth
rates requires increased trade,
technology transfers, and
investment, which are best
acquired by working with rather
than against the hegemon. Thus,
it is suggested that instead of
engaging in activities opposed to
the hegemonic power, it may be
advisable to extract benefits by
operating within the hegemonic
system. This is called the
‘bandwagon’ strategy.
Another strategy open to
states is to ‘hide’. This implies
staying as far removed from the
dominant power as possible.
There are many examples of this
behaviour. China, Russia, the
European Union—all of them, in
different ways, are seeking to stay
below the radar, as it were, and
not overly and unduly antagonise
the US. However, this would not
seem to be viable for the big,
second-rank powers for very long.
While it may be an attractive, viable
policy for small states, it is hard to
imagine mega-states like China,
India, and Russia or huge
agglomerations such as the EU
being able to hide for any
substantial length of time.
Some people believe that
resistance to American hegemony
may not come from other states,
which as we have seen are
powerless to confront the US
today, but rather from non-state
actors. These challenges to
American hegemony will emerge
in the economic and cultural
realms, and will come from a
combination of non-governmental
organisations (NGOs), social
movements, and public opinion; it
may arise from sections of the
media and intellectuals, artists,
and writers. These various actors

2018-19
48 Contemporary World Politics

may well form links across

national boundaries, including
with Americans, to criticise and
resist US policies.
You might have heard the
saying that we now live in a
‘global village’. In this global
village, we are all neighbours of
the village headman. If the
STEPS behaviour of the headman
© Assign students to major geo-political regions of becomes intolerable, we will not
the world from the vantage point of the US have the option of leaving the
(Central America, South America, Africa, global village, because this is the
Europe, former USSR, West Asia, South Asia, East only world we know and the only
Asia and Australia). Alternatively, you could village we have. Resistance will
assign students to major conflict zones of the then be the only option available.
post-Cold War period in which the US was
involved. (e.g., Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel-Palestine
or Kosovo or any active conflict at the time of
teaching).
© Group the students in equal strength according
to the number of areas identified. Each group is
to prepare a fact-file on the role of the US in
these regions or conflicts. The fact-file should
focus on the US interest in the region, its activities
and the public opinion about the US in the
region. Students can also collect and present
related pictures/cartoons from all available
sources.
© Each group is to present their fact-file before
the class.
Ideas for the Teacher

* Using the fact-file as the background information, the teacher

All this sounds like a
has to refocus on the intervention made by the US and whether
these interventions have been in line with the principles lot of jealousy. What
advocated by the UN. is our problem with US
hegemony? Just that
* Invite the students to reflect on the future of the region or
we were not born
conflict twenty years from now. How long will the US continue
to be hegemonic? Which other powers may be in a position there? Or something
to challenge US hegemony in that region? else?

2018-19
US Hegemony in World Politics 49

WHAT DOES HISTORY TEACH US ABOUT HEGEMONY?

Given the logic of balance of power, hegemony is a rather unusual condition in international affairs. This is for
a very simple reason: in the absence of world government, every state must ensure its own security and, in
extreme circumstances, its own survival. Thus, states are acutely aware of power distribution in the international
political system, and would not normally allow a single state to become so powerful as to pose a mortal threat
to other states.
The balance of power logic of international politics, as outlined above, is amply supported by history. By
convention, we regard 1648 as the year in which the sovereign territorial state emerged as the principal
actor in world politics. In the over three and a half centuries since then, there have been only two previous
occasions when a single state succeeded in gaining preponderance in the system to a similar degree as the
US predominates the system today. France from 1660 to 1713 in the context of European continental politics
in the first instance of hegemony, Britain with its global maritime empire from 1860 to 1910 is the second.
History also tells us that although at its height hegemony seems formidable, it does not last forever. To the
contrary, balance of power politics over time reduces the relative power of the hegemon. In 1660, France
under Louis XIV was unchallenged; by 1713, England, Habsburg Austria and Russia were contesting French
power. In 1860, the high noon of the Victorian period, Pax Britannica looked secure forever. By 1910, it was
clear that Germany, Japan and the US had emerged as contenders to British power. Thus, twenty years from
now, another great power, or may be a coalition of great powers could well emerge just as US capabilities
are declining in relative terms.

Based on an article by Christopher Layne, “The Unipolar Illusion: Why New Great Powers Will Rise”

Exercises
1. Which among the following statements about hegemony is
incorrect?
a. The word implies the leadership or predominance of one State.
b. It was used to denote the predominance of Athens in the
ancient Greece.
c. The country having hegemonic position will possess
unchallenged military power.
d. Hegemonic position is fixed. Once a hegemon, always a
hegemon.
2. Which among the following statements is wrong about the
contemporary world order?
a. There is an absence of world government, which could regulate
the State’s behaviour.
b. The US is the predominant player in world affairs.
c. States are using force against one another.
d. States, which violate international law, are severely punished
by the UN.

2018-19
50 Contemporary World Politics

3. Which among the following statements is wrong with regard to

‘Operation Iraqi Freedom’?
a. More than forty countries joined in the US-led coalition of the
willing to invade Iraq.
E x e r c i s e s
b. The reason given for invading Iraq was to prevent it from
developing weapons of mass destruction.
c. The action was taken with the prior approval of the UN.
d. The US-led coalition did not face major resistance from Iraqi
forces
4. Give an example each of the three kinds of hegemony that are
dealt with in the chapter. Do not cite examples that are in the
chapter.
5. Mention three ways in which US dominance since the Cold War is
different from its position as a superpower during the Cold War.
6. Match the following:
i. Operation Infinite Reach
ii. Operation Enduring Freedom
iii. Operation Desert Storm
iv. Operation Iraqi Freedom

a. War against Al-Qaeda and Taliban

b. Coalition of the willing
c. Missile attack in Sudan
d. First Gulf War

7. What are the constraints on American hegemony today? Which

one of these do you expect to get more important in the future?
8. Read the three extracts in the chapter from the Lok Sabha debate
on the Indo-US deal. Develop any one of these into a full speech
defending a certain position on Indo-US relations.
9. “If big and resourceful states cannot resist the US hegemony, it is
unrealistic to expect much smaller and weaker non-state actors to
offer any resistance.” Examine this proposition and give your opinion.

2018-19
 Chapter 4
Alternative Centres
of Power
OVERVIEW
After the end of the bipolar
structure of world politics in the
early 1990s, it became clear that
alternative centres of political and
economic power could limit
America’s dominance. Thus, in
Europe, the European Union (EU)
and, in Asia, the Association of
South East Asian Nations (ASEAN),
have emerged as forces to reckon
with. While evolving regional
solutions to their historical
enmities and weaknesses, both the
EU and the ASEAN have developed
alter native institutions and
conventions that build a more
peaceful and cooperative regional
order and have transformed the
countries in the region into
prosperous economies. The
economic rise of China has made
The two images here represent two phases of the history of
a dramatic impact on world China. The red poster – “The Socialist Road is the Broadest of
politics. In this chapter, we take a All” – represents the ideology that guided China during its
look at some of these emerging early phase after the Revolution. The photograph below is
alternative centres of power and that of the city of Shanghai, the symbol of China’s new
economic power.
assess their possible role in the
future.

2018-19
52
EUROPEAN UNION
As the Second World War came to
an end, many of Europe’s leaders
grappled with the ‘Question of
Europe’. Should Europe be
allowed to revert to its old rivalries
or be reconstructed on principles
and institutions that would
contribute to a positive conception
of international relations? The
Second World War shattered many
of the assumptions and structures
on which the European states had
based their relations. In 1945, the
European states confronted the
ruin of their economies and the
destruction of the assumptions
and structures on which Europe
had been founded.
European integration after
1945 was aided by the Cold War.
America extended massive
financial help for reviving
Europe’s economy under what
was called the ‘Marshall Plan’.
The US also created a new
collective security structure
under NATO. Under the Marshall
P l a n , t h e O rg a n i s a t i o n f o r
European Economic Cooperation
The European Union Flag
The circle of gold stars stands for solidarity and harmony between
the peoples of Europe. It has twelve stars, as the number twelve is
traditionally the symbol of perfection, completeness and unity.
Source: http://europa.eu/abc/symbols/emblem/index_en.htm
2018-19
Contemporary World Politics
(OEEC) was established in 1948
to channel aid to the west
European states. It became a
forum where the wester n
European states began to
cooperate on trade and
economic issues. The Council of
Europe, established in 1949,
was another step forward in
political cooperation. The
process of economic integration
of European capitalist countries
proceeded step by step (see
Timeline of European Integration)
leading to the formation of the
European Economic Community
in 1957. This process acquired
a political dimension with the
creation of the Eur opean
Parliament. The collapse of the
Soviet bloc put Europe on a fast
track and resulted in the
establishment of the European
Union in 1992. The foundation
was thus laid for a common
foreign and security policy,
cooperation on justice and
home affairs, and the creation
of a single currency.
The European Union has
evolved over time from an
economic union to an
increasingly political one. The EU
has started to act more as a
nation state. While the attempts
to have a Constitution for the EU
have failed, it has its own flag,
anthem, founding date, and
currency. It also has some form
of a common foreign and security
policy in its dealings with other
nations. The European Union
has tried to expand areas of
cooperation while acquiring new
Alternative Centres of Power 53

EUROPEAN UNION MAP

Older Members
New Members Finland

Sweden
Estonia

Latvia
Denmark
Lithuania

Ireland Netherlands
United
Kingdom Poland

Belgium Germany Czech

Republic
kia
Luxembourg Slova
Austria
Hungary
France
Romania
Croatia
Ita
ly Slovenia

Bulgaria
Portugal

Spain

Greece

Malta

Cyprus

members, especially from the GDP of more than $17 trillion in

erstwhile Soviet bloc. The process
has not proved easy, for people
in many countries are not very
enthusiastic in giving the EU
powers that were exercised by the
government of their country.
There are also reservations about
including some new countries
within the EU.
The EU has economic, political
and diplomatic, and military
influence. The EU is the world’s
second biggest economy with a
2016, next to that of the United
States of America. Its currency,
the euro, can pose a threat to the
dominance of the US dollar. Its
share of world trade is much larger Oh, now I know what a
than that of the United States Schengen visa means!
allowing it to be more assertive in Under the Schengen
trade disputes with the US and agreement, you have to
China. Its economic power gives get a visa from just one
of the EU countries and
it influence over its closest
that allows you entry in
neighbours as well as in Asia and most of the other
Africa. It also functions as an European Union
important bloc in international countries.

2018-19
54 Contemporary World Politics

of the EU, Britain and France, hold

TIMELINE OF EUROPEAN
permanent seats on the UN
INTEGRATION
Security Council. The EU includes
1951 April: Six west European countries, France, West several non-permanent members
Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg of the UNSC. This has enabled the
sign the Treaty of Paris establishing the European Coal and EU to influence some US policies
Steel Community (ECSC). such as the current US position
1957 March 25: These six countries sign the Treaties of Rome on Iran’s nuclear programme. Its
establishing the European Economic Community (EEC) and use of diplomacy, economic
the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). investments, and negotiations
1973 January: Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom rather than coercion and military
join the European Community (EC). force has been effective as in the
1979 June: First direct elections to the European Parliament case of its dialogue with China on
human rights and environmental
1981 January: Greece joins the EC.
degradation.
1985 June: The Schengen Agreement abolishes border
controls among the EC members. Militarily, the EU’s combined
ar med forces are the second
1986 January: Spain and Portugal join the EC.
largest in the world. Its total
1990 October: Unification of Germany. spending on defence is second
1992 February 7: The Treaty of Maastricht was signed after the US. Two EU member
establishing the European Union (EU). states, Britain and France, also
have nuclear arsenals of
1993 January: The single market was created.
approximately 550 nuclear
1995 January: Austria, Finland and Sweden join the EU. warheads. It is also the world’s
2002 January: Euro, the new currency, was introduced in second most important source of
the 12 EU members. space and communications
2004 May: Ten new members, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, technology.
Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia
As a supranational organi-
and Slovenia join the EU.
sation, the EU is able to intervene
2007 January: Bulgaria and Romania join the EU. in economic, political and social
Slovenia adopts the Euro.
areas. But in many areas its
2009 December: The Lisbon Treaty came into force. member states have their own
2012 : The EU is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. foreign relations and defence
policies that are often at odds
2013: Croatia becomes the 28th member of the EU.
with each other. Thus, Britain’s
2016: Referendum in Britain, 51.9 per cent voters decide Prime Minister Tony Blair was
that Britain exit (Brexit) from the EU. America’s partner in the Iraq
invasion, and many of the EU’s
newer members made up the US-
economic organisations such as
led ‘coalition of the willing’
the World Trade Organisation
whereas Germany and France
(WTO).
opposed American policy. There
The EU also has political and is also a deep-seated ‘Euro-
diplomatic influence. Two members skepticism’ in some parts

2018-19
Alternative Centres of Power
The cartoon appeared in 2003 when the European Union’s initiative to draft a
common Constitution failed. Why does the cartoonist use the image of the ship
Titanic to represent EU?
of Europe about the EU’s
integrationist agenda. Thus, for
example, Britain’s former prime
minister, Margaret Thatcher,
kept the UK out of the European
Market. Denmark and Sweden
have resisted the Maastricht
Treaty and the adoption of the
euro, the common European
currency. This limits the ability
of the EU to act in matters of
foreign relations and defence.
ASSOCIATION OF SOUTH
EAST ASIAN NATIONS
(ASEAN)
Take a look at the political map of
the world. Which countries would
you say fall in the southeastern
55
© Ares, Cagle Cartoons Inc.
region of Asia? Before and during
the Second World War, this region
of Asia suffered the economic and
political consequences of
repeated colonialisms, both
European and Japanese. At the
end of the war, it confronted
problems of nation-building, the
ravages of poverty and economic
backwardness and the pressure
to align with one great power or
another during the Cold War. This
was a recipe for conflict, which
the countries of Southeast Asia
could ill afford. Efforts at Asian
and Third World unity, such as
the Bandung Conference and the Imagine what would
Non-Aligned Movement, were happen if they have
ineffective in establishing the a European Union
conventions for infor mal football team!
cooperation and interaction.
Hence, the Southeast Asian
2018-19
 56
MAP OF EAST ASIA AND PACIFIC
Source: http://www.unicef.org/eapro/EAP_map_final.gif
Note: Maps on this site do not reflect a position by UNICEF on the legal status of any
country or territory or the delimitation of any frontiers.
alternative by establishing the
Association of South East Asian
Nations (ASEAN).
ASEAN was established in
Locate the 1967 by five countries of this
ASEAN region — Indonesia, Malaysia, the
members on Philippines, Singapore and
the map. Find Thailand — by signing the
the location Bangkok Declaration. The
of the ASEAN objectives of ASEAN were primarily
Secretariat. to accelerate economic growth and
through that ‘social progress and
cultural development’. A secondary
objective was to promote regional
peace and stability based on the
rule of law and the principles of the
United Nations Charter. Over the
years, Brunei Darussalam,
Vietnam, Lao PDR, Myanmar
(Burma) and Cambodia joined
2018-19
Contemporary World Politics
ASEAN taking its
strength to ten.
Unlike the EU there is
little desire in ASEAN for
supranational structures
and institutions. ASEAN
countries have celebrated
what has become
known as the ‘ASEAN
Way’, a form of interaction
that is informal, non-
confrontationist and
cooperative. The respect
for national sovereignty is
critical to the functioning
of ASEAN.
With some of the
fastest growing economies
in the world, ASEAN
broadened its objectives
beyond the economic
and social spheres. In
2003, ASEAN moved
along the path of the EU
by agreeing to establish an ASEAN
Community comprising three
pillars, namely, the ASEAN
Security Community, the ASEAN
Economic Community and the
ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community.
The ASEAN Flag
In the ASEAN logo, the ten stalks of
paddy (rice) represent the ten
Southeast Asian countries bound
together in friendship and solidarity.
The circle symbolises the unity of ASEAN.
Source : www.aseansec.org
Alternative Centres of Power
The ASEAN security
community was based on the
conviction that outstanding
territorial disputes should not
escalate into armed confrontation.
By 2003, ASEAN had several
agreements in place by which
member states promised to uphold
peace, neutrality, cooperation,
non-interference, and respect for
national differences and sovereign
rights. The ASEAN Regional
Forum (ARF), which was
established in 1994, is the
organisation that carries out
coordination of security and
foreign policy.
ASEAN was and still remains
principally an economic
association. While the ASEAN
region as a whole is a much
smaller economy compared to the
US, the EU, and Japan, its
economy is growing much faster
than all these. This accounts for
the growth in its influence both in
the region and beyond. The
objectives of the ASEAN Economic
Community are to create a
common market and production
base within ASEAN states and to
aid social and economic
development in the region. The
Economic Community would also
like to improve the existing ASEAN
Dispute Settlement Mechanism to
resolve economic disputes. ASEAN
has focused on creating a Free
Trade Area (FTA) for investment,
labour, and services. The US and
China have already moved fast to
negotiate FTAs with ASEAN.
ASEAN is rapidly growing into
a very important regional
57
organisation. Its Vision 2020 has
defined an outward-looking role
for ASEAN in the international
community. This builds on the
existing ASEAN policy to
encourage negotiation over
Isn’t India a part of
conflicts in the region. Thus,
Southeast Asia? The
ASEAN has mediated the end of
north-eastern states
the Cambodian conflict, the East are so close to the
Timor crisis, and meets annually ASEAN countries.
to discuss East Asian cooperation.
The current economic strength
of ASEAN, especially its economic
relevance as a trading and
investment partner to the growing
Asian economies such as India and
Who are
China, makes this an attractive
the
proposition. During the Cold War
members
years Indian foreign policy did not
of the
pay adequate attention to ASEAN.
ASEAN
But in recent years, India has tried
Regional
to make amends. It signed trade
Forum
agreements with three ASEAN
(ARF)?
members, Malaysia, Singapore and
Keshav, The Hindu
India’s ‘Look East’ Policy since the early 1990s and ‘Act East’ Policy
since 2014 have led to greater economic interaction with the East
Asian nations (ASEAN, China, Japan and South Korea).
2018-19
58
Thailand. The ASEAN-India FTA
came into effect in 2010. ASEAN’s
strength, however, lies in its policies
of interaction and consultation
with member states, with dialogue
partners, and with other non-
Why did ASEAN regional organisations. It is the only
succeed where regional association in Asia that
SAARC did not? Is
provides a political forum where
this because they
do not have one Asian countries and the major
dominant country in powers can discuss political and
that region? security concerns.
Leaders release postal stamps to commemorate silver jubilee of India
and ASEAN partnership in New Delhi on 25 January 2018
THE RISE OF THE CHINESE
ECONOMY
Let us now turn to the third major
alternative centre of power and our
immediate neighbour, China. The
cartoon on the following page
sums up the current mood all over
the world about the rise of China
as an economic power. China’s
economic success since 1978 has
been linked to its rise as a great
power. China has been the fastest
growing economy since the
reforms first began there. It is
projected to overtake the US as the
world’s largest economy by 2040.
Its economic integration into the
region makes it the driver of East
Asian growth, thereby giving it
enormous influence in regional
2018-19
Contemporary World Politics
affairs. The strength of its
economy, together with other
factors such as population, land
mass, resources, regional location
and political influence, adds to its
power in significant ways.
After the inception of the
People’s Republic of China in 1949,
following the communist revolution
under the leadership of Mao, its
economy was based on the Soviet
model. The economically backward
communist China chose to sever
its links with the capitalist world.
It had little choice but to fall back
on its own resources and, for a
brief period, on Soviet aid and
advice. The model was to create a
state-owned heavy industries
sector from the capital
accumulated from agriculture. As
it was short of foreign exchange
that it needed in order to buy
technology and goods on the
world market, China decided to
substitute imports by domestic
goods.
This model allowed China to
use its resources to establish the
foundations of an industrial
economy on a scale that did not
exist before. Employment and
social welfare was assured to all
citizens, and China moved ahead of
most developing countries in
educating its citizens and ensuring
better health for them. The
economy also grew at a respectable
rate of 5-6 per cent. But an annual
growth of 2-3 per cent in population
meant that economic growth was
insufficient to meet the needs of a
growing population. Agricultural
production was not sufficient to
Alternative Centres of Power 59

generate a surplus for industry. In

Chapter 2, we discussed the crisis
of the state controlled economy in
the USSR. A similar crisis was to face
China too: its industrial production
was not growing fast enough,
international trade was minimal and
per capita income was very low.

© Deng Coy Miel, Cagle Cartoons Inc.

The Chinese leadership took
major policy decisions in the
1970s. China ended its political
and economic isolation with the
establishment of relations with the
United States in 1972. Premier
Zhou Enlai proposed the ‘four
modernisations’(agriculture,
industry, science and technology
and military) in 1973. By 1978,
the then leader Deng Xiaoping
announced the ‘open door’ policy
and economic reforms in China. The Great Wall and Dragon are two symbols most commonly
The policy was to generate higher associated with China. This cartoon uses both these to depict
productivity by investments of China’s economic rise. Who do you think is the little man in this
cartoon? Can he stop the dragon?
capital and technology from
abroad.
China followed its own path in Privatisation of agriculture led to a
introducing a market economy. The remarkable rise in agricultural
Chinese did not go for ‘shock production and rural incomes. High
therapy’ but opened their economy personal savings in the rural
step by step. The privatisation of economy lead to an exponential
agriculture in 1982 was followed by growth in rural industry. The
the privatisation of industry in Chinese economy, including both
1998. Trade barriers were industry and agriculture, grew at a
faster rate. The new trading laws
eliminated only in Special
and the creation of Special
Economic Zones (SEZs) where
Economic Zones led to a
foreign investors could set up
phenomenal rise in foreign trade.
enterprises. In China, the state
China has become the most
played and continues to play a
important destination for foreign
central role in setting up a market
direct investment (FDI) anywhere
economy. A total of 6 SEZs in
in the world. It has large foreign China and more
The new economic policies exchange reserves that now allow it than 200 approved
helped the Chinese economy to make big investment in other SEZs in India! Is this
to break from stagnation. countries. China’s accession to the good for India?

2018-19
 60 Contemporary World Politics
© Mike Lane, Cagle Cartoons Inc.

WTO in 2001 has been a further

step in its opening to the outside
world. The country plans to deepen
its integration into the world
economy and shape the future
world economic order.
While the Chinese economy has
improved dramatically, not
everyone in China has received the
benefits of the reforms.
Unemployment has risen in China
with nearly 100 million people
looking for jobs. Female
employment and conditions of
work are as bad as in Europe of
the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries. Environmental degradation
and corruption have increased
besides a rise in economic
inequality between rural and
urban residents and coastal and
inland provinces.
China then and now However, regionally and
globally, China has become an
© Ares, Cagle Cartoons Inc.

economic power to reckon with.

The integration of China’s economy
and the inter-dependencies that
this has created has enabled China
to have considerable influence
with its trade partners. Hence, its
outstanding issues with Japan,
the US, ASEAN, and Russia
have been tempered by economic
considerations. It hopes to resolve
its differences with Taiwan, which
it regards as a renegade province,
by integrating it closely into its
economy. Fears of China’s rise
Chinese bicycle have also been mitigated by its
Like the opening images for this chapter, the first cartoon
contributions to the stability of the
comments on the change in China’s orientation. The second ASEAN economies after the 1997
cartoon uses the symbol of the bicycle — China is the largest user financial crisis. Its more outward
of bicycles in the world — to comment on a duality in today’s looking investment and aid
China. What is this duality? Can we call this a contradiction?

2018-19
Alternative Centres of Power
policies in Latin America and
Africa are increasingly projecting
it as a global player on the side of
developing economies.
INDIA – CHINA RELATIONS
India and China were great
powers in Asia before the advent
of Western imperialism. China
had considerable influence and
control on the periphery of its
borders based on its unique
tributary system. At different
times in China’s long history of
dynastic rule, Mongolia, Korea,
parts of Indo-China, and Tibet
accepted China’s authority.
Various kingdoms and empires
in India also extended their
influence beyond their borders.
In both cases this influence was
political, economic and cultural.
However, the regions where India
and China exercised influence
rarely ever overlapped. Thus,
there was limited political and
cultural interaction between the
two. The result was that neither
country was very familiar with
the other. In the twentieth
century, when both nations
confronted each other, they had
some difficulty evolving a foreign
policy to deal with each other.
After India regained its
independence from Britain, and
China expelled the foreign powers,
there was hope that both would
come together to shape the future
of the developing world and of
Asia particularly. For a brief while,
the slogan of ‘Hindi-Chini bhai-
bhai’ was popular. However,
61
military conflict over a border
dispute between the two countries
marred that hope. Soon after
independence, both states were
involved in differences arising from
the Chinese takeover of Tibet in
1950 and the final settlement of
the Sino-Indian border. China and
India were involved in a border
conflict in 1962 over competing
territorial claims principally in
Arunachal Pradesh and in the
Aksai Chin region of Ladakh.
The conflict of 1962, in which
India suffered military reverses,
had long-term implications for
India–China relations. Diplomatic
relations between the two
countries were downgraded until
1976. Thereafter, relations
between the two countries began
to improve slowly. After the change
in China’s political leadership
from the mid to late 1970s,
China’s policy became more
pragmatic and less ideological. So
it was prepared to put off the
settlement of contentious issues
while improving relations with
India. A series of talks to resolve
the border issue were also initiated
in 1981.
Since the end of the Cold
War, there have been significant
changes in India–
China relations.
Chinese President
Their relations now
Xi Jinping paid a visit
have a strategic as to India in 2014. Prime
well as an economic Minister Narendra Modi
dimension. Both view visited China in 2015.
themselves as rising Find out about the
powers in global agreements signed
politics, and both during their visits.
would like to play a
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62 Contemporary World Politics

per year since 1999, a more

positive perspective on relations
with China has emerged. Bilateral
trade between India and China has
increased from $338 million in
STEPS 1992 to more than $70 billion in
2016. More recently, both
© Divide the classroom into three groups. countries have agreed to cooperate
© Assign each group one organisation to work on with each other in areas that could
a fact file on the EU, ASEAN and SAARC. otherwise create conflict between
the two, such as bidding for energy
© Students have to prepare a fact file that
deals abroad. At the global level,
contains information on the objectives,
India and China have adopted
functions and recent activities of these
similar policies in international
organisations. Pictures of the conferences /
economic institutions like the
summit meetings can be collected.
World Trade Organisation.
© Each group is to present its fact file before the
India’s nuclear tests in 1998,
class.
sometimes justified on the
Ideas for the Teacher
grounds of a threat from China,
* The teacher is to focus on the functions of these organisations. did not stop greater interaction.
* Draw the attention of students to the achievements of regional It is true that China was seen as
organisations. contributing to the build up of
* Link the role of regional economic organisations to the over Pakistan’s nuclear programme.
all development of the member countries. China’s military relations with
* Sensitise students to the growing importance of regional Bangladesh and Myanmar were
economic organisations as an alternative approach to the
viewed as hostile to Indian
peace and security of the world.
interests in South Asia. However,
none of these issues is likely to
lead to conflict between the two.
One sign of this is that the talks to
major role in the Asian economy
resolve the boundary question have
and politics.
continued without interruption and
Rajiv Gandhi’s visit to China in military-to-military cooperation is
December 1988 provided the increasing. Indian and Chinese
impetus for an improvement in leaders and officials visit Beijing
India–China relations. Since then and New Delhi with greater
both governments have taken frequency, and both sides are now
measures to contain conflict and becoming more familiar with each
maintain ‘peace and tranquility’ on other. Increasing transportation
the border. They have also signed and communication links, common
Some people say agreements on cultural exchanges economic interests and global
Chinese products are and cooperation in science and concerns should help establish a
going to flood our technology, and opened four more positive and sound
market? But where border posts for trade. With India– relationship between the two most
are they? populous countries of the world.
China trade growing at 30 per cent

2018-19
Alternative Centres of Power 63

Japan
You might have heard about famous Japanese brands such as Sony,
Panasonic, Canon, Suzuki, Honda, Toyota, Mazda. They have a
reputation for making high-technology products. Japan has very few
natural resources and imports most of the its raw materials. Even then
it progressed rapidly after the end of the Second World War. Japan
became a member of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD) in 1964. In 2016, it is the third largest
economy in the world. It is the only Asian member of the G-7. It is the
tenth most populous nation in the world.
Japan is the only nation that suffered the destruction caused by
nuclear bombs. It is the second largest contributor to the regular
budget of the UN, contributing almost 10 per cent of the total. Japan
has a security alliance with the US since 1951. As per Article 9 of the
Japanese Constitution, “the Japanese people forever renounce war
as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as
means of settling international disputes.” Although Japan’s military
expenditure is only one per cent of its GDP, it is the seventh largest in ASIMO, the world's most advanced
the world. humanoid robot, walking with a
person while holding hand
Keeping all this in mind, do you think Japan can effectively function
as an alternative centre of power? Credit: http://asimo.honda.com

Also find out about major agreements signed during high-level

bilateral visits between the two nations in the recent past.

South Korea
The Korean peninsula was divided into South Korea (Republic of Korea) and North Korea (Democratic
People's Republic of Korea) at the end of the Second World War along the 38th Parallel. The Korean War
during 1950-53 and dynamics of the Cold War era further intensified the rivalries between the two sides.
Both the Koreas finally became Members of the UN on 17 September 1991.
Meanwhile, South Korea emerged as a centre of power
in Asia. Between the 1960s and the 1980s, it rapidly
developed into an economic power, which is termed as
"Miracle on the Han River". Signalling its all-round
development, South Korea became a Member of
the OECD in 1996. In 2016, its economy is the eleventh
largest in the world and its military expenditure is the
tenth largest.
According to the Human Development Report 2016, the Skyline of Seoul city near the Han River
HDI rank of South Korea is 18. The major factors responsible Credit: http://english.seoul.go.kr
for its high human development include "successful land
reforms, rural development, extensive human resources development and rapid equitable economic
growth." Other factors are export orientation, strong redistribution policies, public infrastructure
development, effective institutions and governance.
The South Korean brands such as Samsung, LG and Hyundai have become renowned in India. Numerous
agreements between India and South Korea signify their growing commercial and cultural ties. Find out
about major agreements signed in the recent past.

2018-19
64 Contemporary World Politics

1. Arrange the following in chronological order.

a. China’s accession to WTO b. Establishment of the EEC
c. Establishment of the EU d. Birth of ARF
2. The ‘ASEAN Way’
E x e r c i s e s
a. Reflects the life style of ASEAN members
b. A form of interaction among ASEAN members that is informal
and cooperative
c. The defence policy followed by the ASEAN members
d. The road that connects all the ASEAN members
3. Which of the following nations adopted an ‘open door’ policy?
a. China b. South Korea c. Japan d. USA
4. Fill in the blanks:
a. The border conflict between China and India in 1962 was
principally over ______________ and __________________ region.
b. ARF was established in the year ______________________ .
c. China entered into bilateral relations with __________ (a major
country) in 1972.
d. ____________ Plan influenced the establishment of the
Organisation for European Economic Cooperation in 1948.
e. ___________ is the organisation of ASEAN that deals with security.
5. What are the objectives of establishing regional organisations?
6. How does geographical proximity influence the formation of
regional organisations?
7. What are the components of the ASEAN Vision 2020?
8. Name the pillars and the objectives of the ASEAN Community.
9. In what ways does the present Chinese economy differs from its
command economy?
10. How did the European countries resolve their post-Second World
War problem? Briefly outline the attempts that led to the formation
of the European Union.
11. What makes the European Union a highly influential regional
organisation?
12. The emerging economies of China and India have great potential
to challenge the unipolar world. Do you agree with the statement?
Substantiate your arguments.
13. The Peace and prosperity of countries lay in the establishment and
strengthening of regional economic organisations. Justify this
statement.
14. Identify the contentious issues between China and India. How could
these be resolved for greater cooperation? Give your suggestions.

2018-19
 Chapter 5
Contemporary South Asia

OVERVIEW
Let us shift our gaze from the larger
global developments in the post-Cold
War era to developments in our own
region, South Asia. When India and
Pakistan joined the club of nuclear
powers, this region suddenly
became the focus of global attention.
The focus was, of course, on the
various kinds of conflict in this
region: there are pending border and
water sharing disputes between the
states of the region. Besides, there
are conflicts arising out of
insurgency, ethnic strife and
resource sharing. This makes the
region very turbulent. At the same
time, many people in South Asia
recognise the fact that this region
can develop and prosper if the states
of the region cooperate with each
other. In this chapter, we try to
understand the nature of conflict
and cooperation among different
countries of the region. Since much
of this is rooted in or conditioned by
the domestic politics of these
countries, we first introduce the
region and the domestic politics of Source: Subhas Rai’s adaptation of ‘Liberty Leading the
some of the big countries in the People’, painted by Eugene Delacroix in 1830. Courtesy of
Himal Southasian, (January 2007) The Southasia Trust, Nepal
region.

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66
WHAT IS SOUTH ASIA?
We are all familiar with the
gripping tension during an India-
Identify some Pakistan cricket match. We have
features also seen the goodwill and
common to all hospitality shown to visiting
the South Asian Indian and Pakistani fans by their
countries but hosts when they come to watch a
different from cricket match. This is symbolic of
countries in the larger pattern of South Asian
West Asia or affairs. Ours is a region where
Southeast Asia. rivalry and goodwill, hope and
despair, mutual suspicion and
trust coexist.
Let us begin by asking an
elementary question: what is South
Asia? The expression ‘South Asia’
usually includes the following
countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan,
India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan
and Sri Lanka. The mighty
Himalayas in the north and the vast
Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea and
the Bay of Bengal in the south, west
and east respectively provide a
natural insularity to the region,
which is largely responsible for the
linguistic, social and cultural
distinctiveness of the sub-
continent. The boundaries of the
region are not as clear in the east
and the west, as they are in the
north and the south. Afghanistan
and Myanmar are often included
in discussions of the region as a
whole. China is an important player
but is not considered to be a part
of the region. In this chapter, we
shall use South Asia to mean the
seven countries mentioned above.
Is there a fixed
Thus defined, South Asia stands for
definition of these
regions? Who diversity in every sense and yet
decides that? constitutes one geo-political space.
2018-19
Contemporary World Politics
The various countries in South
Asia do not have the same kind of
political systems. Despite many
problems and limitations, Sri
Lanka and India have successfully
operated a democratic system
since their independence from the
British. You will study more about
the evolution of democracy in
India in the textbook that deals
with politics in India since
independence. It is, of course,
possible to point out many
limitations of India’s democracy;
but we have to remember the fact
that India has remained a
democracy thr oughout its
existence as an independent
country. The same is true of Sri
Lanka.
Pakistan and Bangladesh have
experienced both civilian and
military rulers, with Bangladesh
remaining a democracy in the
post-Cold War period. Pakistan
began the post-Cold War period
with successive democratic
gover nments under Benazir
Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif
respectively. But it suffered a
military coup in 1999 and has
been run by a military regime
since then. Till 2006, Nepal was a
constitutional monarchy with the
danger of the king taking over
executive powers. In 2006 a
successful popular uprising led to
the restoration of democracy and
reduced the king to a nominal
position. From the experience of
Bangladesh and Nepal, we can say
that democracy is becoming an
accepted norm in the entire region
of South Asia.
Contemporary South Asia 67

Similar changes are taking place in the two

smallest countries of the region. Bhutan is still
a monarchy but the king has initiated plans for
its transition to multi-party democracy. The
Maldives, the other island nation, was a
Sultanate till 1968 when it was transformed into
a republic with a presidential for m of
government. In June 2005, the parliament of the
Maldives voted unanimously to introduce a
multi-party system. The Maldivian Democratic
Party (MDP) dominates the political affairs of the
island. Democracy strengthened in the Maldives
after the 2005 elections when some opposition
parties were legalised.
Despite the mixed record of the democratic
experience, the people in all these countries share
the aspiration for democracy. A recent survey of
the attitudes of the people in the five big countries
of the region showed that there is widespread
support for democracy in all these countries.
Ordinary citizens, rich as well as poor and
belonging to different religions, view the idea of
democracy positively and support the institutions
of representative democracy. They prefer
democracy over any other form of democracy and
think that democracy is suitable for their country.
Both these graphs are based on interviews with more
These are significant findings, for it was earlier than 19,000 ordinary citizens in the five countries of
believed that democracy could flourish and find South Asia. Source: SDSA Team, State of Democracy
support only in prosperous countries of the world. in South Asia, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2007

Adult Gross Infant Deaths due

Life literacy rate enrolment GDP per mortality rate to TB (per Population living below
expectancy at (% ages 15 ratio capita (2011 (per 1,000 100,000 income poverty line (%)
birth (years) and older) (Secondary) PPP $) live births) people) PPP $1.90 a day HDI
Countries 2015 2015 2010-15 2015 2015 2014 2005-2014 Rank

World 71.6 84.3 76 14,600 31.6 15.5 – –

Developing 70.0 83.3 71 9,376 34.4 18.4 – –
countries
South Asia 68.7 70.3 65 5,806 40.7 20.7 – –
Bangladesh 72.0 61.5 58 3,137 30.7 51.0 18.5 139
India 68.3 72.1 69 5,730 37.9 17.0 21.2 131
Nepal 70.0 64.7 67 2,313 29.4 17.0 15.0 144
Pakistan 66.4 58.7 42 4,745 65.8 26.0 6.1 147
Sri Lanka 75.0 92.6 100 11,048 8.4 6.1 – 73

Source: United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report, 2016

2018-19
68 Contemporary World Politics

In that sense the South Asian

TIMELINE OF SOUTH ASIA experience of democracy has
SINCE 1947 expanded the global imagination of
1947: India and Pakistan emerge as independent nations democracy.
after the end of British rule Let us look at the experience
1948: Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) gains independence; Indo- of democracy in each of the four
Pak conflict over Kashmir
big countries of the region other
1954-55: Pakistan joins the Cold War military blocs, SEATO
than India.
and CENTO
1960: India and Pakistan sign the Indus Waters Treaty
1962: Border conflict between India and China THE MILITARY AND
1965: Indo-Pak War; UN India-Pakistan Observation Mission
1966: India and Pakistan sign the Tashkent Agreement;
DEMOCRACY IN PAKISTAN
Six-point proposal of Sheikh Mujib-ur Rahman for greater
After Pakistan framed its first
autonomy to East Pakistan
constitution, General Ayub Khan
1971 March: Proclamation of Independence by leaders of
Bangladesh took over the administration of
August : Indo-Soviet Treaty of Friendship signed for 20 years the country and soon got himself
December : Indo-Pak War, Liberation of Bangladesh
elected. He had to give up office
when there was popular
1972 July: India and Pakistan sign the Shimla Agreement
dissatisfaction against his rule.
1974 May: India conducts nuclear test
This gave way to a military
1976: Pakistan and Bangladesh establish diplomatic ties
takeover once again under
1985 December: South Asian leaders sign the SAARC
Charter at the first summit in Dhaka General Yahya Khan. During
1987: Indo-Sri Lanka Accord; Indian Peace Keeping Force
Yahya’s military rule, Pakistan
(IPKF) operation in Sri Lanka (1987-90) faced the Bangladesh crisis, and
1988: India sends troops to the Maldives to foil a coup after a war with India in 1971,
attempt by mercenaries East Pakistan broke away to
India and Pakistan sign the agreement not to attack emerge as an independent country
nuclear installations and facilities of each other called Bangladesh. After this, an
1988-91: Democracy restoration in Pakistan, Bangladesh elected government under the
and Nepal leadership of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
1996 December: India and Bangladesh sign the Farakka came to power in Pakistan from
Treaty for sharing of the Ganga Waters 1971 to 1977. The Bhutto
1998 May: India and Pakistan conduct nuclear tests government was removed by
December: India and Sri Lanka sign the Free Trade Agreement General Zia-ul-Haq in 1977.
(FTA)
General Zia faced a pro-democracy
1999 February: Indian PM Vajpayee undertakes bus journey movement from 1982 onwards and
to Lahore to sign a Peace Declaration
and an elected democratic
June-July: Kargil conflict between India and Pakistan
government was established once
2001 July: Vajpayee - Musharraf Agra Summit unsuccessful
again in 1988 under the leadership
2004 January: SAFTA signed at the 12th SAARC Summit in
of Benazir Bhutto. In the period
Islamabad
that followed, Pakistani politics
2007: Afghanistan joins SAARC
centred around the competition
2014 November: The 18th SAARC Summit in Kathmandu,
Nepal
between her party, the Pakistan
People’s Party, and the Muslim

2018-19
Contemporary South Asia 69

League. This phase of elective

democracy lasted till 1999 when the
army stepped in again and General
Pervez Musharraf removed Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif. In 2001,
General Musharraf got himself
elected as the President. Pakistan
continued to be ruled by the army,
though the army rulers have held
some elections to give their rule a
democratic image. Since 2008,
democratically elected leaders
have been ruling Pakistan.
Several factors have
contributed to Pakistan’s failure in
building a stable democracy.
The social dominance of the
Surendra, The Hindu
military, clergy, and landowning
This cartoon comments on the dual role of Pakistan’s ruler Pervez
aristocracy has led to the frequent Musharraf as the President of the country and as the army General.
overthrow of elected governments Read the equations carefully and write down the message of this
and the establishment of military cartoon.
government. Pakistan’s conflict
countries have encouraged the
with India has made the pro-
military’s authoritarian rule in the
military groups more powerful.
past, for their own reasons. Given
These groups have often said that
their fear of the threat of what they
political parties and democracy in
call ‘global Islamic terrorism’ and
Pakistan are flawed, that
the apprehension that Pakistan’s
Pakistan’s security would be
nuclear arsenal might fall into the
harmed by selfish-minded parties
hands of these terrorist groups,
and chaotic democracy, and that
the army’s stay in power the military regime in Pakistan
is, therefore, justified. While has been seen as the protector of
democracy has not been fully Western interests in West Asia and
successful in Pakistan, there has South Asia.
been a strong pro-democracy
sentiment in the country. Pakistan
has a courageous and relatively
DEMOCRACY IN BANGLADESH
free press and a strong human Bangladesh was a part of Pakistan
rights movement. from 1947 to 1971. It consisted
If Germany can be
The lack of genuine of the partitioned areas of Bengal
reunited, why can’t
international support for and Assam from British India. The
the people of India
democratic rule in Pakistan has people of this region resented the and Pakistan at least
further encouraged the military to domination of western Pakistan travel more easily to
continue its dominance. The and the imposition of the Urdu each other’s
United States and other Western language. Soon after the partition, country?

2018-19
70
they began protests against the
unfair treatment meted out to the
Bengali culture and language. They
also demanded fair representation
in administration and a fair share
in political power. Sheikh Mujib-
ur Rahman led the popular
struggle against West Pakistani
domination. He demanded
autonomy for the eastern region.
In the 1970 elections in the then
Pakistan, the Awami League led by
Sheikh Mujib won all the seats in
East Pakistan and secured a
majority in the proposed
constituent assembly for the whole
of Pakistan. But the government
dominated by the West Pakistani
leadership refused to convene the
assembly. Sheikh Mujib was
A mural in Dhaka University to remember Noor Hossain who was killed by the police during pro-democracy protests
against General Ershad in 1987. Painted on his back: “Let Democracy be Freed” . Photo credit: Shahidul Alam/ Drik
2018-19
Contemporary World Politics
arrested. Under the military rule
of General Yahya Khan, the
Pakistani army tried to suppress
the mass movement of the Bengali
people. Thousands were killed by
the Pakistan army. This led to a
large scale migration into India,
creating a huge refugee problem
for India. The government of India
supported the demand of the
people of East Pakistan for their
independence and helped them
financially and militarily. This
resulted in a war between India
and Pakistan in December 1971
that ended in the surrender of the
Pakistani forces in East Pakistan
and the formation of Bangladesh
as an independent country.
Contemporary South Asia
Bangladesh drafted its
constitution declaring faith in
secularism, democracy and
socialism. However, in 1975 Sheikh
Mujib got the constitution
amended to shift from the
parliamentary to presidential form
of government. He also abolished
all parties except his own, the
Awami League. This led to conflicts
and tensions. In a dramatic and
tragic development, he was
assassinated in a military uprising
in August 1975. The new military
ruler, Ziaur Rahman, formed his
own Bangladesh National Party
and won elections in 1979. He was
assassinated and another military
takeover followed under the
leadership of Lt Gen H. M. Ershad.
The people of Bangladesh soon rose
in support of the demand for
democracy. Students were in the
forefront. Ershad was forced to
allow political activity on a limited
scale. He was later elected as
President for five years. Mass public
protests made Ershad step down
in 1990. Elections were held in
1991. Since then representative
democracy based on multi-party
elections has been working in
Bangladesh.
MONARCHY AND
DEMOCRACY IN NEPAL
Nepal was a Hindu kingdom in the
past and then a constitutional
monarchy in the modern period
for many years. Throughout this
period, political parties and the
common people of Nepal have
wanted a more open and
71
responsive system of government. Let’s know more
But the king, with the help of theabout
army, retained full control over the
Bangladesh’s
government and restricted the Grameen Bank.
expansion of democracy in Nepal. Can we make
use of the idea
The king accepted the demand
to reduce
for a new democratic constitution
poverty in
in 1990, in the wake of a strong India?
pro-democracy movement.
However, democratic governments
had a short and troubled career.
During the nineties, the Maoists
of Nepal were successful in
spreading their influence in many
parts of Nepal. They believed in
armed insurrection against the
monarch and the ruling elite. This
led to a violent conflict between
the Maoist guerrillas and the
armed forces of the king. For
some time, there was a triangular
conflict among the monarchist
forces, the democrats and the
Maoists. In 2002, the king
abolished the parliament and
dismissed the government, thus
ending even the limited
democracy that existed in Nepal.
In April 2006, there were
massive, country wide, pro-
democracy protests. The struggling
pro-democracy forces achieved their
first major victory when the king was
forced to restore the House of
Representatives that had been
dissolved in April 2002. The largely
non-violent movement was led by
the Seven Party Alliance (SPA), the
Maoists and social activists.
Nepal’s transition to
democracy is almost complete.
Nepal has undergone a unique
moment in its history because it
formed a constituent assembly to
2018-19
72
draft the constitution for Nepal.
Some sections in Nepal thought
that a nominal monarchy was
necessary for Nepal to retain its
link with the past. The Maoist
groups agreed to suspend armed
struggle. They wanted the
Nepal sounds really constitution to include the radical
exciting. I wish I was programmes of social and economic
in Nepal! restructuring. All the parties in the
SPA did not agree with this
programme. The Maoists and
some other political groups were
also deeply suspicious of the
Indian government and its role in
the future of Nepal. In 2008, Nepal
became a democratic republic after
abolishing the monarchy. In 2015,
it adopted a new constitution.
ETHNIC CONFLICT AND
DEMOCRACY IN SRI LANKA
We have already seen that Sri
Lanka has retained democracy
Democracy activist, Durga Thapa,
participating in a pro-democracy rally in
Kathmandu in 1990. The second picture
shows the same person in 2006, this time
celebrating the success of the second
democracy movement.
Photo credit: Min Bajracharya
2018-19
Contemporary World Politics
since its independence in 1948.
But it faced a serious challenge, not
from the military or monarchy but
rather from ethnic conflict leading
to the demand for secession by
one of the regions.
After its independence, politics
in Sri Lanka (it was then known
as Ceylon) was dominated by
forces that represented the interest
of the majority Sinhala
community. They were hostile to a
large number of Tamils who had
migrated from India to Sri Lanka
and settled there. This migration
continued even after independence.
The Sinhala nationalists thought
that Sri Lanka should not give
‘concessions’ to the Tamils because
Sri Lanka belongs to the Sinhala
people only. The neglect of Tamil
concerns led to militant Tamil
nationalism. From 1983 onwards,
the militant organisation, the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
Contemporary South Asia
(LTTE) has been fighting an armed
struggle with the army of Sri Lanka
and demanding ‘Tamil Eelam’ or a
separate country for the Tamils of
Sri Lanka. The LTTE controls the
northeastern parts of Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lankan problem
involves people of Indian origin,
and there is considerable pressure
from the Tamil people in India to
the ef fect that the Indian
government should protect the
interests of the Tamils in Sri
Lanka. The government of India
has from time to time tried to
negotiate with the Sri Lankan
government on the Tamil question.
But in 1987, the government of
India for the first time got directly
involved in the Sri Lankan Tamil
question. India signed an accord
with Sri Lanka and sent troops to
stabilise relations between the Sri
Lankan gover nment and the
Tamils. Eventually, the Indian
Army got into a fight with the
LTTE. The presence of Indian
troops was also not liked much
by the Sri Lankans. They saw this
as an attempt by India to interfere
in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka.
In 1989, the Indian Peace Keeping
Force (IPKF) pulled out of Sri
Lanka without attaining its
objective.
The Sri Lankan crisis
continued to be violent. However,
international actors, particularly
the Scandinavian countries such
as Norway and Iceland tried to
bring the warring groups back to
negotiations. Finally, the armed
conflict came to an end, as the
LTTE was vanquished in 2009.
73
Keshav, The Hindu
The cartoon depicts the dilemma of the Sri Lankan leadership in
trying to balance Sinhala hardliners or the Lion and Tamil militants
or the Tiger while negotiating peace.
In spite of the conflict, Sri
Lanka has registered considerable
economic growth and recorded
high levels of human development.
Sri Lanka was one of the first
developing countries to
successfully control the rate of
growth of population, the first
country in the region to liberalise
the economy, and it has had the
highest per capita gross domestic
product (GDP) for many years
right through the civil war. Despite
the ravages of internal conflict, it
has maintained a democratic
political system.
INDIA-PAKISTAN CONFLICTS
Let us now move from domestic
politics and take a look at some
of the areas of conflict in the inter-
national relations in this region.
The post-Cold War era has not
meant the end of conflicts and
2018-19
74
Keshav, The Hindu
A view of the current phase of the Indo-Pak negotiations.
tensions in this region. We have
already noted the conflicts around
internal democracy or ethnic
differences. But there are also
some very crucial conflicts of an
international nature. Given the
position of India in this region,
most of these conflicts involve
India.
The most salient and over-
whelming of these conflicts is, of
course, the one between India and
Pakistan. Soon after the partition,
the two countries got embroiled in
a conflict over the fate of Kashmir.
The Pakistani government claimed
that Kashmir belonged to it. Wars
Discussion on Kashmir
between India and Pakistan in
sounds like a property
1947-48 and 1965 failed to settle
dispute between the
rulers of India and the matter. The 1947-48 war
Pakistan! What do the resulted in the division of the
Kashmiris feel about it? province into Pakistan-occupied
2018-19
Contemporary World Politics
Kashmir and the Indian province of
Jammu and Kashmir divided by the
Line of Control. In 1971, India won
a decisive war against Pakistan but
the Kashmir issue remained
unsettled.
India’s conflict with Pakistan is
also over strategic issues like the
control of the Siachen glacier and
over acquisition of arms. The arms
race between the two countries
assumed a new character with
both states acquiring nuclear
weapons and missiles to deliver
such arms against each other in
the 1990s. In 1998, India
conducted nuclear explosion in
Pokaran. Pakistan responded
within a few days by carrying out
nuclear tests in the Chagai Hills.
Since then India and Pakistan
seem to have built a military
relationship in which the
possibility of a direct and full-scale
war has declined.
But both the governments
continue to be suspicious of each
other. The Indian government has
blamed the Pakistan government
for using a strategy of low-key
violence by helping the Kashmiri
militants with arms, training,
money and protection to carry out
terrorist strikes against India. The
Indian government also believes
that Pakistan had aided the pro-
Khalistani militants with arms
and ammunitions during the
period 1985-1995. Its spy agency,
Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), is
alleged to be involved in various
anti-India campaigns in India’s
northeast, operating secretly
through Bangladesh and Nepal.
Contemporary South Asia
The government of Pakistan, in
turn, blames the Indian
government and its security
agencies for fomenting trouble in
the provinces of Sindh and
Balochistan.
India and Pakistan also have
had problems over the sharing of
river waters. Until 1960, they were
locked in a fierce argument over
the use of the rivers of the Indus
basin. Eventually, in 1960, with
the help of the World Bank, India
and Pakistan signed the Indus
Waters Treaty which has survived
to this day in spite of various
military conflicts in which the two
countries have been involved.
There are still some minor
differences about the interpretation
of the Indus Waters Treaty and the
use of the river waters. The two
countries are not in agreement
over the demarcation line in Sir
Creek in the Rann of Kutch. The
dispute seems minor, but there is
an underlying worry that how the
dispute is settled may have an
impact on the control of sea
resources in the area adjoining Sir
Creek. India and Pakistan are
holding negotiations on all
these issues.
INDIA AND ITS OTHER
NEIGHBOURS
The governments of India and
Bangladesh have had differences
over several issues including the
sharing of the Ganga and
Brahmaputra river waters. The
Indian government has been
75
unhappy with Bangladesh’s
denial of illegal immigration to
India, its support for anti-Indian
Islamic fundamentalist groups,
Bangladesh’s refusal to allow
Indian troops to move through
its territory to northeastern
India, and its decision not
to export natural gas to India
Why is it that every
or allow Myanmar to do so
one of our
through Bangladeshi territory.
neighbours has a
Bangladeshi governments have felt problem with India?
that the Indian government Is there something
behaves like a regional bully over wrong with our
the sharing of river waters, foreign policy? Or is
encouraging rebellion in the it just our size?
Chittagong Hill Tracts, trying to
extract its natural gas and being
unfair in trade. The two countries
could not resolve their boundary
dispute for a long while.
Despite their differences, India
and Bangladesh do cooperate on
many issues. Economic relations
have improved considerably in the
last 20 years. Bangladesh is a part
of India’s Look East (Act East since
2014) policy that wants to link up
with Southeast Asia via Myanmar.
On disaster management and
environmental issues, the two
states have cooperated regularly.
In 2015, they exchanged certain
enclaves. Efforts are on to broaden
the areas of cooperation further by
identifying common threats
and being more sensitive to each
other’s needs.
Nepal and India enjoy a very
special relationship that has very
few parallels in the world. A treaty
between the two countries allows
the citizens of the two countries to
travel to and work in the other
country without visas and
2018-19
76 Contemporary World Politics

passports. Despite this special

relationship, the governments of the
two countries have had trade-
related disputes in the past. The
Indian government has often
expressed displeasure at the warm
STEPS relationship between Nepal and
© Divide the classroom into eight groups (as many China and at the Nepal
as the number of countries). The number of students government’s inaction against anti-
in each group may vary, reflecting the size of the Indian elements. Indian security
countries of South Asia. agencies see the Maoist movement
in Nepal as a growing security
© Name each group after a country and hand over
threat, given the rise of Naxalite
a brief country profile to respective groups. Besides
groups in various Indian states
the basic information, include a short note on the
from Bihar in the north to Andhra
contentious issues/disputes among the South Asian
Pradesh in the south. Many leaders
countries. The issues could be those discussed in
this chapter or an issue of relevance but not and citizens in Nepal think that the
discussed in the chapter. Indian government interferes in its
internal affairs, has designs on its
© Allow students to select an issue of their choice. river waters and hydro-electricity,
The dispute could be bilateral or multilateral (the and prevents Nepal, a landlocked
issue could be related to India, given the
country, from getting easier access
geographic peculiarity of the region).
to the sea through Indian territory.
© Assign each group to find out what initiatives the Nevertheless, Indo-Nepal relations
governments involved have taken and the reasons are fairly stable and peaceful.
for their failures in resolving the disputes. Despite differences, trade, scientific
© Students should assume the role of representing cooperation, common natural
resources, electricity generation
their respective countries and share their findings.
and interlocking water
Ideas for the Teacher
management grids hold the two
* Pair up the countries sharing the common issue/dispute. It countries together. There is a hope
could be two groups in the case of a bilateral issue or more in
that the consolidation of democracy
case of a multilateral issue (examples of bilateral issues include
the Jammu and Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan, in Nepal will lead to improvements
the migrant problem between India and Bangladesh; in the ties between the two
multilateral issues include the creation of a free trade zone or
countries.
tackling terrorism).
* Groups should negotiate on the proposals and counter- The difficulties in the
proposals within a time limit. The teacher is to take note of the relationship between the
outcome of the negotiations. The focus should be on the areas governments of India and Sri Lanka
of agreement and disagreement.
are mostly over ethnic conflict in
* Link the outcome of the negotiations with the prevailing
the island nation. Indian leaders
situation among the countries of South Asia. Talk about the
difficulties involved in negotiating on a political issue based and citizens find it impossible to
on the observation made. Conclude by discussing the remain neutral when Tamils are
importance of accommodating each other’s interest for the politically unhappy and are
sake of peaceful coexistence.
being killed. After the military
intervention in 1987, the Indian

2018-19
Contemporary South Asia 77

government now prefers a policy of the region. The smaller countries

disengagement vis-à-vis Sri Lanka’s fear that India wants to be a
internal troubles. India signed a free regionally-dominant power.
trade agreement with Sri Lanka,
Not all conflicts in South Asia
which strengthened relations
are between India and its
between two countries. India’s help
neighbours. Nepal and Bhutan, as
in post-tsunami reconstruction in
well as Bangladesh and Myanmar,
Sri Lanka has also brought the two
have had disagreements in the past
countries closer. If the chapter, on US
over the migration of ethnic
was called ‘US
India enjoys a very special Nepalese into Bhutan and the
Hegemony’ why is
relationship with Bhutan too and Rohingyas into Myanmar,
this chapter not
does not have any major conflict respectively. Bangladesh and Nepal called ‘Indian
with the Bhutanese government. have had some differences over the Hegemony’?
The efforts made by the Bhutanese future of the Himalayan river
monarch to weed out the guerrillas waters. The major conflicts and
and militants from northeastern differences, though, are between
India that operate in his country India and the others, partly
have been helpful to India. India is because of the geography of the
involved in big hydroelectric region, in which India is located
projects in Bhutan and remains the centrally and is therefore the only
Himalayan kingdom’s biggest country that borders the others.
source of development aid. India’s
ties with the Maldives remain warm
and cordial. In November 1988,
when some Tamil mercenaries
from Sri Lanka attacked the
Maldives, the Indian air force and
navy reacted quickly to the
Maldives’ request to help stop the
invasion. India has also
contributed towards the island’s
economic development, tourism
and fisheries.
You may have noticed that
India has various problems with its
smaller neighbours in the region.
Given its size and power, they are
bound to be suspicious of India’s
intentions. The Indian government,
on the other hand, often feels
exploited by its neighbours. It does Surendra, The Hindu
not like the political instability in
these countries, fearing it can help What does this cartoon tell you about the role of India and
outside powers to gain influence in Pakistan in the process of regional cooperation in South Asia?

2018-19
78 Contemporary World Politics

PEACE AND COOPERATION

Do the states of South Asia cooperate with each
other? Or do they only keep fighting with each
other? In spite of the many conflicts, the states
of South Asia recognise the importance of
cooperation and friendly relationship, among
themselves. The South Asian Association for
Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is a major regional
initiative by the South Asian states to evolve
cooperation through multilateral means. It
began in 1985. Unfortunately, due to persisting
Keshav, The Hindu political differences, SAARC has not had much
success. SAARC members signed the South
Asian Free Trade (SAFTA) agreement which
promised the formation of a free trade zone for
the whole of South Asia.
A new chapter of peace and cooperation might
evolve in South Asia if all the countries in the region
allow free trade across the borders. This is the spirit
behind the idea of SAFTA. The Agreement was
signed in 2004 and came into effect on 1 January
2006. SAFTA aims at lowering trade tariffs. But
some of our neighbours fear that SAFTA is a way
Pakistan Tribune for India to ‘invade’ their markets and to influence
their societies and politics through commercial
The two cartoons, one from India and the other
from Pakistan, interpret the role of two key
ventures and a commercial presence in their
players who are also interested in the region. Do countries. India thinks that there are real economic
you notice any commonality between their benefits for all from SAFTA and that a region that
perspectives? trades more freely will be able to cooperate better
on political issues. Some in India think that SAFTA
is not worth the trouble since India already has
bilateral agreements with Bhutan, Nepal and
Sri Lanka.
Although India-Pakistan relations seem to be a
story of endemic conflict and violence, there have
Every association been a series of efforts to manage tensions and
seems to have build peace. The two countries have agreed to
emerged for trade! undertake confidence building measures to reduce
Is trade more the risk of war. Social activists and prominent
important than personalities have collaborated to create an
people-to-people
atmosphere of friendship among the people of both
relations?
countries. Leaders have met at summits to
understand each other better and to find solutions

2018-19
Contemporary South Asia 79

to the major problems between the American involvement in South

two neighbours. A number of bus
routes have been opened up
between the two countries. Trade
between the two parts of Punjab
has increased substantially in the
last five years. Visas have been
more easily given.
No region exists in a vacuum.
It is influenced by outside powers
and events no matter how much
it may try to insulate itself from
non-regional powers. China and
the United States remain key
players in South Asian politics.
Sino-Indian relations have
improved significantly in the last
ten years, but China’s strategic
partnership with Pakistan
remains a major irritant. The
demands of development and
globalisation have brought the two
Asian giants closer, and their
economic ties have multiplied
rapidly since 1991.
Asia has rapidly increased after the
Cold War. The US has had good
relations with both India and
Pakistan since the end of the Cold
War and increasingly works as a
moderator in India-Pakistan
relations. Economic reforms and
liberal economic policies in both
countries have greatly increased
the depth of American participation
in the region. The large South Asian
diasporas in the US and the huge
size of the population and markets
of the region also give America an
added stake in the future of
regional security and peace.
However, whether South Asia
will continue to be known as a
conflict prone zone or will evolve into
a regional bloc with some common
cultural features and trade interests
will depend more on the people and
the governments of the region than
any other outside power.

1. Identify the country:

Exercises
a. The struggle among pro-monarchy, pro-democracy groups and
extremists created an atmosphere of political instability:
b. A landlocked country with multi-party competition:
c. The first country to liberalise its economy in the South Asian
region:
d. In the conflict between the military and pro-democracy groups,
the military has prevailed over democracy:
e. Centrally located and shares borders with most of the South
Asian countries:
f. Earlier the island had the Sultan as the head of state. Now, it’s
a republic:
g. Small savings and credit cooperatives in the rural areas have
helped in reducing poverty:
h. A landlocked country with a monarchy:

2018-19
80 Contemporary World Politics

2. Which among the following statements about South Asia is wrong?

a) All the countries in South Asia are democratic.
b) Bangladesh and India have signed an agreement on river-water
sharing.
E x e r c i s e s
c) SAFTA was signed at the 12th SAARC Summit in Islamabad.
d) The US and China play an influential role in South Asian politics.
3. What are some of the commonalities and differences between
Bangladesh and Pakistan in their democratic experiences?
4. List three challenges to democracy in Nepal.
5. Name the principal players in the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. How do
you assess the prospects of the resolution of this conflict?
6. Mention some of the recent agreements between India and Pakistan.
Can we be sure that the two countries are well on their way to a
friendly relationship?
7. Mention two areas each of cooperation and disagreement between
India and Bangladesh.
8. How are the external powers influencing bilateral relations in South
Asia? Take any one example to illustrate your point.
9. Write a short note on the role and the limitations of SAARC as a forum
for facilitating economic cooperation among the South Asian
countries.
10. India’s neighbours often think that the Indian government tries to
dominate and interfere in the domestic affairs of the smaller countries
of the region. Is this a correct impression?

2018-19
 Chapter 6
International Organisations

OVERVIEW
In this chapter we shall discuss
the role of inter national
organisations after the collapse of
the Soviet Union. We shall
examine how, in this emerging
world, there were calls for the
restructuring of international
organisations to cope with various
new challenges including the rise
of US power. The potential reform
of the United Nations Security
Council is an interesting case of
the refor m process and its
difficulties. We then turn to India’s
involvement in the UN and its view
of Security Council reforms. The This is the United Nations’ logo. The emblem has a world map
chapter closes by asking if the UN with olive branches around it, signifying world peace.
can play any role in dealing with Credit : www.un.org
a world dominated by one
superpower. In this chapter we
also look at some other trans-
national organisations that are
playing a crucial role.

2018-19
82
WHY INTERNATIONAL
ORGANISATIONS?
Read the two cartoons on this
page. Both the cartoons comment
on the ineffectiveness of the
United Nations Organisation,
usually referred to as the UN, in
the Lebanon crisis in 2006. Both
the cartoons represent the kind of
opinions that we often hear about
the UN.
On the other hand, we also
find that the UN is generally
regarded as the most important
international organisation in
today’s world. In the eyes of many
people all over the world, it is
indispensable and represents the
great hope of humanity for peace
and progress. Why do we then
need organisations like the UN?
Let us hear two insiders:
That’s what they say
about the “The United Nations was not
parliament too — created to take humanity to
a talking shop. Does
heaven, but to save it from hell.”
it mean that we
— Dag Hammarskjold, the UN’s
need talking shops?
second Secretary-General.
© Harry Harrison, Cagle Cartoons Inc.
During June 2006, Israel attacked Lebanon, saying that it was necessary to control the militant group called Hezbollah.
Large numbers of civilians were killed and many public buildings and even residential areas came under Israeli
bombardment. The UN passed a resolution on this only in August and the Israel army withdrew from the region only in
October. Both these cartoons comment on the role of the UN and its Secretary-General in this episode.
2018-19
Contemporary World Politics
“Talking shop? Yes, there are
a lot of speeches and meetings at
the U.N., especially during the
annual sessions of the General
Assembly. But as Churchill put it,
jaw-jaw is better than war-war.
Isn’t it better to have one place
where all… countries in the world
can get together, bore each other
sometimes with their words rather
than bore holes into each other on
the battlefield?” — Shashi Tharoor,
the former UN Under-Secretary-
General for Communications and
Public Information.
These two quotes suggest
something important. International
organisations are not the answer
to everything, but they are
important. International organi-
sations help with matters of war
and peace. They also help
countries cooperate to make
better living conditions for us all.
Countries have conflicts and
differences with each other. That
does not necessarily mean they
must go to war to deal with their
© Petar Pismestrovic, Cagle Cartoons Inc.
International Organisations
antagonisms. They can, instead,
discuss contentious issues and
find peaceful solutions; indeed,
even though this is rarely noticed,
most conflicts and differences are
resolved without going to war. The
role of an international
organisation can be important in
this context. An international
organisation is not a super-state
with authority over its members.
It is created by and responds to
states. It comes into being when
states agree to its creation. Once
created, it can help member states
resolve their problems peacefully.
International organisations are
helpful in another way. Nations
can usually see that there are some
things they must do together.
There are issues that are so
challenging that they can only be
dealt with when everyone works
together. Disease is an example.
Some diseases can only be
eradicated if everyone in the world
cooperates in inoculating or
vaccinating their populations. Or
take global warming and
its effects. As temperatures rise
because of the increase in
greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere, there is a danger that
sea levels will also rise, thereby
submerging many coastal areas of
the world including huge cities. Of
course, each country can try to
find its own solution to the effects
of global warming. But in the end
a more effective approach is to stop
the warming itself. This requires at
least all of the major industrial
powers to cooperate.
Unfortunately, recognising the
need for cooperation and actually
83
IMF
The International Monetary Fund
(IMF) is an international organ-
isation that oversees those
financial institutions and regula-
tions that act at the international
level. The IMF has 189 member
countries (as on 12 April 2016) but they do not
enjoy an equal say. The G-7 members
US (16.52%), Japan (6.15%), Germany (5.32%),
France (4.03%), UK (4.03%), Italy (3.02%) and
Canada (2.22%) have 41.29% of the votes.
China (6.09%), India (2.64%), Russia (2.59%)
IMF
Brazil (2.22%) and Saudi Arabia (2.02%) are the
other major members.
cooperating are two different
things. Nations can recognise the
need to cooperate but cannot
always agree on how best to do so,
how to share the costs of
cooperating, how to make sure
that the benefits of cooperating are
justly divided, and how to ensure
that others do not break their end
of the bargain and cheat on an
agreement. An international
organisation can help produce
information and ideas about how
to cooperate. It can provide
mechanisms, rules and a
bureaucracy, to help members have
more confidence that costs will be
shared properly, that the benefits
Make a list of issues or
problems (other than the
ones mentioned in the
text) that cannot be
handled by any one
country and require an
international organisation.
2018-19
84 Contemporary World Politics

government? We shall try to

FOUNDING OF THE UNITED NATIONS answer this question at the end of
the chapter.
1941August: Signing of the Atlantic Charter by the US President
Franklin D. Roosevelt and British PM Winston S. Churchill
EVOLUTION OF THE UN
1942 January: 26 Allied nations fighting against the Axis
Powers meet in Washington, D.C., to support the Atlantic The First World War encouraged
Charter and sign the ‘Declaration by United Nations’
the world to invest in an
1943 December: Tehran Conference Declaration of the international organisation to deal
Three Powers (US, Britain and Soviet Union) with conflict. Many believed that
such an organisation would help
1945 February: Yalta Conference of the ‘Big Three’ the world to avoid war. As a result,
(Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin) decides to organise a United
Nations conference on the proposed world organisation the League of Nations was born.
However, despite its initial
April-May: The 2-month long United Nations Conference on success, it could not prevent the
International Organisation at San Francisco Second World War (1939-45).
Many more people died and were
1945 June 26: Signing of the UN Charter by 50 nations
(Poland signed on October 15; so the UN has 51 original wounded in this war than ever
founding members) before.

1945 October 24: the UN was founded (hence October 24 is The UN was founded as a
celebrated as UN Day) successor to the League of
Nations. It was established in
1945 October 30: India joins the UN 1945 immediately after the

will be fairly divided, and that once

a member joins an agreement it
will honour the terms and
conditions of the agreement.
With the end of the Cold War,
we can see that the UN may have
a slightly different role. As the
United States and its allies
emerged victorious, there was
concer n amongst many
governments and peoples that the
Western countries led by the US The US Office of War Information
would be so powerful that there created the above poster during the
Second World War as per the
would be no check against their
Declaration by United Nations of 1942.
wishes and desires. Can the UN The poster features the flags of all
serve to promote dialogue and nations that were part of the Allied
discussion with the US in Forces. It reflects the belligerent origins
particular, and could it limit the of the UN.

power of the American

2018-19
International Organisations 85

Adapted from http://www.newint.org/issue375/pics/un-map-big.gif

For more details about the UN System, visit www.un.org

2018-19
86
Search for at Second World War. The
least one news organisation was set up through
item about the the signing of the United Nations
Charter by 51 states. It tried to
activities of
achieve what the League could not
each of the
between the two world wars. The
UN agencies
UN’s objective is to prevent
mentioned on
international conflict and to
this page.
facilitate cooperation among
states. It was founded with the
hope that it would act to stop the
conflicts between states escalating
into war and, if war broke out, to
limit the extent of hostilities.
Furthermore, since conflicts often
arose from the lack of social and
economic development, the UN
was intended to bring countries
together to improve the prospects
of social and economic
development all over the world.
By 2011, the UN had 193
member states. These includeed
almost all independent states. In
the UN General Assembly, all
members have one vote each. In
the UN Security Council, there are
five permanent members. These
are: the United States, Russia, the
United Kingdom, France and
China. These states were selected
as permanent members as they
were the most powerful
immediately after the Second
Cold War or no
World War and because they
Cold War, one
constituted the victors in the War.
reform is needed
above all. Only The UN’s most visible public
democratic leaders figure, and the representative
should be allowed head, is the Secretary-General.
to represent their
The present Secretary-General is
countries in the UN.
António Guterres. He is the ninth
How can they allow
dictators to speak in
Secretary-General of the UN. He
the name of the took over as the Secretary-General
people of their on 1 January 2017. He was the
country? Prime Minister of Portugal
2018-19
Contemporary World Politics
(1995-2002) and the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees
(2005-2015).
The UN consists of many
different structures and agencies.
War and peace and differences
between member states are
discussed in the General
Assembly as well as the Security
Council. Social and economic
issues are dealt with by many
agencies including the World
Health Organisation (WHO), the
United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP), the United
Nations Human Rights Commision
(UNHRC), the United Nations High
Commission for Refugees (UNHCR),
the United Nations Children’s Fund
(UNICEF), and the United Nations
Educational, Scientific, and
Cultural Organisation (UNESCO),
among others.
REFORM OF THE UN AFTER
THE COLD WAR
Reform and improvement are
fundamental to any organisation
to serve the needs of a changing
environment. The UN is no
exception. In recent years, there
have been demands for reform of
the world body. However, there is
little clarity and consensus on the
nature of reform.
Two basic kinds of reforms face
the UN: reform of the
organisation’s structures and
processes; and a review of the
issues that fall within the
jurisdiction of the organisation.
Almost everyone is agreed that
both aspects of reform are
International Organisations
necessary. What they cannot agree
on is precisely what is to be done,
how it is to be done, and when it is
to be done.
On the reform of structures
and processes, the biggest
discussion has been on the
functioning of the Security
Council. Related to this has been
the demand for an increase in the
UN Security Council’s permament
and non-permanent membership
so that the realities of
contemporary world politics are
better reflected in the structure of
the organisation. In particular,
there are proposals to increase
membership from Asia, Africa and
South America. Beyond this, the
US and other Western countries
want improvements in the UN’s
budgetary procedures and its
administration.
On the issues to be given
greater priority or to be brought
within the jurisdiciton of the UN,
some countries and experts want
the organisation to play a greater
or more effective role in peace and
security missions, while others
want its role to be confined to
development and humanitarian
work (health, education,
environment, population control,
human rights, gender and social
justice).
Let us look at both sets of
reforms, with an emphasis on
reform of the structures and
processes.
The UN was established in
1945 immediately after the
Second World War. The way it was
87
UN SECRETARIES-GENERAL
Trygve Lie(1946-1952) Norway; lawyer and foreign
minister; worked for ceasefire between India and
Pakistan on Kashmir; criticised for his failure to
quickly end the Korean war; Soviet Union opposed
second term for him; resigned from the post.
Dag Hammarskjöld(1953-1961) Sweden; Economist
and lawyer; worked for resolving the Suez Canal
dispute and the decolonisation of Africa; awarded
Nobel Peace Prize posthumously in 1961 for his
efforts to settle the Congo crisis; Soviet Union and
France criticised his role in Africa.
U Thant(1961-1971) Burma (Myanmar); teacher and
diplomat; worked for resolving the Cuban Missile
Crisis and ending the Congo crisis; established the
UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus; criticised the
US during the Vietnam War.
Kurt Waldheim(1972-1981) Austria; diplomat and
foreign minister; made efforts to resolve the
problems of Namibia and Lebanon; oversaw the
relief operation in Bangladesh; China blocked his
bid for a third term.
Javier Perez de Cuellar(1982-1991) Peru; lawyer
and diplomat; worked for peace in Cyprus,
Afghanistan and El Salvador; mediated between
Britain and Argentina after the Falklands War;
negotiated for the independence of Namibia.
Boutros Boutros-Ghali(1992-1996) Egypt; diplomat,
jurist, foreign minister; issued a report, An Agenda for
Peace; conducted a successful UN operation in
Mozambique; blamed for the UN failures in Bosnia,
Somalia and Rwanda; due to serious disagreements,
the US blocked a second term for him.
Kofi A. Annan (1997-2006) Ghana; UN official;
created the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis
and Malaria; declared the US-led invasion of Iraq
as an illegal act; established the Peacebuilding
Commission and the Human Rights Council in 2005;
awarded the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize
Ban Ki-moon (2007-2016) Republic of Korea (South
Korea); diplomat and foreign minister; the first
Asian to hold the post since 1971; highlighted
climate change; focused on the Millennium
Development Goals; worked for the creation of
UN Women; emphasised conflict resolution and
nuclear disarmament.
Photo Credit: www.un.org
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88
Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General, launches UN @ 70 to celebrate
the 70th Anniversary in New Delhi in 2015 (UN Photo/Mark Garten)
organised and the way it
functioned reflected the realities of
world politics after the Second
World War. After the Cold War,
those realities are different. Here
are some of the changes that have
occurred:
The Soviet Union has
collapsed.
The US is the strongest power.
The relationship between
Russia, the successor to the
Soviet Union, and the US is
much more cooperative.
China is fast emerging as a
great power, and India also is
growing rapidly.
The economies of Asia are
growing at an unprecedented
rate.
Many new countries have
joined the UN (as they became
independent from the Soviet
Union or former communist
states in eastern Europe).
A whole new set of challenges
confronts the world (genocide,
civil war, ethnic conflict,
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Contemporary World Politics
terrorism, nuclear proliferation,
climate change, environmental
degradation, epidemics).
In this situation, in 1989, as
the Cold War was ending, the
question facing the world was: is
the UN doing enough? Is it
equipped to do what is required?
What should it be doing? And
how? What reforms are necessary
to make it work better? For the
past decade and a half, member
states have been trying to find
satisfactory and practical answers
to these questions.
REFORM OF STRUCTURES AND
PROCESSES
While the case for reform has
widespread support, getting
agreement on what to do is
difficult. Let us examine the
debate over reform of the UN
Security Council. In 1992, the UN
General Assembly adopted a
resolution. The resolution
reflected three main complaints:
The Security Council no longer
represents contemporary
political realities.
Its decisions reflect only
Western values and interests
and are dominated by a few
powers.
It lacks equitable representation.
In view of these growing
demands for the restructuring of
the UN, on 1 January 1997, the
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
initiated an inquiry into how the
International Organisations 89

UN should be reformed. How, for

instance, should new Security
Council members be chosen?
In the years since then, the
following are just some of the
criteria that have been proposed
for new permanent and non-
permanent members of the
Security Council. A new member,
it has been suggested, should be:
A major economic power
World Bank
The World Bank was created
during the Second World War in
1944. Its activities are focused
on the developing countries. It
works for human development
(education, health), agriculture and rural
development (irrigation, rural services),
environmental protection (pollution reduction,
establishing and enforcing regulations),
infrastructure (roads, urban regeneration,
electricity) and governance (anti-corruption,

WORLD BANK
A major military power development of legal institutions). It provides
A substantial contributor to loans and grants to the member-countries. In
the UN budget this way, it exercises enormous influence on the
economic policies of developing countries. It is
A big nation in terms of its
often criticised for setting the economic
population agenda of the poorer nations, attaching
A nation that respects stringent conditions to its loans and forcing free
democracy and human rights market reforms.
A country that would
make the Council more
representative of the world’s
diversity in terms of Clearly, each of these criteria
geography, economic systems, has some validity. Governments
and culture saw advantages in some criteria
and disadvantages in others
Major contributors to the
depending on their interests and
UN regular budget, 2017
aspirations. Even if they had no
No. Member State % desire to be members themselves,
1 USA 22.0 countries could see that the
2 Japan 9.6
criteria were problematic. How big
3 China 7.9
4 Germany 6.3 an economic or military power did
5 France 4.8 you have to be to qualify for
6 UK 4.4 Security Council membership?
7 Brazil 3.8 What level of budget contribution
8 Italy 3.7 would enable a state to buy its way
9 Russia 3.0
into the Council? Was a big
10 Canada 2.9
11 Spain 2.4 population an asset or a liability
12 Australia 2.3 for a country trying to play a bigger
13 Republic of Korea 2.0 role in the world? If respect for
14 Netherlands 1.4 democracy and human rights was
15 Mexico 1.4 the criteria, countries with
16 Saudi Arabia 1.1
excellent records would be in line
17 Switzerland 1.1
18 Turkey 1.0 to be members; but would they be
Source: www.un.org effective as Council members?

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90 Contemporary World Politics

members of the developing world?

Even here, there are difficulties. The
developing world consists of
countries at many different levels
of development. What about
culture? Should different cultures
STEPS or ‘ civilisations’ be given
representation in a more balanced
© Divide the class into six groups. Each group is to
way? How does one divide the
follow one of the six criteria (or more if there are
world by civilisations or cultures
more suggestions) listed here for permanent
given that nations have so many
membership of the UN Security Council.
cultural streams within their
© Each group is to make its own list of the borders?
permanent members based on its given
criterion (e.g. the group working on the A related issue was to change
‘population’ criterion will find out the which are the nature of membership
five most populous countries). altogether. Some insisted, for
instance, that the veto power of
© Each group can make a presentation of their the five permanent members be
recommended list and reasons why their abolished. Many perceived the
criterion should be accepted. veto to be in conflict with the
Ideas for the Teacher concept of democracy and
* Allow the students to opt for the group whose criterion they sovereign equality in the UN and
themselves favour. thought that the veto was no
* Compare all the lists and see how many names are longer right or relevant.
common and how often India features.
In the Security Council, there
* Keep some time for an open ended discussion on which
are five permanent members and
criterion should be adopted.
ten non-permanent members. The
Charter gave the permanent
Furthermore, how was the members a privileged position to
matter of representation to be bring about stability in the world
resolved? Did equitable after the Second World War. The
representation in geographical main privileges of the five
terms mean that there should be per manent members are
one seat each from Asia, Africa, permanency and the veto power.
and Latin America and the The non-permanent members
Caribbean? Should the serve for only two years at a time
representation, on the other hand, and give way after that period to
be by regions or sub-regions newly elected members. A country
(rather than continents)? Why cannot be re-elected immediately
should the issue of equitable after completing a term of two
representation be decided by years. The non-per manent
geography? Why not by levels of members are elected in a manner
economic development? Why not, so that they represent all
in other words, give more seats to continents of the world.

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International Organisations
Most importantly, the non-
permanent members do not have
the veto power. What is the veto
power? In taking decisions, the
Security Council proceeds by
voting. All members have one vote.
However, the permanent members
can vote in a negative manner so
that even if all other permanent
and non-permanent members vote
for a particular decision, any
permanent member’s negative vote
can stall the decision. This negative
vote is the veto.
While there has been a move
to abolish or modify the veto
system, there is also a realisation
that the permanent members are
unlikely to agree to such a reform.
Also, the world may not be ready
for such a radical step even though
the Cold War is over. Without the
veto, there is the danger as in 1945
that the great powers would lose
interest in the world body, that
they would do what they pleased
outside it, and that without their
support and involvement the body
would be ineffective.
Source: www.un.org
91
JURISDICTION OF THE UN
The question of membership is a
serious one. In addition, though,
there are more substantial issues
before the world. As the UN
That’s very unfair! It’s
completed 60 years of its
actually the weaker
existence, the heads of all the countries who need
member-states met in September a veto, not those
2005 to celebrate the anniversary who already have so
and review the situation. The much power.
leaders in this meeting decided
that the following steps should be
taken to make the UN more
relevant in the changing context.
Creation of a Peacebuilding
Commission
Acceptance of the responsibility
of the international community
in case of failures of national
governments to protect their
own citizens from atrocities
Establishment of a Human
Rights Council (operational
since 19 June 2006) Find out
Agreements to achieve the about the
Millennium Development Sustainable
Goals (MDGs) Development
Goals (SDGs).
Condemnation of terrorism in
all its forms and manifestations
Creation of a Democracy Fund
An agreement to wind up the
Trusteeship Council
It is not hard to see that these
are equally contentious issues for
the UN. What should a
Peacebuilding Commission do?
There are any number of conflicts
all over the world. Which ones
should it intervene in? Is it possible
or even desirable for it to intervene
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 92 Contemporary World Politics

in each and every conflict?

Similarly, what is the responsibility
of the international community in
dealing with atrocities? What are
© Pat Bagley, Cagle Cartoons Inc.

human rights and who should

determine the level of human
rights violations and the course of
action to be taken when they are
violated? Given that so many
countries are still part of the
developing world, how realistic is
it for the UN to achieve an
ambitious set of goals such as
those listed in the Millennium
Development Goals? Can there be
The humanitarian crisis in Darfur, Sudan since 2003 has agreement on a definition of
attracted empty promises by the International Community. terrorism? How shall the UN use
How do you think the UN can intervene in situations like this?
funds to promote democracy? And
Would that require a change in its jurisdiction?
so on.

Source: www.un.org

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International Organisations
INDIA AND THE UN REFORMS
India has supported the
restructuring of the UN on several
grounds. It believes that a
strengthened and revitalised UN is
desirable in a changing world.
India also supports an enhanced
role for the UN in promoting
development and cooperation
among states. India believes that
development should be central to
the UN’s agenda as it is a vital
precondition for the maintenance
of international peace and security.
One of India’s major concerns
has been the composition of the
Security Council, which has
remained largely static while the
UN General Assembly member-
ship has expanded considerably.
India considers that this has
har med the representative
character of the Security Council.
It also argues that an expanded
Council, with more representation,
will enjoy greater support in the
world community.
We should keep in mind that
the membership of the UN
Security Council was expanded
from 11 to 15 in 1965. But, there
was no change in the number of
permanent members. Since then,
the size of the Council has
remained stationary. The fact
remains that the overwhelming
majority of the UN General
Assembly members now are
developing countries. Therefore,
India argues that they should also
have a role in shaping the
decisions in the Security Council
which affect them.
93
WTO
The World Trade Organisation
(WTO) is an international
organisation which sets the rules
for global trade. This organisation
was set up in 1995 as the
successor to the General Agreement on Trade
and Tariffs (GATT) created after the Second
World War. It has 164 members (as on 29 July
2016). All decisions are taken unanimously but
the major economic powers such as the US, EU
and Japan have managed to use the WTO to
frame rules of trade to advance their own
WTO
interests. The developing countries often
complain of non-transparent procedures and
being pushed around by big powers.
India supports an increase in
the number of both permanent
and non-permanent members. Its
representatives have argued that
the activities of the Security
Council have greatly expanded in
the past few years. The success of
the Security Council’s actions
depends upon the political
support of the international
community. Any plan for
restructuring of the Security
Council should, therefore, be
broad-based. For example, the
Security Council should have
more developing countries in it.
Not surprisingly, India itself
also wishes to be a permanent
member in a restructured UN.
India is the second most populous
country in the world comprising
almost one-fifth of the world
Do we want to
population. Moreover, India is also
oppose the bossism
the world’s largest democracy. of the big five or do
India has participated in virtually we want to join them
all of the initiatives of the UN. Its and become
role in the UN’s peacekeeping another boss?
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94
IAEA
The International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) was established in
1957. It came into being to
implement US President Dwight
Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace”
proposal. It seeks to promote the peaceful use of
nuclear energy and to prevent its use for military
IAEA
purposes. IAEA teams regularly inspect nuclear
facilities all over the world to ensure that civilian
reactors are not being used for military purposes.
efforts is a long and substantial
one. The country’s economic
emergence on the world stage is
another factor that perhaps
justifies India’s claim to a
permanent seat in the Security
Council. India has also made
regular financial contributions to
the UN and never faltered on its
payments. India is aware that
permanent membership of the
Security Council also has
symbolic importance. It signifies
a country’s growing importance in
world affairs. This greater status
is an advantage to a country in
the conduct of its foreign policy:
the reputation for being powerful
makes you more influential.
Despite India’s wish to be a
permanent veto-wielding member
of the UN, some countries
question its inclusion.
Neighbouring Pakistan, with
which India has troubled relations,
is not the only country that is
reluctant to see India become a
What happens if the
permanent veto member of the
UN invites someone
Security Council. Some countries,
to New York but the
US does not issue for instance, are concerned about
visa? India’s nuclear weapons
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Contemporary World Politics
capabilities. Others think that its
difficulties with Pakistan will make
India ineffective as a permanent
member. Yet others feel that if India
is included, then other emerging
powers will have to be
accommodated such as Brazil,
Germany, Japan, perhaps even
South Africa, whom they oppose.
There are those who feel that Africa
and South America must be
represented in any expansion of
the permanent membership since
those are the only continents not
to have representation in the
present structure. Given these
concerns, it may not be very easy
for India or anyone else to become
a permanent member of the UN in
the near future.
THE UN IN A UNIPOLAR
WORLD
Among the concerns about the
reform and restructuring of the
UN has been the hope of some
countries that changes could help
the UN cope better with a unipolar
word in which the US was the
most powerful country without
any serious rivals. Can the UN
serve as a balance against US
dominance? Can it help maintain
a dialogue between the rest of the
world and the US and prevent
America from doing whatever it
wants?
US power cannot be easily
checked. First of all, with the
disappearance of the Soviet
Union, the US stands as the only
superpower. Its military and
economic power allow it to ignore
International Organisations 95

the UN or any other international

organisation.
Secondly, within the UN, the
influence of the US is
considerable. As the single largest
contributor to the UN, the US has
unmatched financial power. The
fact that the UN is physically
located within the US territory
gives Washington additional
sources of influence. The US also
has many nationals in the UN
bureaucracy. In addition, with its
veto power the US can stop any
moves that it finds annoying or
damaging to its interests or the
interests of its friends and allies.
The power of the US and its veto
within the organisation also
ensure that Washington has a
considerable degree of say in the
choice of the Secretary General of
the UN. The US can and does use
this power to “split” the rest of the
world and to reduce opposition to
its policies.
The UN is not therefore a great © Mike Lane, Cagle Cartoons Inc.
balance to the US. Nevertheless,
in a unipolar world in which the
US is dominant, the UN can and
has served to bring the US and Amnesty
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

the rest of the world into International

discussions over various issues. Amnesty International is an NGO
US leaders, in spite of their that campaigns for the
frequent criticism of the UN, do protection of human rights all
see the organisation as serving a over the world. It promotes
respect for all the human rights in the Universal
purpose in bringing together over
Declaration of Human Rights. It believes that
190 nations in dealing with human rights are interdependent and indivisible.
conflict and social and economic It prepares and publishes reports on human rights.
development. As for the rest of the Governments are not always happy with these
world, the UN provides an arena reports since a major focus of Amnesty is the
in which it is possible to modify misconduct of government authorities.
Nevertheless, these reports play an important role
US attitudes and policies. While
in research and advocacy on human rights.
the rest of the world is rarely

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96 Contemporary World Politics

The UN is an imperfect body,

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

Human Rights Watch but without it the world would be

Human Rights Watch is another
international NGO involved in
research and advocacy on
human rights. It is the largest
international human rights
organisation in the US. It draws the global media’s
attention to human rights abuses. It helped in
building international coalitions like the
campaigns to ban landmines, to stop the use of
child soldiers and to establish the International
Criminal Court.
united against Washington, and
while it is virtually impossible to
“balance” US power, the UN does
provide a space within which
arguments against specific
US attitudes and policies are
heard and compromises and
concessions can be shaped.
Exercises
worse off. Given the growing
connections and links between
societies and issues—what we
often call ‘interdependence’—it is
hard to imagine how more than
seven billion people would live
together without an organisation
such as the UN. Technology
promises to increase planetary
interdependence, and therefore
the importance of the UN will only
increase. Peoples and govern-
ments will have to find ways of
supporting and using the UN and
other international organisations
in ways that are consistent with
their own interests and the
interests of the international
community more broadly.

1. Mark correct or wrong against each of the following statements

about the veto power.
a. Only the permanent members of the Security Council possess
the veto power.
b. It’s a kind of negative power.
c. The Secretary-General uses this power when not satisfied with
any decision.
d. One veto can stall a Security Council resolution.
2. Mark correct or wrong against each of the following statements
about the way the UN functions.
a. All security and peace related issues are dealt with in the
Security Council.
b. Humanitarian policies are implemented by the main organs
and specialised agencies spread across the globe.
c. Having consensus among the five permanent members on
security issues is vital for its implementation.
d. The members of the General Assembly are automatically the
members of all other principal organs and specialised agencies
of the UN.

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International Organisations 97

3. Which among the following would give more weightage to India’s

proposal for permanent membership in the Security Council?
a. Nuclear capability
b. It has been a member of the UN since its inception
c. It is located in Asia
d. India’s growing economic power and stable political system

E x e r c i s e s
4. The UN agency concerned with the safety and peaceful use of
nuclear technology is:
a. The UN Committee on Disarmament
b. International Atomic Energy Agency
c. UN International Safeguard Committee
d. None of the above
5. WTO is serving as the successor to which of the following
organisations
a. General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs
b. General Arrangement on Trade and Tariffs
c. World Health Organisation
d. UN Development Programme
6. Fill in the blanks.
a. The prime objective of the UN is ___________________________
b. The highest functionary of the UN is called_________________
c. The UN Security Council has _____ permanent and _____non-
permanent members.
d. ______________________ is the present UN Secretary-General.
7. Match the principal organs and agencies of the UN with their
functions:
1. Economic and Social Council
2. International Court of Justice
3. International Atomic Energy Agency
4. Security Council
5. UN High Commission for Refugees
6. World Trade Organisation
7. International Monetary Fund
8. General Assembly
9. World Health Organisation
10. Secretariat

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98 Contemporary World Politics

a. Oversees the global financial system

b. Preservation of international peace and security
c. Looks into the economic and social welfare of the member
countries
E x e r c i s e s
d. Safety and peaceful use of nuclear technology
e. Resolves disputes between and among member countries
f. Provides shelter and medical help during emergencies
g. Debates and discusses global issues
h. Administration and coordination of UN affairs
i. Providing good health for all
j. Facilitates free trade among member countries

8. What are the functions of the Security Council?

9. As a citizen of India, how would you support India’s candidature for
the permanent membership of the Security Council? Justify your
proposal.
10. Critically evaluate the difficulties involved in implementing the
suggested reforms to reconstruct the UN.
11. Though the UN has failed in preventing wars and related miseries,
nations prefer its continuation. What makes the UN an indispensable
organisation?
12. ‘Reforming the UN means restructuring of the Security Council’. Do
you agree with this statement? Give arguments for or against this
position.

2018-19
 Chapter 7
Security in the
Contemporary World
OVERVIEW
In reading about world politics, we
frequently encounter the terms
‘security’ or ‘national security’. Do
we know what these terms mean?
Often, they are used to stop debate
and discussion. We hear that an
issue is a security issue and that
it is vital for the well-being of the
country. The implication is that it
is too important or secret to be
debated and discussed openly.
We see movies in which everything
surrounding ‘national security’ is
shadowy and dangerous. Security
seems to be something that is not
the business of the ordinary
citizen. In a democracy, surely this
cannot be the case. As citizens of
a democracy, we need to know
more about the term security.
What exactly is it? And what are
India’s security concerns? This
chapter debates these questions.
It introduces two different ways of
looking at security and highlights The concern about human security was reflected in the 1994
the importance of keeping in mind UNDP’s Human Development Report, which contends, “the
concept of security has for too long been interpreted
different contexts or situations
narrowly… It has been more related to nation states than
which determine our view of people… Forgotten were the legitimate concerns of ordinary
security. people who sought security in their daily lives.” The images
above show various forms of security threats.

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 100
WHAT IS SECURITY?
At its most basic, security implies
freedom from threats. Human
existence and the life of a country
are full of threats. Does that mean
that every single threat counts as
a security threat? Every time a
Who decides about person steps out of his or her
my security? Some
house, there is some degree of
leaders and experts?
threat to their existence and way
Can’t I decide what
is my security? of life. Our world would be
saturated with security issues if
we took such a broad view of what
is threatening.
Those who study security,
therefore, generally say that only
© Ares, Cagle Cartoons Inc.
Taming Peace
Have you heard of ‘peacekeeping force’? Do you think this is
paradoxical term?
2018-19
Contemporary World Politics
those things that threaten ‘core
values’ should be regarded as being
of interest in discussions of
security. Whose core values
though? The core values of the
country as a whole? The core
values of ordinary women and men
in the street? Do governments, on
behalf of citizens, always have the
same notion of core values as the
ordinary citizen?
Furthermore, when we speak
of threats to core values, how
intense should the threats be?
Surely there are big and small
threats to virtually every value we
hold dear. Can all those threats
be brought into the understanding
of security? Every time another
country does something or fails to
do something, this may damage
the core values of one’s country.
Every time a person is robbed in
the streets, the security of
ordinary people as they live their
daily lives is harmed. Yet, we
would be paralysed if we took such
an extensive view of security:
everywhere we looked, the world
would be full of dangers.
So we are brought to a
conclusion: security relates only
to extremely dangerous threats—
threats that could so endanger
core values that those values
would be damaged beyond repair
if we did not do something to deal
with the situation.
Having said that, we must
admit that security remains a
slippery idea. For instance, have
societies always had the same
conception of security? It would
be surprising if they did because
Security in the Contemporary World 101

so many things change in the

world around us. And, at any
given time in world history, do all
societies have the same conception
of security? Again, it would be
amazing if six hundred and fifty
crore people, organised in nearly
200 countries, had the same
conception of security! Let us begin
by putting the various notions of
security under two groups:
traditional and non-traditional
conceptions of security.

TRADITIONAL NOTIONS:
EXTERNAL
Most of the time, when we read
and hear about security we are
talking about traditional, national
security conceptions of security.
In the traditional conception of
security, the greatest danger to a
country is from military threats.
The source of this danger is
another country which by
threatening military action
endangers the core values of
sovereignty, independence and
territorial integrity. Military action
also endangers the lives of
ordinary citizens. It is unlikely that
in a war only soldiers will be hurt
or killed. Quite often, ordinary
men and women are made targets
of war, to break their support of
the war.
In responding to the threat of
war, a government has three basic
choices: to surrender; to prevent
the other side from attacking by
promising to raise the costs of war
to an unacceptable level; and to
defend itself when war actually
Economy of war
© Ares, Cagle Cartoons Inc.
breaks out so as to deny the
attacking country its objectives
and to turn back or defeat the
attacking forces altogether.
Gover nments may choose to
surrender when actually confronted
by war, but they will not advertise
this as the policy of the country.
Therefore, security policy is
concerned with preventing war,
which is called deterrence, and
with limiting or ending war, which
is called defence.
Traditional security policy has
a third component called balance
of power. When countries look
around them, they see that some
countries are bigger and stronger.
This is a clue to who might be a
threat in the future. For instance, War is all about
a neighbouring country may not insecurity, destruction
say it is preparing for attack. and deaths. How
There may be no obvious reason can a war make
anyone secure?
for attack. But the fact that this
country is very powerful is a sign

2018-19
 102
© Christo Komarnitski, Cagle Cartoons Inc.
How do the big powers react when new countries claim nuclear
status? On what basis can we say that some countries can be
trusted with nuclear weapons while others can’t be?
that at some point in the future it
may choose to be aggressive.
Governments are, therefore, very
sensitive to the balance of power
between their country and other
countries. They do work hard to
maintain a favourable balance of
power with other countries,
especially those close by, those
with whom they have differences,
or with those they have had
conflicts in the past. A good part
of maintaining a balance of power
is to build up one’s military power,
although economic and techno-
logical power are also important
since they are the basis for
military power.
A fourth and r elated
component of traditional security
policy is alliance building. An
alliance is a coalition of states
that coordinate their actions to
deter or defend against military
attack. Most alliances are
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Contemporary World Politics
formalised in written treaties and
a re based on a fairly clear
identification of who constitutes
the thr eat. Countries for m
alliances to incr ease their
effective power relative to another
country or alliance. Alliances are
based on national interests and
can change when national
interests change. For example,
the US backed the Islamic
militants in Afghanistan against
the Soviet Union in the 1980s,
but later attacked them when Al
Qaeda—a gr oup of Islamic
militants led by Osama bin
Laden—launched terrorist
strikes against America on 11
September 2001.
In the traditional view of
security, then, most threats to a
country’s security come from
outside its borders. That is
because the international system
is a rather brutal arena in which
there is no central authority
capable of controlling behaviour.
Within a country, the threat of
violence is regulated by an
acknowledged central authority —
the government. In world politics,
there is no acknowledged central
authority that stands above
everyone else. It is tempting to
think that the United Nations is
such an authority or could become
such an institution. However, as
presently constituted, the UN is a
creature of its members and has
authority only to the extent that
the membership allows it to have
authority and obeys it. So, in
world politics, each country has to
be responsible for its own security.
Security in the Contemporary World
TRADITIONAL NOTIONS:
INTERNAL
By now you will have asked
yourself: doesn’t security depend
on internal peace and order? How
can a society be secure if there is
violence or the threat of violence
inside its borders? And how can
it prepare to face violence from
outside its borders if it is not
secure inside its borders?
Traditional security must also,
therefore, concern itself with
internal security. The reason it is
not given so much importance is
that after the Second World War
it seemed that, for the most
powerful countries on earth,
internal security was more or less
assured. We said earlier that it is
important to pay attention to
contexts and situations. While
internal security was certainly
a part of the concer ns of
governments historically, after the
Second World War there was a
context and situation in which
internal security did not seem to
matter as much as it had in the
past. After 1945, the US and the
Soviet Union appeared to be
united and could expect peace
within their borders. Most of the
European countries, particularly
the powerful Western European
countries, faced no serious threats
from groups or communities living
within those borders. Therefore,
these countries focused primarily
on threats from outside their
borders.
What were the external threats
facing these powerful countries?
103
Again, we draw attention to
Browse through a
contexts and situations. We know
week’s newspaper
that the period after the Second
and list all the
World War was the Cold War in
external and
which the US-led Western alliance internal conflicts
faced the Soviet-led Communist that are taking
alliance. Above all, the two place around the
alliances feared a military attack globe.
from each other. Some European
powers, in addition, continued to
worry about violence in their
colonies, from colonised people
who wanted independence. We
have only to remember the French
fighting in Vietnam in the 1950s
or the British fighting in Kenya in
the 1950s and the early 1960s.
As the colonies became free
from the late 1940s onwards, their
security concerns were often
similar to that of the European
powers. Some of the newly-
independent countries, like the
European powers, became
members of the Cold War alliances.
They, therefore, had to worry about
the Cold War becoming a hot war
and dragging them into hostilities
— against neighbours who might
have joined the other side in the
Cold War, against the leaders of the
alliances (the United States or
Soviet Union), or against any of the
other partners of the US and Soviet
Union. The Cold War between the
two superpowers was responsible
for approximately one-third of all
wars in the post-Second World
War period. Most of these wars
were fought in the Third World.
Just as the European colonial
powers feared violence in the
colonies, some colonial people
feared, after independence, that
they might be attacked by their
2018-19
104
Third World Arms © Ares, Cagle Cartoons Inc.
former colonial rulers in Europe.
They had to prepare, therefore, to
defend themselves against an
imperial war.
The security challenges facing
the newly-independent countries
of Asia and Africa were different
from the challenges in Europe in
two ways. For one thing, the new
countries faced the prospect of
military conflict with neighbouring
countries. For another, they had
to worry about internal military
conflict. These countries faced
threats not only from outside their
borders, mostly from neighbours,
but also from within. Many newly-
Those who fight independent countries came to
against their own fear their neighbours even more
country must be
than they feared the US or Soviet
unhappy about
Union or the former colonial
something. Perhaps it
is their insecurity that powers. They quarrelled over
creates insecurity for borders and territories or control
the country. of people and populations or all of
these simultaneously.
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Contemporary World Politics
Internally, the new states
worried about threats from
separatist movements which
wanted to for m independent
countries. Sometimes, the
external and internal threats
merged. A neighbour might help
or instigate an internal separatist
movement leading to tensions
between the two neighbouring
countries. Internal wars now
make up more than 95 per cent of
all armed conflicts fought
anywhere in the world. Between
1946 and 1991, there was a
twelve-fold rise in the number of
civil wars—the greatest jump in
200 years. So, for the new states,
external wars with neighbours and
internal wars posed a serious
challenge to their security.
TRADITIONAL SECURITY AND
COOPERATION
In traditional security, there is a
recognition that cooperation in
limiting violence is possible. These
limits relate both to the ends and
the means of war. It is now an
almost universally-accepted view
that countries should only go to
war for the right reasons, primarily
self-defence or to protect other
people from genocide. War must
also be limited in terms of the
means that are used. Armies must
avoid killing or hurting non-
combatants as well as unarmed
and surrendering combatants.
They should not be excessively
violent. Force must in any case
be used only after all the
alternatives have failed.
Security in the Contemporary World
Traditional views of security
do not rule out other forms of
cooperation as well. The most
important of these are dis-
armament, arms control, and
confidence building. Disarmament
requires all states to give up
certain kinds of weapons. For
example, the 1972 Biological
Weapons Convention (BWC) and
the 1992 Chemical Weapons
Convention (CWC) banned the
production and possession of
these weapons. More than 155
states acceded to the BWC and
181 states acceded to the CWC.
Both conventions included all
the great powers. But the
superpowers — the US and Soviet
Union — did not want to give up
the third type of weapons of mass
destruction, namely, nuclear
weapons, so they pursued arms
control.
Arms control regulates the
acquisition or development of
weapons. The Anti-ballistic
Missile (ABM) Treaty in 1972 tried
to stop the United States and
Soviet Union from using ballistic
missiles as a defensive shield
to launch a nuclear attack.
While it did allow both countries
105
The text says: “Whether Elevated or Under Attack, the Department
of Homeland Security Terror Meter takes the uncertainty out of
staying informed of the level of terror in our nation. Move the Terror
Indicator to the current threat level, which corresponds to how
terrified the Americal people are of the threat of terror attacks.
Terror is all around us, and can strike at anytime. Thanks to the
Terror Meter, you will never have to wonder how terrified you should
be. Proceed with caution”.
to deploy a very limited number of
defensive systems, it stopped them
from large-scale production of
those systems.
As we noted in Chapter 1, the
US and Soviet Union signed a
number of other arms control
treaties including the Strategic
Arms Limitations Treaty II or
SALT II and the Strategic Arms
Reduction Treaty (START). The
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
(NPT) of 1968 was an arms control
treaty in the sense that it
regulated the acquisition of
nuclear weapons: those countries
that had tested and manufactured
nuclear weapons before 1967 were
allowed to keep their weapons; How funny! First they
make deadly and
and those that had not done so
expensive weapons.
were to give up the right to acquire
Then they make
them. The NPT did not abolish complicated treaties
nuclear weapons; rather, it limited to save themselves
the number of countries that from these weapons.
could have them. They call it security!
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106 Contemporary World Politics

Traditional security also conception, the referent is the state

accepts confidence building as a
means of avoiding violence.
Confidence building is a process
in which countries share ideas
and information with their rivals.
They tell each other about their
military intentions and, up to a
point, their military plans. This
is a way of demonstrating that
they are not planning a surprise
attack. They also tell each other
about the kind of forces they
possess, and they may share
information on where those forces
are deployed. In short, confidence
building is a process designed to
ensure that rivals do not go to war
through misunderstanding or
misperception.
Overall, traditional conceptions
of security are principally
concerned with the use, or threat
of use, of military force. In
traditional security, force is both
the principal threat to security
and the principal means of
achieving security.
with its territory and governing
institutions. In the non-traditional
conceptions, the referent is
expanded. When we ask ‘Security
for who?’ proponents of non-
traditional security reply ‘Not just
the state but also individuals or
communities or indeed all of
humankind’. Non-traditional views
of security have been called
‘human security’ or ‘global
security’.
Human security is about the
protection of people more than the
protection of states. Human
security and state security should
be — and often are — the same
thing. But secure states do not
automatically mean secure
peoples. Protecting citizens from
foreign attack may be a necessary
condition for the security of
individuals, but it is certainly not

© Andy Singer, Cagle Cartoons Inc.

NON-TRADITIONAL NOTIONS
Non-traditional notions of security
go beyond military threats to
include a wide range of threats and
dangers affecting the conditions of
human existence. They begin by
questioning the traditional referent
of security. In doing so, they also
question the other three elements
of security — what is being secured,
from what kind of threats and the The cartoon comments on the massive
Now we are talking!
That is what I call real approach to security. When we say expenditure on defence and lack of
referent we mean ‘Security for money for peace-related initiatives in
security for real
the US. Is it any different in our country?
human beings. who?’ In the traditional security

2018-19
Security in the Contemporary World
a sufficient one. Indeed, during
the last 100 years, more people
have been killed by their own
governments than by foreign
armies.
All proponents of human
security agree that its primary
goal is the protection of
individuals. However, there are
differences about precisely what
threats individuals should be
protected from. Proponents of
the ‘narrow’ concept of human
security focus on violent
threats to individuals or, as former
UN Secretary-General Kofi
Annan puts it, “the protection of
communities and individuals from
internal violence”. Proponents of
the ‘broad’ concept of human
security argue that the threat
agenda should include
hunger, disease and natural
disasters because these kill far
more people than war, genocide
and terrorism combined. Human
security policy, they argue,
should protect people from these
threats as well as from violence. In
its broadest formulation, the
human security agenda also
encompasses economic security
and ‘threats to human dignity’.
Put differently, the broadest
formulation stresses what has
been called ‘freedom from want’
and ‘freedom from fear’,
respectively.
The idea of global security
emerged in the 1990s in response
to the global nature of threats
such as global warming,
international terrorism, and health
epidemics like AIDS and
107
bird flu and so on. No country can
resolve these problems alone. And,
in some situations, one country
may have to disproportionately
bear the brunt of a global problem
such as environmental
degradation. For example, due to
global warming, a sea level rise of
1.5–2.0 meters would flood 20
percent of Bangladesh, inundate
most of the Maldives, and threaten
nearly half the population of
Thailand. Since these problems are
global in nature, international
cooperation is vital, even though
it is difficult to achieve.
NEW SOURCES OF THREATS
The non-traditional conceptions—
both human security and global
security—focus on the changing
nature of threats to security. We
will discuss some of these threats
in the section below.
Terrorism refers to political
violence that targets civilians
deliberately and indiscriminately.
International terrorism involves
the citizens or territory of more
than one country. Terrorist
groups seek to change a political
context or condition that they do
not like by force or threat of
force. Civilian targets are
usually chosen to terrorise the
public and to use the
unhappiness of the public as a
weapon against national
governments or other parties in
conflict.
The classic cases of terrorism
involve hijacking planes or planting
bombs in trains, cafes, markets
2018-19
108 Contemporary World Politics

and other crowded places. Since

11 September 2001 when terrorists
attacked the World Trade Centre in
America, other governments and
public have paid more attention to
terrorism, though terrorism itself is
not new. In the past, most of the
terror attacks have occurred in the
Middle East, Europe, Latin
America and South Asia.
Human rights have come to
be classified into three types. The
first type is political rights such as
freedom of speech and assembly.
The second type is economic and
social rights. The third type is the
rights of colonised people or ethnic
and indigenous minorities. While
there is broad agreement on this
classification, there is no
agreement on which set of rights
Taking the train © Tab, Cagle Cartoons Inc. should be considered as universal

Why do we always
look outside when
talking about human
rights violations?
Don’t we have
examples from our
own country? He doesn’t exist!

2018-19
Security in the Contemporary World
human rights, nor what the
international community should
do when rights are being violated.
Since the 1990s, developments
such as Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait,
the genocide in Rwanda, and the
Indonesian military’s killing of
people in East Timor have led to
a debate on whether or not the UN
should intervene to stop human
rights abuses. There are those
who argue that the UN Charter
empowers the inter national
community to take up arms in
defence of human rights. Others
argue that the national interests
of the power ful states will
determine which instances of
human rights violations the UN
will act upon.
Global poverty is another
source of insecurity. World
population—now at 760 crore—
will grow to nearly 1000 crore by
the middle of the 21st century.
Currently, half the world’s
109
population growth occurs in just
six countries—India, China,
Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh and
Indonesia. Among the world’s
poorest countries, population is
expected to triple in the next 50
years, whereas many rich
countries will see population
shrinkage in that period. High per
capita income and low population
growth make rich states or rich
social groups get richer, whereas
low incomes and high population
growth reinforce each other to
make poor states and poor
groups get poorer.
Globally, this disparity
contributes to the gap between
the Norther n and Souther n
countries of the world. Within the
South, disparities have also
sharpened, as a few countries
have managed to slow down
population growth and raise
incomes while others have failed
to do so. For example, most of the
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110
world’s armed conflicts now take
Take a map place in sub-Saharan Africa,
of Africa and which is also the poorest region
plot various
of the world. At the turn of the
threats to the
21st century, more people were
people’s
security on being killed in wars in this region
that map. than in the rest of the world
combined.
Poverty in the South has also
led to large-scale migration to
seek a better life, especially better
economic opportunities, in the
North. This has created
international political frictions.
International law and norms make
a distinction between migrants
(those who voluntarily leave their
home countries) and refugees
(those who flee from war, natural
disaster or political persecution).
States are generally supposed to
accept refugees, but they do not
Refugees in the world (2017)
Where the world’s displaced people are being hosted
16%
Americas
17% 11%
Europe Asia and Pacific
30%
26% Africa
Middle East and North Africa
Source: http://www.unhcr.org
2018-19
Contemporary World Politics
have to accept migrants. While
refugees leave their country of
origin, people who have fled their
homes but remain within national
borders are called ‘internally
displaced people’. Kashmiri
Pandits that fled the violence in the
Kashmir Valley in the early 1990s
are an example of an internally
displaced community.
The world refugee map tallies
almost perfectly with the world
conflicts map because wars and
armed conflicts in the South have
generated millions of refugees
seeking safe haven. From 1990 to
1995, 70 states were involved in 93
wars which killed about 55 lakh
people. As a result, individuals,
and families and, at times, whole
communities have been forced to
migrate because of generalised fear
of violence or due to the
destruction of livelihoods,
identities and living environments.
A look at the correlation between
wars and refugee migration shows
that in the 1990s, all but three of
the 60 refugee flows coincided with
an internal armed conflict.
Health epidemics such as
HIV-AIDS, bird flu, and severe
acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)
have rapidly spread across
countries through migration,
business, tourism and military
operations. One country’s success
or failure in limiting the spread of
these diseases affects infections in
other countries.
Security in the Contemporary World 111

By 2003, an estimated 4 crore

people were infected with HIV-
AIDS worldwide, two-thirds of
them in Africa and half of the rest
in South Asia. In North America
and other industrialised countries,
new drug therapies dramatically
lowered the death rate from HIV-
AIDS in the late 1990s. But these
treatments were too expensive to
help poor regions like Africa where
it has proved to be a major factor
in driving the region backward into
deeper poverty.
Other new and poorly
understood diseases such as ebola Keshav, The Hindu
virus, hantavirus, and hepatitis C
How should the world address issues shown here?
have emerged, while old diseases
like tuberculosis, malaria, dengue
security problem, therefore, an
fever and cholera have mutated
issue must share a minimum
into drug resistant forms that are
common criterion, say, of
difficult to treat. Epidemics among
threatening the very existence of the
animals have major economic
referent (a state or group of people)
effects. Since the late 1990s,
though the precise nature of this
Britain has lost billions of dollars
threat may be different. For
of income during an outbreak of
example, the Maldives may feel
the mad-cow disease, and bird flu
threatened by global warming
shut down supplies of poultry
because a big part of its territory
exports from several Asian
may be submerged with the rising
countries. Such epidemics
sea level, whereas for countries in
demonstrate the growing inter-
Southern Africa, HIV-AIDS poses
dependence of states making their
a serious threat as one in six
borders less meaningful than in
adults has the disease (one in three
the past and emphasise the need
for Botswana, the worst case). In
for international cooperation.
1994, the Tutsi tribe in Rwanda
Expansion of the concept of faced a threat to its existence as
security does not mean that we nearly five lakh of its people were
can include any kind of disease or killed by the rival Hutu tribe in a
distress in the ambit of security. If matter of weeks. This shows that
we do that, the concept of security non-traditional conceptions of
stands to lose its coherence. security, like traditional
Everything could become a conceptions of security, vary
security issue. To qualify as a according to local contexts.

2018-19
 112
COOPERATIVE
© Ares, Cagle Cartoons Inc.
SECURITY
We can see that
dealing with many
of these non-
traditional threats
to security require
cooperation rather
than military
World Blindness
confrontation. Military force may
have a role to play in combating
terrorism or in enforcing human
rights (and even here there is a
limit to what force can achieve), but
it is difficult to see what force
would do to help alleviate poverty,
manage migration and refugee
movements, and control
epidemics. Indeed, in most cases,
the use of military force would
only make matters worse!
Far more effective is to devise
strategies that involve
inter national cooperation.
Cooperation may be bilateral (i.e.
between any two countries),
regional, continental, or global. It
would all depend on the nature
of the threat and the willingness
and ability of countries to
respond. Cooperative security
may also involve a variety of other
players, both international
and national—international
organisations (the UN, the World
Health Organisation, the World
Bank, the IMF etc.), non-
I feel happy when I
governmental organisations
hear that my country
has nuclear
(Amnesty International, the Red
weapons. But I don’t Cross, private foundations and
know how exactly it charities, churches and religious
makes me and my organisations, trade unions,
family more secure. associations, social and
2018-19
Contemporary World Politics
development organisations),
businesses and corporations, and
great personalities
(e.g. Mother Teresa, Nelson
Mandela).
Cooperative security may
involve the use of force as a last
r esort. The inter national
community may have to sanction
the use of force to deal with
governments that kill their own
people or ignore the misery of
their populations who are
devastated by poverty, disease
and catastrophe. It may have to
agree to the use of violence
against international terrorists
and those who harbour them.
Non-traditional security is much
better when the use of force
is sanctioned and applied
collectively by the international
community rather than when an
individual country decides to use
force on its own.
INDIA’S SECURITY STRATEGY
India has faced traditional
(military) and non-traditional
threats to its security that have
emerged from within as well as
outside its borders. Its security
strategy has four broad
components, which have been
used in a varying combination
from time to time.
The first component was streng-
thening its military capabilities
because India has been involved
in conflicts with its neighbours —
Pakistan in 1947–48, 1965, 1971
and 1999; and China in 1962.
Since it is surrounded by nuclear-
Security in the Contemporary World
armed countries in the South
Asian region, India’s decision to
conduct nuclear tests in 1998 was
justified by the Indian government
in terms of safeguarding national
security. India first tested a
nuclear device in 1974.
The second component of
India’s security strategy has been
to strengthen international norms
and international institutions to
protect its security interests.
India’s first Prime Minister,
Jawaharlal Nehru, supported the
cause of Asian solidarity,
decolonisation, disarmament,
and the UN as a forum in which
international conflicts could be
settled. India also took initiatives
to bring about a universal and
non-discriminatory non-proliferation
regime in which all countries
would have the same rights and
obligations with respect to weapons
of mass destruction (nuclear,
biological, chemical). It argued for
an equitable New International
Economic Order (NIEO). Most
importantly, it used non-alignment
to help carve out an area of peace
outside the bloc politics of the two
superpowers. India joined 160
countries that have signed and
ratified the 1997 Kyoto Protocol,
which provides a roadmap for
reducing the emissions of
greenhouse gases to check global
warming. Indian troops have been
sent abroad on UN peacekeeping
missions in support of cooperative
security initiatives.
The third component of Indian
security strategy is geared
towards meeting security
113
challenges within the country.
Several militant groups from areas
such as the Nagaland, Mizoram,
the Punjab, and Kashmir among
others have, from time to time,
sought to break away from India.
India has tried to preserve national
unity by adopting a democratic
political system, which allows
different communities and groups
of people to freely articulate their
grievances and share political
power.
Finally, there has been an
attempt in India to develop its
economy in a way that the vast
mass of citizens are lifted out of
poverty and misery and huge
economic inequalities are not
allowed to exist. The attempt has
not quite succeeded; we are still
a very poor and unequal country.
Yet democratic politics allows
spaces for articulating the voice
of the poor and the deprived
citizens. There is a pressure on
the democratically elected
gover nments to combine
economic growth with human
development. Thus democracy is
not just a political ideal; a
democratic government is also a
way to provide greater security.
You will read more about the
successes and failures of Indian
democracy in this respect in the
textbook on politics in India since Compare the
independence. expenditure by
the Indian
government on
traditional
security with its
expenditure on
non-traditional
security.
2018-19
114 Contemporary World Politics

STEPS
© Narrate the following imaginary situation of four villages settled on the banks of
a river.
Kotabagh, Gewali, Kandali and Goppa are villages adjoining each other beside a
river. People in Kotabagh were the first settlers on the riverbank. They had an
uninterrupted access to abundant natural resources available in the region.
Gradually, people from different regions started coming to this region because of
the abundant natural resources and water. Now there are four villages. With time
the population of these villages expanded. But resources did not expand. Each
village started making claims over natural resources including the boundary of their
respective settlement. Inhabitants of Kotabagh argued for a greater share in natural
resources, as they were the first settlers. Settlers of Kandali and Gewali said that as
they have bigger populations than the others they both need a greater share. The
people of Goppa said as they are used to an extravagant life they need a bigger
share, though their population is smaller in size. All four villages disagreed with each
other’s demands and continued to use the resources as they wished. This led to
frequent clashes among the villagers. Gradually, everybody felt disgusted with the
state of affairs and lost their peace of mind. Now they all wish to live the way they
had lived earlier. But they do not know how to go back to that golden age.
© Make a brief note describing the characteristics of each village — the
description should reflect the actual nature of present-day nations.
© Divide the classroom into four groups. Each group is to represent a village. Hand
over the village notes to the respective groups.
© The teacher is to allot a time (15 minutes) for group discussions on how to go
back to the golden age. Each should develop its own strategy.
All groups are to negotiate freely among themselves as village representatives,
to arrive at a solution (within 20 minutes). Each would put forth its arguments
and counter arguments. The result could be: an amicable agreement
accommodating the demands of all, which seldom happens; or, the entire
negotiation/discussion ends without achieving the purpose.
Ideas for the Teacher
* Link the villages to nations and connect to the problems of security (threat to geographical territory/
access to natural resources/insurgency, and so on).
* Talk about the observations made during the negotiation and explain how similarly the nations
behave while negotiating on related issues.
* The activity could be concluded by making reference to some of the current security issues between
and among nations.

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Security in the Contemporary World 115

1. Match the terms with their meaning:

i. Confidence Building Measures (CBMs)
ii. Arms Control
iii. Alliance

E x e r c i s e s
iv. Disarmament

a. Giving up certain types of weapons

b. A process of exchanging information on defence matters
between nations on a regular basis
c. A coalition of nations meant to deter or defend against military
attacks
d. Regulates the acquisition or development of weapons
2. Which among the following would you consider as a traditional
security concern / non-traditional security concern / not a threat?
a. The spread of chikungunya / dengue fever
b. Inflow of workers from a neighbouring nation
c. Emergence of a group demanding nationhood for their region
d. Emergence of a group demanding autonomy for their region
e. A newspaper that is critical of the armed forces in the country
3. What is the difference between traditional and non-traditional
security? Which category would the creation and sustenance of
alliances belong to?
4. What are the differences in the threats that people in the Third World
face and those living in the First World face?
5. Is terrorism a traditional or non-traditional threat to security?
6. What are the choices available to a state when its security is
threatened, according to the traditional security perspective?
7. What is ‘Balance of Power’? How could a state achieve this?
8. What are the objectives of military alliances? Give an example of
a functioning military alliance with its specific objectives.
9. Rapid environmental degradation is causing a serious threat to
security. Do you agree with the statement? Substantiate your
arguments.

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116 Contemporary World Politics

10. Nuclear weapons as deterrence or defence have limited usage

against contemporary security threats to states. Explain the
statement.
11. Looking at the Indian scenario, what type of security has been given
priority in India, traditional or non-traditional? What examples could
you cite to substantiate the argument?
E x e r c i s e s

12. Read the cartoon below and write a short note in favour or against
the connection between war and terrorism depicted in this
cartoon.

© Ares, Cagle Cartoons Inc.

2018-19
 Chapter 8
Environment and
Natural Resources

OVERVIEW
This chapter examines the growing
significance of environmental as well
as resource issues in world politics.
It analyses in a comparative
perspective some of the important
environmental movements against
the backdrop of the rising profile of
environmentalism from the 1960s
onwards. Notions of common
property resources and the global
commons too are assessed. We also
discuss, in brief, the stand taken by
India in more recent environmental The 1992 Earth Summit has brought environmental issues to
debates. Next follows a brief account the centre-stage of global politics. The pictures above show
of the geopolitics of resource rainforest and mangroves.
competition. We conclude by taking
note of the indigenous peoples’
voices and concer ns from the
margins of contemporary world
politics.

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118
ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS
IN GLOBAL POLITICS
In this book we have discussed
‘world politics’ in a fairly limited
sense: wars and treaties, rise and
decline of state power, the
Politics in forests,
relationship between the
politics in water, governments that represent their
politics in countries in the international
atmosphere! What is arena and the role of inter -
not political then? governmental organisations. In
Chapter 7, we expanded the scope
of world politics to include issues
like poverty and epidemics. That
may not have been a very difficult
step to take, for we all think that
governments are responsible for
controlling these. In that sense
they fall within the scope of world
politics. Now consider some other
issues. Do you think they fall
within the scope of contemporary
world politics?
Around the Aral Sea, thousands of people have had to leave their
homes as the toxic waters have totally destroyed the fishing industry.
The shipping industry and all related activities have collapsed.
Rising concentrations of salt in the soil have caused low crop yields.
Numerous studies have been conducted. In fact locals joke that if
everyone who’d come to study the Aral had brought a bucket of
water, the sea would be full by now. Source: www.gobartimes.org
2018-19
Contemporary World Politics
Throughout the world,
cultivable ar ea is barely
expanding any more, and a
substantial portion of existing
agricultural land is losing
fertility. Grasslands have been
overgrazed and fisheries over-
harvested. Water bodies have
suffered extensive depletion
and pollution, severely
restricting food production.
According to the Human
Development Report 2016 of the
United Nations Development
Programme, 663 million people
in developing countries have no
access to safe water and
2.4 billion have no access to
sanitation, resulting in the
death of more than three
million children every year.
Natural forests — which help
stabilise the climate, moderate
water supplies, and harbour
a majority of the planet’s
biodiversity on land—are
being cut down and people are
being displaced. The loss of
biodiversity continues due to
the destruction of habitat in
areas which are rich in
species.
A steady decline in the total
amount of ozone in the Earth’s
stratosphere (commonly
referred to as the ozone hole)
poses a real danger to
ecosystems and human
health.
Coastal pollution too is
increasing globally. Although
the open sea is relatively clean,
the coastal waters are
Environment and Natural Resources 119

becoming increasingly polluted

largely due to land-based
activities. If unchecked,
intensive human settlement of
coastal zones across the globe
will lead to further
deterioration in the quality of
marine environment.
You might ask are we not
talking here about ‘natural
phenomena’ that should be studied
in geography rather than in political
science. But think about it again.
If the various governments take
steps to check environmental
degradation of the kind mentioned
above, these issues will have
political consequences in that
sense. Most of them are such that Global Warming © Ares, Cagle Cartoons Inc.
no single government can address Why do you think the fingers are designed like chimneys and the
them fully. Therefore they have to world made into a lighter?
become part of ‘world politics’. Issues
of environment and natural of the Earth’s resources against the
resources are political in another backdrop of rapidly growing world
deeper sense. Who causes population. International agencies,
environmental degradation? Who including the United Nations
pays the price? And who is Environment Programme (UNEP),
responsible for taking corrective began holding international
action? Who gets to use how much conferences and promoting
of the natural resources of the detailed studies to get a more
Earth? All these raise the issue of coordinated and effective response
who wields how much power. They to environmental problems. Since
are, therefore, deeply political then, the environment has
questions. emerged as a significant issue of
global politics.
Although environmental
concerns have a long history, The growing focus on
awareness of the environmental environmental issues within the Collect news
consequences of economic growth arena of global politics was firmly clippings on
acquired an increasingly political consolidated at the United Nations reports
character from the 1960s onwards. Conference on Environment and linking
Development held in Rio de environment
The Club of Rome, a global think
Janeiro, Brazil, in June 1992. and politics
tank, published a book in 1972
This was also called the Earth in your own
entitled Limits to Growth,
locality.
dramatising the potential depletion Summit. The summit was

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 120
© Ares, Cagle Cartoons Inc.
Are there different perspectives from which the rich and the poor
countries agree to protect the Earth?
attended by 170 states, thousands
of NGOs and many multinational
corporations. Five years earlier,
the 1987 Brundtland Report, Our
Common Future, had warned that
traditional patterns of economic
growth were not sustainable in the
long term, especially in view of the
demands of the South for further
industrial development. What was
obvious at the Rio Summit was
that the rich and developed
2018-19
Contemporary World Politics
countries of the First World,
generally referred to as the ‘global
North’ were pursuing a different
environmental agenda than the
poor and developing countries of
the Third World, called the ‘global
South’. Whereas the Northern
states were concerned with ozone
depletion and global warming, the
Southern states were anxious to
address the relationship between
economic development and
environmental management.
The Rio Summit produced
conventions dealing with climate
change, biodiversity, forestry, and
recommended a list of development
practices called ‘Agenda 21’. But
it left unresolved considerable
differences and difficulties. There
was a consensus on combining
economic growth with ecological
responsibility. This approach to
development is commonly known as
‘sustainable development’. The
problem however was how exactly
this was to be achieved. Some
critics have pointed out that
Agenda 21 was biased in favour of
economic growth rather than
ensuring ecological conservation.
Let us look at some of the
contentious issues in the global
politics of environment.
THE PROTECTION OF GLOBAL
COMMONS
‘Commons’ are those resources
which are not owned by anyone
but rather shared by a community.
This could be a ‘common room’, a
‘community centre’, a park or a
river. Similarly, there are some
Environment and Natural Resources 121

ANTARCTICA

The Antarctic continental region extends

over 14 million square kilometres and
comprises 26 per cent of the world’s
wilderness area, representing 90 per cent
of all terrestrial ice and 70 per cent of
planetary fresh water. The Antarctic also
extends to a further 36 million square
kilometres of ocean. It has a limited
terrestrial life and a highly productive
marine ecosystem, comprising a few plants
(e.g. microscopic algae, fungi and lichen),
marine mammals, fish and hordes of birds
adapted to harsh conditions, as well as the
krill, which is central to marine food chain
and upon which other animals are
dependent. The Antarctic plays an
important role in maintaining climatic
equilibrium, and deep ice cores provide
an important source of information about
greenhouse gas concentrations and
atmospheric temperatures of hundreds
and thousands of years ago.

Who owns this coldest, farthest, and windiest continent on globe? There are two claims about it. Some
countries like the UK, Argentina, Chile, Norway, France, Australia and New Zealand have made legal
claims to sovereign rights over Antarctic territory. Most other states have taken the opposite view that the
Antarctic is a part of the global commons and not subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of any state. These
differences, however, have not prevented the adoption of innovative and potentially far-reaching rules
for the protection of the Antarctic environment and its ecosystem. The Antarctic and the Arctic polar
regions are subjected to special regional rules of environmental protection. Since 1959, activities in the
area have been limited to scientific research, fishing and tourism. Even these limited activities have not
prevented parts of the region from being degraded by waste as a result of oil spills.

areas or regions of the world which Cooperation over the global

are located outside the sovereign
jurisdiction of any one state, and
therefor e require common
governance by the international
community. These are known as
res communis humanitatis or
global commons. They include the
earth’s atmosphere, Antarctica
(see Box), the ocean floor, and
outer space.
commons is not easy. There have
been many path-breaking
agreements such as the 1959
Antarctic T reaty, the 1987
Montreal Protocol, and the 1991
Antarctic Environmental Protocol.
A major problem underlying all Very soon we will
ecological issues relates to the have ecological
difficulty of achieving consensus degradation of the
on common environmental moon!

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122 Contemporary World Politics

One of the biggest catastrophes in Africa in the 1970s, a drought turned the best cropland in five countries into
cracked and barren earth. In fact, the term environmental refugees came into popular vocabulary after this.
Many had to flee their homelands as agriculture was no longer possible. Source: www.gobartimes.org

agendas on the basis of vague
scientific evidence and time frames.
In that sense the discovery of the
ozone hole over the Antarctic in
the mid-1980s revealed the
opportunity as well as dangers
inherent in tackling global
environmental problems.
Find out more
about the Similarly, the history of outer
Kyoto Protocol. space as a global commons shows
Which major that the management of these
countries did
areas is thoroughly influenced by
not sign it? And North-South inequalities. As with
why? the earth’s atmosphere and the
ocean floor, the crucial issue here
is technology and industrial
development. This is important
because the benefits of
exploitative activities in outer
space are far from being equal
either for the present or future
generations.
COMMON BUT DIFFERENTIATED
RESPONSIBILITIES
We have noted above a difference
in the approach to environment

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Environment and Natural Resources
between the countries of the North
and the South. The developed
countries of the North want to
discuss the environmental issue
as it stands now and want
everyone to be equally responsible
for ecological conservation. The
developing countries of the South
feel that much of the ecological
degradation in the world is the
product of industrial development
undertaken by the developed
countries. If they have caused
more degradation, they must also
take more responsibility for
undoing the damage now.
Moreover, the developing countries
are in the process of industrialisation
and they must not be subjected
to the same restrictions, which
apply to the developed countries.
Thus the special needs of the
developing countries must be
taken into account in the
development, application, and
interpretation of rules of inter-
national environmental law. This
argument was accepted in the Rio
Declaration at the Earth Summit
in 1992 and is called the principle
of ‘common but differentiated
responsibilities’.
The relevant part of the Rio
Declaration says that “States
shall cooperate in the spirit of
global partnership to conserve,
protect and restore the health
and integrity of the Earth’s
ecosystem. In view of the different
contributions of global environmental
degradation, states have common
but differentiated responsibilities.
The developed countries
acknowledge the responsibility
123
that they bear in the international
pursuit of sustainable development
in view of the pressures their
societies place on the global
environment and of the technological
and financial resources they
command.”
The 1992 United Nations
Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC) also
provides that the parties should
act to protect the climate system
“on the basis of equity and in
accordance with their common but
differentiated responsibilities and
respective capabilities.” The
parties to the Convention agreed
that th e l a rg e s t s h a r e of
historical and current global
emissions of greenhouse gases
has originated in developed
countries. It was also
acknowledged that per capita
emissions in developing countries
are still relatively low. China,
India, and other developing
countries were, therefore,
exempted from the requirements
of the Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto
Protocol is an inter national
agreement setting targets for
industrialised countries to cut
their greenhouse gas emissions.
Certain gases like Carbon
dioxide, Methane, Hydro-fluoro
carbons etc. are considered at
least partly responsible for global
warming - the rise in global
temperature which may have
catastrophic consequences for
life on Earth. The protocol was That’s a cool
agreed to in 1997 in Kyoto in principle! A bit like
Japan, based on principles set the reservation
out in UNFCCC. policy in our country,
isn’t it?
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124 Contemporary World Politics

COMMON PROPERTY availability to the poor in much of

RESOURCES
Common property represents
common property for the group.
The underlying norm here is that
members of the group have both
rights and duties with respect to
the nature, levels of use, and the
maintenance of a given resource.
Through mutual understanding
and centuries of practice, many
village communities in India, for
example, have defined members’
rights and responsibilities. A
combination of factors, including
I heard about some privatisation, agricultural intensi-
rivers being sold in fication, population growth and
Latin America. How ecosystem degradation have
can common caused common property to
property be sold?
dwindle in size, quality, and
the world. The institutional
arrangement for the actual
management of the sacred groves
on state-owned forest land
appropriately fits the description
of a common property regime.
Along the forest belt of South
India, sacred groves have been
traditionally managed by village
communities.
INDIA’S STAND ON
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
India signed and ratified the 1997
Kyoto Protocol in August 2002.
India, China and other developing
countries were exempt from the
requirements of the Kyoto Protocol
because their contribution to the

SACRED GROVES IN INDIA

Protecting nature for religious reasons is an ancient practice in many traditional societies. Sacred
groves in India (parcels of uncut forest vegetation in the name of certain deities or natural or
ancestral spirits) exemplify such practice. As a model of community-based resource management,
groves have lately gained attention in conservation literature. The sacred groves can be seen as a
system that informally forces traditional communities to harvest natural resources in an ecologically
sustained fashion. Some researchers believe that sacred groves hold the potential for preserving
not only biodiversity and ecological functions, but also cultural diversity.

Sacred groves embody a rich set of forest preservation practices and they share characteristics
with common property resource systems. Their size ranges from clumps of a few trees to several
hundred acres. Traditionally, sacred groves have been valued for their embodied spiritual and
cultural attributes. Hindus commonly worshipped natural objects, including trees and groves. Many
temples have originated from sacred groves. Deep religious reverence for nature, rather than
resource scarcity, seems to be the basis for the long-standing commitment to preserving these
forests. In recent years, however, expansion and human settlement have slowly encroached on
sacred forests.

In many places, the institutional identity of these traditional forests is fading with the advent of new
national forest policies. A real problem in managing sacred groves arises when legal ownership
and operational control are held by different entities. The two entities in question, the state and the
community, vary in their policy norms and underlying motives for using the sacred grove.

2018-19
Environment and Natural Resources
emission of greenhouse gases
during the industrialisation period
(that is believed to be causing
today’s global warming and climate
change) was not significant.
However, the critics of the Kyoto
Protocol point out that sooner or
later, both India and China, along
with other developing countries,
will be among the leading
countributors to greenhouse gas
emissions. At the G-8 meeting in
June 2005, India pointed out that
the per capita emission rates of the
developing countries are a tiny
fraction of those in the developed
world. Following the principle of
common but differentiated
responsibilities, India is of the view
125
that the major responsibility of
curbing emission rests with the
developed countries, which have
accumulated emissions over a long
period of time.
India’s international negotiating
position relies heavily on
principles of historical
responsibility, as enshrined in
UNFCCC. This acknowledges that
developed countries are responsible
for most historical and current
greenhouse gas emissions, and
emphasizes that ‘economic and
I get it! First they
social development are the first
destroyed the earth,
and overriding priorities of the now it is our turn to
developing country parties’. So do the same! Is that
India is wary of recent discussions our stand?
2018-19
126
within UNFCCC about introducing
binding commitments on rapidly
industrialising countries (such as
Brazil, China and India) to reduce
their greenhouse gas emissions.
India feels this contravenes the
very spirit of UNFCCC. Neither
does it seem fair to impose
restrictions on India when the
country’s rise in per capita carbon
emissions by 2030 is likely to still
represent less than half the world
average of 3.8 tonnes in 2000.
Indian emissions are predicted
to rise from 0.9 tonnes per capita
in 2000 to 1.6 tonnes per capita
in 2030.
The Indian government is
already participating in global
efforts through a number of
programmes. For example, India’s
National Auto-fuel Policy
mandates cleaner fuels for
vehicles. The Energy Conservation
Act, passed in 2001, outlines
initiatives to improve energy
efficiency. Similarly, the Electricity
Act of 2003 encourages the use of
renewable energy. Recent trends in
importing natural gas and
encouraging the adoption of clean
coal technologies show that India
has been making real efforts. The
government is also keen to launch
a National Mission on Biodiesel,
using about 11 million hectares of
land to produce biodiesel by
2011–2012. And India has one of
the largest renewable energy
programmes in the world.
A review of the implementation
of the agreements at the Earth
Summit in Rio was undertaken by
India in 1997. One of the key
2018-19
Contemporary World Politics
conclusions was that there had
been no meaningful progress with
respect to transfer of new and
additional financial resources and
environmentally-sound technology
on concessional ter ms to
developing nations. India finds it
necessary that developed
countries take immediate
measures to provide developing
countries with financial resources
and clean technologies to enable
them to meet their existing
commitments under UNFCCC.
India is also of the view that the
SAARC countries should adopt a
common position on major global
environment issues, so that the
region’s voice carries greater
weight.
ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENTS:
ONE OR MANY?
We have, so far, looked at the way
governments have reacted at the
international level to the challenge
of environmental degradation. But
some of the most significant
responses to this challenge have
come not from the governments
but rather from groups of environ-
mentally conscious volunteers
working in different parts of the
world. Some of them work at the
international level, but most of
them work at the local level. These
environmental movements are
amongst the most vibrant,
diverse, and power ful social
movements across the globe
today. It is within social movements
that new forms of political action
are born or reinvented. These
Environment and Natural Resources 127

movements raise new ideas and
long-term visions of what we
should do and what we should not
do in our individual and collective
lives. Here are just a few
examples to show that diversity
is an important trait of
contemporary environmental
movements.
The forest movements of the
South, in Mexico, Chile, Brazil,
Malaysia, Indonesia, continental
Africa and India (just to list a few
examples) are faced with enormous
pressures. Forest clearing in the
Third World continues at an Let’s find
alarming rate, despite three out about
decades of environmental activism. ‘Chipko
The destruction of the world’s last Movement’.
remaining grand forests has
actually increased in the last
decade.
The minerals industry is one
of the most powerful forms of
industry on the planet. A large
number of economies of the South

ARE FORESTS “WILDERNESS”?

What distinguishes the forest movements of the South from
those of the North is that the forests of the former are still
peopled, whilst the forests of the latter are more or less
devoid of human habitat or, at least, are perceived as thus.
This explains to some extent the prevailing notion of
wilderness in the North as a ‘wild place’ where people do
not live. In this perspective, humans are not seen as part of
nature. In other words, ‘environment’ is perceived as
‘somewhere out there’, as something that should be
protected from humans through the creation of parks and

© Ares, Cagle Cartoons Inc.

reserves. On the other hand, most environmental issues in
the South are based on the assumption that people live in
the forests.

Wilderness-oriented perspectives have been predominant

in Australia, Scandinavia, North America and New Zealand.
In these regions, there are still large tracts of relatively
‘underdeveloped wilderness’, unlike in most European
countries. This is not to say that wilderness campaigns are
entirely missing in the South. In the Philippines, green
organisations fight to protect eagles and other birds of prey
Do you agree with the efforts
from extinction. In India, a battle goes on to protect the
made by ecologists? Do you
alarmingly low number of Bengal tigers. In Africa, a long
agree with the way ecologists are
campaign has been waged against the ivory trade and
portrayed here?
the savage slaughter of elephants. Some of the most famous
wilderness struggles have been fought in the forests of Brazil
and Indonesia. All of these campaigns focus on individual species as well as the conservation of the
wilderness habitats, which support them. Many of the wilderness issues have been renamed biodiversity
issues in recent times, as the concept of wilderness has been proved difficult to sell in the South. Many
of these campaigns have been initiated and funded by NGOs such as the Worldwide Wildlife Fund
(WWF), in association with local people.

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128
are now being re-opened
to MNCs through the
liberalisation of the
global economy. The
mineral industry’s
extraction of earth, its
use of chemicals, its
pollution of waterways
An entire and land, its clearance
community erupted of native vegetation, its
in protests against a
displacement of communities,
proposed open-
cast coal mine amongst other factors, continue
project in Phulbari to invite criticism and resistance
town, in the North- in various parts of the globe. One
West district of good example is that of the
Dinajpur,
Bangladesh. Here
Philippines, where a vast network
several dozen of groups and organisations
women, one with campaigned against the Western
her infant child, are Mining Corporation (WMC), an
chanting slogans
Australia-based multinational
against the
proposed coal mine company. Much opposition to the
project in 2006. company in its own country,
Australia, is based on anti-nuclear
sentiments and advocacy for the
basic rights of Australian
indigenous peoples.
Another group of movements
are those involved in struggles
against mega-dams. In every
country where a mega-dam is
being built, one is likely to find
an environmental movement
opposing it. Increasingly anti-dam
movements are pro-river
movements for more sustainable
and equitable management of river
systems and valleys. The early
1980s saw the first anti-dam
movement launched in the North,
namely, the campaign to save the
Franklin River and its surrounding
forests in Australia. This was a
wilderness and forest campaign as
well as anti-dam campaign. At
2018-19
Contemporary World Politics
present, there has been a spurt in
mega-dam building in the South,
from Turkey to Thailand to South
Africa, from Indonesia to China.
India has had some of the leading
anti-dam, pro-river movements.
Narmada Bachao Andolan is one
of the best known of these
movements. It is significant to note
that, in anti-dam and other
environmental movements in
India, the most important shared
idea is non-violence.
RESOURCE GEOPOLITICS
Resource geopolitics is all about
who gets what, when, where and
how. Resources have provided
some of the key means and motives
of global European power
expansion. They have also been the
focus of inter-state rivalry. Western
geopolitical thinking about
resources has been dominated by
the relationship of trade, war and
power, at the core of which were
overseas resources and maritime
navigation. Since sea power itself
rested on access to timber, naval
timber supply became a key
priority for major European powers
from the 17th century onwards.
The critical importance of ensuring
uninterrupted supply of strategic
resources, in particular oil, was
well established both during the
First World War and the Second
World War.
Throughout the Cold War the
industrialised countries of the
North adopted a number of
methods to ensure a steady flow
of resources. These included the
Environment and Natural Resources 129

deployment of military forces near

exploitation sites and along sea-
lanes of communication, the
stockpiling of strategic resources,
ef forts to prop up friendly
gover nments in producing
countries, as well as support to
multinational companies and
favourable international
agreements. Traditional Western
strategic thinking remained
concerned with access to
supplies, which might be
threatened by the Soviet Union. A
particular concern was Western

© Andy Singer, Cagle Cartoons Inc.

control of oil in the Gulf and
strategic minerals in Southern
and Central Africa. After the end
of the Cold War and the
disintegration of the Soviet Union,
the security of supply continues
to worry government and
business decisions with regard to
several minerals, in particular
radioactive materials. However,
oil continues to be the most
important resource in global strategy. substantial rise in oil demand.
Saudi Arabia has a quarter of the
The global economy relied on
world’s total reserves and is the
oil for much of the 20th century
single largest producer. Iraq’s
as a portable and indispensable
known reserves are second only
fuel. The immense wealth
to Saudi Arabia’s. And, since
associated with oil generates
substantial portions of Iraqi
political struggles to control it,
territory are yet to be fully
and the history of petroleum is
explored, there is a fair chance
also the history of war and
that actual reserves might be far
struggle. Nowhere is this more
larger. The United States, Europe,
obviously the case than in West
Japan, and increasingly India and
Asia and Central Asia. West Asia,
China, which consume this
specifically the Gulf region,
petroleum, are located at a
accounts for about 30 per cent of
considerable distance from the
global oil production. But it has
region.
about 64 percent of the planet’s
known reserves, and is therefore Water is another crucial
the only region able to satisfy any resource that is relevant to global

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130 Contemporary World Politics

EVERYONE IS PLAYING CRUDE!

"The list of petroleum based products in our lives is endless. Toothbrush, pacemaker,
paints, inks, ....Oil provides the energy for 95 per cent of the world's transportation needs.
The whole industrialised world survives on petroleum. We cannot imagine living without it.
There are billions of barrels of it under the earth for us to use. Yet there are disputes
between countries. Why here is one of the problems"

I belong to the Royal Family of the Kingdom of Black Gold. I am

what they call filthy rich. Ever since black gold was found in my
Kingdom things have never been the same again. Mr. Bigoil and
his government came prospecting one day. We struck oil...and a
deal. They armed me to the teeth till it hurt. So when I grin my
subjects look at me with awe. In return Bigoil and sons get to buy
all my oil and loyalty. I am happy and rich and so are they. I turn my
blind eye to their military in this holy land.
I value precious things. Bigoil says his President values
freedom and democracy. So I keep both safely under lock and
key in my land. Sheikh Petrodollah
King of the land of Black Gold

As advised, I did ask myself what can I do for my country. My country has
an enormous appetite for oil. So ...provide it with oil of course! I believe in
the free market system. Free to dig up oil in far away countries, free to
create pliable tin-pot dictators to keep local populations at bay and free to
destroy ecology.
We play no politics but pay them at election campaigns and get them
to invest in our company. That way we don't have to embarrass ourselves
Mr. Bigoil by foolishly waving and smiling at TV cameras.
CEO of Bigoil and sons

Leading the good life

A new beauty is parked outside our garage. Awesome! Isn't it?...
sleek chrome finish, power steering, automatic gears. Excellent
pick up and great mileage too. It is low on emissions too...gentle
on the atmosphere, you know. Global warming and all that stuff.
Now we really are in hurry to zoom off and lead the good life...God
Save Everyone!...vvrrroooommmmm
Mr & Mrs Gobbledoo

Toppleton defends freedom and democracy. That's why he is so generous with guns
and missiles. Like the ones he gave us to fight the invading Ruffians. He even
trained us. We did not realise that it was the oil they were after. Bigoil is always trying
to woo us. But we are too busy playing war games. Now we have rules of our own.
Toppleton's govt. kept changing its rules. Not fair we said. Some of us now hate
Toppleton, his government and his people. Of course their bullets and missiles
come in handy when we have to beat them at their game.

Make no mistake, we are Errorists.

Errorists
Loose cannonballs

Adapted from http://www.gobartimes.org/gt_covfeature2.htm

2018-19
Environment and Natural Resources
© Ares, Cagle Cartoons Inc.
The larger part of the Earth is water than
the land and yet the cartoonist decides
to show larger image of the land than
water. How does the image show the
scarcity of water?
politics. Regional variations and
the increasing scarcity of
freshwater in some parts of the
world point to the possibility of
disagreements over shared water
resources as a leading source of
conflicts in the 21st century.
Some commentators on world
politics have referred to ‘water
wars’ to describe the possibility
of violent conflict over this life-
sustaining resource. Countries that
share rivers can disagree over
many things. For instance, a typical
disagreement is a downstream
131
(lower riparian) state’s objection to
pollution, excessive irrigation, or
the construction of dams by an
upstream (upper riparian) state,
which might decrease or degrade
the quality of water available to
the downstream state. States
have used force to protect or
seize freshwater resources. How are these
Examples of violence include conflicts different
those between Israel, Syria, and from the many water
conflicts within our
Jordan in the 1950s and 1960s
own country?
over attempts by each side to
divert water from the Jordan and
Yarmuk Rivers, and more recent
threats between Turkey, Syria,
and Iraq over the construction of
dams on the Euphrates River. A
number of studies show that
countries that share rivers — and
many countries do share rivers —
are involved in military conflicts
with each other.
THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
AND THEIR RIGHTS
The question of indigenous
people brings the issues of
environment, resources and
politics together. The UN defines
indigenous populations as
comprising the descendants of
peoples who inhabited the
present territory of a country at
the time when persons of a
different culture or ethnic origin
arrived there from other parts of
the world and overcame them.
Indigenous people today live more
in conformity with their particular
social, economic, and cultural
customs and traditions than the
institutions of the country of
which they now form a part.
2018-19
132 Contemporary World Politics

present day island states in the

Oceania region (including
Australia and New Zealand),
were inhabited by the Polynesian,
Melanesian and Micronesian
people over the course of
thousands of years. They appeal
to governments to come to terms
with the continuing existence of
indigenous nations as enduring
communities with an identity of
their own. ‘Since times
immemorial’ is the phrase used by
indigenous people all over the
world to refer to their continued
occupancy of the lands from
which they originate. The
worldviews of indigenous
In the context of world politics,
societies, irrespective of their
what are the common interests of
geographical location, are
approximately 30 crore
strikingly similar with respect to
indigenous peoples spread
land and the variety of life systems
throughout the world including
supported by it. The loss of land,
India? There are 20 lakh
indigenous people of the which also means the loss of an
Cordillera region of the economic resource base, is the
Philippines, 10 lakh Mapuche
people of Chile, six lakh tribal
people of the Chittagong Hill
Tracts in Bangladesh, 35 lakh
North American natives, 50,000
Kuna living east of Panama Canal
and 10 lakh Small Peoples of the
© Ares, Cagle Cartoons Inc.
Soviet North. Like other social
movements, indigenous people
speak of their struggles, their
agenda and their rights.
The indigenous voices in world
Why don’t we hear politics call for the admission of
much about the indigenous people to the world
indigenous people community as equals. Indigenous
and their Spoonful of Ecology
people occupy areas in Central
movements? Is the
and South America, Africa, India Do you agree with this perspective
media biased
(where they are known as Tribals) where a man from an urban
against them?
(developed!) area becomes greedy for
and Southeast Asia. Many of the
nature?

2018-19
Environment and Natural Resources
most obvious threat to the survival
of indigenous people. Can political
autonomy be enjoyed without its
attachment to the means of
physical survival?
In India, the description
‘indigenous people’ is usually
applied to the Scheduled Tribes
who constitute nearly eight per
cent of the population of the
country. With the exception of
small communities of hunters and
gatherers, most indigenous
populations in India depend for
their subsistence primarily on the
cultivation of land. For centuries,
if not millennia, they had free
access to as much land as they
could cultivate. It was only after
the establishment of the British
colonial rule that areas, which had
previously been inhabited by the
Scheduled Tribe communities,
were subjected to outside forces.
Although they enjoy a etc., students will calculate the amount of
constitutional protection in
political representation, they have
not got much of the benefits of
development in the country. In
fact they have paid a huge cost
for development since they are the
single largest group among the
people displaced by various
developmental projects since
independence.
Issues related to the rights of
the indigenous communities have
been neglected in domestic and
international politics for very long.
During the 1970s, growing
international contacts among
indigenous leaders from around
the world aroused a sense of
common concern and shared
133
experiences. The World Council of Indigenous
Peoples was formed in 1975. The Council
became subsequently the first of 11 indigenous
NGOs to receive consultative status in the UN.
Many of the movements against globalisation,
discussed in Chapter 9, have focussed on the
rights of the indigenous people.
STEPS
© Each student is asked to list any ten items they
consume/use every day.
(The list could include — pen/paper/eraser/
computer/water etc.)
© Ask students to calculate the amount of natural
resources being used to make these items. (For
finished products like pen/pencil/computer
resources and for items like water they could
calculate the amount of electricity used for
purifying and pumping along with gallons of
water). Each would calculate and arrive at an
approximate figure.
Ideas for the Teacher
* Collect the approximate figures from each student and
sum up all to arrive at total resources consumed by the
students of that particular class. (Teacher is to act as a
facilitator and allow students to do the calculations.)
* Project this figure to other classes of the same school, then
to schools across the country. The country figure could be
used to measure the amount of resources being used by
schools in other countries too. (The teacher is to have
background information about the resources being used
by students in a few select countries. While selecting
countries, teacher should ensure that the selected countries
belong to the developed / developing countries category).
* Ask students to imagine the amount of resources we are
consuming and also to estimate future consumption.
2018-19
134 Contemporary World Politics

1. Which among the following best explains the reason for growing
concerns about the environment?
a. The developed countries are concerned about protecting nature.
b. Protection of the environment is vital for indigenous people and
natural habitats.
c. The environmental degradation caused by human activities has
become pervasive and has reached a dangerous level.
E x e r c i s e s

d. None of the above.

2. Mark correct or wrong against each of the following statements about
the Earth Summit:
a. It was attended by 170 countries, thousands of NGOs and many
MNCs.
b. The summit was held under the aegis of the UN.
c. For the first time, global environmental issues were firmly
consolidated at the political level.
d. It was a summit meeting.
3. Which among the following are TRUE about the global commons?
a. The Earth’s atmosphere, Antarctica, ocean floor and outer space
are considered as part of the global commons.
b. The global commons are outside sovereign jurisdiction.
c. The question of managing the global commons has reflected the
North-South divide.
d. The countries of the North are more concerned about the
protection of the global commons than the countries of the South.
4. What were the outcomes of the Rio Summit?
5. What is meant by the global commons? How are they exploited and
polluted?
6. What is meant by ‘common but differentiated responsibilities’? How
could we implement the idea?
7. Why have issues related to global environmental protection become
the priority concern of states since the 1990s?
8. Compromise and accommodation are the two essential policies
required by states to save planet Earth. Substantiate the statement in
the light of the ongoing negotiations between the North and South
on environmental issues.
9. The most serious challenge before the states is pursuing economic
development without causing further damage to the global
environment. How could we achieve this? Explain with a few examples.

2018-19
OVERVIEW Chapter 9
In this final chapter of the book we
look at globalisation, something
that has been referred to in many Globalisation
chapters of this book and textbooks
of many other subjects. We begin
by analysing the concept of
globalisation and then examine its
causes. We then discuss at length
the political, economic and cultural
consequences of globalisation. Our
interest is also in studying the
impact of globalisation on India as
well as how India is affecting
globalisation. We finally draw
attention to resistance to
globalisation and how social
movements in India also form part
of this resistance.

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136
THE CONCEPT OF
GLOBALISATION
Janardhan works in a call centre.
He leaves late in the evening for
work, becomes John when he
enters his office, acquires a new
accent and speaks a different
language (than he does when he is
at home) to communicate with his
clients who are living thousands
So many Nepalese of miles away. He works all night,
workers come to which is actually day time for his
India to work. Is that overseas customers. Janardhan is
globalisation? rendering a service to somebody
who in all probability he is never
likely to meet physically. This is his
daily routine. His holidays also do
not correspond to the Indian
calendar but to those of his clients
who happen to be from the US.
Ramdhari has gone shopping
to buy a birthday gift for his
nine-year old daughter. He has
promised her a small cycle and
decides to search the market for
something he finds affordable as
well as of reasonable quality. He
finally does buy a cycle, which
is actually manufactured in
China but is being marketed in
India. It meets his requirements
of quality as well as affordability,
and Ramdhari decides to go
ahead with his purchase. Last
year, Ramdhari on his daughter’s
Go through insistence had bought her a
newspapers Barbie doll, which was originally
for a week manufactured in the US but was
and collect being sold in India.
clippings on
Sarika is a first generation
anything
learner who has done remarkably
related to
well throughout her school and
globalisation.
college life by working very hard.
2018-19
Contemporary World Politics
She now has an opportunity to
take on a job and begin an
independent career, which the
women of her family had never
dreamt of earlier. While some of
her relatives are opposed, she
finally decides to go ahead
because of the new opportunities
that have been made available to
her generation.
All three examples illustrate an
aspect each of what we call
globalisation. In the first instance
Janardhan was participating in the
globalisation of services.
Ramdhari’s birthday purchases tell
us something about the movement
of commodities from one part of
the world to another. Sarika is
faced with a conflict of values
partly originating from a new
opportunity that earlier was not
available to the women in her
family but today is part of a reality
that has gained wider
acceptability.
If we look for examples of the
use of the term ‘globalisation’ in
real life, we will realise that it is
used in various contexts. Let us
look at some examples, different
from the ones that we have looked
above:
Some far mers committed
suicide because their crops
failed. They had bought very
expensive seeds supplied by a
multinational company
(MNC).
An Indian company bought a
major rival company based in
Europe, despite protests by
some of the current owners.
Globalisation 137

Many retail shopkeepers fear

This chapter has
that they would lose their a series of images
livelihoods if some major about political,
international companies open economic and
retail chains in the country. cultural aspects of
globalisation, taken
A film producer in Mumbai
from different parts
was accused of lifting the story of the world.
of his film from another film
made in Hollywood.
A militant group issued a
statement threatening college
girls who wear wester n
clothes.
These examples show us that
globalisation need not always be
positive; it can have negative
consequences for the people.
Indeed, there are many who
believe that globalisation has
more negative consequences than
positive. These examples also
show us that globalisation need
not be only about the economic
issues, nor is the direction of
influence always from the rich to
the poor countries.
Since much of the usage tends
to be imprecise, it becomes
important to clarify what we mean
by globalisation. Globalisation as
a concept fundamentally deals
with flows. These flows could be of
various kinds — ideas moving from
one part of the world to another,
capital shunted between two or
more places, commodities being
traded across borders, and people
moving in search of better
livelihoods to different parts of the
world. The crucial element is the
Much of the Chinese
‘worldwide interconnectedness’ stuff that comes to
that is created and sustained as a India is smuggled.
consequence of these constant Does globalisation
flows. lead to smuggling?

2018-19
 138
Globalisation is a multi-
dimensional concept. It has
political, economic and cultural
manifestations, and these must be
adequately distinguished. It is
wrong to assume that
globalisation has purely economic
Isn’t globalisation a dimensions, just as it would also
new name for
be mistaken to assume that it is a
imperialism? Why do
purely cultural phenomenon. The
we need a new
impact of globalisation is vastly
name?
uneven — it affects some societies
more than others and some parts
of some societies more than others
— and it is important to avoid
drawing general conclusions
about the impact of globalisation
without paying sufficient attention
to specific contexts.
CAUSES OF GLOBALISATION
What accounts for globalisation?
If globalisation is about the flows
of ideas, capital, commodities, and
people, it is perhaps logical to ask
if there is anything novel
about this phenomenon.
Globalisation in terms of
these four flows has taken
place through much of
human history. However,
those who argue that there
is something distinct about
contemporary globalisation
© Ares, Cagle Cartoons Inc.
point out that it is the scale
and speed of these flows
that account for the
uniqueness of globalisation
in the contemporary era.
Globalisation has a strong
historical basis, and it is
important to view contem-
porary flows against this
Digital Economy backdrop.
2018-19
Contemporary World Politics
While globalisation is not
caused by any single factor,
technology remains a critical
element. There is no doubt that
the invention of the telegraph,
the telephone, and the microchip
in more recent times has
revolutionised communication
between different parts of the
world. When printing initially
came into being it laid the basis
for the creation of nationalism.
So also today we should expect
that technology will affect the
way we think of our personal but
also our collective lives.
The ability of ideas, capital,
commodities and people to
move more easily from one part
of the world to another has
been made possible largely by
technological advances. The
pace of these flows may vary.
For instance, the movement of
capital and commodities will
most likely be quicker and
wider than the movement of
peoples across different parts of
the world.
Globalisation, however, does
not emerge merely because of
the availability of impr oved
communications. What is
important is for people in
different parts of the world to
recognise these interconnections
with the r est of the world.
Currently, we are aware of the
fact that events taking place in
one part of the world could have
an impact on another part of the
world. The Bird flu or tsunami
is not confined to any particular
nation. It does not r espect
national boundaries. Similarly,
Globalisation 139

when major economic events

take place, their impact is felt
outside their immediate local,
national or regional environment
at the global level.

POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES
One of the debates that has been
generated as a consequence of
contemporary processes of
globalisation relates to its ongoing
political impact. How does
globalisation affect traditional
conceptions of state sovereignty?
There are at least three aspects
that we need to consider when
answering this question.
At the most simple level,
globalisation results in an erosion
of state capacity, that is, the
ability of government to do what
they do. All over the world, the old
‘welfare state’ is now giving way
to a more minimalist state that
performs certain core functions
such as the maintenance of law
and order and the security of its
citizens. However, it withdraws
from many of its earlier welfare
functions directed at economic
and social well-being. In place of
the welfare state, it is the market
that becomes the prime
determinant of economic and
social priorities. The entry and the
increased role of multinational
companies all over the world leads
to a reduction in the capacity of
governments to take decisions on
their own.
At the same time, globalisation
does not always reduce state
capacity. The primacy of the state

2018-19
 140
continues to be the unchallenged
basis of political community. The
old jealousies and rivalries between
countries have not ceased to matter
in world politics. The state
continues to discharge its
essential functions (law and order,
national security) and consciously
withdraws from certain domains
from which it wishes to. States
continue to be important.
Indeed, in some respects state
capacity has received a boost as a
consequence of globalisation, with
enhanced technologies available
at the disposal of the state to
collect information about its
citizens. With this information, the
state is better able to rule, not less
able. Thus, states become more
powerful than they were earlier as
an outcome of the new technology.
© Milt Priggee, Cagle Cartoons Inc.
2018-19
Contemporary World Politics
ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES
While everything may not be
known about the economic facets
of globalisation, this particular
dimension shapes a large part of
the content and direction of
contemporary debates surrounding
globalisation.
A part of the problem has to
do with defining economic
globalisation itself. The mention of
economic globalisation draws our
attention immediately to the role
of international institutions like
the IMF and the WTO and the role
they play in determining economic
policies across the world. Yet,
globalisation must not be viewed
in such narrow terms. Economic
globalisation involves many actors
other than these international
institutions. A much broader way
of understanding of economic
globalisation requires us to look at
the distribution of economic gains,
i.e. who gets the most from
globalisation and who gets less,
indeed who loses from it.
What is often called economic
globalisation usually involves
greater economic flows among
different countries of the world.
Some of this is voluntary and
some forced by international
institutions and power ful
countries. As we saw in the
examples at the beginning of this
chapter, this flow or exchange can
take various forms: commodities,
capital, people and ideas.
Globalisation has involved greater
trade in commodities across the
globe; the restrictions imposed by
Globalisation 141

different countries on allowing the

imports of other countries have
been reduced. Similarly, the
restrictions on movement of
capital across countries have also
been reduced. In operational
terms, it means that investors in
the rich countries can invest their
money in countries other than
their own, including developing
countries, where they might get
better returns. Globalisation has
also led to the flow of ideas across
national boundaries. The spread of
internet and computer related
services is an example of that. But
globalisation has not led to the
same degree of increase in the
movement of people across the
globe. Developed countries have
carefully guarded their borders
with visa policies to ensure that
citizens of other countries cannot
take away the jobs of their own
citizens.
In thinking about the
consequences of globalisation, it
is necessary to keep in mind that
the same set of policies do not lead
to the same results everywhere.
While globalisation has led to
similar economic policies adopted
by governments in different parts
of the world, this has generated
vastly dif ferent outcomes in
different parts of the world. It is
again crucial to pay attention to
specific context rather than make
simple generalisations in this When we talk about
connection. ‘safety net’ it means
that we expect some
Economic globalisation has
people to fall down
created an intense division of
because of
opinion all over the world. Those globalisation. Isn’t
who are concerned about social that right?

2018-19
142 Contemporary World Politics

justice are worried about the be denied is the increased

extent of state withdrawal caused momentum towards inter -
by processes of economic dependence and integration
globalisation. They point out that between governments, businesses,
it is likely to benefit only a small and ordinary people in different
section of the population while parts of the world as a result of
impoverishing those who were globalisation.
dependent on the government for
jobs and welfare (education,
health, sanitation, etc.). They have CULTURAL CONSEQUENCES
emphasised the need to ensure
The consequences of globalisation
institutional safeguards or
are not confined only to the sphere
creating ‘social safety nets’ to
of politics and economy.
minimise the negative effects of
Globalisation affects us in our
globalisation on those who are
home, in what we eat, drink, wear
economically weak. Many
and indeed in what we think. It
movements all over the world feel
shapes what we think are our
that safety nets are insufficient or
Make a list of preferences. The cultural effect of
unworkable. They have called for
products of globalisation leads to the fear that
a halt to forced economic
multinational this process poses a threat to
globalisation, for its results would
companies cultures in the world. It does so,
lead to economic ruin for the
(MNCs) that because globalisation leads to the
weaker countries, especially for
are used by rise of a uniform culture or what
the poor within these countries.
you or your is called cultural homogenisation.
Some economists have described
family. The rise of a uniform culture is
economic globalisation as re-
not the emergence of a global
colonisation of the world.
culture. What we have in the name
Advocates of economic
globalisation argue that it
generates greater economic
growth and well-being for larger
sections of the population when
there is de-regulation. Greater
trade among countries allows each
© Andy Singer, Cagle Cartoons Inc.

economy to do what it does best.

This would benefit the whole
world. They also argue that
economic globalisation is inevitable
and it is not wise to resist the
march of history. More moderate
supporters of globalisation say that
globalisation provides a challenge
that can be responded to
intelligently without accepting it
uncritically. What, however, cannot Invading new markets

2018-19
Globalisation 143

of a global culture is the

imposition of Western culture on
the rest of the world. We have
already studied this phenomenon
as the soft power of US hegemony
in Chapter 3. The popularity of a
burger or blue jeans, some argue,
has a lot to do with the powerful
influence of the American way of Why are we scared
life. Thus, the culture of the of Western culture?
politically and economically Are we not confident
dominant society leaves its of our own culture?
imprint on a less powerful society,
and the world begins to look more
like the dominant power wishes
it to be. Those who make this
argument often draw attention to
the ‘McDonaldisation’ of the
world, with cultures seeking to
buy into the dominant American
dream. This is dangerous not only
for the poor countries but for the
whole of humanity, for it leads to
the shrinking of the rich cultural
heritage of the entire globe.
At the same time, it would be
a mistake to assume that cultural
consequences of globalisation are
only negative. Cultures are not
static things. All cultures accept
outside influences all the time.
Some external influences are
negative because they reduce our Make a list of all
choices. But sometimes external the known
influences simply enlarge our ‘dialects’ of
choices, and sometimes they your language.
modify our culture without Consult people
overwhelming the traditional. The of your
burger is no substitute for a grandparents’
masala dosa and, therefore, does generation
not pose any real challenge. It is about this. How
simply added on to our food many people
choices. Blue jeans, on the other speak those
hand, can go well with a dialects today?
homespun khadi kurta. Here the

2018-19
144
outcome of outside influence is a
new combination that is unique —
a khadi kurta worn over jeans.
Interestingly, this clothing
combination has been exported
back to the country that gave us
blue jeans so that it is possible to
see young Americans wearing a
kurta and jeans!
While cultural homogenisation
is an aspect of globalisation, the
same process also generates
precisely the opposite effect. It
leads to each culture becoming
more different and distinctive. This
phenomenon is called cultural
heterogenisation. This is not to
deny that there remain differences
in power when cultures interact
but instead more fundamentally to
suggest that cultural exchange is
rarely one way.
‘Gosh, an Indian again!’
An insider’s view of a call centre job
Working in a call centre, in fact, can be enlightening in its
own way. As you handle calls from Americans, you get an
insight into the true American culture. An average American
comes out as more lively and honest than we imagine…
However, not all calls and conversations are pleasant. You
can also receive irate and abusive callers. Sometimes the
hatred that they exhibit in their tone on knowing that their
call has been routed to India is very stressful. Americans tend
to perceive every Indian as one who has denied them their
rightful job...
One can receive a call, beginning on the lines of “I spoke
to a South African a few minutes ago and now I’m speaking
to an Indian!” or “Oh gosh, an Indian again! Connect me to
an American please...”. It’s difficult to find the right response
in situations of this kind.
Source: Report by Ranjeetha Urs in The Hindu, 10 January 2005.
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Contemporary World Politics
INDIA AND GLOBALISATION
We said earlier that globalisation
has occurred in earlier periods in
history in different parts of the
world. Flows pertaining to the
movement of capital, commodities,
ideas and people go back several
centuries in Indian history.
During the colonial period, as
a consequence of Britain’s
imperial ambitions, India became
an exporter of primary goods and
raw materials and a consumer of
finished goods. After independence,
because of this experience with
the British, we decided to make
things ourselves rather than
relying on others. We also decided
not to allow others to export to us
so that our own producers could
lear n to make things. This
‘protectionism’ generated its own
problems. While some advances
were made in certain arenas,
critical sectors such as health,
housing and primary education
did not receive the attention they
deserved. India had a fairly
sluggish rate of economic growth.
In 1991, responding to a
financial crisis and to the desire
for higher rates of economic
growth, India embarked on a
programme of economic reforms
that has sought increasingly to
de-regulate various sectors including
trade and foreign investment.
While it may be too early to say
how good this has been for India,
the ultimate test is not high growth
rates as making sure that the
benefits of growth are shared so
that everyone is better off.
Globalisation 145

RESISTANCE TO
GLOBALISATION
We have already noted that
globalisation is a very contentious
subject and has invited strong
criticism all over the globe. Critics
of globalisation make a variety of
arguments. Those on the left argue
that contemporary globalisation It is true sometimes
I like the new songs.
represents a particular phase of
Didn’t we all like to
global capitalism that makes the dance a bit? Does it
rich richer (and fewer) and the poor really matter if it is
poorer. Weakening of the state influenced by
leads to a reduction in the capacity western music?
of the state to protect the interest
of its poor. Critics of globalisation
from the political right express
anxiety over the political, economic
and cultural effects. In political
terms, they also fear the weakening
of the state. Economically, they
want a return to self-reliance and
protectionism, at least in certain
areas of the economy. Culturally,
they are worried that traditional
culture will be harmed and people
will lose their age-old values and
ways.
It is important to note here
that anti-globalisation movements
too participate in global networks,
allying with those who feel like
them in other countries. Many
anti-globalisation movements are
not opposed to the idea of
globalisation per se as much as
they are opposed to a specific
programme of globalisation,
which they see as a form of
imperialism.
In 1999, at the World Trade
Organisation (WTO) Ministerial
Meeting there were widespread

2018-19
146 Contemporary World Politics

The activity enables students to understand how

globalisation has penetrated our lives and the
impact the all-inclusive nature of globalisation has
on an individual, a community and a nation as a
whole.

STEPS
 Students are to list the names of products — food
products, white goods, and luxuries, they are
familiar with.
 Students are to write down their favourite TV
programmes.
 The teacher is to collect the list and consolidate.
 Divide the classroom (into convenient groups) and
assign each group a number of items (depends
on how exhaustive the list is) and TV programmes.
 Let students find out who are the manufacturers of
the products they use everyday and the makers/
sponsors of their favourite TV programmes.
 The teacher is to (by involving students) classify the
names of manufacturers and makers/sponsors
collected by students into three categories:
exclusive foreign companies; exclusive Indian
companies; and companies working in
collaboration.
Ideas for the Teacher
 The teacher is to debrief the students focussing on:
How globalisation has been impacting our lives.
 Drawing the attention of the students to different faces of
globalisation. As we use more foreign goods, our own small-scale
industries have been losing their customers and are closing down.
 The activity could be concluded by introducing students to the
ongoing debates about the impact of globalisation on the
developing and developed countries.

2018-19
Globalisation 147

protests at Seattle alleging unfair around them and finding ways to

trading practices by the
economically powerful states. It
was argued that the interests of
the developing world were not
given sufficient importance in the
evolving global economic system.
The World Social Forum (WSF)
is another global platform, which
brings together a wide coalition
composed of human rights
activists, environmentalists,
labour, youth and women activists
opposed to neo-liberal globalisation.
The first WSF meeting was
organised in Porto Alegre, Brazil
in 2001. The fourth WSF meeting
was held in Mumbai in 2004. The
latest WSF meeting was held in
Montreal, Canada in August 2016.
INDIA AND RESISTANCE TO
GLOBALISATION
What has been India’s experience
in resisting globalisation? Social
movements play a role in helping
people make sense of the world
deal with matters that trouble
them. Resistance to globalisation
in India has come from different
quarters. There have been left
wing protests to economic
liberalisation voiced through
political parties as well as through
forums like the Indian Social
Forum. Trade unions of industrial
workforce as well as those
representing farmer interests have
organised protests against the
entry of multinationals. The
patenting of certain plants like
Neem by American and European
fir ms has also generated
considerable opposition.
Resistance to globalisation has
also come from the political right.
This has taken the for m of
objecting particularly to various
cultural influences — ranging from
the availability of foreign T.V.
channels provided by cable
networks, celebration of Valentine’s
Day, and westernisation of the
dress tastes of girl students in

schools and colleges.

1. Which of the statements are TRUE about globalisation?

a. Globalisation is purely an economic phenomenon.
b. Globalisation began in 1991.
c. Globalisation is the same thing as westernisation.
d. Globalisation is a multi-dimensional phenomenon.
2. Which of the statements are TRUE about the impact of globalisation?
a. Globalisation has been uneven in its impact on states and
societies.
b. Globalisation has had a uniform impact on all states and
societies.

2018-19
148 Contemporary World Politics

c. The impact of globalisation has been confined to the political

sphere.
d. Globalisation inevitably results in cultural homogeneity.
3. Which of the statements are TRUE about the causes of globalisation?
a. Technology is an important cause of globalisation.
b. Globalisation is caused by a particular community of people.
c. Globalisation originated in the US.
d. Economic interdependence alone causes globalisation.
4. Which of the statements are TRUE about globalisation?


a. Globalisation is only about movement of commodities

b. Globalisation does not involve a conflict of values.
c. Services are an insignificant part of globalisation.
d. Globalisation is about worldwide interconnectedness.
5. Which of the statements are FALSE about globalisation?
a. Advocates of globalisation argue that it will result in greater
economic growth.
b. Critics of globalisation argue that it will result in greater
economic disparity.
c. Advocates of globalisation argue that it will result in cultural
homogenisation.
d. Critics of globalisation argue that it will result in cultural
homogenisation.
6. What is worldwide interconnectedness? What are its components?
7. How has technology contributed to globalisation?
8. Critically evaluate the impact of the changing role of the state in
the developing countries in the light of globalisation.
9. What are the economic implications of globalisation? How has
globalisation impacted on India with regard to this particular
dimension?
10. Do you agree with the argument that globalisation leads to cultural
heterogeneity?
11. How has globalisation impacted on India and how is India in turn
impacting on globalisation?

2018-19
Politics in India since
Independence
TEXTBOOK IN POLITICAL SCIENCE FOR CLASS XII

2018-19
 ISBN 81-7450-763-9
First Edition
June 2007 Jyaistha 1928 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Reprinted q No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
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photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the
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December 2010 Pausa 1932 be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise disposed of without the publisher’s
consent, in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published.
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and printed at Young Printing Press, S-119,
Site-II, Harsha Compound, Mohan Nagar
Industrial Area, Ghaziabad (U.P.)

2018-19
 iii

FOREWORD
The National Curriculum Framework (NCF) 2005 recommends that
children’s life at school must be linked to their life outside the school.
This principle marks a departure from the legacy of bookish learning
which continues to shape our system and causes a gap between the
school, home and community. The syllabi and textbooks developed
on the basis of NCF signify an attempt to implement this basic idea.
They also attempt to discourage rote learning and the maintenance
of sharp boundaries between different subject areas. We hope these
measures will take us significantly further in the direction of a
child-centred system of education outlined in the National Policy on
Education (1986).
The success of this effort depends on the steps that school principals
and teachers will take to encourage children to reflect on their own
learning and to pursue imaginative activities and questions. We must
recognise that, given space, time and freedom, children generate
new knowledge by engaging with the information passed on to them
by adults. Treating the prescribed textbook as the sole basis of
examination is one of the key reasons why other resources and sites
of learning are ignored. Inculcating creativity and initiative is possible
if we perceive and treat children as participants in learning, not as
receivers of a fixed body of knowledge.
These aims imply considerable change in school routines and mode of
functioning. Flexibility in the daily time-table is as necessary as rigour
in implementing the annual calendar so that the required number of
teaching days is actually devoted to teaching. The methods used for
teaching and evaluation will also determine how effective this textbook
proves for making children’s life at school a happy experience, rather
than a source of stress or boredom. Syllabus designers have tried
to address the problem of curricular burden by restructuring and
reorienting knowledge at different stages with greater consideration
for child psychology and the time available for teaching. The textbook
attempts to enhance this endeavour by giving higher priority and
space to opportunities for contemplation and wondering, discussion
in small groups, and activities requiring hands-on experience.
NCERT appreciates the hard work done by the textbook development
committee responsible for this book. We wish to thank the Chairperson
of the Advisory Group on Social Science, Professor Hari Vasudevan
and the Chief Advisors for this book, Shri Yogendra Yadav and
Professor Suhas Palshikar for guiding the work of this committee.
Several teachers contributed to the development of this textbook;
we are grateful to their Principals for making this possible. We are
indebted to the institutions and organisations which have generously
permitted us to draw upon their resources, material and personnel.
We are especially grateful to the members of the National Monitoring

2018-19
iv

Committee, appointed by the Department of Secondary and

Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development
under the Chairpersonship of Professor Mrinal Miri and
Professor G. P. Deshpande, for their valuable time and contribution.
As an organisation committed to systemic reform and continuous
improvement in the quality of its products, NCERT welcomes
comments and suggestions which will enable us to undertake further
revision and refinement.

Director
New Delhi National Council of Educational
20 December 2006 Research and Training

2018-19
 v

LETTER TO THE READERS

As India completes sixty years as an independent and democratic
country, it is time to look back and reflect on this period. So much
of the trends and patterns of our politics as well as the strengths
and weaknesses of our democracy have been shaped during these
six decades. Yet it is surprising how little the younger citizens of our
country know about this history. You would have a good idea of the
freedom struggle because you study that in the History textbooks.
You would also know something about our contemporary politics
from the media. But very few young citizens know much about the
period that connects the freedom movement to contemporary politics.
This is the gap the present book seeks to fill. It tells you the story of
the journey of our democracy during the last sixty years so that you
can make sense of the political reality that surrounds all of us.
This book is not a chronicle of all or even main events during the past
six decades. We have tried to weave the history of the last sixty years
around some major issues and themes. The first eight chapters of the
book cover a certain period of this history, but in a selective manner
by focussing on one issue or theme that dominated those years. The
final chapter offers an overview of various issues that have emerged
in the most recent period.
Politics is often understood as a power game played by some big
leaders. Politics is, of course, about power. But politics is also about
taking collective decisions, about sorting out differences, about
reaching consensus. That is why we simply cannot run our collective
affairs without politics. Similarly, big leaders no doubt influence
the course of politics. But politics is much more than a story of
individual ambitions and frustrations. That is why you will not find
much emphasis on personalities in this book. You will find some
biographical sketches so as to give you a rich sense of those times.
But we do not expect you to memorise these biographical details.
In order to give you a feel of the times, we have included many
photographs, cartoons, maps and other images. As in other books,
Unni and Munni are there to share their innocent yet irreverent
questions and comments with you. By now you know that what Unni
and Munni say is not the opinion of the textbook. You, and even
the authors, may or may not agree with Unni and Munni. But you
should, like them, begin to question everything.
This book refrains from passing judgement on events and personalities
of this period. The objective of this book is to equip you with information
and perspectives so that you can take more informed and well thought
out positions on politics, either as students of Political Science or as
citizens of the country. That is why we tell the story in an open-ended
and non-partisan manner. This has not been easy, for there is no way

2018-19
vi

a book like this can side-step all the ‘controversial’ issues. Many of
the significant issues of this period were and continue to be subjects
of deep political differences.
The Team that prepared this book decided to follow certain norms
to ensure non-partisan treatment of the subject. Firstly, it presents
more than one viewpoint when dealing with controversial subjects.
Secondly, wherever available, it uses authentic sources like the
reports of various Commissions or court judgements, to reconstruct
crucial details. Thirdly, it uses a variety of sources from scholarly
writings to different newspapers and magazines, etc. to tell the story.
Fourthly, the book avoids detailed discussion of the role of political
leaders who are still active in politics.
Writing this textbook turned out to be particularly challenging for
we do not have sufficient information on this period. Most of the
archival material is still closed to the researchers. There are not many
standard histories of this period that a textbook like this can draw
upon. The Textbook Development Committee turned this challenge
into an opportunity. We are grateful to the Team members who spared
their valuable time for preparing the drafts of the various chapters.
We would like to place on record our gratitude to Professors Rekha
Chowdhary and Surinder Jodhka for contributing drafts for the
sections on Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab respectively.
Given the significance and the sensitive nature of the book, it was
decided to put the drafts through many rounds of scrutiny by a
group of Political Scientists and historians. We decided to request
three ‘readers’ – Dr. Ramchandra Guha, Professor Sunil Khilnani
and Dr. Mahesh Rangarajan – to read an early draft of this text for
accuracy and non-partisan treatment of the subject. We are very
grateful that all of them accepted our request and took out time to
read and comment on the drafts. Their remarks encouraged us; their
suggestions saved us from many errors. We owe a special debt to
Ramchandra Guha, since we have liberally drawn upon his book,
India after Gandhi. Dr. Philip Oldenberg also read parts of the book
and made valuable comments. We were fortunate in having a group
of eminent scholars, Professors Mrinal Miri, G.P. Deshpande and
Gopal Guru, who constituted a special sub-committee of the National
Monitoring Committee and read the book at least thrice. We wish
to thank Professor Krishna Kumar, Director NCERT and Professor
Hari Vasudevan, Chairperson, Advisory Committee for Textbooks, for
their support, advice and guidance at different stages of this delicate
project. We are also thankful to Professor Yash Pal for his interest in
and support to this book.
We are thankful to Lokniti Programme of the CSDS, Delhi which for
the last one year provided a home and resource base for the work on
this textbook. Various memebers of the CSDS family who went out
of their way to support this work include Sanjeer Alam, Avinash Jha,

2018-19
 vii

Balaji Madiq and Himanshu Bhattacharya at Lokniti and Ravikant

and Mohammad Qureshi at Sarai. We would also like to thank the
authorities of the Philately Bureau, especially Kaveri Banerji and
Niraj Kumar and Sandhya R. Kanneganti of Indian Postal Service, for
helping us to access and allowing us to reproduce a large number of
postal stamps; Milind Champanerkar for helping us in the selection of
the films; Radhika Menon for critical inputs; Vipul Mudgal, Ritu and
Dharamveer for helping us to access the rich collection of Hindustan
Times Photo Library; Bhaanu Choube and Abhay Chhajalani for
opening the archives of Nai Dunia; Rajendra Babu for helping us with
clippings and images from The Hindu Library and authorities of the
University of Michigan Library and Nehru Memorial Museum and
Library, New Delhi.
Alex George, Pankaj Pushkar, K. K. Kailash, and M. Manisha formed
the backbone of the team that worked on this book in various ways –
doing archival research, hunting for visuals, checking facts. But for
their multi-faceted support, and especially the untiring devotion of
Pankaj Pushkar, this book would not have been what it is. We are
thankful to Anupama Roy for her generous help with proof reading.
The look and feel of the book is the product of the artistic skills
of Irfaan Khan, the creator of Unni-Munni, graphics and maps by
ARK Grafix, and the aesthetic sensibility of Shweta Rao who designed
the book. We thank them all for sharing the spirit of this project. We
would like to place on record our gratitude to Shveta Uppal, Chief
Editor, NCERT, who went beyond the call of her duty in working with
this book, for her exemplary patience and professionalism.
This book is a tribute to the maturity of Indian democracy and
is intended as a small contribution to enriching the democratic
deliberations in our country. We sincerely hope that this book will
be received in this spirit and will be useful not only for students of
Political Science but also to a wider group of young citizens of our
country.

Ujjwal Kumar Singh Suhas Palshikar and Yogendra Yadav

Advisor Chief Advisors

2018-19
viii

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO KNOW

MORE, READ...
Granville Austin.1999. Working a Democratic Constitution: The Indian
Experience. Oxford University Press, Delhi.
Paul R. Brass.1994 (second edition). The Politics of India since
Independence. Cambridge University Press (published in India by
Foundation Books), New Delhi.
Bipan Chandra, Mridula Mukherjee and Aditya Mukherjee. 2000.
India after Independence (1947-2000). Penguin Books, Delhi
Partha Chatterjee (ed). 1997. State and Politics in India. Oxford
University Press, Delhi.
Francine R. Frankel. 2005. India’s Political Economy (1947-2004).
Oxford University Press, Delhi.
Ramachandra Guha. 2007. India After Gandhi: History of the World’s
Largest Democracy. Picador India, Delhi.
Niraja Gopal Jayal (ed). 2001. Democracy in India. Oxford University
Press. Delhi.
Sudipta Kaviraj (ed). 1997. Politics in India. Oxford University Press,
Delhi.
Sunil Khilnani. 2003 (paperback). The Idea of India. Penguin, London.
Rajni Kothari. 1985. Politics in India. Orient Longman, Delhi.
Pratap Bhanu Mehta. 2003. The Burden of Democracy. Penguin
Books, Delhi.
Achin Vanaik. 1990. The Painful Transition: Bourgeois Democracy in
India. Verso, London and New York.

2018-19
 ix

TEXTBOOK DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE

CHAIRPERSON, ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR TEXTBOOKS AT THE SENIOR

SECONDARY LEVEL
Hari Vasudevan, Professor, Department of History, University of
Calcutta, Kolkata

CHIEF ADVISORS
Suhas Palshikar, Professor, Department of Political Science,
University of Pune, Pune
Yogendra Yadav, Senior Fellow, Centre for the Study of Developing
Societies (CSDS), Delhi

ADVISOR
Ujjwal Kumar Singh, Reader, Department of Political Science,
University of Delhi, Delhi

MEMBERS
Aditya Nigam, Fellow, CSDS, Delhi
Akhil Ranjan Dutta, Lecturer in Political Science, Gauhati University,
Guwahati
Alex George, Independent Researcher, Eruvatty, Kerala.
Anuradha Sen, Principal, The Srijan School, New Delhi
Bharani N. Faculty, International Academy of Creative Teaching (IACT),
Bangalore
Dwaipayan Bhattacharya, Fellow, CSSS, Kolkata
Kailash K.K., Lecturer in Political Science, Panjab University, Chandigarh
M. Manisha, Sr. Lecturer in Political Science, Loretto College, Kolkata
Manjari Katju, Reader in Political Science, University of Hyderabad,
Hyderabad
Pankaj Pushkar, Sr. Lecturer, Lokniti, CSDS, Delhi
Malla V.S.V. Prasad, Lecturer, DESSH, NCERT, New Delhi
Rajeshwari Deshpande, Reader in Political Science, University of Pune, Pune
Sajal Nag, Professor of History, Assam University, Silchar
Sandeep Shastri, Director, IACT, Bangalore
Shailendra Kharat, Lecturer in Political Science, Shinde Sarkar College,
Kolhapur, Maharashtra
Srilekha Mukherji, PGT, St Paul School, New Delhi

MEMBER-COORDINATOR
Sanjay Dubey, Reader, DESSH, NCERT, New Delhi

2018-19
x

REQUEST FOR FEEDBACK

How did you like this textbook? What was your experience in reading
or using this? What were the difficulties you faced? What changes
would you like to see in the next version of this book?
Write to us on all these and any other matter related to the textbook.
You could be a teacher, a parent, a student or just a general reader.
We value any and every feedback.
Please write to:
Coordinator (Political Science)
DESS, NCERT, Sri Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi 110 016

2018-19
 xi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We wish to acknowledge the following for the stamps, cartoons,
newspaper clippings, pictures and extracts of texts used in this book.

Postal stamps
The National Philately Bureau, Department of Post and Telegraph,
Government of India for all the postal stamps used throughout this
book.

Cartoons
Shankar Narayanan and Times of India for cartoons by R. K. Laxman
on pages 18, 70, 71, 82, 85, 93, 98,106, 109, 110, 114, 116, 119,
122, 124, 153, 169 and 174. The Children’s Book Trust for cartoons
by Shankar on pages 21, 22, 26, 28, 40, 56 and 62. Laughing
with Kutty, Free Press for cartoons by Kutty on pages 90, 95, 98
and 157. Sudhir Dar, Sudhir Tailang and UNDP & Planning Commission
for cartoons on page 52 and 144. Janaki Abraham for cartoon by
Abu on page 103. India Today for cartoons by Atanu Roy on page 122,
Ravi Shankar on page 192, Ajit Ninan on pages 172 and 178. HT Book
of Cartoons for cartoons by Rambabu Mathur on page 166 and
Sudhir Tailang on page 176.

Pictures
Sunil Janah for pictures on pages 2 and 13. The Hindu for pictures on
pages 7, 33, 136, 138 and 152. DPA/PIB for pictures on pages 9 and
17. Hindustan Times for pictures on pages 49, 120, 128, 129, 134 and
the collage on the cover page. Nehru Memorial Museum and Library
for pictures on pages 3, 10 and 64. Sabeena Gadihoke for pictures by
Homai Vyarawalla on pages 6, 7, 42 and 69. India Today for picture on
page 139. Raghu Rai for pictures on pages 86 and 166. Kumarappa
Institute of Gram Swaraj for picture on page 55. Pankaj Pushkar
for picture on page 144. Robin Shaw Pushp/ Rajkamal Prakashan
for picture on page 43. Narmada Bachao Andolan for picture on
page 141. Outlook Classic and www.thesouthasian.org for pictures on
the back cover.

Press clippings
The Hindustan Times for the clippings (from History in the Making:
75 years of the Hindustan Times) on pages 4, 51, 59, 69, 75, 77, 83,
95, 111, 154, 166, 181, 185 and 187. Times of India for the clippings
on page 7, 75, 77, 110, 153, 156, 160, 161, 164 and 169. The Hindu
for clippings on pages 32 and 33 and news on page 47. Nai Dunia for
the clippings on pages 33, 71, 102, 110, 111, 159, 166 and 181. The
Pioneer for clippings on page 186. The Statesman for clipping on page
186. The Indian Express for clipping on page 188.

2018-19
xii

Posters/Advertisements
GCMMF India for Amul advertisements on pages 61, 71, 91, 111,
166, 173, 174 and 175. Design and People for posters on pages 131
and 140. Anhad/NCDHR for posters on page 133. Zuban for poster
on page 137. Uttarakhand Sanskritik Morcha for poster on page 148.
Sources of extracts and citations from reports and books
Ramchandra Guha, India after Gandhi, Picador India, 2007, for
the quotations on pages 25, 29, 30, 67, 68, 72 and 88. Sundeep
Dougal, translation of Faiz Ahmend Faiz, Subh-e-azadi on the
website http://members.tripod.com/~SundeepDougal/Faiz.html.
Umair Raja, translation of Amrita Pritam’s poem “Today I Call Waris
Shah” at www.chowk.com. Text and translation of Sadat Hasan
Manto, ‘Kasre-Nafsi’ (Hospitality Delayed), Mushirul Hasan, ed.
2000. Inventing Boundaries: Gender, Politics and the Partition of
India. Oxford University Press, New Delhi Fanishwarnath Renu,
Maila Anchal translation from Indira Junghare, The Soiled Border.
Shrilal Shukla, Rag Darbari translation by Gillian Wright, Penguin
Books India, 1992. Translation of Namdeo Dhasal’s Marathi poem
in Golpitha, translated by Jayant Karve and Eleanor Zelliot, in
Mulk Raj Anand and Eleanor Zelliot (ed), An Anthology of Dalit
Literature, New Delhi, Gyan Books, 1992. Rajni Kothari. Politics in
India, Third reprint, Orient Longman, Delhi, pages 155-156. Partha
Chatterjee (ed.) State and Politics in India, Oxford University Press,
New Delhi, 1997 for extracts from Rajni Kothari on page 448; David
Butler, Ashok Lahiri, Prannoy Roy on page 149; Sudipta Kaviraj on
page 74; Sanjib Baruah, on page 507. Jawaharlal Nehru’s Speeches,
Sept 1957-April 1961, Delhi, GoI, Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting, Publication Division, Vol 4, page 381. Francine
R. Frankel, 2005, India’s Political Economy (1947-2004), Oxford
University Press, Delhi, page 71; Zoya Hasan, Parties and Party
Politics in India. Oxford University Press, Delhi, 2004, pages 33-34;
Anand Chakravarti, ‘A Village in Chomu Assembly Constituency in
Rajasthan’ in A.M. Shah (ed), The Grassroots of Democracy, Permanent
Black, Delhi, 2007; Report of the Justice Nanavati Commission of
Inquiry, Vol.I, 2005, page 180; National Human Rights Commission,
Annual Report 2001-2002, pages 317-318 and Shah Commission,
Interim Report, pages 96-101, 120-139.

2018-19
 xiii

CONTENTS
Foreword --- iii
Letter to the Readers --- v

Chapter 1
Challenges of Nation Building 2

Chapter 2
Era of One-party Dominance 26

Chapter 3
Politics of Planned Development 46

Chapter 4
India’s External Relations 64

Chapter 5
Challenges to and Restoration of the Congress System 82

Chapter 6
The Crisis of Democratic Order 102

Chapter 7
Rise of Popular Movements 128

Chapter 8
Regional Aspirations 148

Chapter 9
Recent Developments in Indian Politics 172

2018-19
Credit: Sunil Janah

In this chapter…
The first few years in the life of independent India were full of challenges.
Some of the most pressing ones concerned national unity and
territorial integrity of India. We begin the story of politics in India since
In a moment of Independence by looking at how three of these challenges of nation-
optimism, Hindus and building were successfully negotiated in the first decade after 1947.
Hindus and Muslims in • Freedom came with Partition, which resulted in large scale violence
Kolkata in 1947 marked and displacement and challenged the very idea of a secular India.
the end of communal
violence by jointly flying • The integration of the princely states into the Indian union needed
the flags of India and urgent resolution.
Pakistan from trucks
patrolling the city. • The internal boundaries of the country needed to be drawn afresh to
This rare photograph meet the aspirations of the people who spoke different languages.
captured the joy of
freedom and the tragedy In the next two chapters we shall turn to other kinds of challenges faced
of partition in India and by the country in this early phase.
in Pakistan.

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 chapter
challenges of
nation building 1
Challenges for the new nation
At the hour of midnight on 14-15 August 1947, India attained independence.
Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of free India, addressed a special session of
the Constituent Assembly that night. This was the famous ‘tryst with destiny’ speech
that you are familiar with.
This was the moment Indians had been waiting for. You have read in your history
textbooks that there were many voices in our national movement. But there were
two goals almost everyone agreed upon: one, that after Independence, we shall run
our country through democratic government; and two, that the government will be
run for the good of all, particularly the poor and the socially disadvantaged groups.
Now that the country was independent, the time had come to realise the promise of
freedom.
This was not going to be easy. India was born in very difficult circumstances.
Perhaps no other country by then was born in a situation more difficult than that of
India in 1947. Freedom came with the partition of the country. The year 1947 was a
year of unprecedented violence and trauma of displacement. It was in this situation
that independent India started on its journey to achieve several objectives. Yet the
turmoil that accompanied independence did not make our leaders lose sight of the
multiple challenges that faced the new nation.
Credit: PIB

Prime Minister Jawahar

Lal Nehru speaking from
the Red Fort,
15 August 1947

2018-19
 4 Politics in India since Independence
“
Tomorrow we shall be
“
free from the slavery of the
British domination. But
at midnight India will be
partitioned. Tomorrow will
thus be a day of rejoicing as
well as of mourning.
Mahatma Gandhi
14 August 1947,
Kolkata.
Hindustan Times, 19 July 1947
Three Challenges
Broadly, independent India faced three kinds of challenges. The first
and the immediate challenge was to shape a nation that was united,
yet accommodative of the diversity in our society. India was a land of
continental size and diversity. Its people spoke different languages
and followed different cultures and religions. At that time it was
widely believed that a country full of such kinds of diversity could
not remain together for long. The partition of the country appeared to
prove everyone’s worst fears. There were serious questions about the
future of India: Would India survive as a unified country? Would it do
so by emphasising national unity at the cost of every other objective?
Would it mean rejecting all regional and sub-national identities? And
there was an urgent question: How was integration of the territory of
India to be achieved?
The second challenge was to establish democracy. You have
already studied the Indian Constitution. You know that the
Constitution granted fundamental rights and extended the right to
vote to every citizen. India adopted representative democracy based
on the parliamentary form of government. These features ensure that
the political competition would take place in a democratic framework.
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Challenges of Nation Building 5

A democratic constitution is necessary but not sufficient for

establishing a democracy. The challenge was to develop democratic
practices in accordance with the Constitution.
The third challenge was to ensure the development and well-
being of the entire society and not only of some sections. Here again
the Constitution clearly laid down the principle of equality and
special protection to socially disadvantaged groups and religious and
cultural communities. The Constitution also set out in the Directive
Principles of State Policy the welfare goals that democratic politics
must achieve. The real challenge now was to evolve effective policies
for economic development and eradication of poverty.
How did independent India respond to these challenges? To what
I always wanted a time
extent did India succeed in achieving the various objectives set out machine, so that I can
by the Constitution? This entire book is an attempt to respond to go back and participate
these questions. The book tells the story of politics in India since in the celebrations of
Independence so as to equip you to develop your own answers to 15 August 1947. But
big questions like these. In the first three chapters we look at how this looks different
from what I thought.
the three challenges mentioned above were faced in the early years
after Independence.
In this chapter, we focus on the first challenge of nation-
building that occupied centre-stage in the years immediately after
Independence. We begin by looking at the events that formed the
context of Independence. This can help us understand why the
issue of national unity and security became a primary challenge
at the time of Independence. We shall then see how India chose to
shape itself into a nation, united by a shared history and common
destiny. This unity had to reflect the aspirations of people across
the different regions and deal with the disparities that existed
among regions and different sections of people. In the next two
chapters we shall turn to the challenge of establishing a democracy
and achieving economic development with equality and justice.

These three stamps were issued in 1950 to mark the first Republic Day on 26 January 1950. What
do the images on these stamps tell you about the challenges to the new republic? If you were asked
to design these stamps in 1950, which images would you have chosen?

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 66 PPolitics in India since Independence

Dawn, Karachi, 14 August 1947

The Dawn of Freedom
Faiz Ahmed Faiz
This scarred, marred brightness,
this bitten-by-night dawn -
The one that was awaited, surely, this is not that dawn.
This is not the dawn yearning for which
Had we set out, friends, hoping to find
sometime, somewhere
The final destination of stars in the wilderness of the sky.
Somewhere, at least, must be a shore for the languid
waves of the night,
Somewhere at least must anchor the sad
boat of the heart …
Translation of an extract from Urdu poem Subh-e-azadi
hmed Faiz (1911-1984) Born
Faiz Ahmed Bo
in Sialkot; stayed in Pakistan after
Partition. A leftist in his political
leanings, he opposed the Pakistani
regime and was imprisoned. Collections
of his poetry include Naksh-e-Fariyadi,
Dast-e-Saba and Zindan-Nama.
Regarded as one of the greatest poets
of South Asia in the twentieth century.

We should begin to work in that spirit and in course of time all these
angularities of the majority and minority communities, the Hindu community
and the Muslim community – because even as regards Muslims you have
Pathans, Punjabis, Shias, Sunnis and so on and among the Hindus you have
Brahmins, Vaishnavas, Khatris, also Bengalees, Madrasis, and so on – will
vanish. … You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to
go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this State of Pakistan.
You may belong to any religion or caste or creed – that has nothing to do with
the business of the State.
Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Presidential Address to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan at
Karachi, 11 August 1947.

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 Challenges of Nation Building 77
The Times of India, Bombay, 15 August 1947

Today I call Waris Shah

Amrita Pritam
Today, I call Waris Shah, “Speak from your grave”
And turn, today, the book of love’s next affectionate page
Once, a daughter of Punjab cried and you wrote a wailing saga
Today, a million daughters, cry to you, Waris Shah
Rise! O’ narrator of the grieving; rise! look at your Punjab
Today, fields are lined with corpses, and blood fills the Chenab Amrita Pritam
Prita (1919–2005):
Someone has mixed poison in the five rivers’ flow A prominent Punjabi poet and
Their deadly water is, now, irrigating our lands galore fiction writer. Recipient of Sahitya
This fertile land is sprouting, venom from every pore Akademi Award, Padma Shree and
The sky is turning red from endless cries of gore Jnanapeeth Award. After Partition
The toxic forest wind, screams from inside its wake she made Delhi her second home.
Turning each flute’s bamboo-shoot, into a deadly snake … She was active in writing and
editing ‘Nagmani’ a Punjabi monthly
Translation of an extract from a Punjabi poem “Aaj Akhan Waris Shah Nun”
magazine till her last.

We have a Muslim minority who are so large in numbers that they cannot,
even if they want, go anywhere else. That is a basic fact about which there can
be no argument. Whatever the provocation from Pakistan and whatever the
indignities and horrors inflicted on non-Muslims there, we have got to deal with
this minority in a civilised manner. We must give them security and the rights of
citizens in a democratic State. If we fail to do so, we shall have a festering sore
which will eventually poison the whole body politic and probably destroy it.
Jawaharlal Nehru, Letter to Chief Ministers, 15 October 1947.

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8 Politics in India since Independence

Partition: displacement and rehabilitation

On 14-15 August 1947, not one but two nation-states came into
existence – India and Pakistan. This was a result of ‘partition’,
the division of British India into India and Pakistan. The drawing
of the border demarcating the territory of each country marked the
culmination of political developments that you have read about in
the history textbooks. According to the ‘two-nation theory’ advanced
by the Muslim League, India consisted of not one but two ‘people’,
Hindus and Muslims. That is why it demanded Pakistan, a separate
country for the Muslims. The Congress opposed this theory and the
demand for Pakistan. But several political developments in 1940s, the
political competition between the Congress and the Muslim League
and the British role led to the decision for the creation of Pakistan.

Process of Partition
Thus it was decided that what was till then known as ‘India’ would
be divided into two countries, ‘India’ and ‘Pakistan’. Such a division
was not only very painful, but also very difficult to decide and to
implement. It was decided to follow the principle of religious majorities.
This basically means that areas where the Muslims were in majority
would make up the territory of Pakistan. The rest was to stay with
India.
The idea might appear simple, but it presented all kinds of
difficulties. First of all, there was no single belt of Muslim majority
areas in British India. There were two areas of concentration, one
in the west and one in the east. There was no way these two parts
could be joined. So it was decided that the new country, Pakistan, will
comprise two territories, West and East Pakistan separated by a long
expanse of Indian territory. Secondly, not all Muslim majority areas
wanted to be in Pakistan. Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, the undisputed
leader of the North Western Frontier Province and known as ‘Frontier
Gandhi’, was staunchly opposed to the two-nation theory. Eventually,
his voice was simply ignored and the NWFP was made to merge with
Pakistan.
The third problem was that two of the Muslim majority provinces
of British India, Punjab and Bengal, had very large areas where the
non-Muslims were in majority. Eventually it was decided that these
two provinces would be bifurcated according to the religious majority
Oh, now I at the district or even lower level. This decision could not be made
understand! What
was ‘East’ Bengal
by the midnight of 14-15 August. It meant that a large number of
has now become people did not know on the day of Independence whether they were in
Bangladesh. That is India or in Pakistan. The Partition of these two provinces caused the
why our Bengal is deepest trauma of Partition.
called ‘West’ Bengal!
This was related to the fourth and the most intractable of all the
problems of partition. This was the problem of ‘minorities’ on both

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Challenges of Nation Building 9

sides of the border. Lakhs of Hindus and Sikhs in the areas that
were now in Pakistan and an equally large number of Muslims on
the Indian side of Punjab and Bengal (and to some extent Delhi and
surrounding areas) found themselves trapped. They were to discover
that they were undesirable aliens in their own home, in the land
where they and their ancestors had lived for centuries. As soon as
it became clear that the country was going to be partitioned, the
minorities on both sides became easy targets of attack. No one had
quite anticipated the scale of this problem. No one had any plans for
handling this. Initially, the people and political leaders kept hoping
that this violence was temporary and would be controlled soon. But
very soon the violence went out of control. The minorities on both
sides of the border were left with no option except to leave their
homes, often at a few hours’ notice.

Consequences of Partition
The year 1947 was the year of one of the largest, most abrupt,
unplanned and tragic transfer of population that human history
has known. There were killings and atrocities on both sides of the
border. In the name of religion people of one community ruthlessly
killed and maimed people of the other community. Cities like Lahore,

Credit: DPA.

A train full of ‘refugees’ in 1947.

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 10 Politics in India since Independence

Amritsar and Kolkata became divided into

Hospitality Delayed ‘communal zones’. Muslims would avoid
Saadat Hasan Manto going into an area where mainly Hindus
or Sikhs lived; similarly the Hindus and
Rioters brought the running train to a halt. Sikhs stayed away from areas of Muslim
People belonging to the other community predominance.
were pulled out and slaughtered with swords
and bullets. Forced to abandon their homes and
move across borders, people went through
The remaining passengers were treated to immense sufferings. Minorities on both
halwa, fruits and milk. sides of the border fled their home and
The chief organiser said, ‘Brothers and often secured temporary shelter in ‘refugee
sisters, news of this train’s arrival was camps’. They often found unhelpful local
delayed. That is why we have not been administration and police in what was till
able to entertain you lavishly – the way we recently their own country. They travelled
wanted to.’ to the other side of the new border by all
sorts of means, often by foot. Even during
Source: English translation of Urdu short
story Kasre-Nafsi this journey they were often attacked,
killed or raped. Thousands of women were
abducted on both sides of the border. They
were made to convert to the religion of the
abductor and were forced into marriage. In many cases women were
killed by their own family members to preserve the ‘family honour’.
Many children were separated from their parents. Those who did
manage to cross the border found that they had no home. For lakhs
of these ‘refugees’ the
Credit: Nehru Memorial Museum and Library

country’s freedom meant

life in ‘refugee camps’, for
months and sometimes
for years.
Writers, poets and
film-makers in India and
Pakistan have expressed
the ruthlessness of the
killings and the suffering
of displacement and
violence in their novels,
short-stories, poems and
films. While recounting
the trauma of Partition,
they have often used the
phrase that the survivors
themselves used to
describe Partition — as
a ‘division of hearts’.
The Partition was
not merely a division
Gandhi in Noakhali (now in Bangladesh) in 1947. of properties, liabilities

2018-19
Challenges of Nation Building 11

and assets, or a political division of

Let’s watch a Film

the country and the administrative
apparatus. What also got divided were GARAM HAWA
the financial assets, and things like
tables, chairs, typewriters, paper-clips,
books and also musical instruments
of the police band! The employees of
the government and the railways were
also ‘divided’. Above all, it was a violent
separation of communities who had
hitherto lived together as neighbours.
It is estimated that the Partition forced
about 80 lakh people to migrate across
the new border. Between five to ten lakh
people were killed in Partition related
violence.
Beyond the administrative concerns
and financial strains, however, the Salim Mirza, a shoe manufacturer
Partition posed another deeper issue. in Agra, increasingly finds himself
The leaders of the Indian national a stranger amid the people he
struggle did not believe in the two-nation has lived with all his life. He feels
lost in the emerging reality after
theory. And yet, partition on religious
Partition. His business suffers
basis had taken place. Did that make and a refugee from the other side
India a Hindu nation automatically? of partitioned India occupies his
Even after large scale migration of ancestral dwelling. His daughter
Muslims to the newly created Pakistan, too has a tragic end. He believes
the Muslim population in India that things would soon be normal
accounted for 12 per cent of the total again.
population in 1951. So, how would the
government of India treat its Muslim
But many of his family members
citizens and other religious minorities decide to move to Pakistan. Salim
(Sikhs, Christians, Jains, Buddhists, is torn between an impulse to
Parsis and Jews)? The Partition had move out to Pakistan and an urge
already created severe conflict between to stay back. A decisive moment
the two communities. comes when Salim witnesses a
students’ procession demanding
There were competing political fair treatment from the government.
interests behind these conflicts. The His son Sikandar has joined the
Muslim League was formed to protect procession. Can you imagine
the interests of the Muslims in colonial what Mirza Salim finally did? What
India. It was in the forefront of the do you think you would have done
demand for a separate Muslim nation. in these circumstances?
Similarly, there were organisations,
which were trying to organise the Year: 1973
Hindus in order to turn India into a Director: M.S. Sathyu
Hindu nation. But most leaders of the Screenplay: Kaifi Azmi
national movement believed that India Actors: Balraj Sahani, Jalal Aga,
must treat persons of all religions Farouque Sheikh, Gita Siddharth

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12
12 Politics in India since Independence

Mahatma Gandhi’s sacrifice

On the 15th August 1947 Mahatma Gandhi did not participate in any
of the Independence Day celebrations. He was in Kolkata in the areas
which were torn by gruesome riots between Hindus and Muslims.
He was saddened by the communal violence and disheartened that
the principles of ahimsa (non-violence) and satyagraha (active but
non-violent resistance) that he had lived and worked for, had failed
to bind the people in troubled times. Gandhiji went on to persuade
the Hindus and Muslims to give up violence. His presence in Kolkata
greatly improved the situation, and the coming of independence was
celebrated in a spirit of communal harmony, with joyous dancing in
the streets. Gandhiji’s prayer meetings attracted large crowds. But this
was short lived as riots between Hindus and Muslims erupted once
again and Gandhiji had to resort to a fast to bring peace.
Next month Gandhiji moved to Delhi where large scale violence had
erupted. He was deeply concerned about ensuring that Muslims should
be allowed to stay in India with dignity, as equal citizens. He was also
concerned about the relations between India and Pakistan. He was
unhappy with what he saw as the Indian government’s decision not
to honour its financial commitments to Pakistan. With all this in mind
he undertook what turned out to be his last fast in January 1948. As
in Kolkata, his fast had a dramatic effect in Delhi. Communal tension
and violence reduced. Muslims of Delhi and surrounding areas could
safely return to their homes. The Government of India agreed to give
Pakistan its dues.
Gandhiji’s actions were however not liked by all. Extremists in both
the communities blamed him for their conditions. He was particularly
disliked by those who wanted Hindus to take revenge or who wanted
India to become a country for the Hindus, just as Pakistan was for
Muslims. They accused Gandhiji of acting in the interests of the Muslims
and Pakistan. Gandhiji thought that these people were misguided. He
was convinced that any attempt to make India into a country only for
the Hindus would destroy India. His steadfast pursuit of Hindu-Muslim
unity provoked Hindu extremists so much that they made several
attempts to assassinate Gandhiji. Despite this he refused to accept
armed protection and continued to meet everyone during his prayer
meetings. Finally, on 30 January 1948, one such extremist, Nathuram
Vinayak Godse, walked up to Gandhiji during his evening prayer in
Delhi and fired three bullets at him, killing him instantly. Thus ended a
life long struggle for truth, non-violence, justice and tolerance.
Gandhiji’s death had an almost magical effect on the communal
situation in the country. Partition-related anger and violence suddenly
subsided. The Government of India cracked down on organisations
that were spreading communal hatred. Organisations like the Rashtriya
Swayamsewak Sangh were banned for some time. Communal politics
began to lose its appeal.

2018-19
Challenges of Nation Building 1313

Janah
: Sunil
Credit

at a.
in Kolk
crowd
t io n d rew a
sasina
Ji’s as
andhi
h e n e ws of G
T

2018-19
14 Politics in India since Independence

equally and that India should not be a country that gave superior
status to adherents of one faith and inferior to those who practiced
another religion. All citizens would be equal irrespective of their
religious affiliation. Being religious or a believer would not be a test
of citizenship. They cherished therefore the ideal of a secular nation.
This ideal was enshrined in the Indian Constitution.

Shweta noticed that her Nana (maternal grandfather) would get very
quiet whenever anyone mentioned Pakistan. One day she decided to

Let’s re-search
ask him about it. Her Nana told her about how he moved from Lahore to
Ludhiana during Partition. Both his parents were killed. Even he would
not have survived, but a neighbouring Muslim family gave him shelter
and kept him in hiding for several days. They helped him find some
relatives and that is how he managed to cross the border and start a
new life.
Have you heard a similar story? Ask your grandparents or anyone of
that generation about their memories of Independence Day, about the
celebration, about the trauma of Partition, about the expectations they
had from independence.
Write down at least two of these stories.

Integration of Princely States

British India was divided into what were called the British Indian
Provinces and the Princely States. The British Indian Provinces
were directly under the control of the British government. On the
other hand, several large and small states ruled by princes, called
the Princely States, enjoyed some form of control over their internal
affairs as long as they accepted British supremacy. This was called
paramountcy or suzerainty of the British crown. Princely States
covered one-third of the land area of the British Indian Empire and
one out of four Indians lived under princely rule.

The problem
Just before Independence it was announced by the British that with
the end of their rule over India, paramountcy of the British crown
over Princely States would also lapse. This meant that all these
states, as many as 565 in all, would become legally independent. The
British government took the view that all these states were free to join
either India or Pakistan or remain independent if they so wished. This
decision was left not to the people but to the princely rulers of these
states. This was a very serious problem and could threaten the very
existence of a united India.
The problems started very soon. First of all, the ruler of Travancore
announced that the state had decided on Independence. The Nizam of

2018-19
Challenges of Nation Building 15

Note: This
illustration is not
a map drawn to
scale and should
not be taken to
be an authentic
depiction of
India’s external
boundaries.

Can’t we end the

Partition of India Isn’t it better that
and Pakistan the we now learn to
way they did in live and respect
Germany? I want each other as
to have breakfast independent
in Amritsar and nations?
lunch in Lahore!

2018-19
 16
“
We are at a momentous
stage in the history of India.
By common endeavour, we
can raise the country to
new greatness, while lack
of unity will expose us to
unexpected calamities. I
hope the Indian States will
“
realise fully that if we do
not cooperate and work
together in the general
interest, anarchy and chaos
will overwhelm us all, great
and small, and lead us to
total ruin...
Sardar Patel
Letter to Princely rulers,
1947.
Politics in India since Independence
Hyderabad made a similar announcement the next day. Rulers like
the Nawab of Bhopal were averse to joining the Constituent Assembly.
This response of the rulers of the Princely States meant that after
Independence there was a very real possibility that India would get
further divided into a number of small countries. The prospects of
democracy for the people in these states also looked bleak. This was a
strange situation, since the Indian Independence was aimed at unity,
self-determination as well as democracy. In most of these princely
states, governments were run in a non-democratic manner and the
rulers were unwilling to give democratic rights to their populations.
Government’s approach
The interim government took a firm stance against the possible
division of India into small principalities of different sizes. The Muslim
League opposed the Indian National Congress and took the view that
the States should be free to adopt any course they liked. Sardar Patel
was India’s Deputy Prime Minister and the Home Minister during
the crucial period immediately following Independence. He played a
historic role in negotiating with the rulers of princely states firmly but
diplomatically and bringing most of them into the Indian Union. It
may look easy now. But it was a very complicated task which required
skilful persuasion. For instance, there were 26 small states in today’s
Orissa. Saurashtra region of Gujarat had 14 big states, 119 small
states and numerous other different administrations.
The government’s approach was guided by three considerations.
Firstly, the people of most of the princely states clearly wanted to
become part of the Indian union. Secondly, the government was
prepared to be flexible in giving autonomy to some regions. The idea
was to accommodate plurality and adopt a flexible approach in dealing
with the demands of the regions. Thirdly, in the backdrop of Partition
which brought into focus the contest over demarcation of territory,
the integration and consolidation of the territorial boundaries of the
nation had assumed supreme importance.
Before 15 August 1947, peaceful negotiations had brought almost
all states whose territories were contiguous to the new boundaries of
India, into the Indian Union. The rulers of most of the states signed
a document called the ‘Instrument of Accession’ which meant that
their state agreed to become a part of the Union of India. Accession of
the Princely States of Junagadh, Hyderabad, Kashmir and Manipur
proved more difficult than the rest. The issue of Junagarh was
resolved after a plebiscite confirmed people’s desire to join India. You
will read about Kashmir in Chapter Eight. Here, let us look at the
cases of Hyderabad and Manipur.
2018-19
Challenges of Nation Building 17

Credit: PIB
Sardar Patel with the Nizam of Hyderabad

Hyderabad
Hyderabad, the largest of the Princely States was
surrounded entirely by Indian territory. Some parts of
the old Hyderabad state are today parts of Maharashtra,
Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Its ruler carried the title,
‘Nizam’, and he was one of the world’s richest men. The
Nizam wanted an independent status for Hyderabad. He Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
entered into what was called the Standstill Agreement with (1875-1950): Leader of
India in November 1947 for a year while negotiations with the freedom movement;
the Indian government were going on. Congress leader; follower of
Mahatma Gandhi; Deputy
In the meantime, a movement of the people of Prime Minister and first Home
Hyderabad State against the Nizam’s rule gathered force. Minister of independent India;
The peasantry in the Telangana region in particular, was played an important role in
the victim of Nizam’s oppressive rule and rose against him. the integration of Princely
Women who had seen the worst of this oppression joined States with India; member
the movement in large numbers. Hyderabad town was the of important committees of
nerve centre of this movement. The Communists and the the Constituent Assembly
Hyderabad Congress were in the forefront of the movement. on Fundamental Rights,
The Nizam responded by unleashing a para-military force Minorities, Provincial
known as the Razakars on the people. The atrocities and Constitution, etc.
communal nature of the Razakars knew no bounds. They

2018-19
 18 Politics in India since Independence

murdered, maimed, raped and looted, targeting particularly the non-

Muslims. The central government had to order the army to tackle the
situation. In September 1948, Indian army moved in to control the
Nizam’s forces. After a few days of intermittent fighting, the Nizam
surrendered. This led to Hyderabad’s accession to India.

Manipur
A few days before Independence, the Maharaja of Manipur,
Bodhachandra Singh, signed the Instrument of Accession with the
Indian government on the assurance that the internal autonomy of
Manipur would be maintained. Under the pressure of public opinion,
the Maharaja held elections in Manipur in June 1948 and the state
became a constitutional monarchy. Thus Manipur was the first part
I wonder what of India to hold an election based on universal adult franchise.
happened to all
those hundreds In the Legislative Assembly of Manipur there were sharp
of kings, queens, differences over the question of merger of Manipur with India. While
princes and the state Congress wanted the merger, other political parties were
princesses. How
opposed to this. The Government of India succeeded in pressurising
did they live
their lives after the Maharaja into signing a Merger Agreement in September 1949,
becoming just without consulting the popularly elected Legislative Assembly of
ordinary citizens? Manipur. This caused a lot of anger and resentment in Manipur, the
repercussions of which are still being felt.

Credit: R. K. Laxman in the Times of India

This cartoon
comments on the
relation between
the people and
the rulers in the
Princely States,
and also on
Patel’s approach
to resolving this
issue.

2018-19
Challenges of Nation Building 19

Reorganisation of States
The process of nation-building did not come to an end with Partition
and integration of Princely States. Now the challenge was to draw the
internal boundaries of the Indian states. This was not just a matter
of administrative divisions. The boundaries had to be drawn in a way
so that the linguistic and cultural plurality of the country could be
reflected without affecting the unity of the nation.
During colonial rule, the state boundaries were drawn either on
administrative convenience or simply coincided with the territories
annexed by the British government or the territories ruled by the
princely powers.
Our national movement had rejected these divisions as artificial
and had promised the linguistic principle as the basis of formation
of states. In fact after the Nagpur session of Congress in 1920 the
principle was recognised as the basis of the reorganisation of the
Indian National Congress party itself. Many Provincial Congress
Committees were created by linguistic zones, which did not follow
the administrative divisions of British India.

“
Things changed after Independence and Partition. Our leaders
felt that carving out states on the basis of language might lead to ..if lingusitic
disruption and disintegration. It was also felt that this would draw provinces are formed, it
attention away from other social and economic challenges that the will also give a fillip to
country faced. The central leadership decided to postpone matters.
The need for postponement was also felt because the fate of the
Princely States had not been decided. Also, the memory of Partition
was still fresh.
This decision of the national leadership was challenged by the local
leaders and the people. Protests began in the Telugu speaking areas of
“
the regional languages. It
would be absurd to make
Hindustani the medium
of instruction in all the
regions and it is still more
absurd to use English for
the old Madras province, which included present day Tamil Nadu, parts this purpose.
of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka. The Vishalandhra movement
(as the movement for a separate Andhra was called) demanded that
the Telugu speaking areas should be separated from the Madras Mahatma Gandhi
province of which they were a part and be made into a separate Andhra January1948
province. Nearly all the political forces in the Andhra region were in
favour of linguistic reorganisation of the then Madras province.
The movement gathered momentum as a result of the Central
government’s vacillation. Potti Sriramulu, a Congress leader and a
veteran Gandhian, went on an indefinite fast that led to his death after
56 days. This caused great unrest and resulted in violent outbursts in
Andhra region. People in large numbers took to the streets. Many were
injured or lost their lives in police firing. In Madras, several legislators
resigned their seats in protest. Finally, the Prime Minister announced
the formation of a separate Andhra state in December 1952.

2018-19
20 Politics in India since Independence

Note: This illustration is not a map drawn to scale and should not be taken to be
an authentic depiction of India’s external boundaries.
Read the map and answer the following questions:
1. Name the original state from which the following states were carved out:
Gujarat Haryana
Meghalaya Chhattisgarh
2. Name two states that were affected by the Partition of the country.
3. Name two states today that were once a Union Territory.

2018-19
Challenges of Nation Building 21

Credit: Shankar
“Struggle for Survival” (26 July 1953) captures contemporary impression of the
demand for linguistic states

The formation of Andhra spurred the struggle for

making of other states on linguistic lines in other parts
of the country. These struggles forced the Central
Government into appointing a States Reorganisation
Commission in 1953 to look into the question of
redrawing of the boundaries of states. The Commission
in its report accepted that the boundaries of the state
should reflect the boundaries of different languages. On
the basis of its report the States Reorganisation Act was
passed in 1956. This led to the creation of 14 states and Potti Sriramulu
six union territories. (1901-1952): Gandhian
worker; left government
job to participate in
Salt Satyagraha; also
participated in individual
Satyagraha; went on a
fast in 1946 demanding
that temples in Madras
province be opened to
dalits; undertook a fast unto
Now, isn’t this very interesting? Nehru and other death from 19 October 1952
leaders were very popular, and yet the people did not demanding separate state
hesitate to agitate for linguistic states against the of Andhra; died during the
wishes of the leaders!
fast on 15 December 1952.

2018-19
22 Politics in India since Independence

Credit: Shankar
“Coaxing the Genie back” (5 February 1956) asked if the State Reorganisation Commission could
contain the genie of linguism.

One of the most important concerns in the early years

was that demands for separate states would endanger
the unity of the country. It was felt that linguistic
states may foster separatism and create pressures on
the newly founded nation. But the leadership, under
popular pressure, finally made a choice in favour of
linguistic states. It was hoped that if we accept the
regional and linguistic claims of all regions, the threat of
division and separatism would be reduced. Besides, the
accommodation of regional demands and the formation
of linguistic states were also seen as more democratic.
Now it is more than fifty years since the formation of
linguistic states. We can say that linguistic states and
the movements for the formation of these states changed
the nature of democratic politics and leadership in some
basic ways. The path to politics and power was now
open to people other than the small English speaking
elite. Linguistic reorganisation also gave some uniform
basis to the drawing of state boundaries. It did not lead

2018-19
Challenges of Nation Building 23

to disintegration of the country as many had feared earlier. On the

contrary it strengthened national unity.
Above all, the linguistic states underlined the acceptance of the
principle of diversity. When we say that India adopted democracy, it
does not simply mean that India embraced a democratic constitution,
nor does it merely mean that India adopted the format of elections. The
choice was larger than that. It was a choice in favour of recognising
and accepting the existence of differences which could at times be
oppositional. Democracy, in other words, was associated with plurality
of ideas and ways of life. Much of the politics in the later period was
to take place within this framework.

Fast Forward Creation of new states

The acceptance of the principle of linguistic states did not mean, however, that all states
immediately became linguistic states. There was an experiment of ‘bilingual’ Bombay state,
consisting of Gujarati- and Marathi-speaking people. After a popular agitation, the states of
Maharashtra and Gujarat were created in 1960.
In Punjab also, there were two linguistic groups: Hindi-speaking and Punjabi-speaking. The
Punjabi-speaking people demanded a separate state. But it was not granted with other states
in 1956. Statehood for Punjab came ten years later, in 1966, when the territories of today’s
Haryana and Himachal Pradesh were separated from the larger Punjab state.
Another major reorganisation of states took place in the north-east in 1972. Meghalaya was
carved out of Assam in 1972. Manipur and Tripura too emerged as separate states in the same
year. The states of Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh came into being in 1987. Nagaland had
become a state much earlier in 1963.
Language did not, however, remain the sole basis of organisation of states. In later years
sub-regions raised demands for separate states on the basis of a separate regional culture or
complaints of regional imbalance in development. Three such states, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand
and Jharkhand, were created in 2000. The story of reorganisation has not come to an end.
There are many regions in the country where there are movements demanding separate and
smaller states. These include Vidarbha in Maharashtra, Harit Pradesh in the western region of
Uttar Pradesh and the northern region of West Bengal.

The US has one-fourth

of our population but 50
states. Why can’t India
have more than 100
states?

2018-19
24 Politics in India since Independence

1. Which among the following statements about the Partition is incorrect?

(a) Partition of India was the outcome of the “two-nation theory.”
(b) Punjab and Bengal were the two provinces divided on the basis
of religion.
(c) East Pakistan and West Pakistan were not contiguous.
(d) The scheme of Partition included a plan for transfer of
population across the border.

2. Match the principles with the instances:

(a) Mapping of boundaries i. Pakistan and
on religious grounds Bangladesh
(b) Mapping of boundaries on grounds ii. India and
of different languages Pakistan
(c) Demarcating boundaries within a iii. Jharkhand and
country by geographical zones Chhattisgarh
(d) Demarcating boundaries within a iv. Himachal Pradesh
EXERCISES

country on administrative and and Uttarakhand

political grounds

3. Take a current political map of India (showing outlines of states) and

mark the location of the following Princely States.
(a) Junagadh (b) Manipur
(c) Mysore (d) Gwalior

4. Here are two opinions –

Bismay: “The merger with the Indian State was an extension of
democracy to the people of the Princely States.”
Inderpreet: “I am not so sure, there was force being used. Democracy
comes by creating consensus.”
What is your own opinion in the light of accession of Princely States and
the responses of the people in these parts?

5. Read the following very different statements made in August 1947 –

“Today you have worn on your heads a crown of thorns. The seat of
power is a nasty thing. You have to remain ever wakeful on that seat….
you have to be more humble and forbearing…now there will be no end
to your being tested.” — M.K GANDHI
“…India will awake to a life of freedom….we step out from the old to the
new…we end today a period of ill fortune and India discovers herself
again. The achievement we celebrate today is but a step, an opening of
opportunity…” — JAWAHARLAL NEHRU
Spell out the agenda of nation building that flows from these two
statements. Which one appeals more to you and why?

2018-19
Challenges of Nation Building 25

6. What are the reasons being used by Nehru for keeping India secular?
Do you think these reasons were only ethical and sentimental? Or were
there some prudential reasons as well?

7. Bring out two major differences between the challenge of nation

building for eastern and western regions of the country at the time of
Independence.

8. What was the task of the States Reorganisation Commission? What

was its most salient recommendation?

9. It is said that the nation is to a large extent an “ imagined community”

held together by common beliefs, history, political aspirations and
imaginations. Identify the features that make India a nation.

10. Read the following passage and answer the questions below:
“In the history of nation-building only the Soviet experiment bears
comparison with the Indian. There too, a sense of unity had to be forged
between many diverse ethnic groups, religious, linguistic communities
and social classes. The scale – geographic as well as demographic
– was comparably massive. The raw material the state had to work with
was equally unpropitious: a people divided by faith and driven by debt
and disease.” — RAMACHANDRA GUHA
(a) List the commonalities that the author mentions between India
and Soviet Union and give one example for each of these from
India.
(b) The author does not talk about dissimilarities between the two
experiments. Can you mention two dissimilarities?
(c) In retrospect which of these two experiments worked better and
why?

LET US DO IT TOGETHER

• Read a novel/ story on Partition by an Indian and a Pakistani/

Bangladeshi writer. What are the commonalities of the experience
across the border?
• Collect all the stories from the ‘Let’s Research’ suggestion in
this chapter. Prepare a wallpaper that highlights the common
experiences and has stories on the unique experiences.

2018-19
 Credit: Shankar

In this chapter…
The challenge of nation-building, covered in the last chapter, was
This famous sketch accompanied by the challenge of instituting democratic politics. Thus,
by Shankar appeared
electoral competition among political parties began immediately after
on the cover of his
collection – Don’t Spare Independence. In this chapter, we look at the first decade of electoral
Me, Shankar. The politics in order to understand
original sketch was
drawn in the context of
• the establishment of a system of free and fair elections;
India’s China policy. But • the domination of the Congress party in the years immediately
this cartoon captures
after Independence; and
the dual role of the
Congress during the era • the emergence of opposition parties and their policies.
of one-party dominance.

2018-19
 chapter
era of one-party
dominance 2
Challenge of building democracy
You now have an idea of the difficult circumstances in which
independent India was born. You have read about the serious
challenge of nation-building that confronted the country right in the
beginning. Faced with such serious challenges, leaders in many other
countries of the world decided that their country could not afford

“
to have democracy. They said that national unity was their first
priority and that democracy will introduce differences and conflicts.
Therefore many of the countries that gained freedom from colonialism In India,….
…hero-worship, plays a part
experienced non-democratic rule. It took various forms: nominal
democracy but effective control by one leader, one party rule or direct
army rule. Non-democratic regimes always started with a promise of
restoring democracy very soon. But once they established themselves,
it was very difficult to dislodge them.
The conditions in India were not very different. But the leaders of
the newly independent India decided to take the more difficult path.
in magnitude by the part
“
in its politics unequalled

it plays in the politics of

any other country….But in
politics, .. ..hero-worship is a
sure road to degradation and
Any other path would have been surprising, for our freedom struggle eventual dictatorship.
was deeply committed to the idea of democracy. Our leaders were
conscious of the critical role of politics in any democracy. They did not
see politics as a problem; they saw it as a way of solving the problems. Babasaheb Dr. B.R.
Every society needs to decide how it will govern and regulate itself. Ambedkar
There are always different policy alternatives to choose from. There Speech in Constituent
are different groups with different and conflicting aspirations. How Assembly
do we resolve these differences? Democratic politics is an answer to 25 November 1949
this question. While competition and power are the two most visible
things about politics, the purpose of political activity is and should be
deciding and pursuing public interest. This is the route our leaders
decided to take.
Last year you studied how our Constitution was drafted.
You would remember that the Constitution was adopted on
26 November 1949 and signed on 24 January 1950 and it came into
effect on 26 January 1950. At that time the country was being ruled
by an interim government. It was now necessary to install the first
democratically elected government of the country. The Constitution What’s so special
had laid down the rules, now the machine had to be put in place. about our being a
Initially it was thought that this was only a matter of a few months. The democracy? Sooner
Election Commission of India was set up in January 1950. Sukumar or later every country
Sen became the first Chief Election Commissioner. The country’s first has become a
general elections were expected sometime in 1950 itself. democracy, isn’t it?

2018-19
 28 Politics in India since Independence

But the Election Commission discovered that it was not going to

be easy to hold a free and fair election in a country of India’s size.
Holding an election required delimitation or drawing the boundaries
of the electoral constituencies. It also required preparing the electoral
rolls, or the list of all the citizens eligible to vote. Both these tasks took
a lot of time. When the first draft of the rolls was published, it was
discovered that the names of nearly 40 lakh women were not recorded
in the list. They were simply listed as “wife of …” or “daughter of …”.
The Election Commission refused to accept these entries and ordered
a revision if possible and deletion if necessary. Preparing for the first
That was a good general election was a mammoth exercise. No election on this scale
decision. But what
about men who still
had ever been conducted in the world before. At that time there
refer to a woman as were 17 crore eligible voters, who had to elect about 3,200 MLAs and
Mrs. Somebody, as if 489 Members of Lok Sabha. Only 15 per cent of these eligible voters
she does not have a were literate. Therefore the Election Commission had to think of some
name of her own? special method of voting. The Election Commission trained over 3
lakh officers and polling staff to conduct the elections.
It was not just the size of the country and the electorate that made
this election unusual. The first general election was also the first big
test of democracy in a poor and illiterate country. Till then democracy
had existed only in the prosperous countries, mainly in Europe and
North America, where nearly everyone was literate. By that time
many countries in Europe had not given voting rights to all women.
In this context India’s experiment with universal adult franchise
Credit: Shankar, 20 May 1951

A cartoonist’s impression of the election committee formed by the Congress to choose party
candidates in 1951. On the committee, besides Nehru: Morarji Desai, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai,
Dr B.C. Roy, Kamaraj Nadar, Rajagopalachari, Jagjivan Ram, Maulana Azad, D.P. Mishra,
P.D. Tandon and Govind Ballabh Pant.

2018-19
Era of One-party Dominance 29

Changing methods of voting

These days we use an Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) to record voters’

preferences. But that is not how we started. In the first general election, it
was decided to place inside each polling booth a box for each candidate with
the election symbol of that candidate. Each voter was given a blank ballot
paper which they had to drop into the box of the candidate they wanted to
vote for. About 20 lakh steel boxes were used for this purpose.
A presiding officer from Punjab described how he
prepared the ballot boxes—“Each box had to have
its candidate’s symbol, both inside and outside it, and
outside on either side, had to be displayed the name
of the candidate in Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi along with
the number of the constituency, the polling station and
the polling booth. The paper seal with the numerical
description of the candidate, signed by the presiding
officer, had to be inserted in the token frame and its
A sample of the window closed by its door which had to be fixed in its place
ballot paper at the other end by means of a wire. All this had to be
used from
the third to
done on the day previous to the one fixed for polling. To fix
symbols and labels the boxes had first to be rubbed with Electronic Voting
the thirteenth
Machine
general sandpaper or a piece of brick. I found that it took about
elections to Lok
Sabha
five hours for six persons, including my two daughters, to
complete this work. All this was done at my house.”

After the first two elections this method was changed. Now the ballot paper
carried the names and symbols of all the candidates and the voter was required
to put a stamp on the name of the candidate they wanted to vote for. This method
worked for nearly forty years. Towards the end of 1990s the Election Commission
started using the EVM. By 2004 the entire country had shifted to the EVM.
Let’s re-search

Ask the elders in your family and neighbourhood about their

experience of participating in elections.
• Did anyone vote in the first or second general election? Who did
they vote for and why?
• Is there someone who has used all the three methods of voting?
Which one did they prefer?
• In which ways do they find the elections of those days different
from the present ones?

2018-19
30 Politics in India since Independence

appeared very bold and risky. An Indian editor called it “the

Maulana Abul Kalam
Azad (1888-1958):
original name — Abul
Kalam Mohiyuddin
Ahmed; scholar of
Islam; freedom fighter
and Congress leader;
proponent of Hindu-
Muslim unity; opposed
to Partition; member of
Constituent Assembly;
Education Minister in
the first cabinet of free
India.
biggest gamble in history”. Organiser, a magazine, wrote
that Jawaharlal Nehru “would live to confess the failure
of universal adult franchise in India”. A British member of
the Indian Civil Service claimed that “a future and more
enlightened age will view with astonishment the absurd farce
of recording the votes of millions of illiterate people”.
The elections had to be postponed twice and finally held
from October 1951 to February 1952. But this election is
referred to as the 1952 election since most parts of the
country voted in January 1952. It took six months for
the campaigning, polling and counting to be completed.
Elections were competitive – there were on an average more
than four candidates for each seat. The level of participation
was encouraging — more than half the eligible voters turned
out to vote on the day of elections. When the results were
declared these were accepted as fair even by the losers.
The Indian experiment had proved the critics wrong. The
Times of India held that the polls have “confounded all those
sceptics who thought the introduction of adult franchise
too risky an experiment in this country”. The Hindustan
Times claimed that “there is universal agreement that the
Indian people have conducted themselves admirably in the
largest experiment in democratic elections in the history of
the world”. Observers outside India were equally impressed.
India’s general election of 1952 became a landmark in the
history of democracy all over the world. It was no longer
possible to argue that democratic elections could not be held
in conditions of poverty or lack of education. It proved that
democracy could be practiced anywhere in the world.

Congress dominance in the first three

general elections
The results of the first general election did not surprise anyone. The
Indian National Congress was expected to win this election. The
Congress party, as it was popularly known, had inherited the legacy
of the national movement. It was the only party then to have an
organisation spread all over the country. And finally, in Jawaharlal
Nehru, the party had the most popular and charismatic leader in
Indian politics. He led the Congress campaign and toured through
the country. When the final results were declared, the extent of the
victory of the Congress did surprise many. The party won 364 of the
489 seats in the first Lok Sabha and finished way ahead of any other
challenger. The Communist Party of India that came next in terms of
seats won only 16 seats. The state elections were held with the Lok

2018-19
Era of One-party Dominance 31

Note: This illustration is not a map drawn to scale and should not be taken to be
an authentic depiction of India’s external boundaries.

Can you identify the places where the Congress had a strong presence?
In which States, did the other parties perform reasonably well?

2018-19
 32 Politics in India since Independence

Sabha elections. The Congress scored big victory

in those elections as well. It won a majority of
seats in all the states except Travancore-Cochin
(part of today’s Kerala), Madras and Orissa.
Finally even in these states the Congress formed
the government. So the party ruled all over the
country at the national and the state level. As
expected, Jawaharlal Nehru became the Prime
Minister after the first general election.
A look at the electoral map on the previous
page would give you a sense of the dominance
of the Congress during the period 1952-1962.
In the second and the third general elections,
held in 1957 and 1962 respectively, the
Congress maintained the same position in
the Lok Sabha by winning three-fourth of
indu

the seats. None of the opposition parties

The H

could win even one-tenth of the number

of seats won by the Congress. In the state
assembly elections, the Congress did not
:
Credit

get majority in a few cases. The most

significant of these cases was in Kerala in 1957
when a coalition led by the CPI formed the government. Apart
from exceptions like this, the Congress controlled the national
and all the state governments.
The extent of the victory of the Congress was artificially
boosted by our electoral system. The Congress won three out of
every four seats but it did not get even half of the votes. In 1952,
for example, the Congress obtained 45 per cent of the total votes.
But it managed to win 74 per cent of the seats. The Socialist
Party, the second largest party in terms of votes, secured more
than 10 per cent of the votes all over the country. But it could
not even win three per cent of the seats. How did this happen?
Rajkumari Amrit Kaur For this, you need to recall the discussion about the first-past-
(1889-1964): A Gandhian the-post method in your textbook, Indian Constitution at Work
and Freedom fighter; last year.
belonged to the royal
family of Kapurthala; In this system of election, that has been adopted in our
inherited Christian country, the party that gets more votes than others tends to get
religion from her mother; much more than its proportional share. That is exactly what
member of Constituent worked in favour of the Congress. If we add up the votes of all
Assembly; Minister for the non-Congress candidates it was more than the votes of the
Health in independent Congress. But the non-Congress votes were divided between
India’s first ministry; different rival parties and candidates. So the Congress was still
continued as Health way ahead of the opposition and managed to win.
Minister till 1957.

2018-19
Era of One-party Dominance 33
33

Communist victory in Kerala

As early as in 1957, the Congress party had the bitter taste of defeat in Kerala.
In the assembly elections held in March 1957, the Communist Party won the
largest number of seats in the Kerala legislature. The party won 60 of the
126 seats and had the support of five independents. The governor invited
E. M. S. Namboodiripad, the leader of the Communist legislature party, to form
the ministry. For the first time in the world, a Communist party government
had come to power through democratic elections.
On losing power in the State, the Congress party began a ‘liberation struggle’
against the elected government. The CPI had come to power on the promise of
carrying out radical and progressive policy measures. The Communists claimed
that the agitation was led by vested interests and religious organisations.
In 1959 the Congress government at
Credit: Hindu

the Centre dismissed the Communist

government in Kerala under Article 356
of the Constitution. This decision proved
very controversial and was widely cited
as the first instance of the misuse of
constitutional emergency powers.

E.M.S. Namboodiripad, leading a procession of

Communist Party workers, after his ministry was
dismissed from office in Trivandrum in August
1959.

2018-19
34 Politics in India since Independence

Socialist Party
The origins of the Socialist Party can be traced
back to the mass movement stage of the Indian
National Congress in the pre-independence era.
The Congress Socialist Party (CSP) was formed
within the Congress in 1934 by a group of young
leaders who wanted a more radical and egalitarian
Congress. In 1948, the Congress amended its
constitution to prevent its members from having a
dual party membership. This forced the Socialists
to form a separate Socialist Party in 1948. The
Party’s electoral performance caused much
disappointment to its supporters. Although the
Party had presence in most of the states of India,
it could achieve electoral success only in a few
pockets.
The socialists believed in
the ideology of democratic
socialism which distinguished
them both from the Congress
as well as from the
Communists. They criticised
the Congress for favouring
capitalists and landlords and
for ignoring the workers and
the peasants. But the socialists faced a dilemma when
in 1955 the Congress declared its goal to be the socialist
Acharya Narendra
pattern of society. Thus it became difficult for the socialists
Dev (1889-1956):
to present themselves as an effective alternative to the
Freedom fighter and
Congress. Some of them, led by Rammanohar Lohia,
founding President of
increased their distance from and criticism of the Congress
the Congress Socialist
party. Some others like Asoka Mehta advocated a limited
Party; jailed several
cooperation with the Congress.
times during the
freedom movement; The Socialist Party went through many splits and reunions
active in peasants’ leading to the formation of many socialist parties. These
movement; a scholar included the Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party, the Praja Socialist
of Buddhism; after Party and Samyukta Socialist Party. Jayaprakash Narayan,
independence led the Achyut Patwardhan, Asoka Mehta, Acharya Narendra Dev,
Socialist Party and Rammanohar Lohia and S.M. Joshi were among the leaders
later the Praja Socialist of the socialist parties. Many parties in contemporary India,
Party. like the Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janata
Dal (United) and the Janata Dal (Secular) trace their origins
to the Socialist Party.

2018-19
Era of One-party Dominance 35

Nature of Congress dominance

India is not the only country to have experienced
the dominance of one party. If we look around the
world, we find many other examples of one-party
dominance. But there is a crucial difference between
these and the Indian experience. In the rest of the
cases the dominance of one party was ensured by
compromising democracy. In some countries like
China, Cuba and Syria the constitution permits
only a single party to rule the country. Some others
like Myanmar, Belarus, Egypt, and Eritrea are
effectively one-party states due to legal and military
measures. Until a few years ago, Mexico, South Korea
and Taiwan were also effectively one-party dominant states. What
distinguished the dominance of the Congress party in India from
all these cases was it happened under democratic conditions. Many
parties contested elections in conditions of free and fair elections and
yet the Congress managed to win election after election. This was
similar to the dominance the African National Congress has enjoyed
in South Africa after the end of apartheid.

Founded in 1929, as National

Revolutionary Party and later renamed
as the Institutional Revolutionary
Party, the PRI (in Spanish), exercised
power in Mexico for almost six
decades. It represented the legacy
Babasaheb Bhimrao Ramji
of the Mexican revolution. Originally
Ambedkar (1891-1956): Leader of
PRI was a mixture of various interests
the anti-caste movement and the
including political and military leaders, labour and peasant
struggle for justice to the Dalits;
organisations and numerous political parties. Over a period
scholar and intellectual; founder
of time, Plutarco Elías Calles, the founder of PRI, was able
of Independent Labour Party; later
to capture the organisation and thereby the government.
founded the Scheduled Castes
Elections were held at regular intervals and it was the
Federation; planned the formation
PRI which won every time. Other parties existed in name
of the Republican Party of India;
only so as to give the ruling party greater legitimacy. The
Member of Viceroy’s Executive
electoral laws were operated in a manner so as to ensure
Council during the Second
that the PRI always won. Elections were often rigged and
World War; Chairman, Drafting
manipulated by the ruling party. Its rule was described
Committee of the Constituent
as ‘the perfect dictatorship’. Finally the party lost in the
Assembly; Minister in Nehru’s
Presidential elections held in 2000. Mexico is no longer
first cabinet after Independence;
a one-party dominated country. But the tactics adopted
resigned in 1951 due to differences
by the PRI during the period of its dominance had a long-
over the Hindu Code Bill; adopted
term effect on the health of democracy. The citizens have
Buddhism in 1956, with thousands
yet to develop full confidence in the free and fair nature
of followers.
of elections.

2018-19
36 Politics in India since Independence

The roots of this extraordinary success of the Congress

party go back to the legacy of the freedom struggle.
Congress was seen as inheritor of the national movement.
Many leaders who were in the forefront of that struggle
were now contesting elections as Congress candidates. The
Congress was already a very well-organised party and by
the time the other parties could even think of a strategy,
the Congress had already started its campaign. In fact,
many parties were formed only around Independence or
after that. Thus, the Congress had the ‘first off the blocks’
Rafi Ahmed Kidwai advantage. By the time of Independence the party had not
(1894-1954): only spread across the length and breadth of the country
Congress leader from as we had seen in the maps but also had an organisational
U.P.; Minister in U.P. network down to the local level. Most importantly, as the
in 1937 and again Congress was till recently a national movement, its nature
in 1946; Minister for was all-inclusive. All these factors contributed to the
Communications in dominance of the Congress party.
the first ministry of
free India; Food and Congress as social and ideological coalition
Agriculture Minister,
1952-54. You have already studied the history of how Congress
evolved from its origins in 1885 as a pressure group for
the newly educated, professional and commercial classes
to a mass movement in the twentieth century. This laid the
basis for its eventual transformation into a mass political
party and its subsequent domination of the political system. Thus
the Congress began as a party dominated by the English speaking,
upper caste, upper middle-class and urban elite. But with every civil
disobedience movement it launched, its social base widened. It brought
together diverse groups, whose interests were often contradictory.
Peasants and industrialists, urban dwellers and villagers, workers
Earlier we had and owners, middle, lower and upper classes and castes, all found
coalition in a space in the Congress. Gradually, its leadership also expanded
party, now we beyond the upper caste and upper class professionals to agriculture
have coalition of based leaders with a rural orientation. By the time of Independence,
parties. Does it the Congress was transformed into a rainbow-like social coalition
mean that we have
had a coalition
broadly representing India’s diversity in terms of classes and castes,
government since religions and languages and various interests.
1952?
Many of these groups merged their identity within the Congress.
Very often they did not and continued to exist within the Congress
as groups and individuals holding different beliefs. In this sense the
Congress was an ideological coalition as well. It accommodated the
revolutionary and pacifist, conservative and radical, extremist and
moderate and the right, left and all shades of the centre. The Congress
was a ‘platform’ for numerous groups, interests and even political
parties to take part in the national movement. In pre-Independence
days, many organisations and parties with their own constitution and
organisational structure were allowed to exist within the Congress.

2018-19
Era of One-party Dominance 37

The Communist Party of India

In the early 1920s communist groups emerged
in different parts of India taking inspiration
from the Bolshevik revolution in Russia
and advocating socialism as the solution to
problems affecting the country. From 1935,
the Communists worked mainly from within
the fold of the Indian National Congress.
A parting of ways took place in December
1941, when the Communists decided to
support the British in their war against Nazi
Germany. Unlike other non-Congress parties
the CPI had a well-oiled party machinery and
dedicated cadre at the time of Independence.
However, Independence raised different
voices in the party. The basic question that
troubled the party was the nature of Indian
independence. Was India
really free or was freedom
a sham?
Soon after Independence,
the party thought that
the transfer of power
in 1947 was not true
independence and encouraged violent uprisings
in Telangana. The Communists failed to generate
popular support for their position and were crushed
by the armed forces. This forced them to rethink their
position. In 1951 the Communist Party abandoned the
path of violent revolution and decided to participate A.K. Gopalan
in the approaching general elections. In the first (1904-1977): Communist
general election, CPI won 16 seats and emerged as leader from Kerala,
the largest opposition party. The party’s support was worked as a Congress
more concentrated in Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, worker initially; joined
Bihar and Kerala. the Communist Party in
1939; after the split in
A. K. Gopalan, S.A. Dange, E.M.S. Namboodiripad, the Communist Party
P.C. Joshi, Ajay Ghosh and P. Sundarraya were in 1964, joined the
among the notable leaders of the CPI. The Party went CPI (M) and worked
through a major split in 1964 following the ideological for strengthening the
rift between Soviet Union and China. The pro-Soviet party; respected as a
faction remained as the CPI, while the opponents parliamentarian; Member
formed the CPI(M). Both these parties continue to of Parliament from 1952.
exist to this day.

2018-19
 38
Let’s watch a Film
SIMHASAN
This Marathi film, based on Arun
Sadhu’s two novels ‘Simhasan’
and ‘Mumbai Dinank’, depicts
the tussle for the post of Chief
Minister in Maharashtra. The story
is told through journalist Digu
Tipnis as the silent ‘Sutradhar’. It
tries to capture the intense power
struggle within the ruling party
and the secondary role of the
Opposition.
Finance Minister, Vishwasrao
Dabhade is making all-out efforts
to unseat the incumbent Chief
Minister. Both contenders are
trying to woo trade union leader
D’Casta to obtain his support. In
this factional fight, other politicians
too seek to obtain maximum
advantage while bargaining with
both sides. Smuggling in Mumbai
and the grim social reality in rural
Maharashtra form the sub-plots in
this film.
Year: 1981
Director: Jabbar Patel
Screenplay: Vijay Tendulkar
Cast: Nilu Phule, Arun Sarnaik,
Dr.Shreeram Lagoo, Satish
Dubashi, Datta Bhat, Madhukar
Toradmal, Madhav Watve, Mohan
Agashe
2018-19
Politics in India since Independence
Some of these, like the Congress
Socialist Party, later separated from
the Congress and became opposition
parties. Despite differences regarding
the methods, specific programmes and
policies the party managed to contain
if not resolve differences and build a
consensus.
Tolerance and management
of factions
This coalition-like character of the
Congress gave it an unusual strength.
Firstly, a coalition accommodates all
those who join it. Therefore, it has
to avoid any extreme position and
strike a balance on almost all issues.
Compromise and inclusiveness are the
hallmarks of a coalition. This strategy
put the opposition in a difficulty.
Anything that the opposition wanted
to say, would also find a place in
the programme and ideology of the
Congress. Secondly, in a party that
has the nature of a coalition, there is a
greater tolerance of internal differences
and ambitions of various groups
and leaders are accommodated. The
Congress did both these things during
the freedom struggle and continued
doing this even after Independence.
That is why, even if a group was not
happy with the position of the party
or with its share of power, it would
remain inside the party and fight the
other groups rather than leaving the
party and becoming an ‘opposition’.
These groups inside the party are
called factions. The coalitional nature
of the Congress party tolerated and
in fact encouraged various factions.
Some of these factions were based
on ideological considerations but
very often these factions were rooted
in personal ambitions and rivalries.
Instead of being a weakness, internal
factionalism became a strength of
Era of One-party Dominance 39

Bharatiya Jana Sangh

The Bharatiya Jana Sangh was
formed in 1951 with Shyama Prasad
Mukherjee as its founder-President. Its
lineage however can be traced back
to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
(RSS) and the Hindu Mahasabha
before Independence.
The Jana Sangh was different from
other parties in terms of ideology and
programmes. It emphasised the idea
of one country, one culture and one
nation and believed that the country
could become modern, progressive
and strong on the basis of Indian
culture and traditions. The
party called for a reunion
of India and Pakistan in
Akhand Bharat. The party
was in forefront of the
agitation to replace English
with Hindi as the official
language of India and
was also opposed to the
granting of concessions
to religious and cultural
minorities. The party was Deen Dayal
a consistent advocate of India developing nuclear Upadhyaya
weapons especially after China carried out its atomic (1916-1968): Full-
tests in 1964. time RSS worker
since 1942; founder
In the 1950s Jana Sangh remained on the margins member of the
of the electoral politics and was able to secure only 3 Bharatiya Jana
Lok Sabha seats in 1952 elections and 4 seats in 1957 Sangh; General
general elections to Lok Sabha. In the early years its Secretary and
support came mainly from the urban areas in the Hindi later President of
speaking states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi Bharatiya Jana
and Uttar Pradesh. The party’s leaders included Shyama Sangh; initiated the
Prasad Mukherjee, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya and Balraj concept of integral
Madhok. The Bharatiya Janata Party traces its roots to humanism.
the Bharatiya Jana Sangh.

2018-19
 40 Politics in India since Independence

I thought factions
were a disease that
needed to be cured.
You make it sound
as if factions are
normal and good.
the Congress. Since there was room within the party for various
factions to fight with each other, it meant that leaders representing
different interests and ideologies remained within the Congress
rather than go out and form a new party.
Most of the state units of the Congress were made up of
numerous factions. The factions took different ideological positions
making the Congress appear as a grand centrist party. The other
parties primarily attempted to influence these factions and thereby
indirectly influenced policy and decision making from the “margins”.
They were far removed from the actual exercise of authority. They
were not alternatives to the ruling party; instead they constantly
pressurised and criticised, censured and influenced the Congress.
The system of factions functioned as balancing mechanism within
the ruling party. Political competition therefore took place within the
Congress. In that sense, in the first decade of electoral competition
the Congress acted both as the ruling party as well as the opposition.
That is why this period of Indian politics has been described as the
‘Congress system’.

Emergence of opposition parties

As we have noted above, it is not that India did
Credit: Shankar

not have opposition parties during this period.

“Tug of War” (29 August 1954) is a cartoonist’s
impression of the relative strength of the opposition
and the government. Sitting on the tree are Nehru
and his cabinet colleagues. Trying to topple the
tree are opposition leaders A. K. Gopalan, Acharya
Kripalani, N.C. Chatterjee, Srikantan Nair and
Sardar Hukum Singh.
While discussing the results of the elections,
we have already come across the names of
many parties other than the Congress. Even
then India had a larger number of diverse
and vibrant opposition parties than many
other multi-party democracies. Some of
these had come into being even before the first
general election of 1952. Some of these parties
played an important part in the politics of the
country in the ’sixties and ’seventies. The
roots of almost all the non-Congress parties of
today can be traced to one or the other of the
opposition parties of the 1950s.
All these opposition parties succeeded in
gaining only a token representation in the
Lok Sabha and state assemblies during this
period. Yet their presence played a crucial role
in maintaining the democratic character of the
system. These parties offered a sustained and
often principled criticism of the policies and
practices of the Congress party. This kept the
ruling party under check and often changed
the balance of power within the Congress. By
keeping democratic political alternative alive,

2018-19
Era of One-party Dominance 41

Swatantra Party
Swatantra Party was formed in August
1959 after the Nagpur resolution of the
Congress which called for land ceilings,
take-over of food grain trade by the state
and adoption of cooperative farming. The
party was led by old Congressmen like C.
Rajagopalachari, K.M.Munshi, N.G.Ranga
and Minoo Masani. The party stood out
from the others in terms of its position on
economic issues.
The Swatantra Party wanted the
government to be less and less involved
in controlling the economy. It believed
that prosperity could come only through
individual freedom.
It was critical of the
development strategy
of state intervention
in the economy,
centralised planning,
nationalisation and the
public sector. It instead
favoured expansion of a
free private sector. The Swatantra Party was against
land ceilings in agriculture, and opposed cooperative
farming and state trading. It was also opposed to the
progressive tax regime and demanded dismantling C. Rajagopalachari
of the licensing regime. It was critical of the policy of (1878-1972): A senior leader
non-alignment and maintaining friendly relations with of Congress and literary
the Soviet Union and advocated closer ties with the writer; close associate of
United States. The Swatantra Party gained strength Mahatma Gandhi; member
in different parts of the Country by way of merger with of Constituent Assembly; first
numerous regional parties and interests. It attracted Indian to be the Governor
the landlords and princes who wanted to protect General of India (1948-
their land and status that was being threatened by 1950); minister in Union
the land reforms legislation. The industrialists and Cabinet; later became Chief
business class who were against nationalisation and Minister of Madras state;
the licensing policies also supported the party. Its first recipient of the Bharat
narrow social base and the lack of a dedicated cadre Ratna Award; founder of the
of party members did not allow it to build a strong Swatantra Party (1959).
organisational network.

2018-19
 42 Politics in India since Independence

“
these parties prevented the resentment with the system from turning
……Tandon’s
anti-democratic. These parties also groomed the leaders who were to
election is considered play a crucial role in the shaping of our country.

“
(by Congress members)
more important than my
presence in the Govt or the
Congress….. .. .. … ..I have
completely exhausted my
utility both in the Congress
In the early years there was a lot of mutual respect between
the leaders of the Congress and those of the opposition. The
interim government that ruled the country after the declaration of
Independence and the first general election included opposition
leaders like Dr. Ambedkar and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee in the
cabinet. Jawaharlal Nehru often referred to his fondness for the
Socialist Party and invited socialist leaders like Jayaprakash Narayan
and Govt.
to join his government. This kind of personal relationship with and
respect for political adversaries declined after the party competition
Jawaharlal Nehru grew more intense.
in a letter to Rajaji, after
the election of Tandon
Thus this first phase of democratic politics in our country was
as Congress president quite unique. The inclusive character of the national movement led
against his wishes. by the Congress enabled it to attract different sections, groups and
interests making it a broad based social and ideological coalition. The

Nehru’s Cabinet after the swearing-in of Chakravarti Rajagopalachari as Governor-General in 1948.

Sitting from left to right: Rafi Ahmad Kidwai, Baldev Singh, Maulana Azad, Prime Minister Nehru,
Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, Mr. John Matthai
and Jagjivan Ram. Standing from left to right: Mr. Gadgil, Mr. Neogi, Dr. Ambedkar, Shyama
Prasad Mukherji, Mr. Gopalaswamy Iyengar and Mr. Jayramdas Daulatram.

2018-19
Era of One-party Dominance 43

Party competition in a Bihar village

When two buffalos fight, the grass beneath them gets crushed. The
Congress and Socialist parties are fighting with each other. Both of
them are seeking new members. The poor people will be ground
between the two grindstones!
“No, the poor people won’t be crushed. In fact, they’ll benefit”, was
someone’s reply. “Things aren’t accomplished by one party alone. It
is the competition and rivalry between two groups that benefits the
public...”
The news of Socialist Party meeting had agitated the Santhals. The
news of the opening of the hospital hadn’t made much impression on
them – nor did they ever bother much about the fights and quarrels, Fanishwarnath Renu
or the friendly gatherings of the villagers. But this meeting was for the
tillers of the soil. .... “To whom does the land belong? To the tiller!
He who tills will sow! He who sows will harvest! He who works will eat, come what may!”
Kalicharan lectured....
There was turmoil in the District Office of the Congress Party too. They were about to elect a
Party Chairman. There were four candidates — two real contenders and two dummy candidates.
It was a contest between Rajputs and Bhumihars The wealthy businessmen and zamindars
from both the castes were cruising all over the district in their motorcars, campaigning. All
kinds of mudslinging was going on between them. The Seth who owned the Katihar cotton mill
was representing the Bhumihar party, and the owner of Farbigang jute mill was representing
the Rajputs …. You should see the money they’re flashing around.

Translated extracts from Fanishwarnath Renu’s novel “Maila Anchal”. The novel is set in
Purnia district in North East Bihar in the early years after Independence.

key role of the Congress in the freedom

struggle thus gave it a head start over
others. As the ability of the Congress
to accommodate all interests and all
aspirants for political power steadily
declined, other political parties started
gaining greater significance. Thus,
Congress dominance constitutes only
one phase in the politics of the country.
We shall come to the other phases in
later parts of this textbook.
Shyama Prasad Mukherjee
(1901-1953): Leader of
Hindu Mahasabha; founder
of Bharatiya Jana Sangh;
Minister in Nehru’s first cabinet
after Independence; resigned
in 1950 due to differences
over relations with Pakistan;
Member of Constituent
Assembly and later, the first Lok Sabha;
was opposed to India’s policy of autonomy
to Jammu & Kashmir; arrested during Jana
Sangh’s agitation against Kashmir policy; died
during detention.

2018-19
44 Politics in India since Independence

1. Choose the correct option to fill in the blanks.

(a) The First General Elections in 1952 involved simultaneous
elections to the Lok Sabha and ………………….(The President of
India/ State Assemblies/ Rajya Sabha/ The Prime Minister)
(b) The party that won the second largest number of Lok Sabha seats
in the first elections was the………………….(Praja Socialist Party/
Bharatiya Jana Sangh/ Communist Party of India/Bharatiya Janata
Party)
(c) One of the guiding principles of the ideology of the Swatantra
Party was………………….(Working class interests/ protection of
Princely States / economy free from State control / Autonomy of
States within the Union)

2. Match the following leaders listed in List A with the parties in List B.
List A List B
(a) S. A. Dange i. Bharatiya Jana Sangh
EXERCISES

(b) Shyama Prasad Mukherjee ii. Swatantra Party

(c) Minoo Masani iii. Praja Socialist Party
(d) Asoka Mehta iv. Communist Party of India

3. Four statements regarding one- party dominance are given below. Mark
each of them as true or false.
(a) One-party dominance is rooted in the absence of strong alternative
political parties.
(b) One-party dominance occurs because of weak public opinion.
(c) One-party dominance is linked to the nation’s colonial past.
(d) One-party dominance reflects the absence of democratic ideals in
a country.

4. If Bharatiya Jana Sangh or the Communist Party of India had formed the
government after the first election, in which respects would the policies
of the government have been different? Specify three differences each
for both the parties.

5. In what sense was the Congress an ideological coalition? Mention the

various ideological currents present within the Congress.

6. Did the prevalence of a ‘one party dominant system’ affect adversely

the democratic nature of Indian politics?

7. Bring out three differences each between Socialist parties and the
Communist party and between Bharatiya Jana Sangh and Swatantra
Party.

8. What would you consider as the main differences between Mexico and
India under one party domination?

2018-19
Era of One-party Dominance 45

9. Take a political map of India (with State outlines) and mark:

(a) two states where Congress was not in power at some point
during 1952-67.
(b) two states where the Congress remained in power through
this period.

10. Read the following passage and answer the questions below:
“Patel, the organisational man of the Congress, wanted to purge the
Congress of other political groups and sought to make of it a cohesive
and disciplined political party. He …. sought to take the Congress away
from its all-embracing character and turn it into a close-knit party of
disciplined cadres. Being a ‘realist’ he looked more for discipline than
for comprehension. While Gandhi took too romantic a view of “carrying
on the movement,” Patel’s idea of transforming the Congress into
strictly political party with a single ideology and tight discipline showed
an equal lack of understanding of the eclectic role that the Congress,
as a government, was to be called upon to perform in the decades to
follow.” — RAJNI KOTHARI
(a) Why does the author think that Congress should not have been
a cohesive and disciplined party?
(b) Give some examples of the eclectic role of the Congress party
in the early years.
(c) Why does the author say that Gandhi’s view about
Congress’ future was romantic?

LET US DO IT TOGETHER

Make a chart of elections and governments in your State since 1952.

The chart could have the following columns: year of election, name of
the winning party, name of ruling party or parties, name of the Chief
Minister(s).

2018-19
 In this chapter…
In the last two chapters we have studied how the leaders of independent
India responded to the challenges of nation-building and establishing
democracy. Let us now turn to the third challenge, that of economic
Stamps like these, development to ensure well-being of all. As in the case of the first two
issued mostly between challenges, our leaders chose a path that was different and difficult. In
1955 and 1968,
this case their success was much more limited, for this challenge was
depicted a vision of
planned development. tougher and more enduring.
Left to right, top to In this chapter, we study the story of political choices involved in some
bottom: Damodar
Valley, Bhakra
of the key questions of economic development.
Dam, Chittaranjan • What were the key choices and debates about development?
Locomotives, Gauhati
Refinery, Tractor, Sindri • Which strategy was adopted by our leaders in the first two
Fertilisers, Bhakra Dam, decades? And why?
Electric Train, Wheat
Revolution, Hirakud • What were the main achievements and limitations of this strategy?
Dam, Hindustan Aircraft
Factory • Why was this development strategy abandoned in later years?

2018-19
 chapter
politics of planned
development 3
As the global demand for steel increases, Orissa, which has one of
the largest reserves of untapped iron ore in the country, is being
seen as an important investment destination. The State government
hopes to cash in on this unprecedented demand for iron ore and
has signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with both
international and domestic steel makers. The government believes
that this would bring in necessary capital investment and proivde a
lot of employment opportunities. The iron ore resources lie in some
of the most underdeveloped and predominantly tribal districts of the
state. The tribal population fears that the setting up of industries
would mean displacement from their home and livelihood. The
environmentalists fear that mining and industry would
pollute the environment. The central government feels
that if the industry is not allowed it would set a bad
example and discourage investments in the country.
       
 

Can you identify the various interests involved in this

  


             

case? What are their key points of conflict? Do you think 

         
 
        


there are any common points on which everyone can      


  
      
 

agree? Can this issue be resolved in a way which satisfies !

  
      " 

 
  

  


all the various interests? As you ask these questions, you 


    
 
    "
 


 

would find yourself facing yet bigger questions. What #

            $             

kind of development does Orissa need? Indeed, whose %

 "  

  &
%
   '   

   

  

need can be called Orissa’s need?        
    
        


"   

  
"    
           
'   
 

Political contestation         


          (      

These questions cannot be answered by an expert.           &

Decisions of this kind involve weighing the interests of )

  
   * + +     

'    

one social group against another, present generation    
             
  

against future generations. In a democracy such major ,

   -   .

"       
 /


 - " 0    

decisions should be taken or at least approved by the
  



  
 
               

people themselves. It is important to take advice from  "

           (  




   &

experts on mining, from environmentalists and from               .
    
 
  

economists. Yet the final decision must be a political   



            " 

 
 

decision, taken by people’s representatives who are in     ' 



  
"  
    


    

touch with the feelings of the people.  
      (    


  (      

&
%
 

After Independence our country had to make a series 

    
 
   '          

 
 

of major decisions like this. Each of these decisions    
    1 " (     
    



 

could not be made independent of other such decisions.

           
 &

All these decisions were bound together by a shared 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 : ; < = 9 7 4 ; > > ?

vision or model of economic development. Almost

2018-19
48 Politics in India since Independence

everyone agreed that the development

What is Left and what is Right? of India should mean both economic
growth and social and economic
In the politics of most countries, you will always justice. It was also agreed that this
come across references to parties and groups matter cannot be left to businessmen,
with a Left or Right ideology or leaning. These terms industrialists and farmers themselves,
characterise the position of the concerned groups or that the government should play a key
parties regarding social change and role of the state role in this. There was disagreement,
in effecting economic redistribution. Left often refers however, on the kind of role that the
to those who are in favour of the poor, downtrodden government must play in ensuring
sections and support government policies for the growth with justice. Was it necessary
benefit of these sections. The Right refers to those to have a centralised institution to
who believe that free competition and market economy plan for the entire country? Should
alone ensure progress and that the government should the government itself run some key
not unnecessarily intervene in the economy. industries and business? How much
Can you tell which of the parties in the 1960s were importance was to be attached to the
Rightist and which were the Left parties? Where needs of justice if it differed from the
would you place the Congress party of that time? requirements of economic growth?
Each of these questions involved
contestation which has continued ever
since. Each of the decision had political
consequence. Most of these issues involved political judgement and
required consultations among political parties and approval of the
public. That is why we need to study the process of development as a
part of the history of politics in India.

Ideas of development
Very often this contestation involves the very idea of development. The
example of Orissa shows us that it is not enough to say that everyone
wants development. For ‘development’ has different meanings for
different sections of the people. Development would mean different
things for example, to an industrialist who is planning to set up a
steel plant, to an urban consumer of steel and to the Adivasi who
lives in that region. Thus any discussion on development is bound to
generate contradictions, conflicts and debates.
The first decade after Independence witnessed a lot of debate around
this question. It was common then, as it is even now, for people to refer
to the ‘West’ as the standard for measuring development. ‘Development’
was about becoming more ‘modern’ and modern was about becoming
more like the industrialised countries of the West. This is how common
people as well as the experts thought. It was believed that every country
would go through the process of modernisation as in the West, which
involved the breakdown of traditional social structures and the rise
of capitalism and liberalism. Modernisation was also associated with
the ideas of growth, material progress and scientific rationality. This
kind of idea of development allowed everyone to talk about different
countries as developed, developing or underdeveloped.

2018-19
Politics of Planned Development 49

On the eve of Independence, India had before it, two models

of modern development: the liberal-capitalist model as in much of
Are you saying
Europe and the US and the socialist model as in the USSR. You have
we don’t have
already studied these two ideologies and read about the ‘cold war’ to be western
between the two super powers. There were many in India then who in order to be
were deeply impressed by the Soviet model of development. These modern? Is that
included not just the leaders of the Communist Party of India, but possible?
also those of the Socialist Party and leaders like Nehru within the
Congress. There were very few supporters of the American style
capitalist development.
This reflected a broad consensus that had developed during
the national movement. The nationalist leaders were clear that the
economic concerns of the government of free India would have to
be different from the narrowly defined commercial functions of the
colonial government. It was clear, moreover, that the task of poverty
alleviation and social and economic redistribution was being seen
primarily as the responsibility of the government. There were debates
among them. For some, industrialisation seemed to be the preferred
path. For others, the development of agriculture and in particular
alleviation of rural poverty was the priority.

Planning
Despite the various differences, there was a consensus on one point:
that development could not be left to private actors, that there was the
need for the government to develop a design or plan for development.
In fact the idea of planning as a process of rebuilding economy earned
a good deal of public support in the 1940s and 1950s all over the
world. The experience of Great Depression in Europe, the inter-war
Credit: Hindustan Times

Nehru
addressing
the staff of
the Planning
Commission

2018-19
 Credit:Ninan 50
I wonder
wond
nder if the Planning
Commission has
actually followed these
objectives in practice.
Fast Forward
Niti Aayog
The Government of India
replaced the Planning
Commission with a new
institution named NITI
Aayog (National Institution
for Transforming India).
This came into existence
on 1 January 2015. Find
out about its objectives
and composition from the
website, http://niti.gov.in
Politics in India since Independence
Planning Commission
Do you recall any reference to the Planning Commission in your book
Constitution at Work last year? Actually there was none, for the Planning
Commission is not one of the many commissions and other bodies set up by
the Constitution. The Planning Commission was set up in March, 1950 by a
simple resolution of the Government of India. It has an advisory role and its
recommendations become effective only when the Union Cabinet approved
these. The resolution which set up the Commission defined the scope of its
work in the following terms :
“The Constitution of India has guaranteed certain Fundamental Rights to the
citizens of India and enunciated certain Directive Principles of State Policy,
in particular, that the State shall strive to promote the welfare of the people
by securing and protecting….a social order in which justice, social, economic
and political, shall …….. …. direct its policy towards securing, among other
things,
(a) that the citizens, men and women equally, have the right to an
adequate means of livelihood ;
(b) that the ownership and control of the material resources of the
community are so distributed as best to subserve the common good;
and
(c) that the operation of the economic system does not result in
the concentration of wealth and means of production to the common
detriment.
2018-19
Politics of Planned Development 51

reconstruction of Japan and Germany, and most of all the spectacular

economic growth against heavy odds in the Soviet Union in the 1930s
and 1940s contributed to this consensus.
Thus the Planning Commission was not a sudden invention. In fact,
it has a very interesting history. We commonly assume that private
investors, such as industrialists and big business entrepreneurs,
are averse to ideas of planning: they seek an open economy without
any state control in the flow of capital. That was not what happened
here. Rather, a section of the big industrialists got together in 1944
and drafted a joint proposal for setting up a planned economy in the
country. It was called the Bombay Plan. The Bombay Plan wanted
the state to take major initiatives in industrial and other economic
investments. Thus, from left to right, planning for development was
the most obvious choice for the country after Independence. Soon
after India became independent, the Planning Commission came into
being. The Prime Minister was its Chairperson. It became the most
influential and central machinery for deciding what path and strategy
India would adopt for its development.

The Early Initiatives

As in the USSR, the Planning Commission of India opted for five year
plans (FYP). The idea is very simple: the Government of India prepares
a document that has a plan for all its income and expenditure for the
next five years. Accordingly the budget of the central and all the State
governments is divided into two parts: ‘non-plan’ budget that is spent

on routine items on a yearly basis and ‘plan’ budget that is spent on a

five year basis as per the priorities fixed by the plan. A five year plan
has the advantage of permitting the government to focus on the larger
picture and make long-term intervention in the economy.

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 52 Politics in India since Independence

Credit: Sudhir Dar/UNDP and Planning Commission

The draft of the First Five Year Plan and then the actual Plan
Document, released in December 1951, generated a lot of excitement
in the country. People from all walks of life – academics, journalists,
government and private sector employees, industrialists, farmers,
politicians etc. – discussed and debated the documents extensively.
The excitement with planning reached its peak with the launching of
the Second Five Year Plan in 1956 and continued somewhat till the
Third Five Year Plan in 1961. The Fourth Plan was due to start in 1966.
By this time, the novelty of planning had declined considerably, and
moreover, India was facing acute economic crisis. The government
decided to take a ‘plan holiday’. Though many criticisms emerged both
about the process and the priorities of these plans, the foundation of
India’s economic development was firmly in place by then.

The First Five Year Plan

The First Five Year Plan (1951–1956) sought to get the country’s
economy out of the cycle of poverty. K.N. Raj, a young economist
involved in drafting the plan, argued that India should ‘hasten
slowly’ for the first two decades as a fast rate of development might
First Five Year Plan
endanger democracy. The First Five Year Plan addressed, mainly,
document the agrarian sector including investment in dams and irrigation.

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Politics of Planned Development 53

Agricultural sector was hit hardest by Partition and needed urgent

attention. Huge allocations were made for large-scale projects like
the Bhakhra Nangal Dam. The Plan identified the pattern of land
distribution in the country as the principal obstacle in the way of
agricultural growth. It focused on land reforms as the key to the
country’s development.
One of the basic aims of the planners was to raise the level of
national income, which could be possible only if the people saved
more money than they spent. As the basic level of spending was
very low in the 1950s, it could not be reduced any more. So the
planners sought to push savings up. That too was difficult as the
total capital stock in the country was rather low compared to the
total number of employable people. Nevertheless, people’s savings Tenth Five Year Plan
did rise in the first phase of the planned process until the end of document
the Third Five Year Plan. But, the rise was not as spectacular as
was expected at the beginning of the First Plan. Later, from the
early 1960s till the early 1970s, the proportion of savings in the
country actually dropped consistently.

Rapid Industrialisation
The Second FYP stressed on heavy industries. It was drafted
by a team of economists and planners under the leadership of
P. C. Mahalanobis. If the first plan had preached patience, the
second wanted to bring about quick structural transformation by
making changes simultaneously in all possible directions. Before
this plan was finalised, the Congress party at its session held at
Avadi near the then Madras city, passed an important resolution.
It declared that ‘socialist pattern of society’ was its goal. This was
reflected in the Second Plan. The government imposed substantial
tariffs on imports in order to protect domestic industries. Such
protected environment helped both public and private sector
industries to grow. As savings and investment were growing in this
period, a bulk of these industries like electricity, railways, steel,
machineries and communication could be developed in the public P.C. Mahalanobis
sector. Indeed, such a push for industrialisation marked a turning (1893-1972):
point in India’s development. Scientist and
statistician of
It, however, had its problems as well. India was technologically international repute;
backward, so it had to spend precious foreign exchange to buy founder of Indian
technology from the global market. That apart, as industry attracted Statistical Institute
more investment than agriculture, the possibility of food shortage (1931); architect of
loomed large. The Indian planners found balancing industry and the Second Plan;
agriculture really difficult. The Third Plan was not significantly supporter of rapid
different from the Second. Critics pointed out that the plan industrialisation and
strategies from this time around displayed an unmistakable active role of the
“urban bias”. Others thought that industry was wrongly given public sector.
priority over agriculture. There were also those who wanted focus
on agriculture-related industries rather than heavy ones.

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54
Decentralised planning
It is not necessary that all planning always has to
be centralised; nor is it that planning is only about
big industries and large projects. The ‘Kerala
model’ is the name given to the path of planning
and development charted by the State of Kerala.
There has been a focus in this model on education,
health, land reform, effective food distribution, and
poverty alleviation. Despite low per capita incomes,
and a relatively weak industrial base, Kerala
achieved nearly total literacy, long life expectancy,
low infant and female mortality, low birth rates
and high access to medical care. Between 1987
and 1991, the government launched the New
Democratic Initiative which involved campaigns
for development (including total literacy especially
in science and environment) designed to involve
people directly in development activities through
voluntary citizens’ organisations. The State has
also taken initiative to involve people in making
plans at the Panchayat, block and district level.
2018-19
Politics in India since Independence
Key Controversies
The strategy of development followed
in the early years raised several
important questions. Let us examine
two of these disputes that continue
to be relevant.
Agriculture versus industry
We have already touched upon a big
question: between agriculture and
industry, which one should attract
more public resources in a backward
economy like that of India? Many
thought that the Second Plan lacked
an agrarian strategy for development,
and the emphasis on industry
caused agriculture and rural India
to suffer. Gandhian economists
like J. C. Kumarappa proposed an
alternative blueprint that put greater
emphasis on rural industrialisation.
Chaudhary Charan Singh, a Congress
leader who later broke from the
party to form Bharatiya Lok Dal,
Politics of Planned Development 55

Let’s watch a Film

PATHER PANCHALI

J.C. Kumarappa
(1892-1960): Original name
J.C. Cornelius; economist and
chartered accountant; studied
in England and USA; follower
of Mahatma Gandhi; tried to
apply Gandhian principles to
economic policies; author of
‘Economy of Permanence’; This film tells the story of a poor
participated in planning family in a Bengal village and its
process as member of the struggle to survive. Durga, the
daughter of Harihar and Sarbajaya,
Planning Commission
with her younger brother, Apu,
goes on enjoying life oblivious of
the struggles and the poverty. The
film revolves around the simple
forcefully articulated the case for life and the efforts of the mother
keeping agriculture at the centre of of Durga and Apu to maintain
the family.
planning for India. He said that the
planning was leading to creation of
prosperity in urban and industrial
section at the expense of the Pather Panchali (Song of the Little
farmers and rural population. Road) narrates the desires and
disappointments of the poor family
Others thought that without through the tale of the youngsters.
a drastic increase in industrial Finally, during monsoon, Durga
production, there could be no falls ill and dies while her father
escape from the cycle of poverty. is away. Harihar returns with gifts,
including a sari for Durga…..
They argued that Indian planning
did have an agrarian strategy The film won numerous awards
to boost the production of food- nationally and internationally,
grains. The state made laws for including the President’s Gold and
Silver medals for the year 1955.
land reforms and distribution of
resources among the poor in the
villages. It also proposed progra- Year: 1955
mmes of community development Director: Satyajit Ray
and spent large sums on irrigation Story: Bibhutibhushan
projects. The failure was not that of Bandyopadhyay
policy but its non-implementation, Screenplay: Satyajit Ray
Actors: Kanu Bannerjee, Karuna
because the landowning classes
Bannerjee, Subir Bannerjee, Uma
Das Gupta Durga, Chunibala Devi

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56 Politics in India since Independence

had lot of social and political power. Besides, they also argue that
even if the government had spent more money on agriculture it would
not have solved the massive problem of rural poverty.

Public versus private sector

India did not follow any of the two known paths to development – it did
not accept the capitalist model of development in which development
was left entirely to the private sector, nor did it follow the socialist
model in which private property was abolished and all the production
was controlled by the state. Elements from both these models were
taken and mixed together in India. That is why it was described as
‘mixed economy’. Much of the agriculture, trade and industry were left
in private hands. The state controlled key heavy industries, provided
industrial infrastructure, regulated trade and made some crucial
interventions in agriculture.
A mixed model like this was open to criticism from both the left
and the right. Critics argued that the planners refused to provide
the private sector with enough space and the stimulus to grow.
The enlarged public sector produced powerful vested interests that
Credit: Shankar, 6 May 1956

Astride the Public

Sector are Central
Ministers Lal Bahadur
Shastri, Ajit Prasad
Jain, Kailash Nath
Katju, Jagjivan Ram,
T. T. Krishnamachari,
Swaran Singh,
Gulzari Lal Nanda and
B. V. Keskar

2018-19
Politics of Planned Development 57

created enough hurdles for private capital, especially by way of

installing systems of licenses and permits for investment. Moreover,
the state’s policy to restrict import of goods that could be produced
in the domestic market with little or no competition left the private
sector with no incentive to improve their products and make them
cheaper. The state controlled more things than were necessary and
this led to inefficiency and corruption.
Then there were critics who thought that the state did not do
enough. They pointed out that the state did not spend any significant
amount for public education and healthcare. The state intervened
only in those areas where the private sector was not prepared to go.
Thus the state helped the private sector to make profit. Also, instead
of helping the poor, the state intervention ended up creating a new
‘middle class’ that enjoyed the privileges of high salaries without
much accountability. Poverty did not decline substantially during this
period; even when the proportion of the poor reduced, their numbers
kept going up.

Major Outcomes
Of the three objectives that were identified in independent India,
discussed in the first three chapters here, the third objective proved
most difficult to realise. Land reforms did not take place effectively in
most parts of the country; political power remained in the hands of
the landowning classes; and big industrialists continued to benefit
and thrive while poverty did not reduce much. The early initiatives
for planned development were at best realising the goals of economic
development of the country and well-being of all its citizens. The
inability to take significant steps in this direction in the very first
stage was to become a political problem. Those who benefited from
unequal development soon became politically powerful and made it
even more difficult to move in the desired direction.

Foundations
An assessment of the outcomes of this early phase of planned
development must begin by acknowledging the fact that in this period
the foundations of India’s future economic growth were laid. Some of
the largest developmental projects in India’s history were undertaken
during this period. These included mega-dams like Bhakhra-Nangal
and Hirakud for irrigation and power generation. Some of the
heavy industries in the public sector – steel plants, oil refineries,
manufacturing units, defense production etc. – were started during
this period. Infrastructure for transport and communication was
improved substantially. Of late, some of these mega projects have
come in for a lot of criticism. Yet much of the later economic growth,
including that by the private sector, may not have been possible in
the absence of these foundations.

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 58 Politics in India since Independence

Government Campaign reaches the village

“In a way the advertisement stuck or written on walls gave an accurate introduction to the
villager’s problems and how to solve them. For example, the problem was that India was a
farming nation, but farmers refused to produce more grain out of sheer perversity. The solution
was to give speeches to farmers and show them all sorts of attractive pictures. These advised
them that if they didn’t want to grow more grain for themselves then they should do so for the
nation. As a result the posters were stuck in various places to induce farmers to grow grain
for the nation. The farmers were greatly influenced by the combined effect of the speeches
and posters, and even most simple-minded cultivator began to feel the likelihood of there was
some ulterior motive behind the whole campaign.
One advertisement had become especially well known in Shivpalganj. It showed a healthy
farmer with turban wrapped around his head, earrings and a quilted jacket, cutting a tall crop
of wheat with a sickle. A woman was standing behind him, very pleased with herself; she was
laughing like an official from the Department of Agriculture.
Below and above the picture was written in Hindi and English – ‘Grow More Grain’. Farmers
with earrings and a quilted jacket who were also scholars of English were expected to be won
over by the English slogans, and those who were scholars of Hindi, by the Hindi version. And
those who didn’t know how to read either language could at least recognise the figures of the
man and the laughing woman. The government hoped that as soon as they saw the man and
the laughing woman, farmer would turn away from the poster and start growing more grain like
men possessed”.
Extracts of translation from ‘Raag Darbari’ by Shrilal Shukla. The satire is set in a village
Shivpalganj in Uttar Pradesh in the 1960s.

Land reforms
In the agrarian sector, this period witnessed a serious attempt at
land reforms. Perhaps the most significant and successful of these
was the abolition of the colonial system of zamindari. This bold act
not only released land from the clutches of a class that had little
interest in agriculture, it also reduced the capacity of the landlords
to dominate politics. Attempts at consolidation of land – bringing
small pieces of land together in one place so that the farm size could
become viable for agriculture – were also fairly successful. But the
Oh! I thought land
other two components of land reforms were much less successful.
reforms were about
improving the quality of Though the laws were made to put an upper limit or ‘ceiling’ to how
soil! much agricultural land one person could own, people with excess
land managed to evade the law. Similarly, the tenants who worked on
someone else’s land were given greater legal security against eviction,
but this provision was rarely implemented.
It was not easy to turn these well-meaning policies on agriculture
into genuine and effective action. This could happen only if the rural,
landless poor were mobilised. But the landowners were very powerful
and wielded considerable political influence. Therefore, many proposals
for land reforms were either not translated into laws, or, when made into

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Politics of Planned Development 5959

Food Crisis
The agricultural situation went from bad to worse in the 1960s. Already, the rate of growth of
food grain production in the 1940s and 1950s was barely staying above rate of population
growth. Between 1965 and 1967, severe droughts occurred in many parts of the country. As
we shall study in the next chapter, this was also the period when the country faced two wars
and foreign exchange crisis. All this resulted in a severe food shortage and famine – like
conditions in many parts of the country.
It was in Bihar that the food-crisis was most acutely felt as the state faced a near-famine
situation. The food shortage was significant in all districts of Bihar, with 9 districts producing
less than half of their normal output. Five of these districts, in fact, produced less than one-third
of what they produced normally. Food deprivation subsequently led to acute and widespread
malnutrition. It was estimated that the calorie intake dropped from 2200 per capita per day to
as low as 1200 in many regions of the state (as against the requirement of 2450 per day for
the average person). Death rate in Bihar in 1967 was 34% higher than the number of deaths
that occurred in the following year. Food prices also hit a high in Bihar during the year, even
when compared with other north Indian states. For wheat and rice the prices in the state were
twice or more than their prices in more prosperous Punjab. The government had “zoning”
policies that prohibited trade of food across states; this reduced the availability of food in Bihar
dramatically. In situations such as this, the poorest sections of the society suffered the most.
The food crisis had many consequences. The government had to import wheat and had to
accept foreign aid, mainly from the US. Now the first priority of the planners was to somehow
attain self-sufficiency in food. The entire planning process and sense of optimism and pride
associated with it suffered a setback.

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 60 Politics in India since Independence

laws, they remained only on paper. This shows that economic policy is
part of the actual political situation in the society. It also shows that in
spite of good wishes of some top leaders, the dominant social groups
would always effectively control policy making and implementation.

The Green Revolution

In the face of the prevailing food-crisis, the country was clearly
vulnerable to external pressures and dependent on food aid, mainly
from the United States. The United States, in turn, pushed India to
change its economic policies. The government adopted a new strategy
for agriculture in order to ensure food sufficiency. Instead of the
earlier policy of giving more support to the areas and farmers that
were lagging behind, now it was decided to put more resources into
those areas which already had irrigation and those farmers who were
Why don’t we call it already well-off. The argument was that those who already had the
wheat revolution? And capacity could help increase production rapidly in the short run.
why does everything Thus the government offered high-yielding variety seeds, fertilizers,
have to be ‘revolution’?
pesticides and better irrigation at highly subsidised prices. The
government also gave a guarantee to buy the produce of the farmers
at a given price. This was the beginning of what was called the ‘green
revolution’.
The rich peasants and the large landholders were the major
beneficiaries of the process. The green revolution delivered only a
moderate agricultural growth (mainly a rise in wheat production) and
raised the availability of food in the country, but increased polarisation
between classes and regions. Some regions like Punjab, Haryana
and western Uttar Pradesh became agriculturally prosperous, while
others remained backward. The green revolution had two other
effects: one was that in many parts, the stark contrast between the
poor peasantry and the landlords produced conditions favourable for

Let’s re-search
Srikanth still remembers the struggle his elder brother had to undergo
in order to get the monthly supply of ration for the ration shop. Their
family was totally dependent on the supplies from the ration shop for
rice, oil and kerosene. Many times, his brother would stand in the
queue for an hour or so only to find out that the supply had ended and
he would have to come later when fresh supply arrives. Find out from
talking to elders in your family what is a ration card and ask your elders
what, if any, items they buy from the ration shop. Visit a ration shop in
the vicinity of your school or home and find out what is the difference
in the prices of at least three commodities—wheat\rice, cooking oil,
sugar—between the ration shop and the open market.

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Politics of Planned Development 61

Fast Forward The White Revolution

You must be familiar with the jingle ‘utterly butterly delicious’ and
the endearing figure of the little girl holding a buttered toast. Yes, the
Amul advertisements! Did you know that behind Amul products lies a
successful history of cooperative dairy farming in India. Verghese Kurien,
nicknamed the ‘Milkman of India’, played a crucial role in the story of
Gujarat Cooperative Milk and Marketing Federation Ltd that launched
Amul.
Based in Anand, a town in Gujarat, Amul is a dairy cooperative movement
joined by about 2 and half million milk producers in Gujarat. The Amul
pattern became a uniquely appropriate model for rural development and
poverty alleviation, spurring what has come to be known as the White
Revolution. In 1970 the rural development programme called Operation Flood was started.
Operation Flood organised cooperatives of milk producers into a nationwide milk grid, with the
purpose of increasing milk production, bringing the producer and consumer closer by eliminating
middlemen, and assuring the producers a regular income throughout the year. Operation
Flood was, however, not just a dairy programme. It saw dairying as a path to development,
for generating employment and income for rural households and alleviating poverty. The
number of members of the cooperative has continued to increase with the numbers of women
members and Women’s Dairy Cooperative Societies also increasing significantly.

leftwing organisations to organise the poor peasants. Secondly, the

green revolution also resulted in the rise of what is called the middle
peasant sections. These were farmers with medium size holdings, who
benefited from the changes and soon emerged politically influential in
many parts of the country.

Later developments
The story of development in India took a significant turn from the
end of 1960s. You will see in Chapter Five how after Nehru’s death
the Congress system encountered difficulties. Indira Gandhi emerged
as a popular leader. She decided to further strengthen the role of
the state in controlling and directing the economy. The period from
1967 onwards witnessed many new restrictions on private industry.
Fourteen private banks were nationalised. The government announced
many pro-poor programmes. These changes were accompanied by an
ideological tilt towards socialist policies. This emphasis generated
heated debates within the country among political parties and also
among experts.
However, the consensus for a state-led economic development
did not last forever. Planning did continue, but its salience was
significantly reduced. Between 1950 and 1980 the Indian economy
grew at a sluggish per annum rate of 3 to 3.5%. In view of the prevailing

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62 Politics in India since Independence

inefficiency and corruption in some public sector enterprises and the

not-so-positive role of the bureaucracy in economic development, the
public opinion in the country lost the faith it initially placed in many
of these institutions. Such lack of public faith led the policy makers to
reduce the importance of the state in India’s economy from the 1980s
onwards. We shall look at that part of the story towards the end of
this book.
Credit: Shankar, “The Leap Upward”, 27 August 1961

1. Which of these statements about the Bombay Plan is incorrect?

EXERCISES

(a) It was a blueprint for India’s economic future.

(b) It supported state-ownership of industry.
(c) It was made by some leading industrialists.
(d) It supported strongly the idea of planning.n

2. Which of the following ideas did not form part of the early phase of
India’s development policy?
(a) Planning (c) Cooperative Farming
(b) Liberalisation (d) Self sufficiency

3. The idea of planning in India was drawn from

(a) the Bombay plan (c) Gandhian vision of
society
(b) experiences of the Soviet (d) Demand by peasant
bloc countries organisations
i. b and d only iii. a and b only
ii. d and c only iv. all the above

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Politics of Planned Development 63

4. Match the following.

(a) Charan Singh i. Industrialisation
(b) P C Mahalanobis ii. Zoning
(c) Bihar Famine iii. Farmers
(d) Verghese Kurien iv. Milk Cooperatives

5. What were the major differences in the approach towards development

at the time of Independence? Has the debate been resolved?

6. What was the major thrust of the First Five Year Plan? In which ways
did the Second Plan differ from the first one?

7. What was the Green Revolution? Mention two positive and two
negative consequences of the Green Revolution.

8. State the main arguments in the debate that ensued between

EXERCISES
industrialisation and agricultural development at the time of the
Second Five Year Plan.

9. “Indian policy makers made a mistake by emphasising the role of

state in the economy. India could have developed much better if
private sector was allowed a free play right from the beginning”. Give
arguments for or against this proposition.

10. Read the following passage and answer the questions below:
“In the early years of Independence, two contradictory tendencies
were already well advanced inside the Congress party. On the one
hand, the national party executive endorsed socialist principles
of state ownership, regulation and control over key sectors of the
economy in order to improve productivity and at the same time curb
economic concentration. On the other hand, the national Congress
government pursued liberal economic policies and incentives to
private investment that was justified in terms of the sole criterion of
achieving maximum increase in production. “ — FRANCINE FRANKEL
(a) What is the contradiction that the author is talking about?
What would be the political implications of a contradiction like
this?
(b) If the author is correct, why is it that the Congress was
pursuing this policy? Was it related to the nature of the
opposition parties?
(c) Was there also a contradiction between the central leadership
of the Congress party and its Sate level leaders?

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 Credit: NMML
In this chapter…
Thus far we have focussed in this book on the developments within
the country and on domestic challenges. We now turn to the external
challenges. Here too our leaders faced the challenge with an innovative
response by way of the policy of non-alignment. But they also found
themselves in conflict with neighbours. This led to three wars in 1962,
Nehru with Nkrumah 1965 and 1971. These wars, and the external relations in general, were
from Ghana, Nasser shaped by and had their impact on the politics in the country.
from Egypt, Sukarno
from Indonesia and In this chapter we study the story of this relationship between the
Tito from Yugoslavia external and the internal politics by focussing on
at a meeting of non-
aligned nations, New • the international context that shaped India’s external relations;
York, October 1960. • the operational principles that informed the country’s foreign
These five comprised the
policy;
core leadership of the
Non-Aligned Movement • the history of India’s relations with China and Pakistan; and
(NAM).
• the evolution of India’s nuclear policy.

2018-19
 chapter
india’s external
relations 4
International context
India was born in a very trying and challenging international context.
The world had witnessed a devastating war and was grappling
with issues of reconstruction; yet another attempt to establish
an international body was underway; many new countries were
emerging as a result of the collapse of colonialism; and most new
nations were trying to come to terms with the twin challenges of
welfare and democracy. Free India’s foreign policy reflected all these
concerns in the period immediately after Independence. Apart from
these factors at the global level, India had its own share of concerns.
The British government left behind the legacy of many international
disputes; Partition created its own pressures, and the task of poverty

“
alleviation was already waiting for fulfilment. This was the overall
context in which India started participating in the world affairs as an
What does
independent nation-state.
independence consist of?
As a nation born in the backdrop of the world war, India decided It consists fundamentally
to conduct its foreign relations with an aim to respect the sovereignty
and basically of foreign
of all other nations and to achieve security through the maintenance
relations. That is the test
of peace. This aim finds an echo in the Directive Principles of State
Policy.
Just as both internal and external factors guide the behaviour of an
individual or a family, both domestic and international environment
influence the foreign policy of a nation. The developing countries
lack the required resources to effectively advocate their concerns in
the international system. So they pursue more modest goals than
“
of independence. All else is
local autonomy. Once foreign
relations go out of your
hands into the charge of
somebody else, to that extent
and in that measure you are
the advanced states. They focus more on peace and development in not independent.
their own neighbourhood. Moreover, their economic and security
dependence on the more powerful states occasionally influences
their foreign policy. In the period immediately after the Second World Jawaharlal Nehru
War, many developing nations chose to support the foreign policy during a debate in the
preferences of the powerful countries who were giving them aid or Constituent Assembly in
credits. This resulted in the division of countries of the world into two March 1949.
clear camps. One was under the influence of the United States and
its western allies and the other was under the influence of the then
Soviet Union. You have read about this in the book on Contemporary
World Politics. You have read there about the experiment called the
Non-Aligned Movement. As you also read there, the end of the Cold
War changed the context of international relations entirely. But when
India achieved its freedom and started framing its foreign policy, the

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 66 Politics in India since Independence

The Constitutional principles

Article 51 of the Indian Constitution lays down some Directive Principles of State Policy on
‘Promotion of international peace and security’.
“The State shall endeavour to –
(a) Promote international peace and security
(b) Maintain just and honourable relations between nations
(c) Foster respect for international law and treaty obligations in the dealings of organised
people with one another; and
(d) Encourage settlement of international disputes by arbitration.”
How well did the Indian state live up to these principles in the first two decades after
Independence? You may come back to this question after reading the chapter.

Cold War was just beginning and the world was getting divided into
these two camps. Did India belong to any of these two camps in global
politics of the fifties and the sixties? Was it successful in conducting
its foreign policy peacefully and avoiding international conflicts?

The Policy of non-alignment

The Indian national movement was not an isolated process. It was a
part of the worldwide struggle against colonialism and imperialism.
It influenced the liberation movements of many Asian and African
countries. Prior to India’s Independence, there were contacts between
the nationalist leaders of India and those of other colonies, united
as they were in their common struggle against colonialism and
imperialism. The creation of the Indian National Army (INA) by Netaji
Subhash Chandra Bose during the Second World War was the clearest
manifestation of the linkages established between India and overseas
Indians during the freedom struggle.
The foreign policy of a nation reflects the interplay of domestic
and external factors. Therefore, the noble ideals that inspired India’s
struggle for freedom influenced the making of its foreign policy. But
India’s attainment of independence coincided with the beginning
of the Cold War era. As you read in the first chapter of the book,
Contemporary World Politics, this period was marked by the political,
It’s the fourth economic, and military confrontation at the global level between the
chapter and it’s Nehru two blocs led by the superpowers, the US and the USSR. The same
once again! Was he a period also witnessed developments like the establishment of the
superman or what?
UN, the creation of nuclear weapons, the emergence of Communist
Or has his role been
glorified?

2018-19
India’s external relations 67

China, and the beginning of decolonisation. So India’s leadership had

to pursue its national interests within the prevailing international
context.

Nehru’s role
The first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru played a crucial role in
setting the national agenda. He was his own foreign minister. Thus
both as the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister, he exercised
profound influence in the formulation and implementation of India’s
foreign policy from 1946 to 1964. The three major objectives of
Nehru’s foreign policy were to preserve the hard-earned sovereignty,
protect territorial integrity, and promote rapid economic development.
Nehru wished to achieve these objectives through the strategy of non-
alignment. There were, of course, parties and groups in the country

“
that believed that India should be more friendly with the bloc led by
the US because that bloc claimed to be pro-democracy. Among those Our general
who thought on these lines were leaders like Dr Ambedkar. Some
political parties, which were opposed to communism, also wanted
policy is to avoid
India to follow a pro-US foreign policy. These included the Bharatiya entanglement in power
Jan Sangh and later the Swatantra Party. But Nehru possessed politics and not to join
considerable leeway in formulating foreign policy. any group of powers as
against any other group.
Distance from two camps The two leading groups
The foreign policy of independent India vigorously pursued the dream today are the Russian
of a peaceful world by advocating the policy of non-alignment, by bloc and the Anglo-
reducing Cold War tensions and by contributing human resources to American bloc. We must
the UN peacekeeping operations. You might ask why India did not join be friendly to both and
either of the two camps during the Cold War era. India wanted to keep yet not join either. Both
away from the military alliances led by US and Soviet Union against
each other. As you read in the book, Contemporary World Politics,
America and Russia
during the Cold War, the US-led North Atlantic Treaty Organisation are extraordinarily
(NATO) and the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact came into existence. India suspicious of each other
advocated non-alignment as the ideal foreign policy approach. This
was a difficult balancing act and sometimes the balance did not appear
perfect. In 1956 when Britain attacked Egypt over the Suez Canal
issue, India led the world protest against this neo-colonial invasion.
But in the same year when the USSR invaded Hungary, India did not
join its public condemnation. Despite such a situation, by and large
India did take an independent stand on various international issues
and could get aid and assistance from members of both the blocs.
as well as of other
countries. This makes
our path difficult
and we may well be
suspected by each of
leaning towards the
other. This cannot be
“
helped.
While India was trying to convince the other developing countries
about the policy of non-alignment, Pakistan joined the US-led military
alliances. The US was not happy about India’s independent initiatives Jawaharlal Nehru
Letter to K .P. S.
and the policy of non-alignment. Therefore, there was a considerable Menon, January
1947.

2018-19
 68
Did we have more
recognition and power
in the world when we
were younger, poorer
and more vulnerable
than now? Isn’t that
strange?
“
a country without
material, men or money
“
– the three means of power
– is now fast coming to be
recognised as the biggest
moral power in the civilised
world …her word listened to
with respect in the councils
of the great.
C. Rajagopalachari
Letter to Edwina
Mountbatten, 1950.
Politics in India since Independence
unease in Indo-US relations during the 1950s. The US also resented
India’s growing partnership with the Soviet Union.
You have studied in the last chapter, the strategy of planned
economic development adopted by India. This policy emphasised
import-substitution. The emphasis on developing a resource base also
meant that export oriented growth was limited. This development
strategy limited India’s economic interaction with the outside world.
Afro-Asian unity
Yet, given its size, location and power potential, Nehru envisaged a
major role for India in world affairs and especially in Asian affairs.
His era was marked by the establishment of contacts between India
and other newly independent states in Asia and Africa. Throughout
the 1940s and 1950s, Nehru had been an ardent advocate of Asian
unity. Under his leadership, India convened the Asian Relations
Conference in March 1947, five months ahead of attaining its
independence. India made earnest efforts for the early realisation of
freedom of Indonesia from the Dutch colonial regime by convening
an international conference in 1949 to support its freedom struggle.
India was a staunch supporter of the decolonisation process and
firmly opposed racism, especially apartheid in South Africa. The Afro-
Asian conference held in the Indonesian city of Bandung in 1955,
commonly known as the Bandung Conference, marked the zenith of
India’s engagement with the newly independent Asian and African
nations. The Bandung Conference later led to the establishment
of the NAM. The First Summit of the NAM was held in Belgrade in
September 1961. Nehru was a co-founder of the NAM (See Chapter 1
of Contemporary World Politics).
Peace and conflict with China
Unlike its relationship with Pakistan, free India began its relationship
with China on a very friendly note. After the Chinese revolution in
1949, India was one of the first countries to recognise the communist
government. Nehru felt strongly for this neighbour that was coming out
of the shadow of western domination and helped the new government
in international fora. Some of his colleagues, like Vallabhbhai Patel,
were worried about a possible Chinese aggression in future. But Nehru
thought it was ‘exceedingly unlikely’ that India will face an attack
from China. For a very long time, the Chinese border was guarded by
para-military forces, not the army.
The joint enunciation of Panchsheel, the Five Principles of Peaceful
Coexistence, by the Indian Prime Minister Nehru and the Chinese
Premier Zhou Enlai on 29 April 1954 was a step in the direction of
stronger relationship between the two countries. Indian and Chinese
leaders visited each other’s country and were greeted by large and
friendly crowds.
2018-19
India’s external relations 69

TIBET
Th plateau
The plat of the central Asian region called Tibet et

walla
is one of the major issues that historically caused d
tension between India and China. From time to o

Vyara
time in history, China had claimed administrative e
control over Tibet. And from time to time, Tibet was as

ai
: Hom
independent too. In 1950, China took over controll
of Tibet. Large sections of the Tibetan population on

Credit
opposed this takeover. India tried to persuade de Dalai L
ama en
China to recognise Tibet’s claims for independence.. ters Ind
ia with
his foll
When the Panchsheel agreement was signed ed owers.
between India and China in 1954, through one of
its clauses about respecting each other’s territorial
integrity and sovereignty, India conceded China’s
claim over Tibet. The Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama accompanied the Chinese Premier Zhou
Enlai during the official Chinese visit to India in 1956. He informed Nehru about the worsening situation
in Tibet. But China had already assured India that Tibet will be given greater autonomy than enjoyed
by any other region of China. In 1958, there was armed uprising in Tibet against China’s occupation.
This was suppressed by the Chinese forces. Sensing that the situation had become worse, in 1959, the
Dalai Lama crossed over into the Indian border and sought asylum which was granted. The Chinese
government strongly protested against this. Over the last half century, a large number of Tibetans have
also sought refuge in India and many other countries of the world. In India, particularly in Delhi, there
are large settlements of Tibetan refugees. Dharmashala in Himachal Pradesh is perhaps the largest
refuge settlement of Tibetans in India. The Dalai Lama has also made Dharmashala his home in India.
In the 1950s and 1960s many political leaders and parties in India including the Socialist Party and the
Jan Sangh supported the cause of Tibet’s independence.
China has created the Tibet autonomous region, which is an integral part of China. Tibetans oppose the
Chinese claim that Tibet is part of Chinese territory. They also oppose the policy of bringing into Tibet
more and more Chinese settlers. Tibetans dispute China’s claim that autonomy is granted to the region.
They think that China wants to undermine the traditional religion and culture of Tibet.

2018-19
 70 Politics in India since Independence

Note: This
illustration
is not a map
drawn to
scale and
should not
be taken
to be an
authentic
depiction
of India’s
external
boundaries.

Border disputes with

China erupted in 1960. Talks
between Nehru and Mao Tsetung
proved futile.

2018-19
India’s external relations 71
71

1962

xman
Credit: R. K. La
er
China roll
evid en ce
V.K. Krishna
under
n. Menon
constructio
(1897-1974):
Diplomat and
minister; active
in the Labour
Party in UK
between 1934-
1947; Indian High
Commissioner in UK and later head
of India’s delegation to UN; Rajya
Sabha MP and later Lok Sabha MP;
member of the Union Cabinet from
1956; Defence Minsiter since 1957;
considered very close to Nehru;
resigned after the India-China war in
1962.

2018-19
 72
“ “
Frankly ...my
impression (of Zhou Enlai)
was very favourable. ….the
Chinese premier is, I believe
a good type of man and
trustworthy.
C. Rajagopalachari
In a letter, December 1956
I heard
it from my
grandfather. Nehru
Ji cried in public when
Lata Mangeshkar sang
“Ai mere watan ke logo…”
after the 1962 war.
Politics in India since Independence
The Chinese invasion, 1962
Two developments strained this relationship. China annexed Tibet in
1950 and thus removed a historical buffer between the two countries.
Initially, the government of India did not oppose this openly. But as
more information came in about the suppression of Tibetan culture,
the Indian government grew uneasy. The Tibetan spiritual leader, the
Dalai Lama, sought and obtained political asylum in India in 1959.
China alleged that the government of India was allowing anti-China
activities to take place from within India.
A little earlier, a boundary dispute had surfaced between India
and China. India claimed that the boundary was a matter settled in
colonial time, but China said that any colonial decision did not apply.
The main dispute was about the western and the eastern end of the
long border. China claimed two areas within the Indian territory:
Aksai-chin area in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir and
much of the state of Arunachal Pradesh in what was then called
NEFA (North Eastern Frontier Agency). Between 1957 and 1959,
the Chinese occupied the Aksai-chin area and built a strategic road
there. Despite a very long correspondence and discussion among top
leaders, these differences could not be resolved. Several small border
skirmishes between the armies of the two countries took place.
Do you remember the Cuban Missile Crisis in Chapter One of the
Contemporary World Politics? While the entire world’s attention was
on this crisis involving the two superpowers, China launched a swift
and massive invasion in October 1962 on both the disputed regions.
The first attack lasted one week and Chinese forces captured some
key areas in Arunachal Pradesh. The second wave of attack came next
month. While the Indian forces could block the Chinese advances on
the western front in Ladakh, in the east the Chinese managed to
advance nearly to the entry point of Assam plains. Finally, China
declared a unilateral ceasefire and its troops withdrew to where they
were before the invasion began.
The China war dented India’s image at home and abroad. India
had to approach the Americans and the British for military assistance
to tide over the crisis. The Soviet Union remained neutral during
the conflict. It induced a sense of national humiliation and at the
same time strengthened a spirit of nationalism. Some of the top army
commanders either resigned or were retired. Nehru’s close associate
and the then Defence Minister, V. Krishna Menon, had to leave the
cabinet. Nehru’s own stature suffered as he was severely criticised
for his naïve assessment of the Chinese intentions and the lack of
military preparedness. For the first time, a no-confidence motion
against his government was moved and debated in the Lok Sabha.
Soon thereafter, the Congress lost some key by-elections to Lok
Sabha. The political mood of the country had begun to change.
2018-19
India’s external relations 73

Let’s watch a Film

Fast Forward HAQEEQAT
Sino-Indian relations since 1962
It took more than a decade for India and
China to resume normal relations. It was
in 1976 that full diplomatic relations were
restored between the two countries. Atal
Behari Vajpayee was the first top level
leader (he was then External Affairs
Minister) to visit China in 1979. Later,
Rajiv Gandhi became the first Prime
Minister after Nehru to visit China. Since
then, the emphasis is more on trade
relations between the two countries. In
the book, Contemporary World Politics,
you have already read about these A small platoon of Indian army
developments. is rescued by the gypsies in
Ladakh region. The enemy has
The Sino-Indian conflict affected the surrounded their post. Capt.
opposition as well. This and the growing Bahadur Singh and his gypsy
rift between China and the Soviet Union girlfriend Kammo help the
created irreconcilable differences within jawans vacate their posts. Both
the Communist Party of India (CPI). The Bahadur Singh and Kammo die
pro-USSR faction remained within the while resisting the Chinese but
the jawans too, are overpowered
CPI and moved towards closer ties with
by the enemy and lay down their
the Congress. The other faction was for
lives for the country.
sometime closer to China and was against
any ties with the Congress. The party
split in 1964 and the leaders of the latter Set in the backdrop of the China
faction formed the Communist Party of war of 1962, this film portrays
India (Marxist) (CPI-M). In the wake of the soldier and his travails as its
the China war, many leaders of what central theme. It pays tribute to
became CPI (M) were arrested for being the soldiers while depicting their
pro-China. plight, and the political frustration
over the betrayal by the Chinese.
The war with China alerted the Indian The film uses documentary
leadership to the volatile situation in footage of war scenes and is
the Northeast region. Apart from being considered as one of the early
isolated and extremely underdeveloped, war films made in Hindi.
this region also presented India with
the challenge of national integration
and political unity. The process of its Year: 1964
reorganisation began soon after the China Director: Chetan Anand
war. Nagaland was granted statehood; Actors: Dharmendra, Priya
Manipur and Tripura, though Union Rajvansh, Balraj Sahni, Jayant,
Territories, were given the right to elect Sudhir, Sanjay Khan, Vijay
their own legislative assemblies. Anand

2018-19
 74 Politics in India since Independence

Wars and Peace with Pakistan

In the case of Pakistan, the conflict started just after Partition over
the dispute on Kashmir. You will read more about the dispute in
Chapter 8. A proxy war broke out between the Indian and Pakistani
armies in Kashmir during 1947 itself. But this did not turn into a full
war. The issue was then referred to the UN. Pakistan soon emerged
as a critical factor in India’s relations with the US and subsequently
with China.
The Kashmir conflict did not prevent cooperation between the
governments of India and Pakistan. Both the governments worked
together to restore the women abducted during Partition to their
original families. A long-term dispute about the sharing of river
waters was resolved through mediation by the World Bank. The India-
Pakistan Indus Waters Treaty was signed by Nehru and General Ayub
Khan in 1960. Despite all ups and downs in the Indo-Pak relations,
this treaty has worked well.
A more serious armed conflict between the two countries began
in 1965. As you would read in the next chapter, by then Lal Bahadur
Shastri had taken over as the Prime Minister. In April 1965 Pakistan
launched armed attacks in the Rann of Kutch area of Gujarat. This
was followed by a bigger offensive in Jammu and Kashmir in August-
September. Pakistani rulers were hoping to get support from the local
population there, but it did not happen. In order to ease the pressure
on the Kashmir front, Shastri ordered Indian troops to launch a
counter-offensive on the Punjab border. In a fierce battle, the Indian
army reached close to Lahore.
The hostilities came to an end with the UN intervention. Later,
Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and Pakistan’s General
Ayub Khan signed the Tashkent Agreement, brokered by the Soviet
Union, in January 1966. Though India could inflict considerable
military loss on Pakistan, the 1965 war added to India’s already
Why do
we say India
difficult economic situation.
and Pakistan had
a war? Leaders quarrel Bangladesh war, 1971
and armies fight wars.
Most ordinary citizens Beginning in 1970, Pakistan faced its biggest internal crisis. The
have nothing to do country’s first general election produced a split verdict – Zulfikar Ali
with these. Bhutto’s party emerged a winner in West Pakistan, while the Awami
League led by Sheikh Mujib-ur Rahman swept through East Pakistan.
The Bengali population of East Pakistan had voted to protest against
years of being treated as second class citizens by the rulers based
in West Pakistan. The Pakistani rulers were not willing to accept the
democratic verdict. Nor were they ready to accept the Awami League’s
demand for a federation.
Instead, in early 1971, the Pakistani army arrested Sheikh Mujib
and unleashed a reign of terror on the people of East Pakistan. In

2018-19
India’s external relations 75
75

1965

2018-19
 76 Politics in India since Independence

response to this, the people started a struggle to liberate ‘Bangladesh’

from Pakistan. Throughout 1971, India had to bear the burden of
about 80 lakh refugees who fled East Pakistan and took shelter in
This the neighbouring areas in India. India extended moral and material
sounds like
joining the Soviet
support to the freedom struggle in Bangladesh. Pakistan accused
bloc. Can we say that India of a conspiracy to break it up.
we were non-aligned
Support for Pakistan came from the US and China. The US-China
even after signing this
treaty with the Soviet rapprochement that began in the late 1960s resulted in a realignment
Union? of forces in Asia. Henry Kissinger, the adviser to the US President
Richard Nixon, made a secret visit to China via Pakistan in July
1971. In order to counter the US-Pakistan-China axis, India signed a
20-year Treaty of Peace and Friendship with the Soviet Union in
August 1971. This treaty assured India of Soviet support if the country
faced any attack.
After months of diplomatic tension and military build-up, a
full-scale war between India and Pakistan broke out in December
1971. Pakistani aircrafts attacked Punjab and Rajasthan, while the
army moved on the Jammu and Kashmir front. India retaliated with
an attack involving the air force, navy and the army on both the
Western and the Eastern front. Welcomed and supported by the local
population, the Indian army made rapid progress in East Pakistan.
Within ten days the Indian army had surrounded Dhaka from three
sides and the Pakistani army of about 90,000 had to surrender. With
Bangladesh as a free country, India declared a unilateral ceasefire.
Later, the signing of the Shimla Agreement between Indira Gandhi and
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on 3 July 1972 formalised the return of peace.
A decisive victory in the war led to national jubiliation. Most people
in India saw this as a moment of glory and a clear sign of India’s
growing military prowess. As you would read in the next chapter,
Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister at this time. She had already
won the Lok Sahba elections in 1971. Her personal popularity soared

Fast Forward Kargil Confrontation

In the early part of 1999 several points on the Indian side of the LoC in the Mashkoh, Dras, Kaksar
and Batalik areas were occupied by forces claiming to be Mujahideens. Suspecting involvement
of the Pakistan Army, Indian forces started reacting to this occupation. This led to a confrontation
between the two countries. This is known as the Kargil conflict. This conflict went on during May
and June 1999. By 26 July 1999, India had recovered control of many of the lost points. The Kargil
conflict drew attention worldwide for the reason that only one year prior to that, both India and
Pakistan had attained nuclear capability. However, this conflict remained confined only to the Kargil
region. In Pakistan, this conflict has been the source of a major controversy as it was alleged later
that the Prime Minister of Pakistan was kept in the dark by the Army Chief. Soon after the conflict,
the government of Pakistan was taken over by the Pakistan Army led by the Army Chief, General
Parvez Musharraf.

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India’s external relations 77
77

1971

2018-19
 78 Politics in India since Independence

further after the 1971 war. After the war, assembly elections in most
States took place, bringing large majorities for the Congress party in
many states.
India, with its limited resources, had initiated development
planning. However, conflicts with neighbours derailed the five-year
plans. The scarce resources were diverted to the defence sector especially
after 1962, as India had to embark on a military modernisation drive.
The Department of Defence Production was established in November
1962 and the Department of Defence Supplies in November 1965.
The Third Plan (1961-66) was affected and it was followed by three
Annual Plans and the Fourth Plan could be initiated only in 1969.
India’s defence expenditure increased enormously after the wars.

India’s nuclear policy

Another crucial development of this period was the first nuclear
explosion undertaken by India in May 1974. Nehru had always put
his faith in science and technology for rapidly building a modern
India. A significant component of his industrialisation plans was the
nuclear programme initiated in the late 1940s under the guidance of
Homi J. Bhabha. India wanted to generate atomic energy for peaceful
purposes. Nehru was against nuclear weapons. So he pleaded with
the superpowers for comprehensive nuclear disarmament. However,
the nuclear arsenal kept rising. When Communist China conducted
nuclear tests in October 1964, the five nuclear weapon powers, the
US, USSR, UK, France, and China (Taiwan then represented China) –
also the five Permanent Members of the UN Security Council – tried to
impose the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) of 1968 on the rest
of the world. India always considered the NPT as discriminatory and
had refused to sign it. When India conducted its first nuclear test, it
was termed as peaceful explosion. India argued that it was committed
to the policy of using nuclear power only for peaceful purposes.
I am The period when the nuclear test was conducted was a difficult
confused! Isn’t
period in domestic politics. Following the Arab-Israel War of 1973, the
it all about atom
bombs? Why don’t entire world was affected by the Oil Shock due to the massive hike in
we say so? the oil prices by the Arab nations. It led to economic turmoil in India
resulting in high inflation. As you will read in Chapter Six, many
agitations were going on in the country around this time, including a
nationwide railway strike.
Although there are minor differences among political parties about
how to conduct external relations, Indian politics is generally marked
by a broad agreement among the parties on national integration,
protection of international boundaries, and on questions of national
interest. Therefore, we find that in the course of the decade of
1962-1971, when India faced three wars, or even later, when different
parties came to power from time to time, foreign policy has played
only a limited role in party politics.

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India’s external relations 79

Fast Forward India’s Nuclear Programme

India has opposed the international treaties aimed at non-proliferation since
they were selectively applicable to the non-nuclear powers and legitimised
the monopoly of the five nuclear weapons powers. Thus, India opposed
the indefinite extension of the NPT in 1995 and also refused to sign the
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
India conducted a series of nuclear tests in May 1998, demonstrating its
capacity to use nuclear energy for military purposes. Pakistan soon followed,
thereby increasing the vulnerability of the region to a nuclear exchange. The
international community was extremely critical of the nuclear tests in the
subcontinent and sanctions were imposed on both India and Pakistan, which
were subsequently waived. India’s nuclear doctrine of credible minimum
nuclear deterrence professes “no first use” and reiterates India’s commitment
to global, verifiable and non-discriminatory nuclear disarmament leading to a
nuclear weapons free world.

Shifting alliances in world politics

As you will read in Chapter Six and also in Chapter Nine, many non-Congress governments
came to power in the period starting 1977. This was also the time when world politics was
changing dramatically. What did it mean for India’s external relations?
The Janata Party government that came to power in 1977 announced that it would follow
genuine non-alignment. This implied that the pro-Soviet tilt in the foreign policy will be
corrected. Since then, all governments (Congress or non-Congress) have taken initiatives
for restoring better relations with China and entering into close ties with US. In Indian
politics and in popular mind, India’s foreign policy is always very closely linked to two
questions. One is India’s stand vis-à-vis Pakistan and the other is Indo-US relations. In
the post-1990 period the ruling parties have often been criticised for their pro-US foreign
policy.
Foreign policy is always dictated by ideas of national interest. In the period after 1990,
Russia, though it continues to be an important friend of India, has lost its global pre-
eminence. Therefore, India’s foreign policy has shifted to a more pro-US strategy. Besides,
the contemporary international situation is more influenced by economic interests than by
military interests. This has also made an impact on India’s foreign policy choices. At the
same time, Indo-Pakistan relations have witnessed many new developments during this
period. While Kashmir continues to be the main issue between the two countries, there
have been many efforts to restore normal relations. This means that cultural exchanges,
movement of citizens and economic cooperation would be encouraged by both countries.
Do you know that a train and a bus service operate between these two countries? This
has been a major achievement of the recent times. But that could not avoid the near-war
situation from emerging in 1999. Even after this setback to the peace process, efforts at
negotiating durable peace have been going on.

2018-19
80 Politics in India since Independence

1. Write ‘true’ or ‘false’ against each of these statements.

(a) Non-alignment allowed India to gain assistance both from USA and
USSR.
(b) India’s relationship with her neighbours has been strained from the
beginning.
(c) The cold war has affected the relationship between India and
Pakistan.
(d) The treaty of Peace and Friendship in 1971 was the result of India’s
closeness to USA.

2. Match the following

(a) The goal of India’s foreign
policy in the period 1950-1964
(b) Panchsheel
EXERCISES
i. Tibetan spiritual leader who
crossed over to India
ii. Preservation of territorial
integrity, sovereignty and
economic development

(c) Bandung Conference iii. Five principles of peaceful

coexistence
(d) Dalai Lama iv. Led to the establishment of
NAM

3. Why did Nehru regard conduct of foreign relations as an essential

indicator of independence? State any two reasons with examples to
support your reading.

4. “The conduct of foreign affairs is an outcome of a two-way interaction

between domestic compulsions and prevailing international climate”.
Take one example from India’s external relations in the 1960s to
substantiate your answer.

5. Identify any two aspects of India’s foreign policy that you would like to
retain and two that you would like to change, if you were to become a
decision maker. Give reasons to support your position.

6. Write short notes on the following.

(a) India’s Nuclear policy
(b) Consensus in foreign policy matters

7. India’s foreign policy was built around the principles of peace and
cooperation. But India fought three wars in a space of ten years
between 1962 and 1971. Would you say that this was a failure of the
foreign policy? Or would you say that this was a result of international
situation? Give reasons to support your answer.

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India’s external relations 81

8. Does India’s foreign policy reflect her desire to be an important regional

power? Argue your case with the Bangladesh war of 1971 as an
example.

9. How does political leadership of a nation affect its foreign policy?

Explain this with the help of examples from India’s foreign policy.

10. Read this passage and answer the questions below:

“Broadly, non-alignment means not tying yourself off with military
blocs….It means trying to view things, as far as possible, not from
the military point of view, though that has to come in sometimes,
but independently, and trying to maintain friendly relations with all
countries.” — JAWAHARLAL NEHRU
(a) Why does Nehru want to keep off military blocs?
(b) Do you think that the Indo-Soviet friendship treaty violated the
principle of non-alignment? Give reasons for your answer.
(c) If there were no military blocs, do you think non-alignment would
have been unnecessary?

2018-19
 a
Times of Indi
t: R . K . La xman in the
Credi
In this chapter…
In Chapter Two we read about the emergence of the Congress
system. This system was first challenged during the 1960s. As political
competition became more intense, the Congress found it difficult to
retain its dominance. It faced challenges from the opposition that was
more powerful and less divided than before. The Congress also faced
challenges from within, as the party could no longer accommodate all
kinds of differences. In this chapter we pick the story from where we left
it in Chapter Two, in order to
Originally the election • understand how the political transition took place after Nehru;
symbol of the Congress
was a pair of bullocks. • describe how the opposition unity and the Congress split posed a
This famous cartoon challenge to Congress dominance;
depicts the changes
within the Congress • explain how a new Congress led by Indira Gandhi overcame these
leading to a head- challenges; and
on confrontation in
the 22nd year after • analyse how new policies and ideologies facilitated the restoration
Independence. of the Congress system.

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 chapter
challenges to and
restoration of the
congress system
5

Challenge of Political Succession

Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru passed away in May 1964. He
had been unwell for more than a year. This had generated a lot of
speculation about the usual question of succession: after Nehru,
who? But in a newly independent country like India, this situation
gave rise to a more serious question: after Nehru, what?
The second question arose from the serious doubts that many
outsiders had about whether India’s democratic experiment will When
France
survive after Nehru. It was feared that like so many other newly or Canada have
independent countries, India too would not be able to manage a similar problems, no
democratic succession. A failure to do so, it was feared, could lead one talks about failure
to a political role for the army. Besides, there were doubts if the new or disintegration. Why are
leadership would be able to handle the multiple crises that awaited we under this constant
a solution. The 1960s were labelled as the ‘dangerous decade’ when suspicion?

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 84 Politics in India since Independence

unresolved problems like poverty, inequality, communal and regional

divisions etc. could lead to a failure of the democratic project or even
the disintegration of the country.

From Nehru to Shastri

The ease with which the succession after Nehru took place proved all
the critics wrong. When Nehru passed away, K. Kamraj, the president
of the Congress party consulted party leaders and Congress members
Lal Bahadur of Parliament and found that there was a consensus in favour of Lal
Shastri Bahadur Shastri. He was unanimously chosen as the leader of the
(1904-1966): Congress parliamentary party and thus became the country’s next
Prime Minister of Prime Minister. Shastri was a non-controversial leader from Uttar
India; participated Pradesh who had been a Minister in Nehru’s cabinet for many years.
in the freedom Nehru had come to depend a lot on him in his last year. He was
movement since known for his simplicity and his commitment to principles. Earlier
1930; minister he had resigned from the position of Railway Minister accepting moral
in UP cabinet; responsibility for a major railway accident.
General Secretary
Shastri was the country’s Prime Minister from 1964 to 1966.
of Congress;
During Shastri’s brief Prime Ministership, the country faced two
Minister in Union
major challenges. While India was still recovering from the economic
Cabinet from
implications of the war with China, failed monsoons, drought and
1951 to 1956 when
serious food crisis presented a grave challenge. As discussed in the
he resigned taking
previous chapter, the country also faced a war with Pakistan in
responsibility for
1965. Shastri’s famous slogan ‘Jai Jawan Jai Kisan’, symbolised the
the railway accident
country’s resolve to face both these challenges.
and later from 1957
to 1964; coined the Shastri’s Prime Ministership came to an abrupt end on 10 January
famous slogan ‘Jai 1966, when he suddenly expired in Tashkent, then in USSR and
Jawan-Jai Kisan’. currently the capital of Uzbekistan. He was there to discuss and sign
an agreement with Muhammad Ayub Khan, the then President of
Pakistan, to end the war.

“
From Shastri to Indira Gandhi

“
…new Prime
Minister of India, in spite
of all forebodings, had been
named with more dispatch,
and much more dignity,
than was the new Prime
Minister of Britain.
Thus the Congress faced the challenge of political succession for the
second time in two years. This time there was an intense competition
between Morarji Desai and Indira Gandhi. Morarji Desai had earlier
served as Chief Minister of Bombay state (today’s Maharashtra and
Gujarat) and also as a Minister at the centre. Indira Gandhi, the
daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, had been Congress President in the
past and had also been Union Minister for Information in the Shastri
cabinet. This time the senior leaders in the party decided to back
Indira Gandhi, but the decision was not unanimous. The contest
was resolved through a secret ballot among Congress MPs. Indira
Editorial in The Guardian,
London, 3 June 1964, Gandhi defeated Morarji Desai by securing the support of more than
comparing the political two-thirds of the party’s MPs. A peaceful transition of power, despite
succession after Nehru intense competition for leadership, was seen as a sign of maturity of
with the succession drama
after Harold Macmillan in
India’s democracy.
Britain.

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Challenges to and Restoration of the Congress System 85

Credit: R. K. Laxman in The Times of India, 18 January 1966

It took some time before the new Prime Minister could settle down.
While Indira Gandhi had been politically active for very long, she had
served as a minister under Lal Bahadur Shastri only for a short period.
The senior Congress leaders may have supported Indira Gandhi in the
belief that her administrative and political inexperience would compel
her to be dependent on them for support and guidance. Within a
year of becoming Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi had to lead the party
in a Lok Sabha election. Around this time, the economic situation in
the country had further deteriorated, adding to her problems. Faced
with these difficulties, she set out to gain control over the party and
to demonstrate her leadership skills.

Indira Gandhi (1917-1984): Prime Minister of India from 1966 to 1977

and 1980 to 1984; daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru; participated in the
freedom struggle as a young Congress worker; Congress President
in 1958; minister in Shastri’s cabinet from 1964-66; led the Congress
party to victory in 1967, 1971 and 1980 general elections; credited with
the slogan ‘garibi hatao’, victory in 1971 war and for policy initiatives
like abolition of Privy Purse, nationalisation of banks, nuclear test and
environmental protection; assassinated on 31 October 1984.

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 86 Politics in India since Independence

Credit: Raghu Rai

It must have
been difficult for
her – one woman in a
world dominated by men.
Why don’t we have more
women in positions
like that?

Fourth General Elections, 1967

The year 1967 is considered a landmark year in India’s political and
electoral history. In Chapter Two you read about how the Congress
party was the dominant political force throughout the country from
1952 onwards. This trend was to undergo significant changes with
the 1967 elections.

Context of the elections

In the years leading up to the fourth general elections, the country
witnessed major changes. Two Prime Ministers had died in quick
succession, and the new Prime Minister, who was being seen as a
political novice, had been in office for less than a year. You will recall
from the discussion in Chapter Three and in the previous section of
this chapter that the period was fraught with grave economic crisis
resulting from successive failure of monsoons, widespread drought,

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Challenges to and Restoration of the Congress System
decline in agricultural production,
serious food shortage, depletion of
foreign exchange reserves, drop in
industrial production and exports,
combined with a sharp rise in
military expenditure and diversion
of resources from planning and
economic development. One of the
first decisions of the Indira Gandhi
government was to devaluate the
Indian rupee, under what was seen to
be pressure from the US. Earlier one
US dollar could be purchased for less
than Rs. 5; after devaluation it cost
more than Rs. 7.
The economic situation triggered
off price rise. People started protesting
against the increase in prices of
essential commodities, food scarcity,
growing unemployment and the
overall economic condition in the
country. Bandhs and hartals were
called frequently across the country.
The government saw the protests as
a law and order problem and not as
expressions of people’s problems. This
further increased public bitterness
and reinforced popular unrest.
The communist and socialist
parties launched struggles for
greater equality. You will read in the
next chapter about how a group of
communists who separated from the
Communist Party of India (Marxist)
to form the Communist Party of India
(Marxist-Leninist) led armed agrarian
struggles and organised peasant
agitations. This period also witnessed
some of the worst Hindu-Muslim riots
since Independence.
Non-Congressism
This situation could not have
remained isolated from party politics
in the country. Opposition parties
were in the forefront of organising
public protests and pressurising the
87
Election in a Rajasthan Village
This is a story about 1967
assembly elections. In
the Chomu constituency,
the main parties in the
fray were Congress and
the Swatantra party.
But village Devisar had
its own local political
dynamics and it got mixed
up with the competition
between the two parties.
Sher Singh, traditionally
dominated village politics,
but gradually his nephew,
Bhim Singh was emerging
as the more popular
leader and rival. Though both were Rajputs, Bhim
Singh cultivated the support of many non-Rajputs in
the village by attending to their requirements after
becoming the panchayat Pradhan. So, he struck a new
equation—the alliance of Rajputs and non-Rajputs.
He proved to be more adept in building alliances
across the village by supporting candidates in other
villages for the posts of village Pradhan. In fact, he took
an initiative and took a delegation to the State Chief
Minister and Congress leader Mohan Lal Sukhadia
for pressing the name of one of his friends from a
nearby village as Congress candidate in the Assembly
election. When Sukhadia convinced him of some other
name, Bhim Singh, in turn, convinced many others
that they should work for the party candidate. Bhim
Singh knew that if the party candidate won from this
constituency, that candidate would become a minister
and thus, he would have direct contacts with a minister
for the first time!
Sher Singh had no option but to work for the Swatantra
candidate, who was a jagirdar. He kept telling people
that the jagirdar would help build the village school and
use his resources for the development of the locality.
At least in Devisar village, the Assembly election
had turned into a factional fight between uncle and
nephew.
Based on Anand Chakravarti, ‘A Village in Chomu
Assembly Constituency in Rajasthan.’
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 88 Politics in India since Independence

“
...in India, as
present trends continue…
maintenance of an ordered
structure of society is going
to slip out of reach of an
ordered structure of civil
government. Parties opposed to
the Congress realised that the
division of their votes kept the
Congress in power. Thus parties
that were entirely different and
disparate in their programmes
and ideology got together to
form anti-Congress fronts in

source of authority
and order. …the great
“
government and the army
will be only alternative

experiment of developing
India within a democratic
framework has failed.
Neville Maxwell
‘India’s Disintegrating
Democracy’ an article
published in the London
Times, 1967.
some states and entered into
electoral adjustments of sharing
seats in others. They felt that the
inexperience of Indira Gandhi
and the internal factionalism
within the Congress provided
them an opportunity to topple
the Congress. The socialist
leader Ram Manohar Lohia
gave this strategy the name
of ‘non-Congressism’. He also
produced a theoretical argument
in its defence: Congress rule was
undemocratic and opposed to the
interests of ordinary poor people;
therefore, the coming together
of the non-Congress parties
was necessary for reclaiming
democracy for the people.
C. Natarajan Annadurai
(1909-1969): Chief Minister
of Madras (Tamil Nadu)
from 1967; a journalist,
popular writer and orator;
initially associated with the
Justice Party in Madras
province; later joined Dravid
Kazagham (1934); formed
DMK as a political party in
1949; a proponent of Dravid
culture, he was opposed to
imposition of Hindi and led
the anti-Hindi agitations;
supporter of greater
autonomy to States.

Ram Manohar
Lohia (1910-1967): Electoral verdict
Socialist leader and It was in this context of heightened popular
thinker; freedom discontent and the polarisation of political forces
fighter and among that the fourth general elections to the Lok Sabha
the founders of the and State Assemblies were held in February 1967.
Congress Socialist The Congress was facing the electorate for the first
Party; after the time without Nehru.
split in the parent
The results jolted the Congress at both the
party, the leader of the Socialist Party
national and state levels. Many contemporary
and later the Samyukta Socialist
political observers described the election results as
Party; Member, Lok Sabha, 1963-
a ‘political earthquake’.The Congress did manage
67; founder editor of Mankind and
to get a majority in the Lok Sabha, but with its
Jan, known for original contribution
lowest tally of seats and share of votes since 1952.
to a non-European socialist theory;
Half the ministers in Indira Gandhi’s cabinet were
as political leader, best known for
defeated. The political stalwarts who lost in their
sharp attacks on Nehru, strategy
constituencies included Kamaraj in Tamil Nadu,
of non-Congressism, advocacy of
S.K. Patil in Maharashtra, Atulya Ghosh in West
reservation for backward castes and
Bengal and K. B. Sahay in Bihar.
opposition to English.

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Challenges to and Restoration of the Congress System 89

Note: This Is non-Congressism

illustration is not relevant today? Can it be
a map drawn to applied against Left Front in
scale and should today’s West Bengal?
not be taken to
be an authentic
depiction of
India’s external
boundaries.

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90 Politics in India since Independence

The dramatic nature of the political change would be more

apparent to you at the State level. The Congress lost majority in as
many as seven States. In two other States defections prevented it
from forming a government. These nine States where the Congress
lost power were spread across the country – Punjab, Haryana, Uttar
Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa, Madras and
Kerala. In Madras State (now called Tamil Nadu), a regional party —
the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) – came to power by securing
a clear majority. The DMK won power after having led a massive
anti-Hindi agitation by students against the centre on the issue of
imposition of Hindi as the official language. This was the first time any
non-Congress party had secured a majority of its own in any State. In
the other eight States, coalition governments consisting of different
non-Congress parties were formed. A popular saying was that one
could take a train from Delhi to Howrah and not pass through a
single Congress ruled State. It was a strange feeling for those who
were used to seeing the Congress in power. So, was the domination
of the Congress over?

What’s
so unusual in
Coalitions
hung assemblies The elections of 1967 brought into picture the phenomenon of
and coalition coalitions. Since no single party had got majority, various non-
governments? We
see them all
Congress parties came together to form joint legislative parties (called
the time. Samyukt Vidhayak Dal in Hindi) that supported non-Congress
governments. That is why these governments came to be described
as SVD governments. In most of these cases the coalition partners
were ideologically incongruent. The SVD government in Bihar, for
instance, included the two socialist parties – SSP and the PSP – along
with the CPI on the left and Jana Sangh on the right. In Punjab it
was called the ‘Popular United Front’ and comprised the two rival
Akali parties at that time – Sant group and the Master group – with
both the communist parties – the CPI and the CPI(M), the SSP, the
Republican Party and the Bharatiya Jana Sangh.
Credit: Kutty

A cartoonist’s reading of Charan Singh’s attempt to build a United Front of non-communist

parties in 1974

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Challenges to and Restoration of the Congress System 91

Defection
Another important feature of the politics after the 1967 election was the
role played by defections in the making and unmaking of governments
in the States. Defection means an elected representative leaves the
party on whose symbol he/she was elected and joins another party.
After the 1967 general election, the breakaway Congress legislators
played an important role in installing non-Congress governments in
three States - Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. The
constant realignments and shifting political loyalties in this period
gave rise to the expression ‘Aya Ram, Gaya Ram’. am’.

The story of ‘Aya Ram, Gaya Ram’

The expression ‘aya ram, gaya ram’ became
popular in the political vocabulary in India to
describe the practice of frequent floor-crossing
by legislators. Literally translated the terms
meant, Ram came and Ram went. The expression
originated in an amazing feat of floor crossing g
achieved by Gaya Lal, an MLA in Haryana, in n
1967. He changed his party thrice in a fortnight,ght,
from Congress to United Front, back to Congress ess
and then within nine hours to United Front again! It is said that when Gaya Lal declared his
intention to quit the United Front and join the Congress, the Congress leader, Rao Birendra Singh
brought him to Chandigarh press and declared “Gaya Ram was now Aya Ram”.
Gaya Lal’s feat was immortalised in the phrase “Aya Ram, Gaya Ram” which became the subject
of numerous jokes and cartoons. Later, the Constitution was amended to prevent defections.

Split in the Congress K. Kamaraj

(1903-1975): Freedom
We saw that after the 1967 elections, the fighter and Congress
Congress retained power at the Centre but with President; Chief
a reduced majority and lost power in many Minister of Madras
States. More importantly, the results proved that (Tamil Nadu); having
the Congress could be defeated at the elections. suffered educational
But there was no substitute as yet. Most non- deprivation, made
Congress coalition governments in the States did efforts to spread
not survive for long. They lost majority, and either education in Madras
new combinations were formed or President’s province; introduced mid-day meal
rule had to be imposed. scheme for schoolchildren; in 1963 he
proposed that all senior Congressmen
Indira vs. the ‘Syndicate’ should resign from office to make way
The real challenge to Indira Gandhi came not for younger party workers—this proposal
from the opposition but from within her own is famous as the ‘Kamaraj plan.’

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92 Politics in India since Independence

The Congress ‘Syndicate’

Syndicate was the informal name given to a group of Congress
leaders who were in control of the party’s organisation. It was led by
K. Kamraj, former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and then the president
of the Congress party. It included powerful State leaders like S. K.
Patil of Bombay city (later named as Mumbai), S. Nijalingappa of
Mysore (later Karnataka), N. Sanjeeva Reddy of Andhra Pradesh
and Atulya Ghosh of West Bengal. Both Lal Bahadur Shastri and
S. Nijalingappa
later Indira Gandhi owed their position to the support received from
(1902-2000):
the Syndicate. This group had a decisive say in Indira Gandhi’s first
Senior Congress
Council of Ministers and also in policy formulation and implementation.
leader; Member
After the Congress split the leaders of the syndicate and those owing
of Constituent
allegiance to them stayed with the Congress (O). Since it was Indira
Assembly; member
Gandhi’s Congress (R) that won the test of popularity, all these big
of Lok Sabha; Chief
and powerful men of Indian politics lost their power and prestige
Minister of the then
after 1971.
Mysore (Karnataka)
State; regarded as
the maker of modern
party. She had to deal with Karnataka; President
So, the ‘syndicate’, a group of
there is nothing
of Congress during
new about State
powerful and influential 1968-71.
level leaders being leaders from within the
the king-makers at Congress. The Syndicate
the centre. I thought had played a role in the
it happened only in installation of Indira Gandhi as the Prime Minister by
the 1990s. ensuring her election as the leader of the parliamentary
party. These leaders expected Indira Gandhi to follow their
advise. Gradually, however, Indira Gandhi attempted to
assert her position within the government and the party.
She chose her trusted group of advisers from outside
the party. Slowly and carefully, she sidelined
Karpoori Thakur the Syndicate.
(1924-1988): Chief Minister Indira Gandhi thus faced two challenges.
of Bihar between December She needed to build her independence from the
1970 and June 1971 and Syndicate. She also needed to work towards
again between June 1977 regaining the ground that the Congress had
and April 1979; Freedom lost in the 1967 elections. Indira Gandhi
Fighter and socialist adopted a very bold strategy. She converted
leader; active in labour a simple power struggle into an ideological
and peasant movements; struggle. She launched a series of initiatives to
staunch follower of Lohia; give the government policy a Left orientation.
participated in the movement led by JP; known She got the Congress Working Committee to
for his decision to introduce reservations adopt a Ten Point Programme in May 1967.
for the backward classes in Bihar during his This programme included social control of
second Chief Ministership; strong opponent of banks, nationalisation of General Insurance,
the use of English Language. ceiling on urban property and income,

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Challenges to and Restoration of the Congress System 93

public distribution of food grains, land reforms and

provision of house sites to the rural poor. While the V.V. Giri
‘syndicate’ leaders formally approved this Left-wing (1894-1980):
programme, they had serious reservations about President of
the same. India from
1969 to 1974;
Presidential election, 1969 Congress
worker and
The factional rivalry between the Syndicate and Indira
labour leader
Gandhi came in the open in 1969. Following President
from Andhra
Zakir Hussain’s death, the post of President of the
Pradesh; Indian
India fell vacant that year. Despite Mrs Gandhi’s
High Commissioner to Ceylon
reservations the ‘syndicate’ managed to nominate
(Sri Lanka); Labour Minister in
her long time opponent and then speaker of the Lok
Union cabinet; Governor of U.P.,
Sabha, N. Sanjeeva Reddy, as the official Congress
Kerala, Mysore (Karnataka);
candidate for the ensuing Presidential elections.
Vice-President (1967-1969) and
Indira Gandhi retaliated by encouraging the then
acting President after the death of
Vice-President, V.V. Giri, to file his nomination as
President Zakir Hussain; resigned
an independent candidate. She also announced
and contested presidential election
several big and popular policy measures like the
as independent candidate; received
nationalisation of fourteen leading private banks
support from Indira Gandhi for his
and the abolition of the ‘privy purse’ or the special
election as President.
privileges given to former princes. Morarji Desai was
the Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister.

Credit: R. K. Laxman in The TImes of India, 21 August 1969

“The Left Hook” was published after the victory of V.V. Giri, (the boxer with the garland)
over the nominee of the Syndicate, represented here by Nijalingappa (on his knees).

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 94 Politics in India since Independence

On both the above issues serious differences emerged between him

“
History … is
replete with instances of
the tragedy that overtakes
democracy when a leader
who has risen to power on
the crest of a popular wave
and the Prime Minister resulting in Desai leaving the government.
Congress had seen differences of this kind in the past. But
this time both the parties wanted a showdown which took place
during the Presidential elections. The then Congress President
S. Nijalingappa issued a ‘whip’ asking all the Congress MPs and MLAs
to vote in favour of Sanjeeva Reddy, the official candidate of the party.
Supporters of Indira Gandhi requisitioned a special meeting of the

“
or with the support of a
democratic organisation
becomes a victim of
political narcissism
and is egged on by a
coterie of unscrupulous
sycophants…...
S Nijalingappa
Letter to Indira Gandhi
expelling her from the
party, 11 November
1969.
AICC (that is why this faction came to be known as ‘requisitionists’)
but this was refused. After silently supporting V.V. Giri, the Prime
Minister openly called for a ‘conscience vote’ which meant that the
MPs and MLAs from the Congress should be free to vote the way they
want. The election ultimately resulted in the victory of V.V. Giri, the
independent candidate, and the defeat of Sanjeeva Reddy, the official
Congress candidate.
The defeat of the official Congress candidate formalised the split
in the party. The Congress President expelled the Prime Minister
from the party; she claimed that her group was the real Congress. By
November 1969, the Congress group led by the ‘syndicate’ came to be
referred to as the Congress (Organisation) and the group led by Indira
Gandhi came to be called the Congress (Requisitionists). These two
parties were also described as Old Congress and New Congress. Indira
Gandhi projected the split as an ideological divide between socialists
and conservatives, between the pro-poor and the pro-rich.

Abolition of Privy Purse

In Chapter One you have read about the integration of the Princely States. This integration was
preceded by an assurance that after the dissolution of princely rule, the then rulers’ families
would be allowed to retain certain private property, and given a grant in heredity or government
allowance, measured on the basis of the extent, revenue and potential of the merging state.
This grant was called the privy purse. At the time of accession, there was little criticism of these
privileges since integration and consolidation was the primary aim.
Yet, hereditary privileges were not consonant with the principles of equality and social and economic
justice laid down in the Constitution of India. Nehru had expressed his dissatisfaction over the
matter time and again. Following the 1967 elections, Indira Gandhi supported the demand that the
government should abolish privy purses. Morarji Desai, however, called the move morally wrong
and amounting to a ‘breach of faith with the princes’.
The government tried to bring a Constitutional amendment in 1970, but it was not passed in Rajya
Sabha. It then issued an ordinance which was struck down by the Supreme Court. Indira Gandhi
made this into a major election issue in 1971 and got a lot of public support. Following its massive
victory in the 1971 election, the Constitution was amended to remove legal obstacles for abolition
of ‘privy purse’.

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 Challenges to and Restoration of the Congress System 95
Credit: Vijayan, Shankar’s Weekly

20 July 1969

A cartoonist’s impression of the leadership rivalry in the Congress Party in 1969.

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 96 Politics in India since Independence

The 1971 Election and Restoration of Congress

The split in the Congress reduced Indira Gandhi Government to a
minority. Yet her government continued in office with the issue-based
support of a few other parties including the Communist Party of India
and the DMK. During this period the government made conscious
attempts to project its socialist credentials. This was also a phase when
Indira Gandhi vigorously campaigned for implementing the existing
land reform laws and undertook further land ceiling legislation. In
order to end her dependence on other political parties, strengthen
her party’s position in the Parliament, and seek a popular mandate
for her programmes, Indira Gandhi’s government recommended the
dissolution of the Lok Sabha in December 1970. This was another
surprising and bold move. The fifth general election to Lok Sabha
were held in February 1971.

The contest
The electoral contest appeared to be loaded against Congress(R).
After all, the new Congress was just one faction of an already weak
party. Everyone believed that the real organisational strength of the
Congress party was under the command of Congress(O). To make
matters worse for Indira Gandhi, all the major non-communist, non-
Congress opposition parties formed an electoral alliance known as
the Grand Alliance. The SSP, PSP, Bharatiya Jana Sangh, Swatantra
Party and the Bharatiya Kranti Dal came together under this umbrella.
The ruling party had an alliance with the CPI.
Yet the new Congress had something that its big opponents
lacked – it had an issue, an agenda and a positive slogan. The Grand
Alliance did not have a coherent political programme. Indira Gandhi
said that the opposition alliance had only one common programme:
Almost four Indira Hatao (Remove Indira). In contrast to this, she put forward
decades after giving the
slogan of Garibi Hatao, we
a positive programme captured in the famous slogan: Garibi Hatao
still have much poverty (Remove Poverty). She focused on the growth of the public sector,
around! Was the slogan imposition of ceiling on rural land holdings and urban property,
only an election removal of disparities in income and opportunity, and abolition of
gimmick? princely privileges. Through garibi hatao Indira Gandhi tried to
generate a support base among the disadvantaged, especially among
the landless labourers, Dalits and Adivasis, minorities, women and
the unemployed youth. The slogan of garibi hatao and the programmes
that followed it were part of Indira Gandhi’s political strategy of
building an independent nationwide political support base.

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 Challenges to and Restoration of the Congress System 97

The outcome and after

The results of the Lok Sabha elections of 1971, were as dramatic
as was the decision to hold these elections. The Congress(R)-CPI
alliance won more seats and votes than the Congress had ever won
in the first four general elections. The combine won 375 seats in Lok
Sabha and secured 48.4 per cent votes. Indira Gandhi’s Congress(R)
won 352 seats with about 44 per cent of the popular votes on its own.
Contrast this with the performance of the Congress(O): the party
with so many stalwarts could get less than one-fourth of the votes
secured by Indira Gandhi’s party and win merely 16 seats. With this
the Congress party led by Indira Gandhi established its claim to being
the ‘real’ Congress and restored to it the dominant position in Indian
politics. The Grand Alliance of the opposition proved a grand failure.
Their combined tally of seats was less than 40.
Credit: R. K. Laxman in The Times of India

“The Grand Finish” is how a cartoonist interpreted the outcome of the 1971 elections.
Players on the ground are the then leading opposition figures.

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 98 Politics in India since Independence

Soon after the 1971 Lok Sabha

Credit: R. K. Laxman in the Times of India

elections, a major political and military

crisis broke out in East Pakistan (now
Bangladesh). As you have read in Chapter
Four, the 1971 elections were followed by
the crisis in East Pakistan and the Indo-
Pak war leading to the establishment
of Bangladesh. These events added to
the popularity of Indira Gandhi. Even
the opposition leaders admired her
statesmanship. Her party swept through all
the State Assembly elections held in 1972.
She was seen not only as the protector of
p
The cu ers the poor and the underprivileged, but also
e
that h
c a strong nationalist leader. The opposition
to her, either within the party or outside of
it, simply did not matter.
With two successive election victories,
one at the centre and other at the State
level, the dominance of the Congress was
restored. The Congress was now in power in almost all the States. It
was also popular across different social sections. Within a span of four
years, Indira Gandhi had warded off the challenge to her leadership
and to the dominant position of the Congress party.

Credit: Kutty

The new manner of choosing CMs by Indira Gandhi inspired this cartoon.

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Challenges to and Restoration of the Congress System 99

Let’s watch a Film

Restoration?
But does it mean that the Congress system ZANJEER
was restored? What Indira Gandhi had
done was not a revival of the old Congress
party. In many ways she had re-invented
the party. The party occupied a similar
position in terms of its popularity as in
the past. But it was a different kind of a
party. It relied entirely on the popularity
of the supreme leader. It had a somewhat
weak organisational structure. This
Congress party now did not have many
factions, thus it could not accommodate
all kinds of opinions and interests. While
it won elections, it depended more on
some social groups: the poor, the women,
Dalits, Adivasis and the minorities. This Vijay, a young police officer is
was a new Congress that had emerged. framed in false charges and sent
Thus Indira Gandhi restored the Congress to jail while fighting gangsters.
system by changing the nature of the Released from jail, Vijay is
Congress system itself. determined to take revenge. He
fights all odds and vanquishes
Despite being more popular, the new the villains. Even while he is
Congress did not have the kind of capacity engaged in taking revenge, Vijay
to absorb all tensions and conflicts that is fighting the anti-social element
the Congress system was known for. While and gets the tacit support of many
the Congress consolidated its position others from within the system.
and Indira Gandhi assumed a position
of unprecedented political authority,
the spaces for democratic expression of This film portrayed the erosion
people’s aspirations actually shrank. The of moral values and the deep
popular unrest and mobilisation around frustrations arising from that
issues of development and economic quite forcefully. It represents the
deprivation continued to grow. In the indifference of the system and
next chapter you will read about how this the harsh and volcanic eruption
led to a political crisis that threatened of protest through the anger of
Vijay. The film set the trend of
the very existence of constitutional
what was later to be known as
democracy in the country.
the ‘angry young man’ of the
seventies.
That
is like
changing the top
and legs of a table Year: 1973
and still calling it the Director: Prakash Mehra
old table! What was Screenplay: Javed Akhtar
common between the Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Ajit,
Old and the New Jaya Bhaduri, Pran
Congress?

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100 Politics
PoliticsininIndia
Indiasince
sinceIndependence
Independence

1. Which of these statements about the 1967 elections is/are correct?

(a) Congress won the Lok Sabha elections but lost the Assembly
elections in many states.
(b) Congress lost both Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.
(c) Congress lost majority in the Lok Sabha but formed a coalition
government with the support of some other parties.
(d) Congress retained power at the Centre with an increased majority.

2. Match the following:

(a) Syndicate i. An elected representative
leaving the party on whose
ticket s/he has been elected
(b) Defection ii. A catchy phrase that attracts
public attention
(c) Slogan iii. parties with different
ideological position coming
EXERCISES

together to oppose Congress

and its policies
(d) Anti-Congressism iv. A group of powerful
e
sa
d
e
rl a
liu
e
n
tln
fia
n
d
within the Congress

3. Whom would you identify with the following slogans/phrases?

(a) Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan
(b) Indira Hatao!
(c) Garibi Hatao!

4. Which of the following statement about the Grand Alliance of 1971 is

correct?
The Grand Alliance …..
(a) was formed by non-Communist, non-Congress parties.
(b) had a clear political and ideological programme.
(c) was formed by all non-Congress parties.

5. How should a political party resolve its internal differences? Here are
some suggestions. Think of each and list out their advantages and
shortcomings.
(a) Follow the footsteps of the party president
(b) Listen to the majority group
(c) Secret ballot voting on every issue
(d) Consult the senior and experienced leaders of the party

6. State which of these were reasons for the defeat of the Congress in
1967. Give reasons for your answer.
(a) The absence of a charismatic leader in the Congress party
(b) Split within the Congress party
(c) Increased mobilisation of regional, ethnic and communal groups

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Challenges to and Restoration of the Congress System 101

(d) Increasing unity among non-Congress parties

(e) Internal differences within the Congress party

7. What were the factors which led to the popularity of Indira Gandhi’s
Government in the early 1970s?

8. What does the term ‘syndicate’ mean in the context of the Congress
party of the sixties? What role did the Syndicate play in the Congress
party?

9. Discuss the major issue which led to the formal split of the Congress
Party in 1969.

10. Read the passage and answer the questions below:

…Indira Gandhi changed the Congress into highly cerntalised and
undemocratic party organisation, from the earlier federal, democratic
and ideological formation that Nehru had led…..But this… could not
have happened had not Indira Gandhi changed the entire nature of
politics. This new, populist politics turned political ideology ……. into
a mere electoral discourse, use of various slogans not meant to be
translated into government policies…… During its great electoral
victories in early 1970s, amidst the celebration, the Congress party as a
political organisation died….. — SUDIPTA KAVIRAJ
(a) What according to the author is the difference between the
strategies of Nehru and Indira Gandhi?
(b) Why does the author say that the Congress party ‘died’ in the
seventies?
(c) In what way, did the change in the Congress party affect other
political parties also?

LET US DO IT TOGETHER

• Make a list of slogans coined by political parties.

• Do you see any similarities between advertisements and
manifestoes, slogans and advertisements of political parties?
• Have a discussion on how price rise affects the political fortunes of
the political parties.

2018-19
 In this chapter…
We have seen in the last chapter that the Congress recovered after
1971, but was not the same kind of party. The difference became
clear in a series of events between 1973 and 1975 that brought new
challenges to India’s democratic politics and the institutional balance
sought by the Constitution. These developments led to the imposition of
‘emergency’ in June 1975. Normally, we would associate ‘emergency’
with war and aggression or with natural disaster. But this ‘emergency’
was imposed because of the perceived threat of internal disturbance.
The editorial page of The Emergency ended as dramatically as it had begun, resulting in a
‘Nai Dunia’ of 27 June defeat of the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections of 1977.
1975 was like any other
day, except that the In this chapter we focus on this crucial phase in the history of democracy
space for editorial was in India and ask some questions that have remained controversial after
left blank. The editorial all these years.
was “censored” using
emergency powers. • Why was Emergency imposed? Was it necessary?
Many other newspapers
also carried such blank • What did the imposition of Emergency mean in practice?
spaces–sometimes
to protest against
• What were the consequences of Emergency on party politics?
emergency. Later, leaving • What are the lessons of Emergency for Indian democracy?
blank space was also
banned.

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 chapter
the crisis of
democratic order 6
Background to Emergency
We have already studied the changes that were taking place in Indian
politics since 1967. Indira Gandhi had emerged as a towering leader
with tremendous popularity. This was also the period when party
competition became bitter and polarised. This period also witnessed
tensions in the relationship between the government and the judiciary.
The Supreme Court found many initiatives of the government to be
violative of the Constitution. The Congress party took the position
that this stand of the Court was against principles of democracy
and parliamentary supremacy. The Congress also alleged that the
Court was a conservative institution and it was becoming an obstacle
in the way of implementing pro-poor welfare programmes. The
parties opposed to the Congress felt that politics was becoming too
personalised and that governmental authority was being converted
into personal authority. The split in the Congress had sharpened the
divisions between Indira Gandhi and her opponents.

Credit: Abu
Economic context

   

In the elections of 1971, Congress had given the slogan

of garibi hatao (remove poverty). However, the social and
economic condition in the country did not improve much
after 1971-72. The Bangladesh crisis had put a heavy strain
on India’s economy. About eight million people crossed over
the East Pakistan border into India. This was followed by war
with Pakistan. After the war the U.S government stopped all
aid to India. In the international market, oil prices increased
manifold during this period. This led to an all-round increase
in prices of commodities. Prices increased by 23 per cent in
1973 and 30 per cent in 1974. Such a high level of inflation
caused much hardship to the people.
Industrial growth was low and unemployment was
very high, particularly in the rural areas. In order to
reduce expenditure the government froze the salaries of
its employees. This caused further dissatisfaction among
government employees. Monsoons failed in 1972-1973. This
resulted in a sharp decline in agricultural productivity. Food
grain output declined by 8 per cent. There was a general
atmosphere of dissatisfaction with the prevailing economic

2018-19
 104
Poor
people must have
had a tough time. What
happened to the promise
of garibi hatao?
“ “
Sampoorna Kranti
ab nara hai, bhavi itihas
hamara hai [With Total
Revolution as our motto, the
future belongs to us]
A slogan of the Bihar
movement, 1974
Politics in India since Independence
situation all over the country. In such a context non-Congress
opposition parties were able to organise popular protests effectively.
Instances of students’ unrests that had persisted from the late 1960s
became more pronounced in this period. There was also an increase
in the activities of Marxist groups who did not believe in parliamentary
politics. These groups had taken to arms and insurgent techniques
for the overthrow of the capitalist order and the established political
system. Known as the Marxist-Leninist (now Maoist) groups or
Naxalites, they were particularly strong in West Bengal, where the
State government took stringent measures to suppress them.
Gujarat and Bihar movements
Students’ protests in Gujarat and Bihar, both of which were Congress
ruled States, had far reaching impact on the politics of the two States
and national politics. In January 1974 students in Gujarat started
an agitation against rising prices of food grains, cooking oil and
other essential commodities, and against corruption in high places.
The students’ protest was joined by major opposition parties and
became widespread leading to the imposition of President’s rule in the
state. The opposition parties demanded fresh elections to the state
legislature. Morarji Desai, a prominent leader of Congress (O), who
was the main rival of Indira Gandhi when he was in the Congress,
announced that he would go on an indefinite fast if fresh elections
were not held in the State. Under intense pressure from students,
supported by the opposition political parties, assembly elections were
held in Gujarat in June 1975. The Congress was defeated in this
election.
In March 1974 students came together in Bihar to protest against
rising prices, food scarcity, unemployment and corruption. After
a point they invited Jayaprakash Narayan (JP), who had given up
active politics and was involved in social work, to lead the student
movement. He accepted it on the condition that the movement will
remain non-violent and will not limit itself to Bihar. Thus the students’
movement assumed a political character and had national appeal.
People from all walks of life now entered
the movement. Jayaprakash Narayan
demanded the dismissal of the Congress
government in Bihar and gave a call for
“
“
total revolution in the social, economic
and political spheres in order to establish Indira is India,
what he considered to be true democracy.
India is Indira
A series of bandhs, gehraos, and strikes
were organised in protest against the
Bihar government. The government,
however, refused to resign.
A slogan given by
D. K. Barooah, President of the
Congress, 1974
2018-19
The Crisis of Democratic Order 105

The Naxalite Movement

In 1967 a peasant uprising took place in the Naxalbari police station area of
Darjeeling hills district in West Bengal under the leadership of the local cadres
of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Beginning from the Naxalbari police
station, the peasant movement spread to several states of India and came to
be referred broadly as the Naxalite movement. In 1969, they broke off from the
CPI (M) and a new party, Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist) (CPI-ML), was
formed under the leadership of Charu Majumdar. It argued that democracy in
India was a sham and decided to adopt a strategy of protracted guerrilla warfare
in order to lead to a revolution.
The Naxalite movement has
used force to snatch land from
the rich landowners and give it
to the poor and the landless. Its
supporters advocated the use of
violent means to achieve their
political goals. In spite of the use
of preventive detention and other
strong measures adopted by the
West Bengal government run by
the Congress party, the Naxalite
movement did not come to an end. In later years, it spread to many other parts
of the country. The Naxalite movement has by now splintered into various
parties and organisations. Some of these parties, like the CPI – ML (Liberation)
participate in open, democratic politics.
Currently about 75 districts in nine States are affected by Naxalite violence.
Most of these are very backward areas inhabited by Adivasis. In these areas the
sharecroppers, under-tenants and
Charu Majumdar small cultivators are denied their
(1918-1972): Communist basic rights with regard to security
revolutionary and the of tenure or their share in produce,
leader of the Naxalbari payment of fair wages etc. Forced
uprising; participated in labour, expropriation of resources
the Tebhaga movement by outsiders and exploitation by
before independence; left moneylenders are also common
the CPI and founded the in these areas. These conditions
Communist Party of India lead to the growth of the Naxalite
(Marxist-Leninist); believed movement.
in the Maoist path of peasant rebellion and Governments have taken stern
defended revolutionary violence; died in police measures in dealing with the
custody. Naxalite movement. Human
right activists have criticised
the government for violating
constitutional norms in dealing
with the Naxalites. Many thousand people have lost their lives in the violence by
the Naxalites and the anti-Naxalite violence by the government.

2018-19
 106 Politics in India since Independence
Credit: R. K. Laxman in The Times of India, 16 April 1974

The movement was beginning to

influence national politics. Jayaprakash
Loknayak
Narayan wanted to spread the Bihar
Jayaprakash
movement to other parts of the
Narayan (JP)
country. Alongside the agitation led by
(1902-1979): A
Jayaprakash Narayan, the employees of
marxist in his youth;
the Railways gave a call for a nationwide
founder general
strike. This threatened to paralyse the
secretary of the
country. In 1975, JP led a peoples’
Congress Socialist
march to the Parliament. This was one
Party and the Socialist Party; a hero of the 1942
of the largest political rallies ever held
Quit India movement; declined to join Nehru’s
in the capital. He was now supported
cabinet; after 1955 quit active politics; became
by the non-Congress opposition parties
a Gandhian and was involved in the Bhoodan
like the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the
movement, negotiations with the Naga rebels,
Congress (O), the Bharatiya Lok Dal, the
peace initiative in Kashmir and ensured the
Socialist Party and others. These parties
surrender of decoits in Chambal; leader of Bihar
were projecting JP as an alternative to
movement, he became the symbol of opposition to
Indira Gandhi. However, there were many
Emergency and was the moving force behind the
criticisms about his ideas and about the
formation of Janata Party.
politics of mass agitations that he was
employing. Both the Gujarat and Bihar

2018-19
The Crisis of Democratic Order 107

agitations were seen as anti-Congress and rather than opposing the

State governments, they were seen as protests against the leadership
of Indira Gandhi. She believed that the movement was motivated by
personal opposition to her.

Railway Strike of 1974

What would happen when the railways stop running? Not for one or
two days, but for more than a week? Of course, many people would be
inconvenienced; but more than that, the economy of the country would
come to a halt because goods are transported from one part to another
by trains.
Do you know that such a thing actually happened in 1974? The National
Coordination Committee for Railwaymen’s Struggle led by George
Fernandes gave a call for nationwide strike by all employees of the Railways
for pressing their demands related to bonus and service conditions. The
government was opposed to these demands. So, the employees of India’s
largest public sector undertaking went on a strike in May 1974. The strike
by the Railway employees added to the atmosphere of labour unrest. It
also raised issues like rights of the workers and whether employees of
essential services should adopt measures like strikes.
The government declared the strike illegal. As the government refused
to concede the demands of the striking workers, arrested many of their
leaders and deployed the territorial army to protect railway tracks, the
strike had to be called off after twenty days without any settlement.

Conflict with Judiciary

This was also the period when the government and the ruling party
had many differences with the judiciary. Do you remember the
discussion about the long drawn conflict between the Parliament and
the judiciary? You have studied this last year. Three constitutional
issues had emerged. Can the Parliament abridge Fundamental Rights?
The Supreme Court said it cannot. Secondly, can the Parliament
curtail the right to property by making an amendment? Again, the
Court said that Parliament cannot amend the Constitution in such
a manner that rights are curtailed. Thirdly, the Parliament amended
the Constitution saying that it can abridge Fundamental Rights for
giving effect to Directive Principles. But the Supreme Court rejected Do ‘committed
this provision also. This led to a crisis as far as the relations between judiciary’ and
the government and the judiciary were concerned. You may remember ‘committed bureaucracy’
mean that the judges
that this crisis culminated in the famous Kesavananda Bharati Case. In
and government officials
this case, the Court gave a decision that there are some basic features should be loyal to the
of the Constitution and the Parliament cannot amend these features. ruling party?
Two developments further added to the tension between the
judiciary and the executive. Immediately after the Supreme Court’s

2018-19
 108 Politics in India since Independence

decision in 1973 in the Keshavananda Bharati case, a vacancy arose

for the post of the Chief Justice of India. It had been a practice to
appoint the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court as the Chief
Justice. But in 1973, the government set aside the seniority of
three judges and appointed Justice A. N. Ray as the Chief Justice
of India. The appointment became politically controversial because
all the three judges who were superseded had given rulings against
the stand of the government. Thus, constitutional interpretations
and political ideologies were getting mixed up rapidly. People close
to the Prime Minister started talking of the need for a judiciary and
the bureaucracy ‘committed’ to the vision of the executive and the
legislature. The climax of the confrontation was of course the ruling
of the High Court declaring Indira Gandhi’s election invalid.

Declaration of Emergency
On 12 June 1975, Justice Jagmohan Lal Sinha of the Allahabad High
Court passed a judgment declaring Indira Gandhi’s election to the
Lok Sabha invalid. This order came on an election petition filed by Raj
Narain, a socialist leader and a candidate who had contested against
her in 1971. The petition, challenged the election of Indira Gandhi
on the ground that she had used the services of government servants
in her election campaign. The judgment of the High Court meant that
legally she was no more an MP and therefore, could not remain the
Prime Minister unless she was once again elected as an MP within six
months. On June 24, the Supreme Court granted her a partial stay on
the High Court order – till her appeal was decided, she could remain an
MP but could not take part in the proceedings of the Lok Sabha.

Crisis and response

That is like asking The stage was now set for a big political confrontation. The opposition
the army to disobey political parties led by Jayaprakash Narayan pressed for Indira
the government! Is Gandhi’s resignation and organised a massive demonstration in
that democratic? Delhi’s Ramlila grounds on 25 June 1975. Jayaprakash announced
a nationwide satyagraha for her resignation and asked the army, the
police and government employees not to obey “illegal and immoral
orders”. This too threatened to bring the activities of the government
to a standstill. The political mood of the country had turned against
the Congress, more than ever before.
The response of the government was to declare a state of emergency.
On 25 June 1975, the government declared that there was a threat
of internal disturbances and therefore, it invoked Article 352 of the
Constitution. Under the provision of this article the government could
declare a state of emergency on grounds of external threat or a threat
of internal disturbances. The government decided that a grave crisis
had arisen which made the proclamation of a state of emergency
necessary. Technically speaking this was within the powers of the

2018-19
The Crisis of Democratic Order 109

Credit: R. K. Laxman in The Times of India, 26 June 1975

This cartoon appeared few days before the declaration of Emergency and captures the sense of impending
political crisis. The man behind the chair is D. K. Barooah, the Congress President.

government, for our Constitution provides for some special powers to

the government once an emergency is declared.
Once an emergency is proclaimed, the federal distribution of powers
remains practically suspended and all the powers are concentrated in
the hands of the union government. Secondly, the government also
gets the power to curtail or restrict all or any of the Fundamental
Rights during the emergency. From the wording of the provisions of
the Constitution, it is clear that an Emergency is seen as an extra-
ordinary condition in which normal democratic politics cannot
function. Therefore, special powers are granted to the government.
On the night of 25 June 1975, the Prime Minister recommended
Should
the imposition of Emergency to President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed. He the President
issued the proclamation immediately. After midnight, the electricity have declared
to all the major newspaper offices was disconnected. In the early Emergency without any
morning, a large number of leaders and workers of the opposition recommendation from the
parties were arrested. The Cabinet was informed about it at a special Cabinet?
meeting at 6 a.m. on 26 June, after all this had taken place.

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110
110 Politics in India since Independence

ber 1975
11 Decem

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The Crisis of Democratic Order 111
111

2018-19
112 Politics in India since Independence

Consequences
This brought the agitation to an abrupt stop; strikes were banned;
many opposition leaders were put in jail; the political situation became
very quiet though tense. Deciding to use its special powers under
Emergency provisions, the government suspended the freedom of the
Press. Newspapers were asked to get prior approval for all material
to be published. This is known as press censorship. Apprehending
social and communal disharmony, the government banned Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Jamait-e-Islami. Protests and strikes
and public agitations were also disallowed. Most importantly, under
the provisions of Emergency, the various Fundamental Rights of
citizens stood suspended, including the right of citizens to move the
Court for restoring their Fundamental Rights.
The government made extensive use of preventive detention. Under
this provision, people are arrested and detained not because they have
Now, committed any offence, but on the apprehension that they may commit
even the an offence. Using preventive detention acts, the government made
Supreme Court large scale arrests during the Emergency. Arrested political workers
gave in! What could not challenge their arrest through habeas corpus petitions.
was happening to Many cases were filed in the High Courts and the Supreme Court by
everyone in those
and on behalf of arrested persons, but the government claimed that it
days?
was not even necessary to inform the arrested persons of the reasons
and grounds of their arrest. Several High Courts gave judgments that
even after the declaration of Emergency the courts could entertain a
writ of habeas corpus filed by a person challenging his/her detention.
In April 1976, the constitution bench of the Supreme Court over-ruled
the High Courts and accepted the government’s plea. It meant that
during Emergency the government could take away the citizen’s right
to life and liberty. This judgment closed the doors of judiciary for the
citizens and is regarded as one of the most controversial judgments
of the Supreme Court.
There were many acts of dissent and resistance to the Emergency.
Many political workers who were not arrested in the first wave,
went ‘underground’ and organised protests against the government.
Newspapers like the Indian Express and the Statesman protested
against censorship by leaving blank spaces where news items had
been censored. Magazines like the Seminar and the Mainstream chose
to close down rather than submit to censorship. Many journalists
were arrested for writing against the Emergency. Many underground
newsletters and leaflets were published to bypass censorship. Kannada
writer Shivarama Karanth, awarded with Padma Bhushan, and Hindi
writer Fanishwarnath Renu, awarded with Padma Shri, returned their
awards in protest against the suspension of democracy. By and large,
though, such open acts of defiance and resistance were rare.
The Parliament also brought in many new changes to the
Constitution. In the background of the ruling of the Allahabad High

2018-19
The Crisis of Democratic Order 113

Court in the Indira Gandhi case, an amendment was made declaring

that elections of Prime Minister, President and Vice-President could
not be challenged in the Court. The forty-second amendment was
also passed during the Emergency. You have already studied that
this amendment consisted of a series of changes in many parts of the
Constitution. Among the various changes made by this amendment,
one was that the duration of the legislatures in the country was
extended from five to six years. This change was not only for the
Emergency period, but was intended to be of a permanent nature.
Besides this, during an Emergency, elections can be postponed by Let
one year. Thus, effectively, after 1971, elections needed to be held us not
talk about the
only in 1978; instead of 1976. few who protested.
What about the rest?
All the big officials,
Controversies regarding Emergency intellectuals, social
and religious leaders,
Emergency is one of the most controversial episodes in Indian politics. citizens… What were
One reason is that there are differing view points about the need to they doing?
declare emergency. Another reason is that using the powers given by
the Constitution, the government practically suspended the democratic
functioning. As the investigations by the Shah Commission after the
Emergency found out, there were many ‘excesses’ committed during
the Emergency. Finally, there are varying assessments of what the
lessons of Emergency are for the practice of democracy in India. Let
us look at these one by one.

Was the Emergency necessary? Shah Commission of Inquiry

The Constitution simply mentioned ‘internal
disturbances’ as the reason for declaring
Emergency. Before 1975, Emergency was
never proclaimed on this ground. We have
noted that agitations were going on in
many parts of the country. Was this reason
enough for declaring Emergency? The
government argued that in a democracy,
the opposition parties must allow the
elected ruling party to govern according to
its policies. It felt that frequent recourse to
agitations, protests and collective action
are not good for democracy. Supporters
of Indira Gandhi also held that in a
democracy, you cannot continuously have
extra-parliamentary politics targeting
the government. This leads to instability
and distracts the administration from its
routine task of ensuring development. All
energies are diverted to maintenance of
law and order. Indira Gandhi wrote in a
In May 1977, the Janata Party government
appointed a Commission of Inquiry headed
by Justice J.C. Shah, retired Chief Justice
of the Supreme Court of India, to inquire
“into several aspects of allegations of abuse
of authority, excesses and malpractices
committed and action taken in the wake
of the Emergency proclaimed on the 25th
June, 1975”. The Commission examined
various kinds of evidence and called scores
of witnesses to give testimonies. These
included Indira Gandhi who appeared before
the Commission but refused to answer any
questions.
The Government of India accepted the
findings, observations and recommendations
contained in the two interim reports and third
and final report of the Shah Commission.
The reports were also tabled in the two
houses of Parliament.

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 114 Politics in India since Independence

Credit: R. K. Laxman in the Times of India

“ In the name
of democracy it has been
sought to negate the very
functioning of democracy.
Duly elected governments
have not been allowed to
function. …Agitations have
surcharged the atmosphere,
leading to violent incidents.
…Certain persons have gone
to the length of inciting
our armed forces to mutiny
and our police to rebel. The
forces of disintegration are
in full play and communal Mrs. Gandhi’s confrontation with the Shah Commission provoked this cartoon
passions are being aroused, when the commission’s report was released.
threatening our unity.

“
How can any Government
worth the name stand by
and allow the country’s
stability to be imperilled?
The actions of a few are
endangering the rights of the
vast majority.
Indira Gandhi
Addressing the nation on
All India Radio on
26 June 1975
letter to the Shah Commission that subversive forces were trying to
obstruct the progressive programmes of the government and were
attempting to dislodge her from power through extra-constitutional
means.
Some other parties, like the CPI that continued to back the
Congress during the Emergency, also believed that there was an
international conspiracy against the unity of India. It believed that
in such circumstances some restrictions on agitations were justified.
Demolitions in Turkman Gate area, Delhi
Emergency witnessed large-scale displacement of people living in
Delhi’s poorer localities. The jhuggi-jhopris were forcibly relocated in
the then barren areas across the river Yamuna. One such affected
area was the colonies in Turkman gate. The jhuggis of the area
were demolished. Hundreds of people of this area were forcibly
sterilised. However, many people escaped sterilisation simply
because they were able to motivate other people to get themselves
sterilised and were rewarded by the grant of title to a piece of land.
Thus, while some people became victims of government-sponsored
actions, some people managed to victimise others in their desire to
legally secure a piece of land, which would safeguard them from
arbitrary displacement.
Source: Shah Commission of Inquiry, Interim Report II

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The Crisis of Democratic Order 115

Let’s re-search
Ask your parents or other elders in the family or neighbourhood about
their experience during 1975-77. Take down notes on the following:
• Their personal experience of the Emergency.
• Any report of support or opposition to the Emergency in your
locality.
• Their participation in the 1977 elections and why they voted the
way they did.
Put your notes together and make a collective report on ‘Emergency in
my city/village.’

The CPI felt that the agitations led by JP were mainly by the middle
classes who were opposed to the radical policies of the Congress party.
After the Emergency, the CPI felt that its assessment was mistaken
and that it was an error to have supported the Emergency.
On the other hand, the critics of the Emergency argued that ever
since the freedom movement, Indian politics had a history of popular
struggles. JP and many other opposition leaders felt that in a democracy,
people had the right to publicly protest against the government. The
Bihar and Gujarat agitations were mostly peaceful and non-violent.
Those who were arrested were never tried for any anti-national activity.
No cases were registered against most of the detainees. The Home
Ministry, which is entrusted with the responsibility of monitoring the
internal situation of the country, also did not express any concern
about the law and order situation in the country. If some agitations
had over-stepped their limits, the government had enough routine
powers to deal with it. There was no need to suspend democratic
functioning and use draconian measures like the Emergency for that.
The threat was not to the unity and integrity of the country but to the
ruling party and to the Prime Minister herself. The critics say that
Indira Gandhi misused a constitutional provision meant for saving
the country to save her personal power.

What happened during emergency?

The actual implementation of the Emergency is another contentious
issue. Did the government misuse its Emergency powers? Were there
excesses and abuse of authority? The government said that it wanted
to use the Emergency to bring law and order, restore efficiency, and
above all, implement the pro-poor welfare programmes. For this
purpose, the government led by Indira Gandhi announced a twenty-
point programme and declared its determination to implement this
programme. The twenty-point programme included land reforms, land
redistribution, review of agricultural wages, workers’ participation in
management, eradication of bonded labour, etc. In the initial months

2018-19
116 Politics in India since Independence

after the declaration of Emergency, the urban middle classes were

generally happy over the fact that agitations came to an end and
discipline was enforced on the government employees. The poor and
rural people also expected effective implementation of the welfare
programmes that the government was promising. Thus, different
sections of society had different expectations from the emergency and
also different viewpoints about it.

Credit: R. K. Laxman in the Times of India

Critics of Emergency point out that most of these promises by
the government remained unfulfilled, that these were simply meant
to divert attention from the excesses that were taking place. They
question the use of preventive detention on such a large scale. We have
noted that many prominent political leaders were arrested. In all, 676
opposition leaders were arrested. The Shah Commission estimated
that nearly one lakh eleven thousand people were arrested under
preventive detention laws. Severe restrictions were put on the press,
sometimes without proper legal sanctions. The Shah Commission
report mentions that the General Manager of the Delhi Power Supply
Corporation received verbal orders from the office of the Lt. Governor
of Delhi to cut electricity to all newspaper presses at 2.00 a.m. on 26
June, 1975. Electricity was restored two to three days later after the
censorship apparatus had been set up.

2018-19
The Crisis of Democratic Order 117

Custodial death of Rajan

On 1 March 1976, P. Rajan, a final year student of the Calicut
Engineering College, Kerala, was whisked away from the hostel in the
early hours along with another student, Joseph Chali. Rajan’s father,
T.V Eachara Warrior made frantic efforts to trace his son. He met
legislators, he petitioned the concerned authorities, he also sought the
help of the then Home Minister, K. Karunakaran. As the emergency was
proclaimed, issues relating to the citizen’s liberty could not be raised
in the courts. After the Emergency was lifted, Warrior filed a petition
for writ of Habeas Corpus in the Kerala High Court at Ernakulam.
From the evidence of witnesses, it became clear that from the hostel,
Rajan had been taken to the Tourist Bungalow in Calicut the next day
where he was tortured by the police. At a subsequent hearing Kerala
government told the High Court that Raian had died in “unlawful police
custody”, as a result of continuous police torture. The Division Bench
of Kerala High Court held that Karunakaran had lied to the Court.
K. Karunakaran who had by then become Chief Minister of Kerala, had
to resign because of the strictures passed by the High Court.
Source: Shah Commission of Inquiry, Interim Report II

There were other and more serious allegations regarding the

exercise of governmental power by people who held no official
position. Sanjay Gandhi, the Prime Minister’s younger son, did not
hold any official position at the time. Yet, he gained control over
the administration and allegedly interfered in the functioning of the
government. His role in the demolitions and forced sterilisation in
Delhi became very controversial.
Apart from the arrests of political workers and the restrictions on “ “
… death of
D. E. M. O’Cracy, mourned by
his wife T. Ruth, his son
L. I. Bertie, and his
daughters Faith, Hope and
the press, the Emergency directly affected lives of common people
Justice.
in many cases. Torture and custodial deaths occurred during the
Emergency; arbitrary relocation of poor people also took place; and
over-enthusiasm about population control led to cases of compulsory
An anonymous
sterilisation. These instances show what happens when the normal advertisement in the Times
democratic process is suspended. of India, soon after the
declaration of Emergency,
1975.
Lessons of the Emergency
The Emergency at once brought out both the weaknesses and the
strengths of India’s democracy. Though there are many observers
who think that India ceased to be democratic during the Emergency,
it is noteworthy that normal democratic functioning resumed within
a short span of time. Thus, one lesson of Emergency is that it is
extremely difficult to do away with democracy in India.
Secondly, it brought out some ambiguities regarding the Emergency
provision in the Constitution that have been rectified since. Now,

2018-19
118 Politics in India since Independence

“ ‘internal’ Emergency can be proclaimed only on the grounds

“
of ‘armed rebellion’ and it is necessary that the advice to the
President to proclaim Emergency must be given in writing by
Today is India’s the Union Cabinet.
Independence Day…Don’t
Thirdly, the Emergency made everyone more aware of the
Let the Lights Go Out on value of civil liberties. The Courts too, have taken an active
India’s Democracy role after the Emergency in protecting the civil liberties of the
individuals. This is a response to the inability of the judiciary
to protect civil liberties effectively during the emergency. Many
civil liberties organisations came up after this experience.
An advertisement in The
Times, London, However, the critical years of emergency brought many
15 August 1975 by issues that have not been adequately grappled with. We have
‘Free JP Campaign’.
noted in this chapter that there is a tension between routine
functioning of a democratic government and the continuous
political protests by parties and groups. What is the correct
balance between the two? Should the citizens have full freedom
to engage in protest activity or should they have no such right
at all? What are the limits to such a protest?
Secondly, the actual implementation of the Emergency rule took
place through the police and the administration. These institutions
could not function independently. They were turned into political
instruments of the ruling party and according to the Shah Commission
Report, the administration and the police became vulnerable to
political pressures. This problem did not vanish after the Emergency.

Politics after Emergency

The most valuable and lasting lesson of the Emergency was learnt
as soon as the Emergency was over and the Lok Sabha elections
were announced. The 1977 elections turned into a referendum on the
experience of the Emergency, at least in north India where the impact
of the Emergency was felt most strongly. The opposition fought the
election on the slogan of ‘save democracy’. The people’s verdict was
decisively against the Emergency. The lesson was clear and has been
reiterated in many state level elections thereafter – governments that
are perceived to be anti-democratic are severely punished by the voters.
In this sense the experience of 1975 -77 ended up strengthening the
foundations of democracy in India.

Lok Sabha Elections, 1977

In January 1977, after eighteen months of Emergency, the government
decided to hold elections. Accordingly, all the leaders and activists were
released from jails. Elections were held in March 1977. This left the
opposition with very little time, but political developments took place
very rapidly. The major opposition parties had already been coming
closer in the pre-Emergency period. Now they came together on the

2018-19
The Crisis of Democratic Order 119

eve of the elections and formed a new party, known as the

Janata Party. The new party accepted the leadership of
Jayaprakash Narayan. Some leaders of the Congress who
were opposed to the Emergency also joined this new party.
Some other Congress leaders also came out and formed a
separate party under the leadership of Jagjivan Ram. This
party named as Congress for Democracy, later merged with
the Janata Party.
The Janata Party made this election into a referendum
on the Emergency. Its campaign was focused on the non- Morarji Desai
democratic character of the rule and on the various excesses (1896-1995): Freedom
that took place during this period. In the backdrop of arrests fighter; a Gandhian
of thousands of persons and the censorship of the Press, leader; Proponenet of
the public opinion was against the Congress. Jayaprakash Khadi, naturopathy and
Narayan became the popular symbol of restoration of prohibition; Chief Minister
democracy. The formation of the Janata Party also ensured of Bombay State; Deputy
that non-Congress votes would not be divided. It was evident Prime Minister (1967-
that the going was tough for the Congress. 1969); joined Congress
(O) after the split in the
Yet the final results took everyone by surprise. For party; Prime Minister from
the first time since Independence, the Congress party was 1977 to 1979—first Prime
defeated in the Lok Sabha elections. The Congress could Minister belonging to a
win only 154 seats in the Lok Sabha. Its share of popular non-Congress party.
votes fell to less than 35 per cent. The Janata Party and

in The Times of India

Credit: R. K. Laxman

29 March 1977

A cartoonist’s
reading of who
won and what
was defeated in
the 1977 election.
Those standing
with the common
man include
Jagjivan Ram,
Morarji Desai,
Charan Singh
and Atal Behari
Vajpayee.

2018-19
120 Politics in India since Independence

its allies won 330 out of the 542 seats in the Lok Sabha; Janata Party
itself won 295 seats and thus enjoyed a clear majority. In north India,
it was a massive electoral wave against the Congress. The Congress
lost in every constituency in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana and
the Punjab and could win only one seat each in Rajasthan and Madhya
Pradesh. Indira Gandhi was defeated from Rae Bareli, as was her son
Sanjay Gandhi from Amethi.
But if you look at the map showing the result of this election, you
will notice that Congress did not lose elections all over the country.
It retained many seats in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Orissa and
virtually swept through the southern States. There are many reasons
for this. To begin with, the impact of Emergency was not felt equally
in all the States. The forced relocation and displacements, the forced
sterilisations, were mostly concentrated in the northern States.
But more importantly, north India had experienced some long term
changes in the nature of political competition. The middle castes from
north India were beginning to move away from the Congress and the
Janata party became a platform for many of these sections to come
together. In this sense, the elections of 1977 were not merely about
the Emergency.

Janata Government
The Janata Party government that came to power after the 1977 elections
was far from cohesive. After the election, there was stiff competition
among three leaders for the post of Prime Minister – Morarji Desai, who

Oath taking by the first non-congress government at the centre in 1977. In the picture are
Jayaprakash Narayan, J. B. Kriplani, Morarji Desai and Atal Behari Vajpayee.

2018-19
The Crisis of Democratic Order 121

Note: This illustration is not a map drawn to scale and should not be taken to
be an authentic depiction of India’s external boundaries.
How can
Read this map and identify the states where
we talk about a
– Congress lost, mandate or verdict in
– Congress lost very badly and 1977 when the north
– those states where Congress and its allies nearly and the south voted so
swept the polls. differently?

Which are the constituencies in north India that the

Congress managed to win?

2018-19
122 Politics in India since Independence

Credit: Atanu Roy/India Today

Chaudhary
Charan Singh
(1902-1987):
Prime Minister

Credit: R. K. Laxman in The Times of India, 13 November 1979

of India between
July1979 - January
1980; freedom
fighter; active
in the politics of
Uttar Pradesh;
proponent of rural
and agricultural
development; left
Congress party
and founded
Bharatiya Kranti
Dal in 1967; twice
Chief Minister
of U.P.; later he
was one of the
founders of the
Janata Party in
1977 and became
Deputy Prime
Minister and
Home Minister Credit: R. K. Laxman in the Times of India
(1977-79); I got it!
Emergency
founder of was like a
Lok Dal. vaccination
against
dictatorship. It
was painful and
caused fever, but
strengthened
the resistance
of our
democracy.

Janata Party’s faction fight inspired many cartoons at that time. Here is a selection.

2018-19
The Crisis of Democratic Order 123

was the rival to Indira Gandhi ever since 1966-67; Charan Singh, leader
of the Bharatiya Lok Dal and a farmers’ leader from UP; and Jagjivan
Ram, who had vast experience as a senior minister in the Congress
governments. Eventually Morarji Desai became the Prime Minister but
that did not bring the power struggle within the party to an end.
The opposition to Emergency could keep the Janata Party together
only for a while. Its critics felt that the Janata Party lacked direction,
leadership, and a common programme. The Janata Party government
could not bring about a fundamental change in policies from those
pursued by the Congress. The Janata Party split and the government
which was led by Morarji Desai lost its majority in less than 18
months. Another government headed by Charan Singh was formed on
the assurance of the support of the Congress party. But the Congress
party later decided to withdraw its support with the result that the
Charan Singh government could remain in power for just about four
months. Fresh Lok Sabha elections were held in January 1980 in
which the Janata Party suffered a comprehensive defeat, especially in
north India where it had swept the polls in 1977. Congress party
led by Indira Gandhi nearly repeated its great victory in 1971.
It won 353 seats and came back to power. The experience of
1977-79 taught another lesson in democratic politics: governments
that are seen to be unstable and quarrelsome are severely
punished by the voters.

Legacy
But was it only a case of return of Indira Gandhi? Between
the elections of 1977 and 1980 the party system had changed Jagjivan Ram
dramatically. Since 1969, the Congress party had starting (1908-1986):
shedding its character as an umbrella party which accommodated Freedom fighter and
leaders and workers of different ideological dispensations and Congress leader from
view points. The Congress party now identified itself with a Bihar; Deputy Prime
particular ideology, claiming to be the only socialist and pro-poor Minister of India
party. Thus with the early nineteen seventies, the Congress’s (1977-79); member
political success depended on attracting people on the basis of of Constituent
sharp social and ideological divisions and the appeal of one leader, Assembly; also
Indira Gandhi. With the change in the nature of the Congress a Member of
party, other opposition parties relied more and more on what is Parliament since
known in Indian politics as ‘non-Congressism’. They also realised 1952 till his death;
the need to avoid a division of non-Congress votes in the election. Labour Minister in the
This factor played a major role in the elections of 1977. first ministry of free
In an indirect manner the issue of welfare of the backward India; held various
castes also began to dominate politics since 1977. As we saw other ministries from
above, the results of 1977 elections were at least partly due to 1952 to 1977; a
a shift among the backward castes of north India. Following the scholar and astute
Lok Sabha elections, many states also held Assembly elections administrator.
in 1977. Again, the northern States elected non-Congress
governments in which the leaders of the backward castes played

2018-19
124 Politics in India since Independence

This cartoon appeared after the election results of 1980. Credit: India Today
Credit: R. K. Laxman in the Times of India

an important role. The issue of reservations for ‘other backward

classes’ became very controversial in Bihar and following this, the
Mandal Commission was appointed by the Janata Party government
at the centre. You will read more about this and about the role of the
politics of backward castes, in the last chapter. The elections after
the Emergency set off the process of this change in the party system.
The Emergency and the period around it can be described as a period
of constitutional crisis because it had its origins in the constitutional
battle over the jurisdiction of the Parliament and the judiciary. On the
other hand, it was also a period of political crisis. The party in power
had absolute majority and yet, its leadership decided to suspend

2018-19
The Crisis of Democratic Order 125

the democratic process. The makers

Let’s watch a Film

of India’s Constitution trusted that all
HAZARON KHWAISHEIN AISI
political parties would basically abide
by the democratic norm. Even during
the Emergency, when the government
would use extraordinary powers, its
use would be within the norms of
the rule of law. This expectation led
to the wide and open ended powers
given to the government in times of
Emergency. These were abused during
the Emergency. This political crisis was
more serious than the constitutional
crisis.
Another critical issue that emerged
during this period was the role and extent
of mass protests in a parliamentary
democracy. There was clearly a tension Siddharth, Vikram and Geeta
between institution-based democracy are three spirited and socially
and democracy based on spontaneous engaged students. Graduating
popular participation. This tension from Delhi, they follow different
paths. While Siddharth is a strong
may be attributed to the inability of
supporter of the revolutionary
the party system to incorporate the ideology of social transformation,
aspirations of the people. In the two Vikram is in favour of achieving
chapters that follow we shall study some success in life, whatever the cost.
of the manifestations of this tension, The film narrates the story of their
in particular, popular movements and journeys towards their goals and
debates around regional identity. the underlying disappointments.

The film is set in the backdrop of the

seventies. The young characters
are products of the expectations
and idealism of that period.
Siddharth is not successful in his
ambition to stage a revolution, but
is so involved in the plight of the
poor that he begins valuing their
uplift more than revolution. On
the other hand, Vikram becomes
a typical political fixer but is
constantly ill at ease.

Year: 2005
Director: Sudhir Mishra
Screenplay: Sudhir Mishra
Ruchi Narain
Shivkumar Subramaniam
Cast: Kay Kay Menon, Shiney
Ahuja, Chitrangada Singh

2018-19
126 Politics in India since Independence

1. State whether the following statements regarding the Emergency are

correct or incorrect.
(a) It was declared in 1975 by Indira Gandhi.
(b) It led to the suspension of all fundamental rights.
(c) It was proclaimed due to the deteriorating economic conditions.
(d) Many Opposition leaders were arrested during the emergency.
(e) CPI supported the proclamation of the Emergency.

2. Find the odd one out in the context of proclamation of Emergency

(a) The call for ‘Total Revolution.
(b) The Railway Strike of 1974
(c) The Naxalite Movement
(d) The Allahbad High Court verdict
(e) The findings of the Shah Commission Report

3. Match the following

EXERCISES

(a) Total Revolution i. Indira Gandhi

(b) Garibi hatao ii. Jayaprakash Narayan
(c) Students’ Protest iii. Bihar Movement
(d) Railway Strike iv. George Fernandes

4. What were the reasons which led to the mid-term elections in 1980?

5. The Shah Commission was appointed in 1977 by the Janata Party

Government. Why was it appointed and what were its findings?

6. What reasons did the Government give for declaring a National Emergency
in 1975?

7. The 1977 elections for the first time saw the Opposition coming into
power at the Centre. What would you consider as the reasons for this
development?

8. Discuss the effects of Emergency on the following aspects of our polity.

• Effects on civil liberties for citizens.
• Impact on relationship between the Executive and Judiciary
• Functioning of Mass Media
• Working of the Police and Bureaucracy.

9. In what way did the imposition of Emergency affect the party system in
India? Elaborate your answer with examples.

2018-19
The Crisis of Democratic Order 127

10. Read the passage and answer the questions below:

Indian democracy was never so close to a two-party system as it was
during the 1977 elections. However, the next few years saw a complete
change. Soon after its defeat, the Indian National Congress split into
two groups……….. … … …The Janata Party also went through major
convulsions…..David Butler, Ashok Lahiri and Prannoy Roy. — PARTHA
CHATTERJEE
(a) What made the party system in India look like a two-party system in
1977?
(b) Many more than two parties existed in 1977. Why then are the
authors describing this period as close to a two-party system?
(c) What caused splits in Congress and the Janata parties?

2018-19
 an Singh
Credit: Bhaw

In this chapter…
Three decades after Independence, the people were beginning to
get impatient. Their unease expressed itself in various forms. In the
previous chapter, we have already gone through the story of electoral
upheavals and political crisis. Yet that was not the only form in which
popular discontent expressed itself. In the 1970s, diverse social groups
like women, students, Dalits and farmers felt that democratic politics did
not address their needs and demands. Therefore, they came together
under the banner of various social organisations to voice their demands.
These assertions marked the rise of popular movements or new social
movements in Indian politics.
In this chapter we trace the journey of some of the popular movements
that developed after the 1970s in order to understand:
Photograph on this
and the facing page • what are popular movements?
are of the participants
and leaders of the
• which sections of Indian society have they mobilised?
Chipko Movement, • what is the main agenda of these movements?
recognised as one of
the first environmental • what role do they play in a democratic set up like ours?
movements in the
country.

2018-19
 chapter
rise of popular
movements
Nature of popular movements
7
Take a look at the opening image of this chapter. What do you see
there? Villagers have literally embraced the trees. Are they playing
some game? Or participating in some ritual or festival? Not really. The
image here depicts a very unusual form of collective action in which
men and women from a village in what is now Uttarakhand were
engaged in early 1973. These villagers were protesting against the
practices of commercial logging that the government had permitted.
They used a novel tactic for their protest – that of hugging the trees
to prevent them from being cut down. These protests marked the
beginning of a world-famous environmental movement in our country
– the Chipko movement.

Chipko movement
The movement began in two or three villages of Uttarakhand when the
forest department refused permission to the villagers to fell ash trees
Fascinating!
for making agricultural tools. However, the forest department allotted
But I wonder how it
the same patch of land to a sports manufacturer for commercial relates to the history of
use. This enraged the villagers and they protested against the move politics.
of the government. The struggle soon spread across many parts of
the Uttarakhand region. Larger issues of ecological and economic
exploitation of the region were raised. The villagers demanded that
no forest-exploiting contracts should be given to outsiders and local
communities should have effective control over natural resources
like land, water and forests. They wanted the government to provide
low cost materials to small industries and ensure development of

Two historic
am Mishra

pictures of the
early Chipko
movement in
Chamoli,
Credit: Anup

Uttarakhand.

2018-19
130 Politics in India since Independence

the region without disturbing the ecological balance. The movement

took up economic issues of landless forest workers and asked for
guarantees of minimum wage.
Women’s active participation in the Chipko agitation was a very
novel aspect of the movement. The forest contractors of the region
usually doubled up as suppliers of alcohol to men. Women held
sustained agitations against the habit of alcoholism and broadened the
agenda of the movement to cover other social issues. The movement
achieved a victory when the government issued a ban on felling of
trees in the Himalayan regions for fifteen years, until the green cover
was fully restored. But more than that, the Chipko movement, which
started over a single issue, became a symbol of many such popular
movements emerging in different parts of the country during the 1970s
and later. In this chapter we shall study some of these movements.

Party based movements

Popular movements may take the form of social movements or political
movements and there is often an overlap between the two. The
nationalist movement, for example, was mainly a political movement.
But we also know that deliberations on social and economic issues
during the colonial period gave rise to independent social movements
like the anti-caste movement, the kisan sabhas and the trade union
movement in early twentieth century. These movements raised issues
related to some underlying social conflicts.
Some of these movements continued in the post-independence
period as well. Trade union movement had a strong presence among
industrial workers in major cities like Mumbai, Kolkata and Kanpur.
All major political parties established their own trade unions for
mobilising these sections of workers. Peasants in the Telangana
region of Andhra Pradesh organised massive agitations under the
leadership of Communist parties in the early years of independence
and demanded redistribution of land to cultivators. Peasants and
agricultural labourers in parts of Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal,
Bihar and adjoining areas continued their agitations under
the leadership of the Marxist-Leninist workers; who were
known as the Naxalites (you have already read about the
Naxalite movement in the last chapter). The peasants’
and the workers’ movements mainly focussed on issues of
economic injustice and inequality.
These movements did not participate in elections
formally. And yet they retained connections with political
parties, as many participants in these movements, as
I don’t get it. How can you do individuals and as organisations, were actively associated
politics without a party? with parties. These links ensured a better representation of
the demands of diverse social sections in party politics.

2018-19
Rise of Popular Movements 131

Credit: Design and People

Non-party movements
In the 1970s and 1980s, many sections of the society became
disillusioned with the functioning of political parties. Failure of
the Janata experiment and the resulting political instability were
the immediate causes. But in the long run the disillusionment
was also about economic policies of the state. The model of
planned development that we adopted after Independence
was based on twin goals of growth and distribution. You have
read about it in Chapter Three. In spite of the impressive
growth in many sectors of economy in the first twenty years
of independence, poverty and inequalities persisted on a large
scale. Benefits of economic growth did not reach evenly to all
sections of society. Existing social inequalities like caste and
gender sharpened and complicated the issues of poverty in many
ways. There also existed a gulf between the urban-industrial
sector and the rural agrarian sector. A sense of injustice and
deprivation grew among different groups.
Many of the politically active groups lost faith in existing
democratic institutions and electoral politics. They therefore
chose to step outside of party politics and engage in mass
mobilisation for registering their protests. Students and young
political activists from various sections of the society were in
the forefront in organising the marginalised sections such as
Dalits and Adivasis. The middle class young activists launched
service organisations and constructive programmes among
rural poor. Because of the voluntary nature of their social work,
many of these organisations came to be known as voluntary
organisations or voluntary sector organisations.
These voluntary organisations chose to remain outside
party politics. They did not contest elections at the local or
regional level nor did they support any one political party. Most
of these groups believed in politics and wanted to participate in
it, but not through political parties. Hence, these organisations
were called ‘non-party political formations’. They hoped that
direct and active participation by local groups of citizens would
be more effective in resolving local issues than political parties.
It was also hoped that direct participation by people will reform
the nature of democratic government.
Such voluntary sector organisations still continue their
work in rural and urban areas. However, their nature has
changed. Of late many of these organisations are funded by
external agencies including international service agencies. The
ideal of local initiatives is weakened as a result of availability of
external funds on a large scale to these organisations.
Popular movements have inspired artistic production like these posters.
The three posters (from Top to Bottom) are from a campaign against a Coca
Cola plant, agitation against a highway and Save Periyar river movement.

2018-19
 132 Politics in India since Independence

Namdeo Dhasal
Turning their backs to the sun, they journeyed through centuries.
Now, now we must refuse to be pilgrims of darkness.
That one, our father, carrying, carrying the darkness is now bent;
Now, now we must lift the burden from his back.
Our blood was spilled for this glorious city
And what we got was the right to eat stones
Now, now we must explode the building that kisses the sky!
After a thousand years we were blessed with sunflower giving fakir;
Now, now, we must like sunflowers turn our faces to the sun.

English translation by Jayant Karve and Eleanor Zelliot of Namdeo Dhasal’s

Marathi poem in Golpitha.

Dalit Panthers
Read this poem by well-known Marathi poet Namdeo Dhasal. Do you
know who these ‘pilgrims of darkness’ in this poem are and who the
‘sunflower-giving fakir’ was that blessed them? The pilgrims were the
Dalit communities who had experienced brutal caste injustices for a
long time in our society and the poet is referring to Dr. Ambedkar as
their liberator. Dalit poets in Maharashtra wrote many such poems
during the decade of seventies. These poems were expressions of
anguish that the Dalit masses continued to face even after twenty
years of independence. But they were also full of hope for the future, a
future that Dalit groups wished to shape for themselves. You are aware
of Dr. Ambedkar’s vision of socio-economic change and his relentless
struggle for a dignified future for Dalits outside the Hindu caste-based
social structure. It is not surprising that Dr. Ambedkar remains an
iconic and inspirational figure in much of Dalit liberation writings.

Origins
By the early nineteen seventies, the first generation Dalit graduates,
especially those living in city slums began to assert themselves from
various platforms. Dalit Panthers, a militant organisation of the Dalit
Has the youth, was formed in Maharashtra in 1972 as a part of these assertions.
condition of In the post-Independence period, Dalit groups were mainly fighting
Dalits changed much against the perpetual caste based inequalities and material injustices
since that time? I keep that the Dalits faced in spite of constitutional guarantees of equality
reading about atrocities and justice. Effective implementation of reservations and other such
against Dalits. Did these
movements fail? Or is it
policies of social justice was one of their prominent demands.
the failure of the entire You know that the Indian Constitution abolished the practice
society?
of untouchability. The government passed laws to that effect in the
1960s and 1970s. And yet, social discrimination and violence against the

2018-19
Rise of Popular Movements 133

ex-untouchable groups

Credit: Anhad and NCDHR

continued in various
ways. Dalit settlements in
villages continued to be
set apart from the main
village. They were denied
access to common source
of drinking water. Dalit
women were dishonoured
and abused and worst of
all, Dalits faced collective
atrocities over minor,
symbolic issues of caste
pride. Legal mechanisms
proved inadequate to stop
the economic and social
oppression of Dalits. On
the other hand, political
parties supported by
the Dalits, like the
Republican Party of India,
were not successful in
electoral politics. These
parties always remained
marginal; had to ally with
some other party in order
to win elections and faced
constant splits. Therefore
the Dalit Panthers
resorted to mass action
for assertion of Dalits’
rights.
‘Apartheid’, meaning ‘separateness’, refers to the official policy of racial
discrimination which existed in South Africa during the 20th century.
Activities Why is it called Hidden Apartheid here? Are there other examples of this?

Activities of Dalit Panthers mostly centred around fighting increasing atrocities on Dalits in
various parts of the State. As a result of sustained agitations on the part of Dalit Panthers
along with other like minded organisations over the issue of atrocities against Dalits, the
government passed a comprehensive law in 1989 that provided for rigorous punishment for
such acts. The larger ideological agenda of the Panthers was to destroy the caste system and
to build an organisation of all oppressed sections like the landless poor peasants and urban
industrial workers along with Dalits.
The movement provided a platform for Dalit educated youth to use their creativity as a
protest activity. Dalit writers protested against the brutalities of the caste system in their
numerous autobiographies and other literary works published during this period. These works
portraying the life experiences of the most downtrodden social sections of Indian society sent
shock waves in Marathi literary world, made literature more broad based and representative
of different social sections and initiated contestations in the cultural realm. In the post-
Emergency period, Dalit Panthers got involved in electoral compromises; it also underwent

2018-19
 134 Politics in India since Independence

many splits, which led to its decline. Organisations like the Backward
and Minority Communities’ Employees Federation (BAMCEF) took
over this space.

Bharatiya Kisan Union

The social discontent in Indian society since the seventies was
manifold. Even those sections that partially benefited in the process
of development had many complaints against the state and political
parties. Agrarian struggles of the eighties is one such example where
better off farmers protested against the policies of the state.

Growth
In January 1988, around twenty thousand farmers had gathered in
the city of Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. They were protesting against the
government decision to increase electricity rates. The farmers camped
for about three weeks outside the district collector’s office until their
demands were fulfilled. It was a very disciplined agitation of the farmers
and all those days they received regular food supply from the nearby
villages. The Meerut agitation was seen as a great show of rural power
– power of farmer cultivators. These agitating farmers were members
of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), an organisation of farmers from
western Uttar Pradesh and Haryana regions. The BKU was one of the
leading organisations in the farmers’ movement of the eighties.
We have noted in Chapter Three that farmers of Haryana, Punjab
and western Uttar Pradesh had benefited in the late 1960s from the
state policies of ‘green revolution’. Sugar and wheat became the main
cash crops in the region since then. The cash crop market faced a crisis
in mid-eighties due to the beginning of the process of liberalisation of
Indian economy. The BKU demanded higher government floor prices
for sugarcane and wheat, abolition of
restrictions on the inter-state movement
Credit: Hindustan Times

of farm produce, guaranteed supply of

A Bhartiya Kisan Union Rally in Punjab.
electricity at reasonable rates, waiving
of repayments due on loans to farmers
and the provision of a government
pension for farmers.
Similar demands were made by other
farmers’ organisations in the country.
Shetkari Sanghatana of Maharashtra
declared the farmers’ movement as
a war of Bharat (symbolising rural,
agrarian sector) against forces of India
(urban industrial sector). You have
already studied in Chapter Three
that the debate between industry and

2018-19
Rise of Popular Movements 135

agriculture has been one of the prominent issues in India’s model of

development. The same debate came alive once again in the eighties I have
when the agricultural sector came under threat due to economic never met anyone
who says he wishes
policies of liberalisation. to be a farmer. Don’t
we need farmers in
Characteristics the country?

Activities conducted by the BKU to pressurise the state for accepting

its demands included rallies, demonstrations, sit-ins, and jail bharo
(courting imprisonment) agitations. These protests involved tens of
thousands of farmers – sometimes over a lakh – from various villages
in western Uttar Pradesh and adjoining regions. Throughout the
decade of eighties, the BKU organised massive rallies of these farmers
in many district headquarters of the State and also at the national
capital. Another novel aspect of these mobilisations was the use of
caste linkages of farmers. Most of the BKU members belonged to a
single community. The organisation used traditional caste panchayats
of these communities in bringing them together over economic issues.
In spite of lack of any formal organisation, the BKU could sustain
itself for a long time because it was based on clan networks among
its members. Funds, resources and activities of BKU were mobilised
through these networks.
Until the early nineties, the BKU distanced itself from all political
parties. It operated as a pressure group in politics with its strength
of sheer numbers. The organisation, along with the other farmers’
organisations across States, did manage to get some of their economic
demands accepted. The farmers’ movement became one of the most
successful social movements of the ’eighties in this respect. The
success of the movement was an outcome of political bargaining
powers that its members possessed. The movement was active mainly
in the prosperous States of the country. Unlike most of the Indian
farmers who engage in agriculture for subsistence, members of the
organisations like the
BKU grew cash crops
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prominent examples
of such organisations The Hindu, Feb 16, 2005
of the farmers.

2018-19
 136
136 Politics in India since Independence

Credit: Hindu
National Fish Workers’ Forum
Do you know that the Indian fishers constitute the second largest fishing population
in the world? Both in the eastern and the western coastal areas of our country
hundreds of thousands of families, mainly belonging to the indigenous fishermen
communities, are engaged in the occupation of fishing. These fish workers’ lives
were threatened in a major way when the government permitted entry to mechanised
trawlers and technologies like bottom trawling for large-scale harvest of fish in the
Indian seas. Throughout the seventies and eighties, local fish workers’ organisations
fought with the State governments over the issues of their livelihood. Fisheries being
a State subject, the fish workers were mostly mobilised at the regional level.
With the coming of policies of economic liberalisation in and around the mid ’eighties,
these organisations were compelled to come together on a national level platform-
the NFF or National Fishworkers’ Forum. Fish workers from Kerala took the main
responsibility of mobilising fellow workers, including women workers from other
States. Work of the NFF consolidated when in 1991 it fought its first legal battle with
the Union government successfully. This was about the government’s deep sea
fishing policy that opened up India’s waters to large commercial vessels including
those of the multinational fishing companies. Throughout the nineties the NFF
fought various legal and public battles with the government. It worked to protect the
interests of those who rely on fishing for subsistence rather than those who invest
in the sector for profit. In July 2002, NFF called for a nationwide strike to oppose the
move of the government to issue licenses to foreign trawlers. The NFF joined hands
with organisations all over the world for protecting ecology and for protecting lives
of the fish workers.

2018-19
 Rise of Popular Movements 137

n
Credit: Zuba
Anti-Arrack Movement
When the BKU was mobilising the farmers of the
north, an altogether different kind of mobilisation in
the rural areas was taking shape in the southern State
of Andhra Pradesh. It was a spontaneous mobilisation
of women demanding a ban on the sale of alcohol in
their neighbourhoods.

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Stories of this kind

appeared in the Telugu press
almost daily during the two
months of September and
October 1992. The name of
the village would change in
each case but the story was
the same. Rural women in
remote villages from the State
of Andhra Pradesh fought a
battle against alcoholism,
against mafias and against We
the government during this hear all
period. These agitations these nice
stories, but they
shaped what was known as never tell us how
the anti-arrack movement in these ended. Did
the State. this movement put
an end to drinking?
Or did the men go
back to it after
some time?

2018-19
 138 Politics in India since Independence

Origins
In a village in the interior of Dubagunta in Nellore district of Andhra
Pradesh, women had enrolled in the Adult Literacy Drive on a large
scale in the early nineteen nineties. It is during the discussion in
the class that women complained of increased consumption of a
locally brewed alcohol – arrack – by men in their families. The habit
of alcoholism had taken deep roots among the village people and was
ruining their physical and mental health. It affected the rural economy
of the region a great deal. Indebtedness grew with increasing scales of
consumption of alcohol, men remained absent from their jobs and the
contractors of alcohol engaged in crime for securing their monopoly
over the arrack trade. Women were the worst sufferers of these ill-
effects of alcohol as it resulted in the collapse of the family economy
and women had to bear the brunt of violence from the male family
members, particularly the husband.
Credit: The Hindu

Women in Nellore came together

in spontaneous local initiatives to
protest against arrack and forced
closure of the wine shop. The news
spread fast and women of about 5000
villages got inspired and met together
in meetings, passed resolutions for
imposing prohibition and sent them
to the District Collector. The arrack
auctions in Nellore district were
postponed 17 times. This movement in
Nellore District slowly spread all over
the State.

Women taking out Linkages

procession in Hyderabad
in 1992, protesting The slogan of the anti-arrack movement was simple — prohibition on
against the selling of the sale of arrack. But this simple demand touched upon larger social,
arrack.
economic and political issues of the region that affected women’s life.
A close nexus between crime and politics was established around the
business of arrack. The State government collected huge revenues
by way of taxes imposed on the sale of arrack and was therefore not
willing to impose a ban. Groups of local women tried to address these
complex issues in their agitation against arrack. They also openly
discussed the issue of domestic violence. Their movement, for the
first time, provided a platform to discuss private issues of domestic
violence. Thus, the anti-arrack movement also became part of the
women’s movement.
Earlier, women’s groups working on issues of domestic violence,
the custom of dowry, sexual abuse at work and public places were
active mainly among urban middle class women in different parts of
the country. Their work led to a realisation that issues of injustice

2018-19
 Rise of Popular Movements 139

to women and of gender inequalities

Let’s watch a Film

were complicated in nature. During
the decade of the eighties women’s AAKROSH
movement focused on issues of sexual
violence against women – within the
family and outside. These groups ran a
campaign against the system of dowry
and demanded personal and property
laws based on the norms of gender
equality.
These campaigns contributed a great
deal in increasing overall social awareness
about women’s questions. Focus of the
women’s movement gradually shifted from
legal reforms to open social confrontations
like the one we discussed above. As a
result the movement made demands of
equal representation to women in politics The lawyer Bhaskar Kulkarni
during the nineties. We know that 73rd is assigned a legal aid case to
and 74th amendments have granted represent Bhiku Lahanya, an
reservations to women in local level Adivasi who is charged with
murdering his wife. The lawyer
political offices. Demands for extending
tries hard to find out the cause
similar reservations in State and Central of the killing but the accused is
legislatures have also been made. A determinedly silent and so is his
constitution amendment bill to this effect family. The lawyer’s perseverance
has been proposed but has not received leads to an attack on him and also
enough support from the Parliament a tip off by a social worker about
yet. Main opposition to the bill has come what had happened.
from groups, including some women’s
groups, who are insisting on a separate
quota for Dalit and OBC women within But the social worker disappears
the proposed women’s quota in higher and Bhiku’s father dies. Bhiku is
permitted to attend the funeral
political offices.
of his father. It is here that Bhiku
Credit: India Today

breaks down and the ‘Aakrosh’

(screaming cry) erupts….This
hard hitting film depicts the sub-
human life of the oppressed
and the uphill task facing any
intervention against dominant
social powers.

Year: 1980
Director: Govind Nihlani
Story: Vijay Tendulkar
Screenplay: Satyadev Dubey
Actors: Naseeruddin Shah, Om
Puri, Smita Patil, Nana Patekar,
Women’s demonstration in favour of anti-dowry act. Mahesh Elkunchwar

2018-19
 140 Politics in India since Independence

Narmada Bachao Aandolan

Social m movements that we discussed so far raised various
issues about the model of economic development that India
ad
had adopted at the time of Independence. Chipko movement
brought
brough out the issue of ecological depletion whereas
fa
the farmers complained of neglect of agricultural sector.
Social and material conditions of Dalits led to their mass
strugg
struggles whereas the anti-arrack movement focused on
ne
the negative fallouts of what was considered development.
The issue implicit in all these movements was made
expl
explicit by the movements against displacement caused
by huge developmental projects.

Sa
Sardar Sarovar Project
An ambitious developmental project was launched
in the Narmada valley of central India in early
’eighties. The project consisted of 30 big dams, 135
’e
ople

medium sized and around 3,000 small dams to be

and Pe

constructed on the Narmada and its tributaries

that flow across three states of Madhya Pradesh,
Gujarat and Maharashtra. Sardar Sarovar Project
n
: Desig

in Gujarat and the Narmada Sagar Project in

Madhya Pradesh were two of the most important
Credit

and biggest, multi-purpose dams planned under

projec Narmada Bachao Aandolan, a movement to save
the project.
Narmada, opposed the construction of these dams and questioned
the nature of ongoing developmental projects in the country.
A poster in support
of Narmada Bachao Sardar Sarovar Project is a multipurpose mega-scale dam. Its
Andolan. advocates say that it would benefit huge areas of Gujarat and the
three adjoining states in terms of availability of drinking water
and water for irrigation, generation of electricity and increase in
agricultural production. Many more subsidiary benefits like effective
flood and drought control in the region were linked to the success of
this dam. In the process of construction of the dam 245 villages from
these States were expected to get submerged. It required relocation
of around two and a half lakh people from these villages. Issues of
relocation and proper rehabilitation of the project-affected people were
first raised by local activist groups. It was around 1988-89 that the
issues crystallised under the banner of the NBA – a loose collective of
local voluntary organisations.

Debates and struggles

Since its inception the NBA linked its opposition to the Sardar
Sarovar Project with larger issues concerning the nature of ongoing
developmental projects, efficacy of the model of development that

2018-19
 Rise of Popular Movements 141

the country followed and about

th
what constituted public interest
wh I have
in a democracy. It demanded never heard of
posh colonies and
that there should be a cost-
th cities being demolished
benefit
be analysis of the for any developmental
major developmental projects project. Why is it always
completed in the country so the Adivasis and the
far. The movement argued poor who are asked
that larger social costs of to leave their
homes?
the developmental projects
NBA

must be calculated in such

an analysis. The social
:
Credit

costs included forced resettlement

of the project-affected people, a serious loss of
their means of livelihood and culture and depletion of ecological
resources.
Initially the movement demanded proper and just rehabilitation
of all those who were directly or indirectly affected by the project. The
movement also questioned the nature of decision-making processes
that go in the making of mega scale developmental projects. The NBA
insisted that local communities must have a say in such decisions
and they should also have effective control over natural resources Top:
like water, land and forests. The movement also asked why, in a NBA leader Medha
democracy, should some people be made to sacrifice for benefiting Patkar and other
activists in Jalsamadhi
others. All these considerations led the NBA to shift from its initial
(protesting in rising
demand for rehabilitation to its position of total opposition to the waters) in 2002.
dam.
Bottom:
Arguments and agitations of the movement met vociferous opposition A boat ralley organised
in the States benefiting from the project, especially in Gujarat. At the by NBA.
same time, the point about ut
right to rehabilitation has
been now recognised by the he
ry.
government and the judiciary.
A comprehensive National al
Rehabilitation Policy formed
by the government in 2003 can
be seen as an achievement of
the movements like the NBA.
However, its demand to stop
the construction of the dam
was severely criticised by
many as obstructing the
process of development,
denying access to water and
to economic development
Credit: NBA

for many. The Supreme

2018-19
 142 Politics in India since Independence

Court upheld the government’s decision to go ahead with the

construction of the dam while also instructing to ensure proper
rehabilitation.
Narmada Bachao Aandolan continued a sustained agitation for
more than twenty years. It used every available democratic strategy
to put forward its demands. These included appeals to the judiciary,
mobilisation of support at the international level, public rallies
in support of the movement and a revival of forms of Satyagraha
to convince people about the movement’s position. However, the
movement could not garner much support among the mainstream
political parties – including the opposition parties. In fact, the journey
of the Narmada Bachao Aandolan depicted a gradual process of
disjunction between political parties and social movements in Indian
politics. By the end of the ’nineties, however, the NBA was not alone.
There emerged many local groups and movements that challenged the
logic of large scale developmental projects in their areas. Around this
time, the NBA became part of a larger alliance of people’s movements
that are involved in struggles for similar issues in different regions of
the country.

Lessons from popular movements

The history of these popular movements helps us to understand
better the nature of democratic politics. We have seen that these
non-party movements are neither sporadic in nature nor are these a
problem. These movements came up to rectify some problems in the
functioning of party politics and should be seen as integral part of
our democratic politics. They represented new social groups whose
economic and social grievances were not redressed in the realm of
electoral politics. Popular movements ensured effective representation
of diverse groups and their demands. This reduced the possibility of
deep social conflict and disaffection of these groups from democracy.
Popular movements suggested new forms of active participation and
thus broadened the idea of participation in Indian democracy.
Critics of these movements often argue that collective actions like
strikes, sit-ins and rallies disrupt the functioning of the government,
delay decision making and destabilise the routines of democracy.
Such an argument invites a deeper question: why do these movements
Can
we say that resort to such assertive forms of action? We have seen in this
movements are chapter that popular movements have raised legitimate demands of
like laboratories the people and have involved large scale participation of citizens. It
of politics? New should be noted that the groups mobilised by these movements are
experiments are poor, socially and economically disadvantaged sections of the society
carried out here and
from marginal social groups. The frequency and the methods used
the successful ones
are taken up by by the movements suggest that the routine functioning of democracy
parties. did not have enough space for the voices of these social groups. That

2018-19
Rise of Popular Movements 143

Popular movements have produced a wide range of litrature,

often in the form of small magazines. Here is a selcetion.

2018-19
 144 Politics in India since Independence

Movement for Right to Information

The movement for Right to Information (RTI) is
Credit: Pankaj Pushkar

one of the few recent examples of a movement

that did succeed in getting the state to accept
its major demand. The movement started in
1990, when a mass based organisation called
the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) in
Rajasthan took the initiative in demanding records
of famine relief work and accounts of labourers.
The demand was first raised in Bhim Tehsil in a
very backward region of Rajasthan. The villagers
asserted their right to information by asking for
copies of bills and vouchers and names of persons
on the muster rolls who have been paid wages on
the construction of schools, dispensaries, small
dams and community centres. On paper such
development projects were all completed, but it
was common knowledge of the villagers that there
was gross misappropriation of funds. In 1994 and
1996, the MKSS organised Jan Sunwais or Public
Hearings, where the administration was asked to
“Ghotala Rathyatra”, a popular explain its stand in public.
theatre form evolved by MKSS.
The movement had a small success when they
could force an amendment in the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Act to permit the
public to procure certified copies of documents held by the Panchayats. The
Panchayats were also required to publish on a board and in newspapers the budget,
accounts, expenditure, policies and beneficiaries. In 1996 MKSS formed National

Credit: Sudhir Tailang/UNDP and Planning Commission

Council for People’s
Right to Information in
Delhi to raise RTI to
the status of a national
campaign. Prior to that,
the Consumer Education
and Research Center,
the Press Council and
the Shourie committee
had proposed a draft
RTI law. In 2002, a weak
Freedom of Information
Act was legislated but
never came into force. In
2004 RTI Bill was tabled
and received presidential
assent in June 2005.

2018-19
Rise of Popular Movements 145

Let’s re-search
Identify at least one popular movement in your city or district in the last
25 years. Collect the following information about that movement.
• When did it start? How long did it last?
• Who were the main leaders? Which social groups supported
the movement?
• What were the main issues or demands of the movement?
• Did it succeed? What was the long term effect of the movement
in your area?

is perhaps why these groups turned to mass actions and mobilisations

outside the electoral arena.
This can be seen in the recent case of the new economic policies. As you
will read in Chapter Nine, there is a growing consensus among political
parties over the implementation of these policies. It follows that those
marginal social groups who may be adversely affected by these policies
get less and less attention from political parties as well as the media.
Therefore, any effective protest against these policies involves assertive
forms of action that are taken up by the popular movements outside the
framework of political parties.
Movements are not only about collective assertions or only about
rallies and protests. They involve a gradual process of coming together of
people with similar problems, similar demands and similar expectations.
But then movements are also about making people aware of their rights
and the expectations that they can have from democratic institutions.
Social movements in India have been involved in these educative tasks for
a long time and have thus contributed to expansion of democracy rather
than causing disruptions. The struggle for the right to information is a
case in point.
Yet the real life impact of these movements on the nature of public
policies seems to be very limited. This is partly because most of the
contemporary movements focus on a single issue and represent the
interest of one section of society. Thus it becomes possible to ignore
their reasonable demands. Democratic politics requires a broad alliance
of various disadvantaged social groups. Such an alliance does not seem
to be shaping under the leadership of these movements. Political parties
are required to bring together different sectional interests, but they also
seem to be unable to do so. Parties do not seem to be taking up issues of
marginal social groups. The movements that take up these issues operate
in a very restrictive manner. The relationship between popular movements
and political parties has grown weaker over the years, creating a vacuum
in politics. In the recent years, this has become a major problem in Indian
politics.

2018-19
146 Politics in India since Independence

1. Which of these statements are incorrect

The Chipko Movement
(a) was an environmental movement to prevent cutting down of
trees.
(b) raised questions of ecological and economic exploitation.
(c) was a movement against alcoholism started by the women
(d) demanded that local communities should have control over their
natural resources

2. Some of the statements below are incorrect. Identify the incorrect

statements and rewrite those with necessary correction:
(a) Social movements are hampering the functioning of India’s
democracy.
(b) The main strength of social movements lies in their mass base
across social sections.
(c) Social movements in India emerged because there were many
EXERCISES

issues that political parties did not address.

3. Identify the reasons which led to the Chipko Movement in U.P in early
1970s. What was the impact of this movement?

4. The Bharatiya Kisan Union is a leading organisation highlighting the

plight of farmers. What were the issues addressed by it in the nineties
and to what extent were they successful?

5. The anti-arrack movement in Andhra Pradesh drew the attention of the

country to some serious issues. What were these issues?

6. Would you consider the anti-arrack movement as a women’s movement?

Why?

7. Why did the Narmada Bachao Aandolan oppose the dam projects in the
Narmada Valley?

8. Do movements and protests in a country strengthen democracy? Justify

your answer with examples.

9. What issues did the Dalit Panthers address?

10. Read the passage and answer questions below:

…., nearly all ‘new social movements’ have emerged as corrective to
new maladies – environmental degradation, violation of the status of
women, destruction of tribal cultures and the undermining of human
rights – none of which are in and by themselves transformative of the
social order. They are in that way quite different from revolutionary
ideologies of the past. But their weakness lies in their being so heavily
fragmented. …… …. …….a large part of the space occupied by the new

2018-19
Rise of Popular Movements 147

social movements seem to be suffering from .. various characteristics

which have prevented them from being relevant to the truly oppressed
and the poor in the form of a solid unified movement of the people. They
are too fragmented, reactive, ad hocish, providing no comprehensive
framework of basic social change. Their being anti-this or that (anti-
West, anti-capitalist, anti-development, etc) does not make them any
more coherent, any more relevant to oppressed and peripheralized
communities. — RAJNI KOTHARI
(a) What is the difference between new social movements and
revolutionary ideologies?
(b) What according to the author are the limitations of social
movements?
(c) If social movements address specific issues, would you say that
they are ‘fragmented’ or that they are more focused? Give reasons
for your answer by giving examples.

LET US DO IT TOGETHER

Trace newspaper reports for a week and identify any three news stories
you would classify as ‘Popular Movement’. Find out the core demands
of these movements; the methods used by them to pursue their demands
and the response of political parties to these demands.

2018-19

Regional aspirations
are usually expressed
in the language of the
region and addressed
to the local population
or the rulers. This
unusual poster from
Uttarakhand movement
appeals to all the
Indian citizens in seven
different languages
and thus underscores
the compatibility of the
regional aspirations with
nationalist sentiments.
2018-19
In this chapter…
In the first chapter of this book we studied the
process of ‘nation-building’ in the first decade
after Independence. But nation-building is
not something that can be accomplished
once and for all times to come. In the course
of time new challenges came up. Some of the
old problems had never been fully resolved.
As democratic experiment unfolded, people
from different regions began to express
their aspirations for autonomy. Sometimes
these aspirations were expressed outside
the framework of the Indian union. These
involved long struggles and often aggressive
and armed assertions by the people.
This new challenge came to the fore in the
1980s, as the Janata experiment came to an
end and there was some political stability at
the centre. This decade will be remembered
for some major conflicts and accords in the
various regions of the country, especially
in Assam, the Punjab, Mizoram and the
developments in Jammu and Kashmir. In
this chapter we study these cases so as to
ask some general questions.
• Which factors contribute to the tensions
arising out of regional aspirations?
• How has the Indian state responded to
these tensions and challenges?
• What kind of difficulties are faced in
balancing democratic rights and national
unity?
• What are the lessons here for achieving
unity with diversity in a democracy?
 chapter
regional
aspirations 8
Region and the Nation
1980s may be seen as a period of rising regional aspirations for
autonomy, often outside the framework of the Indian Union. These
movements frequently involved armed assertions by the people,
their repression by the government, and a collapse of the political
and electoral processes. It is also not surprising that most of these
struggles were long drawn and concluded in negotiated settlements
or accords between the central government and the groups leading
the movement for autonomy. The accords were reached after a
process of dialogue that aimed to settle contentious issues within the
constitutional framework. Yet the journey to the accord was always
tumultuous and often violent.

Indian approach
In studying the Indian Constitution and the process of nation-building
we have repeatedly come across one basic principle of the Indian
approach to diversity – the Indian nation shall not deny the rights of
different regions and linguistic groups to retain their own culture. We
decided to live a united social life without losing the distinctiveness
of the numerous cultures that constituted it. Indian nationalism
sought to balance the principles of unity and diversity. The nation
would not mean the negation of the region. In this sense the Indian Does it mean
approach was very different from the one adopted in many European that regionalism is
countries where they saw cultural diversity as a threat to the nation. not as dangerous as
communalism? Or may
India adopted a democratic approach to the question of diversity. be, not dangerous at
Democracy allows the political expressions of regional aspirations all?
and does not look upon them as anti-national.
Besides, democratic politics allows parties and groups
to address the people on the basis of their regional
identity, aspiration and specific regional problems.
Thus, in the course of democratic politics, regional
aspirations get strengthened. At the same time,
democratic politics also means that regional issues
and problems will receive adequate attention and
accommodation in the policy making process.
Such an arrangement may sometimes lead to
tensions and problems. Sometimes, the concern for
national unity may overshadow the regional needs

2018-19
150 Politics in India since Independence

and aspirations. At other times a concern for region alone may

blind us to the larger needs of the nation. Therefore, political
conflicts over issues of power of the regions, their rights and
their separate existence are common to nations that want to
respect diversity while trying to forge and retain unity.

Areas of tension
In the first chapter you have seen how immediately after
Independence our nation had to cope with many difficult issues
like Partition, displacement, integration of Princely States,
reorganisation of states and so on. Many observers, both within
the country and from outside, had predicted that India as one
unified country cannot last long. Soon after Independence,
the issue of Jammu and Kashmir came up. It was not only a
conflict between India and Pakistan. More than that, it was a
question of the political aspirations of the people of Kashmir
valley. Similarly, in some parts of the north-east, there was no
consensus about being a part of India. First Nagaland and then
Mizoram witnessed strong movements demanding separation
from India. In the south, some groups from the Dravid movement
briefly toyed with the idea of a separate country.
These events were followed by mass agitations in many parts
for the formation of linguistic States. Today’s Andhra Pradesh,
Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Gujarat were among the regions
affected by these agitations. In some parts of southern India,
particularly Tamil Nadu, there were protests against making
Hindi the official national language of the country. In the
north, there were strong pro-Hindi agitations demanding that
Why does the
challenge always
Hindi be made the official language immediately. From the late
come from the border 1950s, people speaking the Punjabi language started agitating
States? for a separate State for themselves. This demand was finally
accepted and the States of Punjab and Haryana were created
in 1966. Later, the States of Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and
Jharkhand were created. Thus the challenge of diversity was
met by redrawing the internal boundaries of the country.
Yet this did not lead to resolution of all problems and for
all times. In some regions, like Kashmir and Nagaland, the
challenge was so complex that it could not be resolved in the
first phase of nation-building. Besides, new challenges came
up in States like Punjab, Assam and Mizoram. Let us study
these cases in some detail. In this process let us also go back
to some of the earlier instances of difficulties of nation building.
The successes and failures in these cases are instructive not
merely for a study of our past, but also for an understanding
of India’s future.

2018-19
Regional Aspirations 151

Jammu and Kashmir

You may have heard about the
violence in Jammu and Kashmir
(J&K). This has resulted in
the loss of many lives and the
displacement of many families.
The ‘Kashmir issue’ is always
seen as a major issue between
India and Pakistan. But the
political situation in the State
has many dimensions.
Jammu and Kashmir
comprises three social and
political regions: Jammu,
Kashmir and Ladakh. The heart
of the Kashmir region is the
Kashmir valley; the people are
Kashmiri speaking and mostly
Muslim with a small Kashmiri
speaking Hindu minority.
Jammu region is a mix of
foothills and plains, of Hindus,
Muslims and Sikhs and speakers of various languages. The Ladakh Note: This illustration
region is mountainous, has very little population which is equally is not a map drawn to
scale and should not be
divided between Buddhists and Muslims.
taken to be an authentic
The ‘Kashmir issue’ is not just a dispute between India and depiction of India’s
Pakistan. This issue has external and internal dimensions. It external boundaries.
involves the issue of Kashmiri identity known as Kashmiriyat and the
aspirations of the people of J&K for political autonomy.

Roots of the problem

In that
Before 1947, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) was a Princely State. Its case, why don’t
Hindu ruler, Hari Singh, did not want to merge with India and tried to they rename the
negotiate with India and Pakistan to have an independent status for State as “Jammu,
his state. The Pakistani leaders thought the Kashmir region ‘belonged’ Kashmir and Ladakh”?
to Pakistan, since majority population of the State was Muslim. Besides, JKL makes
for an easy
But this is not how the people themselves saw it – they thought of
abbreviation!
themselves as Kashmiris above all. The popular movement in the
State, led by Sheikh Abdullah of the National Conference, wanted to
get rid of the Maharaja, but was against joining Pakistan. The National
Conference was a secular organisation and had a long association
with the Congress. Sheikh Abdullah was a personal friend of some of
the leading nationalist leaders including Nehru.
In October 1947, Pakistan sent tribal infiltrators from its side
to capture Kashmir. This forced the Maharaja to ask for Indian
military help. India extended the military support and drove back

2018-19
 152
152 Politics in India since Independence

E.V. Dravidian movement

Ramasami
Naicker
(1879-1973):
Known as
Periyar (the
respected);
strong
supporter of
atheism; famous for his anti-
caste struggle and rediscovery
of Dravidian identity; initially
a worker of the Congress
party; started the self-respect
movement (1925); led the
anti-Brahmin movement;
worked for the Justice party
and later founded Dravidar
Kazhagam; opposed to Hindi
and domination of north India;
propounded the thesis that
north Indians and Brahmins
are Aryans.
the whole of south India; however lack of support from other States limited the
‘Vadakku Vaazhkirathu; Therkku Thaeikirathu’
[The north thrives even as the south decays].
This popular slogan sums up the dominant
sentiments of one of India’s most effective
regional movements, the Dravidian movement,
at one point of time. This was one of the
first regional movements in Indian politics.
Though some sections of this movement
had ambitions of creating a Dravida nation,
the movement did not take to arms. It used
democratic means like public debates and the
electoral platform to achieve its ends. This
strategy paid off as the movement acquired
political power in the State and also became
influential at the national level.
The Dravidian movement led to the formation of
Dravidar Kazhagam [DK] under the leadership
of Tamil social reformer E.V. Ramasami
‘Periyar’. The organisation strongly opposed
the Brahmins’ dominance and affirmed
regional pride against the political, economic
and cultural domination of the North. Initially,
the Dravidian movement spoke in terms of

indu
movement to Tamil Nadu.

: The H
The DK split and the he political
pol
p olitititic
ol ical
ic al legacy
lleg
egac
eg acyy of the
ac the
movement was transferred ed to
to Dravida
Drav
Dr avid
av ida
id a
Munnetra Kazhagam

Credit
(DMK). The DMK made
its entry into politics
with a three pronged
agitation in 1953-54.
First, it demanded the
restoration of the original
name of Kallakudi railway
station which had been
renamed Dalmiapuram,m,
after an industrial house e
from the North. This demandnd
brought out its opposition to
to
the North Indian economic micc
mi
and cultural symbols. Th Thee
second agitation was for for
1965
Nadu,
n in Tamil
itatio
indi ag
Anti-H

2018-19
Regional Aspirations 153
153

giving Tamil cultural history greater importance in school curricula.

The third agitation was against the craft education scheme of the State
government, which it alleged was linked to the Brahmanical social
outlook. It also agitated against making Hindi the country’s official
language. The success of the anti-Hindi agitation of 1965 added to the
DMK’s popularity.
Sustained political agitations brought the DMK to power in the Assembly
elections of 1967. Since then, the Dravidian parties have dominated
the politics of Tamil Nadu. Though the DMK split after the death of
its leader, C. Annadurai, the influence of Dravidian parties in Tamil
politics actually increased. After the split there were two parties – the
DMK and the All India Anna DMK (AIADMK) – that claimed Dravidian
legacy. Both these parties have dominated politics in Tamil Nadu for
the last four decades. Since 1996, one of these parties has been a part
of the ruling coalition at the Centre. In the 1990s, many other parties
have emerged. These include Marumalarchchi Dravida Munnetra
Kazhagam (MDMK), Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) and Desiya Murpokku
Dravidar Kazhagam (DMDK). All these parties have kept alive the issue
of regional pride in the politics of Tamil Nadu. Initially seen as a threat
to Indian nationalism, regional politics in Tamil Nadu is a good example
of the compatibility of regionalism and nationalism.

2018-19
 154
Sheikh
Mohammad
Abdullah
(1905-1982):
Leader of Jammu
and Kashmir;
proponent of
autonomy and
secularism for
Jammu and Kashmir; led the
popular struggle against princely
rule; opposed to Pakistan due to
its non-secular character; leader
of the National Conference; Prime
Minister of J&K immediately
after its accession with India in
1947; dismissed and jailed by
Government of India from 1953 to
1964 and again from 1965 to 1968;
became Chief Minister of the State
after an agreement with Indira
Gandhi in 1974.
Politics in India since Independence
Credit: Hindustan Times
the infiltrators from Kashmir valley, but only after the
Maharaja had signed an ‘Instrument of Accession’ with
the Government of India. It was also agreed that once the
situation normalised, the views of the people of J&K will
be ascertained about their future. Sheikh Abdullah took
over as the Prime Minister of the State of J&K (the head
of the government in the State was then called Prime
Minister) in March 1948. India agreed to maintain the
autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir.
External and internal disputes
Since then, the politics of Jammu and Kashmir always
remained controversial and conflict ridden both for
external and internal reasons. Externally, Pakistan has
always claimed that Kashmir valley should be part of
Pakistan. As we noted above, Pakistan sponsored a tribal
invasion of the State in 1947, as a consequence of which
one part of the State came under Pakistani control. India
claims that this area is under illegal occupation. Pakistan
describes this area as ‘Azad Kashmir’. Ever since 1947,
2018-19
Regional Aspirations 155

Let’s watch a Film

Kashmir has remained a major issue of
conflict between India and Pakistan.
ROJA
Internally, there is a dispute about
the status of Kashmir within the Indian
union. You know that Kashmir was given
a special status by Article 370 in our
Constitution. You have studied about the
special provisions under Articles 370 and
371 last year in Indian Constitution at
Work. Article 370 gives greater autonomy
to Jammu and Kashmir compared to
other States of India. The State has its
own Constitution. All provisions of the
Indian Constitution are not applicable to
the State. Laws passed by the Parliament
apply to J&K only if the State agrees.
This special status has provoked two
opposite reactions. There is a section
of people outside of J&K that believes Tamil film depicting the travails
that the special status of the State of Roja, a newly wed and doting
conferred by Article 370 does not allow wife when her husband, Rishi, is
full integration of the State with India. abducted by militants. Rishi is a
This section feels that Article 370 should cryptologist who is assigned duty
therefore be revoked and J&K should be in Kashmir to decode the enemy
like any other State in India. messages. As love blossoms
between the husband and the
Another section, mostly Kashmiris, wife, the husband is kidnapped.
believe that the autonomy conferred by The kidnappers demand that
Article 370 is not enough. A section of their jailed leader, be set free in
Kashmiris have expressed at least three exchange of Rishi.
major grievances. First, the promise that
Accession would be referred to the people
of the State after the situation created Roja’s world is shattered and she
by tribal invasion was normalised, has is seen knocking at the doors of
officials and politicians. Since the
not been fulfilled. This has generated
film has the background of Indo-
the demand for a ‘Plebiscite’. Secondly,
Pakistan dispute, it made instant
there is a feeling that the special federal appeal. The film was dubbed
status guaranteed by Article 370, has in Hindi and many other Indian
been eroded in practice. This has led to languages.
the demand for restoration of autonomy
or ‘Greater State Autonomy’. Thirdly, it
is felt that democracy which is practiced
in the rest of India has not been similarly Year: 1992
Director: Maniratnam
institutionalised in the State of Jammu
Screenplay: Maniratnam
and Kashmir. Cast (Hindi version): Madhu,
Arvind Swamy, Pankaj Kapoor,
Janagaraj

2018-19
 156 Politics in India since Independence

Politics since 1948

After taking over as the Prime Minister, Sheikh Abdullah initiated
major land reforms and other policies which benefited ordinary
people. But there was a growing difference between him and the
central government about his position on Kashmir’s status. He was
dismissed in 1953 and kept in detention for a number of years.
The leadership that succeeded him did not enjoy as much popular
So, Nehru support and was able to rule the State mainly due to the support of
kept his personal the Centre. There were serious allegations of malpractices and rigging
friend in jail for such in various elections.
a long period! How did
they feel about it? During most of the period between 1953 and 1974, the Congress
party exercised a lot of influence on the politics of the State. A
truncated National Conference (minus Sheikh Abdullah) remained in
power with the active support of Congress for some time but later it
merged with the Congress. Thus the Congress gained direct control
over the government in the State. In the meanwhile, there were several
attempts to reach an agreement between Sheikh Abdullah and the
Government of India. Finally, in 1974 Indira Gandhi reached an
agreement with Sheikh Abdullah and he became the Chief Minister of
the State. He revived the National Conference which was elected with

Credit: The Times of India

2018-19
Regional Aspirations 157

a majority in the assembly elections held in 1977.

http://govande.sulekha.com
Sheikh Abdullah died in 1982 and the leadership
of the National Conference went to his son,
Farooq Abdullah, who became the Chief Minister.
But he was soon dismissed by the Governor and
a breakaway faction of the National Conference
came to power for a brief period.
The dismissal of Farooq Abdullah’s government
due to the intervention of the Centre generated a
feeling of resentment in Kashmir. The confidence
that Kashmiris had developed in the democratic
processes after the accord between Indira Gandhi
and Sheikh Abdullah, received a set-back. The
feeling that the Centre was intervening in politics
of the State was further strengthened when the
National Conference in 1986 agreed to have an
electoral alliance with the Congress, the ruling Peace in Kashmir
party in the Centre.

“ “
Insurgency and after
The Kashmiris
It was in this environment that the 1987 Assembly election took
were convinced now at
place. The official results showed a massive victory for the National
Conference – Congress alliance and Farooq Abdullah returned as Chief the second dethronement
Minister. But it was widely believed that the results did not reflect of their elected leader [in
popular choice, and that the entire election process was rigged. A 1984] that India would
popular resentment had already been brewing in the State against the never permit them to rule
inefficient administration since early 1980s. This was now augmented themselves.
by the commonly prevailing feeling that democratic processes were
being undermined at the behest of the Centre. This generated a political
crisis in Kashmir which became severe with the rise of insurgency. B. K. Nehru
Governor of J&K before
By 1989, the State had come in the grip of a militant movement the dismissal of Farooq
mobilised around the cause of a separate Kashmiri nation. The Abdullah’s government.
insurgents got moral, material and military support from Pakistan. For
a number of years the State was under President’s rule and effectively
under the control of the armed forces. Throughout the period from
1990, Jammu and Kashmir experienced violence at the hands of the
insurgents and through army action. Assembly elections in the State
were held only in 1996 in which the National Conference led by Farooq
Abdullah came to power with a demand for regional autonomy for
Jammu and Kashmir. J&K experienced a very fair election in 2002.
The National Conference failed to win a majority and was replaced by
People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Congress coalition government.

Separatism and beyond

Separatist politics which surfaced in Kashmir from 1989 has taken
different forms and is made up of various strands. There is one strand

2018-19
 158 Politics in India since Independence

of separatists who want a separate Kashmiri nation, independent

This of India and Pakistan. Then there are groups that want Kashmir to
is all about
merge with Pakistan. Besides these, there is a third strand which
governments, officials,
leaders, terrorists… but wants greater autonomy for the people of the State within the
what about the people in Indian union. The idea of autonomy attracts the people of Jammu
Kashmir? In a democracy and Ladakh regions in a different way. They often complain of
we must go by what they neglect and backwardness. Therefore, the demand for intra-State
want, shouldn’t we? autonomy is as strong as the demand for the State autonomy.
The initial period of popular support to militancy has now given
way to the urge for peace. The Centre has started negotiations with
various separatist groups. Instead of demanding a separate nation,
most of the separatists in dialogue are trying to re-negotiate a
relationship of the State with India.
Jammu and Kashmir is one of the living examples of plural
society and politics. Not only are there diversities of all kind
(religious, cultural, linguistic, ethnic, tribal) but there are also
divergent political aspirations. However, despite all these diversities
and divergence on the one hand, and the continued situation of
conflict on the other, the plural and secular culture of the State
has remained largely intact.

Punjab
The decade of 1980s also witnessed major developments in the
State of Punjab. The social composition of the State changed first
Master Tara Singh with Partition and later on after the carving out of Haryana and
(1885-1967): Himachal Pradesh. While the rest of the country was reorganised
Prominent Sikh on linguistic lines in 1950s, Punjab had to wait till 1966 for the
religious and political creation of a Punjabi speaking State. The Akali Dal, which was
leader; one of the formed in 1920 as the political wing of the Sikhs, had led the
early leaders of the movement for the formation of a ‘Punjabi suba’. The Sikhs were
Shiromani Gurudwara now a majority in the truncated State of Punjab.
Prabandhak
Committee (SGPC); Political context
leader of the Akali
movement; supporter After the reorganisation, the Akalis came to power in 1967
of the freedom and then in 1977. On both the occasions it was a coalition
movement but government. The Akalis discovered that despite the redrawing
opposed to Congress’ of the boundaries, their political position remained precarious.
policy of negotiating Firstly, their government was dismissed by the Centre mid-way
only with the Muslims; through its term. Secondly, they did not enjoy strong support
after Independence, among the Hindus. Thirdly, the Sikh community, like all other
he was the senior religious communities, was internally differentiated on caste and
most advocate of class lines. The Congress got more support among the Dalits,
formation of separate whether Hindu or Sikh, than the Akalis.
Punjab State. It was in this context that during the 1970s a section of Akalis
began to demand political autonomy for the region. This was

2018-19
Regional Aspirations 159

reflected in a resolution passed at their conference at Anandpur

Sahib in 1973. The Anandpur Sahib Resolution asserted regional
autonomy and wanted to redefine centre-state relationship in the
country. The resolution also spoke of the aspirations of the Sikh
qaum (community or nation) and declared its goal as attaining the
bolbala (dominance or hegemony) of the Sikhs. The Resolution was
a plea for strengthening federalism, but it could also be interpreted
as a plea for a separate Sikh nation.
The Resolution had a limited appeal among the Sikh masses. A
few years later, after the Akali government had been dismissed in Sant Harchand
1980, the Akali Dal launched a movement on the question of the Singh Longowal
distribution of water between Punjab and its neighbouring States. (1932-1985):
A section of the religious leaders raised the question of autonomous Sikh political
Sikh identity. The more extreme elements started advocating and religious
secession from India and the creation of ‘Khalistan’. leader; began his
political career
Cycle of violence in mid-sixties as
Soon, the leadership of the movement passed from the moderate an Akali leader;
Akalis to the extremist elements and took the form of armed became president
insurgency. These militants made their headquarters inside the of Akali Dal in
Sikh holy shrine, the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and turned it into 1980; reached an
an armed fortress. In June 1984, the Government of India carried agreement with
out ‘Operation Blue Star’, code name for army action in the Golden Prime Minister
Temple. In this operation, the Government could successfully flush Rajiv Gandhi on
out the militants, but it also damaged the historic temple and key demands
deeply hurt the sentiments of the Sikhs. A large proportion of Sikhs of Akalis;
in India and abroad saw the military operation as an attack on assassinated by
their faith and this gave further impetus to militant and extremist unidentified Sikh
groups. youth.

Still more tragic turn of events complicated the Punjab problem

further. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated on
31 October 1984 outside her residence by her
bodyguards. Both
the assassins were
Sikhs and wanted
to take revenge for
Operation Bluestar.
While the entire
country was shocked
by this development,
in Delhi and in many
parts of northern
India violence broke
out against the
Sikh community.
The violence against
the Sikhs continued

2018-19
 160 Politics in India since Independence

“
There is also
evidence to show that on
31-10-84 either meetings

hu Rai
were held or persons who
could organise attacks

Credit : Rag
were contacted and
were given instructions
for almost a week. More than two
to kill Sikhs and loot thousand Sikhs were killed in the
their houses and shops. national capital, the area worst
The attacks were made affected by this violence. Hundreds
in a systematic manner

“
and without much fear
of the police, almost
suggesting that they were
assured that they would
not be harmed while
committing those acts or
of Sikhs were killed in other parts of
the country, especially in places like
Kanpur, Bokaro and Chas. Many Sikh
families lost their male members and
thus suffered great emotional and
heavy financial loss. What hurt the
Sikhs most was that the government
took a long time in restoring normalcy
even after. and that the perpetrators of this
violence were not effectively punished.
Twenty years later, speaking in the
Justice Nanavati Parliament in 2005, Prime Minister
Commission of Inquiry,
Report, Vol. I, 2005 Manmohan Singh expressed regret over painting
ing at a wall
these killings and apologised to the Women look sassination.
in g In dira Gandhi’s as
nation for the anti-Sikh violence. depict

2018-19
 Regional Aspirations 161

“
I have
no hesitation in
Credit : Times of India

apologising not only to

The Times of the Sikh community
India brought but the whole Indian
out a special
mid-day nation because what
edition on the took place in 1984 is
day Indira the negation of the
Gandhi was
assassinated. concept of nationhood
and what is enshrined
Road to peace in our Constitution.
After coming to power following the election in 1984, the new Prime So, I am not standing
Minister Rajiv Gandhi initiated a dialogue with moderate Akali on any false prestige.
leaders. In July 1985, he reached an agreement with Harchand On behalf of our
Singh Longowal, then the President of the Akali Dal. This agreement, Government, on behalf
known as the Rajiv Gandhi - Longowal Accord or the Punjab Accord, of the entire people of
was a step towards bringing normalcy to Punjab. It was agreed that
Chandigarh would be transferred to Punjab, a separate commission
this country, I bow my
would be appointed to resolve the border dispute between Punjab head in shame that
and Haryana, and a tribunal would be set up to decide the sharing such thing took place.
of Ravi-Beas river water among Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. The But, Sir, there are ebbs,
agreement also provided for compensation to and better treatment of there are tides in the
those affected by the militancy in Punjab and the withdrawal of the affairs of nations. The
application of Armed Forces Special Powers Act in Punjab. past is with us. We
However, peace did not come easily or immediately. The cycle
of violence continued nearly for a decade. Militancy and counter
insurgency violence led to excesses by the police and violations of
human rights. Politically, it led to fragmentation of the Akali Dal. The
central government had to impose President’s rule in the State and
the normal electoral and political process was suspended. It was not
easy to restore the political process in the atmosphere of suspicion
“
cannot rewrite the
past. But as human
beings, we have the
willpower and we have
the ability to write
better future for all
and violence. When elections were held in Punjab in 1992, only 24 of us.
per cent of the electors tuned out to vote.
Militancy was eventually eradicated by the security forces. But Prime Minister
the losses incurred by the people of Punjab – Sikhs and Hindus alike Dr. Manmohan Singh
intervening in Rajya
– were enormous. Peace returned to Punjab by the middle of 1990s.
Sabha debate on
The alliance of Akali Dal (Badal) and the BJP scored a major victory 11 August 2005
in1997, in the first normal elections in the State in the post-militancy
era. The State is once again preoccupied with questions of economic
development and social change. Though religious identities continue
to be important for the people, politics has gradually moved back
along secular lines.

2018-19
 162 Politics in India since Independence

The North-East
In the North-East, regional aspirations reached a turning point in
1980s. This region now consists of seven States, also referred to as
the ‘seven sisters’. The region has only 4 per cent of the country’s
population but about twice as much share of its area. A small corridor
of about 22 kilometers connects the region to the rest of the country.
Otherwise the region shares boundaries with China, Myanmar and
Bangladesh and serves as India’s gateway to South East Asia.
The region has witnessed a lot of change since 1947. Tripura,
Manipur and Khasi Hills of Meghalaya were erstwhile Princely States
which merged with India after Independence. The entire region of
North-East has undergone considerable political reorganisation.
Nagaland State was created in 1963; Manipur, Tripura and Meghalaya
in 1972 while Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh became separate
States only in 1987. The Partition of India in 1947 had reduced the
North-East to a land locked region and affected its economy. Cut off
from the rest of India, the region suffered neglect in developmental
terms. Its politics too remained insulated. At the same time, most
Note: This illustration States in this region underwent major demographic changes due to
is not a map drawn to influx of migrants from neighbouring States and countries.
scale and should not be
taken to be an authentic The isolation of the region, its complex social character and
depiction of India’s its backwardness compared to other parts of the country have all
external boundaries. resulted in the complicated set of demands from different states of the
North-East. The vast international
border and weak communication
between the North-East and the
rest of India have further added
to the delicate nature of politics
there. Three issues dominate the
politics of North-East: demands
for autonomy, movements for
secession, and opposition to
‘outsiders’. Major initiatives on
the first issue in the 1970s set
the stage for some dramatic
developments on the second and
the third in the 1980s.

Demands for autonomy

At independence the entire region
except Manipur and Tripura
comprised the State of Assam.
Demands for political autonomy
arose when the non-Assamese
felt that the Assam government
was imposing Assamese language

2018-19
Regional Aspirations 163

on them. There were opposition and protest riots throughout the

State. Leaders of the major tribal communities wanted to separate My friend
from Assam. They formed the Eastern India Tribal Union which Chon said that
people in Delhi know
later transformed into a more comprehensive All Party Hill Leaders more about the map of
Conference in 1960. They demanded a tribal State to be carved out of Europe than about the
Assam. Finally instead of one tribal State, several States got carved North-East in our country.
out of Assam. At different points of time the Central Government had I think she is right at least
to create Meghalaya, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh out of Assam. about my schoolmates.
Tripura and Manipur were upgraded into States too.
The reorganisation of the North-East was completed by 1972. But
this was not the end of autonomy demands in this region. In Assam,
for example, communities like the Bodos, Karbis and Dimasas wanted
separate States. They worked for this demand by mobilising public
opinion and popular movement as well as through insurgency. Often
the same area was claimed by more than one community. It was not
possible to go on making smaller and yet smaller States. Therefore,
some other provisions of our federal set up were used to satisfy their
autonomy demands while remaining in Assam. Karbis and Dimasas
have been granted autonomy under District Councils while Bodos
were recently granted Autonomous Council.

Secessionist movements
Demands for autonomy were easier to respond to, for these involved
using the various provisions in the Constitution for accommodation of
diversities. It was much more difficult when some groups demanded
a separate country, not in momentary anger but consistently as a Laldenga
principled position. The country’s leadership faced this problem for a (1937-1990):
very long time in at least two States in the North-East. A comparison Founder and
of these two cases offers us a lesson in democratic politics. leader of the
Mizo National
After Independence, the Mizo Hills area was made an autonomous Front; turned into
district within Assam. Some Mizos believed that they were never a a rebel after the
part of British India and therefore did not belong to the Indian union. experience of the
But the movement for secession gained popular support after the famine in 1959;
Assam government failed to respond adequately to the great famine led an armed
of 1959 in Mizo hills. The Mizos’ anger led to the formation of the Mizo struggle against
National Front (MNF) under the leadership of Laldenga. India for two
In 1966 the MNF started an armed campaign for independence. decades; reached
Thus, started a two decade long battle between Mizo insurgents and a settlement
the Indian army. The MNF fought a guerilla war, got support from and signed an
Pakistani government and secured shelter in the then East Pakistan. agreement with
The Indian security forces countered it with a series of repressive Prime Minister
measures of which the common people were the victims. At one point Rajiv Gandhi in
even Air Force was used. These measures caused more anger and 1986; became the
alienation among the people. Chief Minister of
the newly created
At the end of two decades of insurgency everyone was a loser. State of Mizoram.
This is where maturity of the political leadership at both ends made

2018-19
 164 Politics in India since Independence
Credit : Times of India

a difference. Laldenga came back from exile in Pakistan and started

negotiations with the Indian government. Rajiv Gandhi steered these
negotiations to a positive conclusion. In 1986 a peace agreement
was signed between Rajiv Gandhi and Laldenga. As per this accord
Mizoram was granted full-fledged statehood with special powers and
the MNF agreed to give up secessionist
strugg
struggle. Laldenga took over as the
Chief Minister. This accord proved
a tuturning point in the history of
Mizo
Mizoram. Today, Mizoram is one
of tthe most peaceful places in the
regi
region and has taken big strides in
lite
literacy and development.
The story of Nagaland is similar
to Mizoram, except that it started
mu
much earlier and has not yet had
su
such a happy ending. Led by Angami
Za
Zaphu Phizo, a section of the Nagas
declared independence from India
way back in 1951. Phizo turned
down many offers of negotiated
settlement. The Naga National
Council launched an armed
struggle for sovereignty of
Nagas. After a period of violent
insurgency a section of the
NF Nagas signed an agreement
e by M
n of c ease fir with the Government of India
De claratio

2018-19
Regional Aspirations 165

but this was not acceptable to other rebels. The problem in Nagaland
nd
still awaits a final resolution.

Movements against outsiders

The large scale migration into the North-East gave rise to a special
al
kind of problem that pitted the ‘local’ communities against people le
who were seen as ‘outsiders’ or migrants. These latecomers, eitherr
from India or abroad are seen as encroachers on scarce resources es Angami Zapu
like land and potential competitors to employment opportunities and d Phizo
political power. This issue has taken political and sometimes violentt (1904-1990):
form in many States of the North-East. Leader of the
The Assam Movement from 1979 to 1985 is the best example le movement for
of such movements against ‘outsiders’. The Assamese suspected ed independent
that there were huge numbers of illegal Bengali Muslim settlers s Nagaland;
from Bangladesh. They felt that unless these foreign nationals are re president of Naga
detected and deported they would reduce the indigenous Assamese e National Council;
into a minority. There were other economic issues too. There was as began an armed
widespread poverty and unemployment in Assam despite the he struggle against the
existence of natural resources like oil, tea and coal. It was felt thatt Indian state; went
these were drained out of the State without any commensurate te ‘underground’,
benefit to the people. stayed in Pakistan
and spent the last
In 1979 the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), a students’’ three decades of
group not affiliated to any party, led an anti-foreigner movement. his life in exile in
The movement was against illegal migrations, against domination n UK.
er
of Bengalis and other outsiders, and against faulty voters’ register
that included the names of lakhs of immigrants. The movement nt
demanded that all outsiders who had entered the State after 1951
should be sent back. The agitation followed many novel methods and
mobilised all sections of Assamese people, drawing support across
the State. It also involved many tragic and violent incidents leading
to loss of property and human lives. The movement also tried to
blockade the movement of trains and the supply of oil from Assam
I’ve never
to refineries in Bihar. understood this
Eventually after six years of turmoil, the Rajiv Gandhi-led insider-outsider
business. It’s like the
government entered into negotiations with the AASU leaders,
train compartment.
leading to the signing of an accord in 1985. According to this Someone who got
agreement those foreigners who migrated into Assam during and in before others
after Bangladesh war and since, were to be identified and deported. treats others as
With the successful completion of the movement, the AASU and the outsiders.
Asom Gana Sangram Parishad organised themselves as a regional
political party called Asom Gana Parishad (AGP). It came to power
in 1985 with the promise of resolving the foreign national problem
as well as to build a ‘Golden Assam’.
Assam accord brought peace and changed the face of politics in
Assam, but it did not solve the problem of immigration. The issue of
the ‘outsiders’ continues to be a live issue in the politics of Assam

2018-19
166 Politics in India since Independence

and many other places in the

North-East. This problem
is particularly acute, for
example, in Tripura as the
original inhabitants have
been reduced to being a
minority in their own land.
The same feeling informs
the hostility of the local
population to Chakma
refugees in Mizoram and
Arunachal Pradesh.

ur
bu Math
Ramba on
of Carto
d it : H T book
Cr e

e
ok at th
s , h e r e is a lo ur regions...
the new rists in the fo am
To end ro or
s of ter lhi, Miz
activitie arjeeling, De
,D
Punjab

2018-19
Regional Aspirations 167

Sikkim’s merger
At the time of Independence, Sikkim was a ‘protectorate’ of
India. It meant that while it was not a part of India, it was also
not a fully sovereign country. Sikkim’s defence and foreign
relations were looked after by India, while the power of internal
administration was with the Chogyal, Sikkim’s monarch. This
arrangement ran into difficulty as the Chogyal was unable to deal
with the democratic aspirations of the people. An overwhelming Kazi Lhendup Dorji
majority of Sikkim’s population was Nepali. But the Chogyal was Khangsarpa (1904):
seen as perpetuating the rule of a small elite from the minority Leader of democracy
Lepcha-Bhutia community. The anti-Chogyal leaders of both the movement in Sikkim;
communities sought and got support from the Government of founder of Sikkim Praja
India. Mandal and later leader of
The first democratic elections to Sikkim assembly in 1974 were the Sikkim State Congress;
swept by Sikkim Congress which stood for greater integration in 1962 founded the Sikkim
with India. The assembly first sought the status of ‘associate National Congress; after an
state’ and then in April 1975 passed a resolution asking for electoral victory, he led the
full integration with India. This was followed by a hurriedly movement for integration
organised referendum that put a stamp of popular approval on of Sikkim with India; after
the assembly’s request. The Indian Parliament accepted this the integration, Sikkim
request immediately and Sikkim became the 22nd State of Congress merged with the
the Indian union. Chogyal did not accept this merger and his Indian National Congress.
supporters accused the Government of India of foul play and
use of force. Yet the merger enjoyed popular support and did not
become a divisive issue in Sikkim’s politics.

Accommodation and National Integration

These cases have shown us that even after six decades of Independence,
some of the issues of national integration are not fully resolved. We
have seen that regional aspirations ranging from demands of statehood
and economic development to autonomy and separation keep coming
up. The period since 1980 accentuated these tensions and tested
the capacity of democratic politics to accommodate the demands of
diverse sections of the society. What lessons can we draw from these
examples?
First and the most elementary lesson is that regional aspirations
are very much a part of democratic politics. Expression of regional
issues is not an aberration or an abnormal phenomenon. Even
in smaller countries like the United Kingdom there are regional
aspirations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Spain faces
secessionist movement from the Basques and so does Sri Lanka from
the Tamils. A large and diverse democracy like India must deal with
regional aspirations on a regular basis. Nation building is an ongoing
process.

2018-19
168 Politics in India since Independence

The second lesson is that the best way to respond to regional

aspirations is through democratic negotiations rather than
through suppression. Look at the situation in the eighties –
militancy had erupted in Punjab; problems were persisting in the
North-East; students in Assam were agitating; Kashmir valley
was on the boil. Instead of treating these as simple law and order
problems, the Government of India reached negotiated settlement
with regional movements. This produced a reconciliation which
reduced the tensions existing in many regions. The example of
Mizoram shows how political settlement can resolve the problem
of separatism effectively.
Rajiv Gandhi The third lesson is about the significance of power sharing. It
(1944-1991): Prime is not sufficient to have a formal democratic structure. Besides
Minister of India that, groups and parties from the region need to be given share
between 1984 and in power at the State level. Similarly, it is not sufficient to say
1989; son of Indira that the states or the regions have autonomy in their matters.
Gandhi; joined active The regions together form the nation. So, the regions must have
politics after 1980; a share in deciding the destiny of the nation. If regions are not
reached agreements given a share in the national level decision making, the feeling of
with militants in injustice and alienation can spread.
Punjab, Mizoram and
the students’ union in The fourth lesson is that regional imbalance in economic
Assam; pressed for a development contributes to the feeling of regional discrimination.
more open economy Regional imbalance is a fact of India’s development experience.
and computer Naturally, the backward states or backward regions in some
technology; sent states feel that their backwardness should be addressed on
Indian Army priority basis and that the policies of the Indian government have
contingent on caused this imbalance. If some states remain poor and others
the request develop rapidly, it leads to regional imbalances and inter-regional
of Sri Lankan migrations.
government, to sort Finally, these cases make us appreciate the farsightedness
out the Sinhala- of the makers of our Constitution in dealing with questions
Tamil conflict; of diversity. The federal system adopted by India is a flexible
assassinated by arrangement. While most of the states have equal powers, there
suspected LTTE are special provisions for some states like J&K and the states in
suicide bomber. the North-East. The Sixth Schedule of the Constitution allows
different tribes complete autonomy of preserving their practices
and customary laws. These provisions proved crucial in resolving
some very complex political problems in the North-East.
What distinguishes India from many other countries that face
similar challenges is that the constitutional framework in India
is much more flexible and accommodative. Therefore, regional
aspirations are not encouraged to espouse separatism. Thus,
politics in India has succeeded in accepting regionalism as part
and parcel of democratic politics.

2018-19
Regional Aspirations 169
169

Goa’s liberation
Although the British empire in India came to an end in 1947, Portugal refused to withdraw from
the territories of Goa, Diu and Daman which were under its colonial rule since the sixteenth
century. During their long rule, the Portuguese suppressed the people of Goa, denied them
civil rights, and carried out forced religious conversions. After India’s Independence, the Indian
government tried very patiently to persuade the Portuguese government to withdraw. There
was also a strong popular movement within Goa for freedom. They were strengthened by
socialist satyagrahis from Maharashtra. Finally, in December 1961, the Government of India
sent the army which liberated these territories after barely two days of action. Goa, Diu and
Daman became Union Territory.
Another complication arose soon. Led by the Maharashtrawadi Gomanatak Party (MGP)
one section desired that Goa, as a Marathi speaking area should merge with Maharashtra.
However, many Goans were keen to retain a separate Goan identity and culture, particularly
the Konkani language. They were led by the United Goan Party (UGP). In January 1967,
the Central Government held a special ‘opinion poll’ in Goa asking people to decide if they
wanted to be part of Maharashtra or remain separate. A referendum-like procedure was used
to ascertain people’s wishes on this issue. The majority voted in favour of remaining outside
of Maharashtra. Thus, Goa continued as a Union Territory. Finally, in 1987, Goa became a
State of the Indian Union.

Credit: R.K. Laxman in The Times of India,

21 April 1954

2018-19
170 Politics in India since Independence

1. Match the following.

A B
Nature of regional aspirations States
(a) Socio-religious identity i. Nagaland /Mizoram
leading to statehood
(b) Linguistic identity and ii. Jharkhand /Chattisgarh
tensions with Centre
(c) Regional imbalance leading iii. Punjab
to demand for Statehood
(d) Secessionist demands on iv. Tamil Nadu
account of tribal identity

2. Regional aspirations of the people of North-East get expressed

in different ways. These include movements against outsiders,
movement for greater autonomy and movement for separate national
existence. On the map of the North-East, using different shades for
EXERCISES

these three, show the States where these expressions are prominently
found.

3. What were the main provisions of the Punjab accord? In what way
can they be the basis for further tensions between the Punjab and its
neighbouring States?

4. Why did the Anandpur Sahib Resolution become controversial?

5. Explain the internal divisions of the State of Jammu and Kashmir and
describe how these lead to multiple regional aspirations in that State.

6. What are the various positions on the issue of regional autonomy for
Kashmir? Which of these do you think are justifiable? Give reasons for
your answer.

7. The Assam movement was a combination of cultural pride and economic

backwardness. Explain.

8. All regional movements need not lead to separatist demands. Explain

by giving examples from this chapter.

9. Regional demands from different parts of India exemplify the principle

of unity with diversity. Do you agree? Give reasons.

10. Read the passage and answer the questions below:

One of Hazarika’s songs.. … dwells on the unity theme; the seven
states of north-eastern India become seven sisters born of the same
mother. …. ‘Meghalaya went own way…., Arunachal too separated

2018-19
Regional Aspirations 171

and Mizoram appeared in Assam’s gateway as a groom to marry

another daughter.’ ….. …. .. The song ends with a determination to
keep the unity of the Assamese with other smaller nationalities that
are left in the present-day Assam – ‘the Karbis and the Mising brothers
and sisters are our dear ones.’ — SANJIB BARUAH
(a) Which unity is the poet talking about?
(b) Why were some States of North-East created separately out of
the erstwhile State of Assam?
(c) Do you think that the same theme of unity could apply to all the
regions of India? Why?

2018-19
 In this chapter…
In this last chapter we take a synoptic view of the last two decades of
politics in India. These developments are complex, for various kinds of
factors came together to produce unanticipated outcomes in this period.
The new era in politics was impossible to foresee; it is still very difficult to
understand. These developments are also controversial, for these involve
deep conflicts and we are still too close to the events. Yet we can ask
some questions central to the political change in this period.
• What are the implications of the rise of coalition politics for our
democracy?
• What is Mandalisation all about? In which ways will it change the
nature of political representation?
Ups and downs of
various political parties • What is the legacy of the Ramjanambhoomi movement and the
in the 1990s appeared Ayodhya demolition for the nature of political mobilisation?
to many, like this
cartoon drawn in 1990,
• What does the rise of a new policy consensus do to the nature of
as a roller coaster ride. political choices?
Riding the roller coaster
The chapter does not answer these questions. It simply gives you the
are Rajiv Gandhi, V.
P. Singh, L. K. Advani, necessary information and some tools so that you can ask and answer
Chandrashekhar, Jyoti these questions when you are through with this book. We cannot avoid
Basu, N. T. Rama Rao, asking these questions just because they are politically sensitive, for the
Devi Lal, P. K. Mahanta whole point of studying the history of politics in India since Independence
and K. Karunanidhi. is to make sense of our present.

2018-19
 chapter
recent
developments in
indian politics
9
Context of the 1990s
You have read in the last chapter that Rajiv Gandhi became the Prime
Minister after the assassination of Indira Gandhi. He led the Congress
to a massive victory in the Lok Sabha elections held immediately
thereafter in 1984. As the decade of the eighties came to a close, the
country witnessed five developments that were to make a long-lasting
impact on our politics.

F
irst the most crucial development of this period was the defeat
of the Congress party in the elections held in 1989. The party
that had won as many as 415 seats in the Lok Sabha in 1984
was reduced to only 197 in this election. The Congress improved
its performance and came back to power soon after the mid-term
elections held in 1991. But the elections of 1989 marked the end of
what political scientists have called the ‘Congress system’. To be sure,
the Congress remained an important party and ruled the country
more than any other party even in this period since 1989. But it lost
the kind of centrality it earlier enjoyed in the party system.

I wish to find
out if the Congress
can still bounce back
to its old glory.

Congress leader Sitaram Kesri withdrew the crutches of support from Deve
Gowda’s United Front Government.

S
econd development was the rise of the ‘Mandal issue’ in national
politics. This followed the decision by the new National Front
government in 1990, to implement the recommendation of
the Mandal Commission that jobs in central government should be
reserved for the Other Backward Classes. This led to violent ‘anti-
Mandal’ protests in different parts of the country. This dispute between
the supporters and opponents of OBC reservations was known as the
‘Mandal issue’ and was to play an important role in shaping politics
since 1989.

2018-19
 174 Politics in India since Independence

ure
to be s on
I wish men
pheno m A reaction to Mandalisation.
if this e a long-ter
ld h a v

T
wou hird, the economic policy followed by the various governments
effect. took a radically different turn. This is known as the initiation
of the structural adjustment programme or the new economic
reforms. Started by Rajiv Gandhi, these changes first became very
visible in 1991 and radically changed the direction that the Indian
economy had pursued since Independence. These policies have been
widely criticised by various movements and organisations. But the
various governments that came to power in this period have continued
to follow these.
Credit: R. K. Laxman in the Times of India

I am n
if this ot clear
will m
differe ake a
especia nce to politic
lly if e s
the sa veryon ,
me po e h as
licy.

Manmohan Singh, the then Finance Minister, with Prime Minister Narsimha Rao, in
the initial phase of the ‘New Economic Policy’.

2018-19
Recent Developments in Indian Politics 175

F
ourth, a number of events culminated in the demolition of
the disputed structure at Ayodhya (known as Babri Masjid) in
December 1992. This event symbolised and triggered various
changes in the politics of the country and intensified debates about
the nature of Indian nationalism and secularism. These developments
are associated with the rise of the BJP and the politics of ‘Hindutva’.

er how
I wond affect
ill
this w ies!
al part
politic

A reaction to rising communalism.

F
inally, the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in May 1991 led to a
change in leadership of the Congress party. He was assassinated
by a Sri Lankan Tamil linked to the LTTE when he was on
an election campaign tour in Tamil Nadu. In the elections of 1991,
Congress emerged as the single largest party. Following Rajiv Gandhi’s
death, the party chose Narsimha Rao as the Prime Minister.

1 May 1996 25 October 1995 20 August 2001 25 October 2004

Leadership in Congress made many headlines.

2018-19
 176 Politics in India since Independence

Era of Coalitions
Elections in 1989 led to the defeat of the Congress party but did not
result in a majority for any other party. Though the Congress was the
largest party in the Lok Sabha, it did not have a clear majority and
therefore, it decided to sit in the opposition. The National Front (which
itself was an alliance of Janata Dal and some other regional parties)
received support from two diametrically opposite political groups: the
BJP and the Left Front. On this basis, the National Front formed a
coalition government, but the BJP and the Left Front did not join in
this government.

Credit: Sudhir Tailang /HT Book of Cartoons

The National
Front
Government
lead by V. P.
Singh was
supported
by the Left
(represented
here by Jyoti
Basu) as well
as the BJP
(represented by
L. K. Advani)

Decline of Congress
The defeat of the Congress party marked the end of Congress
dominance over the Indian party system. Do you remember the
discussion in Chapter Five about the restoration of the Congress
system? Way back in the late sixties, the dominance of the Congress
party was challenged; but the Congress under the leadership of Indira
Gandhi, managed to re-establish its predominant position in politics.
The nineties saw yet another challenge to the predominant position of
the Congress. It did not, however, mean the emergence of any other
single party to fill in its place.

2018-19
Recent Developments in Indian Politics 177

Thus, began an era of multi-party system. To be sure, a large

number of political parties always contested elections in our country.
Our Parliament always had representatives from several political
parties. What happened after 1989 was the emergence of several
parties in such a way that one or two parties did not get most of
the votes or seats. This also meant that no single party secured a
clear majority of seats in any Lok Sabha election held since 1989 till
2014. This development initiated an era of coalition governments at
the Centre, in which regional parties played a crucial role in forming
ruling alliances.

Let’s re-search
Talk to your parents about their memories of the events happening
since the 1990s. Ask them what they felt were the most significant
events of the period. Sit together in groups and draw a comprehensive
list of the events reported by your parents, see which events get cited
most, and compare them with what the chapter suggests were the
most significant. You can also discuss why some events are more
important for some and not for others.

Alliance politics
The nineties also saw the emergence of powerful parties and movements
that represented the Dalit and backward castes (Other Backward
Classes or OBCs). Many of these parties represented powerful
regional assertion as well. These parties played an important role in
the United Front government that came to power in 1996. The United
Front was similar to the National Front of 1989 for it included Janata
Dal and several regional parties. This time the BJP did not support
the government. The United Front government was supported by
the Congress. This shows how unstable the political equations were.
In 1989, both the Left and the BJP supported the National Front
Government because they wanted to keep the Congress out of power.
In 1996, the Left continued to support the non-Congress government
but this time the Congress, supported it, as both the Congress and
the Left wanted to keep the BJP out of power.
They did not succeed for long, as the BJP continued to
consolidate its position in the elections of 1991 and 1996. It
emerged as the largest party in the 1996 election and was invited
to form the government. But most other parties were opposed to
its policies and therefore, the BJP government could not secure
a majority in the Lok Sabha. It finally came to power by leading

2018-19
178 Politics in India since Independence

a coalition government from May 1998 to June 1999 and was

re-elected in October 1999. Atal Behari Vajpayee was the Prime
Minister during both these NDA governments and his government
formed in 1999 completed its full term.
Credit: Ajit Ninan/India Today

A cartoonist’s depiction of the change from one-party dominance to a multi-party

alliance system.

Thus, with the elections of 1989, a long phase of coalition politics

began in India. Since then, there have been eleven governments at
the Centre, all of which have either been coalition governments or
minority governments supported by other parties, which did not join
the government. In this new phase, any government could be formed
only with the participation or support of many regional parties. This
applied to the National Front in 1989, the United Front in 1996 and
1997, the NDA in 1997, the BJP-led coalition in 1998, the NDA in
1999, the UPA in 2004 and 2009. However, this trend changed in 2014.
Let us connect this development with what we have learnt so far.
The era of coalition governments may be seen as a long-term trend
resulting from relatively silent changes that were taking place over
the last few decades.
We saw in Chapter Two that in earlier times, it was the Congress
party itself that was a ‘coalition’ of different interests and different social
strata and groups. This gave rise to the term ‘Congress system’.

2018-19
Recent Developments in Indian Politics 179
CENTRAL GOVERNMENTS SINCE 1989

For more details about the current

and former Prime Ministers, visit
http://pmindia.gov.in/en
Note: The blank space is for you to record more information on the major policies, performance and controversies about that government.

2018-19
180 Politics in India since Independence

We also saw in Chapter Five that, especially since the late 1960s,
various sections had been leaving the Congress fold and forming
separate political parties of their own. We also noted the rise of many
regional parties in the period after 1977. While these developments
weakened the Congress party, they did not enable any single party to
replace the Congress.

OK, coalitions
are the logic of I am
democratic politics in not worried
our kind of society. Does about whether
that mean that we will it is a single
always have coalitions? Or party or coalition
can the national parties government. I am
consolidate their more worried about
positions again? what they do. Does a
coalition government
involve more
compromises? Can
we not have bold and
imaginative policies
in a coalition?

Political Rise of Other Backward Classes

One long-term development of this period was the rise of Other
Backward Classes as a political force. You have already come across
this term ‘OBC’. This refers to the administrative category ‘Other
Backward Classes’. These are communities other than SC and ST
who suffer from educational and social backwardness. These are also
referred to as ‘backward castes’. We have already noted in Chapter
Six that the support for the Congress among many sections of the
‘backward castes’ had declined. This created a space for non-Congress
parties that drew more support from these communities. You would
recall that the rise of these parties first found political expression
at the national level in the form of the Janata Party government in
1977. Many of the constituents of the Janata Party, like the Bharatiya
Kranti Dal and the Samyukta Socialist Party, had a powerful rural
base among some sections of the OBC.

‘Mandal’ implemented
In the 1980s, the Janata Dal brought together a similar combination
of political groups with strong support among the OBCs. The decision
of the National Front government to implement the recommendations

2018-19
Recent Developments in Indian Politics 181

of the Mandal Commission further helped in shaping the politics of

‘Other Backward Classes’. The intense national debate for and against
reservation in jobs made people from the OBC communities more
aware of this identity. Thus, it helped those who wanted to mobilise
these groups in politics. This period saw the emergence of many
parties that sought better opportunities for OBCs in education and
employment and also raised the question of the share of power enjoyed
by the OBCs. These parties claimed that since OBCs constituted a
large segment of Indian society, it was only democratic that the OBCs
should get adequate representation in administration and have their
due share of political power.

Implementation of Mandal Commission report sparked off agitations and political upheavals.

2018-19
182 Politics in India since Independence

The Mandal Commission

Reservations for the OBC were in existence in southern States since the 1960s,
if not earlier. But this policy was not operative in north Indian States. It was
during the tenure of Janata Party government in 1977-79 that the demand for
reservations for backward castes in north India and at the national level was
strongly raised. Karpoori Thakur, the then Chief Minister of Bihar, was a pioneer
in this direction. His government had introduced a new policy of reservations for
OBCs in Bihar. Following this, the central government appointed a Commission
in 1978 to look into and recommend ways to improve the conditions of the
backward classes. This was the second time since Independence that the
government had appointed such a commission. Therefore, this commission
was officially known as the Second Backward Classes Commission. Popularly,
the commission is known as the Mandal Commission, after the name of its
Chairperson, Bindeshwari Prasad Mandal.
The Mandal Commission was set up to
investigate the extent of educational and social
backwardness among various sections of Indian
society and recommend ways of identifying these
‘backward classes’. It was also expected to give
its recommendations on the ways in which this
backwardness could be ended. The Commission
gave its recommendations in 1980. By then the
Janata government had fallen. The Commission
advised that ‘backward classes’ should be understood
to mean ‘backward castes’, since many castes,
B.P. Mandal other than the Scheduled Castes, were also treated
(1918-1982): M.P. from as low in the caste hierarchy. The Commission did
Bihar for 1967-1970 a survey and found that these backward castes had
and 1977-1979; chaired a very low presence in both educational institutions
the Second Backward and in employment in public services. It therefore
Classes Commission recommended reserving 27 per cent of seats in
that recommended educational institutions and government jobs for
reservations for Other these groups. The Mandal Commission also made
Backward Classes; a many other recommendations, like, land reform, to
socialist leader from Bihar; improve the conditions of the OBCs.
Chief Minister of Bihar for
just a month and a half in In August 1990, the National Front government
1968; joined the Janata decided to implement one of the recommendations
Party in 1977. of Mandal Commission pertaining to reservations
for OBCs in jobs in the central government and its
undertakings. This decision sparked agitations and
violent protests in many cities of north India. The
decision was also challenged in the Supreme Court and came to be known
as the ‘Indira Sawhney case’, after the name of one of the petitioners. In
November 1992, the Supreme Court gave a ruling upholding the decision of
the government. There were some differences among political parties about
the manner of implementation of this decision. But now the policy of reservation
for OBCs has support of all the major political parties of the country.

2018-19
Recent Developments in Indian Politics 183

Political fallouts
The 1980s also saw the rise of political organisation of the Dalits.
In 1978 the Backward and Minority Communities Employees
Federation (BAMCEF) was formed. This organisation was not an
ordinary trade union of government employees. It took a strong
position in favour of political power to the ‘bahujan’ – the SC, ST,
OBC and minorities. It was out of this that the subsequent Dalit
Shoshit Samaj Sangharsh Samiti and later the Bahujan Samaj
Party (BSP) emerged under the leadership of Kanshi Ram. The
BSP began as a small party supported largely by Dalit voters in
Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. But in 1989 and the 1991
elections, it achieved a breakthrough in Uttar Pradesh. This was
the first time in independent India that a political party supported
mainly by Dalit voters had achieved this kind of political success.
In fact, the BSP, under Kanshi Ram’s leadership was envisaged
as an organisation based on pragmatic politics. It derived
confidence from the fact that the Bahujans (SC, ST, OBC and
religious minorities) constituted the majority of the population,
and were a formidable political force on the strength of their
numbers. Since then the BSP has emerged as a major political
player in the State and has been in government on more than one
occasion. Its strongest support still comes from Dalit voters, but
it has expanded its support now to various other social groups. In
many parts of India, Dalit politics and OBC politics have developed
independently and often in competition with each other. Kanshi Ram
(1934-2006):
Proponent
Will of Bahujan
this benefit empowerment and
leaders of all the founder of Bahujan
backward and Dalit Samaj Party (BSP);
communities? Or will the left his central
gains be monopolised by some
powerful castes and families
government job for
within these groups? social and political
work; founder of
BAMCEF, DS-4
and finally the
The real point BSP in 1984;
is not the leaders but astute political
the people! Will this lead strategist, he
to better policies and effective regarded political
implementation for the really power as master
deprived people? Or will it remain
key to attaining
just a political game?
social equality;
credited with Dalit
resurgence in north
Indian States.

2018-19
184 Politics in India since Independence

Communalism, Secularism, Democracy

The other long-term development during this period was the rise of
politics based on religious identity, leading to a debate about secularism
and democracy. We noted in Chapter Six that in the aftermath of the
Emergency, the Bharatiya Jana Sangh had merged into the Janata
Party. After the fall of the Janata Party and its break-up, the supporters
of erstwhile Jana Sangh formed the Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP) in
1980. Initially, the BJP adopted a broader political platform than that
of the Jana Sangh. It embraced ‘Gandhian Socialism’ as its ideology.
But it did not get much success in the elections held in 1980 and 1984.
After 1986, the party began to emphasise the Hindu nationalist element
in its ideology. The BJP pursued the politics of ‘Hindutva’ and adopted
the strategy of mobilising the Hindus.
Hindutva literally means ‘Hinduness’ and was defined by its
originator, V. D. Savarkar, as the basis of Indian (in his language
also Hindu) nationhood. It basically meant that to be members of the
Indian nation, everyone must not only accept India as their ‘fatherland’
(pitrubhu) but also as their holy land (punyabhu). Believers of ‘Hindutva’
argue that a strong nation can be built only on the basis of a strong and
united national culture. They also believe that in the case of India the
Hindu culture alone can provide this base.
Two developments around 1986 became central to the politics of
BJP as a ‘Hindutva’ party. The first was the Shah Bano case in 1985.
In this case a 62-year old divorced Muslim woman, had filed a case for
maintenance from her former husband. The Supreme Court ruled in
her favour. The orthodox Muslims saw the Supreme Court’s order as an
interference in Muslim Personal Law. On the demand of some Muslim
leaders, the government passed the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights
on Divorce) Act, 1986 that nullified the Supreme Court’s judgment. This
action of the government was opposed by many women’s organisations,
many Muslim groups and most of the intellectuals. The BJP criticised
this action of the Congress government as an unnecessary concession
and ‘appeasement’ of the minority community.

Ayodhya dispute
The second development was the order by the Faizabad district court
in February 1986. The court ordered that the Babri Masjid premises
be unlocked so that Hindus could offer prayers at the site which they
considered as a temple. A dispute had been going on for many decades
over the mosque known as Babri Masjid at Ayodhya. The Babri Masjid
was a 16th century mosque in Ayodhya and was built by Mir Baqi –
Mughal emperor Babur’s General. Some Hindus believe that it was built
after demolishing a temple for Lord Rama in what is believed to be his
birthplace. The dispute took the form of a court case and has continued
for many decades. In the late 1940s the mosque was locked up as the
matter was with the court.

2018-19
Recent Developments in Indian Politics 185

As soon as the locks of the Babri Masjid were opened, mobilisation

began on both sides. Many Hindu and Muslim organisations tried
to mobilise their communities on this question. Suddenly this local
dispute became a major national question and led to communal
tensions. The BJP made this issue its major electoral and political
plank. Along with many other organisations like the RSS and the
Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), it convened a series of symbolic
and mobilisational programmes. This large scale mobilisation led to
surcharged atmosphere and many instances of communal violence.
The BJP, in order to generate public support, took out a massive march
called the Rathyatra from Somnath in Gujarat to Ayodhya in UP.

Demolition and after

In December 1992, the organisations supporting the construction of
the temple had organised a Karseva, meaning voluntary service by the
devotees, for building the Ram temple. The situation had become tense
all over the country and especially at Ayodhya. The Supreme Court had
ordered the State government to take care that the disputed site will
not be endangered. However, thousands of people gathered from all
over the country at Ayodhya on 6 December 1992 and demolished
the mosque. This news led to clashes between the Hindus and
Muslims in many parts of the country. The violence in Mumbai
erupted again in January 1993 and continued
for over two weeks.

2018-19
 186 Politics in India since Independence

wise):
The events at Ayodhya
(Clock neer led to a series of other developments.
Credit eer, The Pio
e P io n a n .
Th sm The State government, with the BJP as the ruling
e State
and Th
party, was dismissed by the Centre. Along with that, other States
where the BJP was in power, were also put under President’s rule.
A case against the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh was registered
in the Supreme Court for contempt of court since he had given
an undertaking that the disputed structure will be protected. The
BJP officially expressed regret over the happenings at Ayodhya.
The central government appointed a commission to investigate into
the circumstances leading to the demolition of the mosque. Most
political parties condemned the demolition and declared that this
was against the principles of secularism. This led to a serious debate
over secularism and posed the kind of questions our country faced
immediately after Partition – was India going to be a country where
the majority religious community dominated over the minorities?
Or would India continue to offer equal protection of law and equal
citizenship rights to all Indians irrespective of their religion?
During this time, there has also been a debate about using
religious sentiments for electoral purposes. India’s democratic
politics is based on the premise that all religious communities enjoy
the freedom that they may join any party and that there will not be

2018-19
Recent Developments in Indian Politics 187

community-based political parties. This democratic atmosphere of

communal amity has faced many challenges since 1984. As we have
read in Chapter Eight, this happened in 1984 in the form of anti-Sikh
riots. In February-March 2002, similar violence broke out against the
Muslims in Gujarat. Such violence against the minority community
and violence between two communities is a threat to democracy.

“
These proceedings have the echo of the disastrous event that ended in the demolition on the 6th December,
1992 of the disputed structure of ‘Ram Janam Bhoomi-Babri Masjid’ in Ayodhya. Thousands of innocent lives of

land was impaired in the international scene. “

citizens were lost, extensive damage to property caused and more than all a damage to the image of this great land
as one fostering great traditions of tolerance, faith, brotherhood amongst the various communities inhabiting the

It is unhappy that a leader of a political party and the Chief Minister has to be convicted of an offence of Contempt
of Court. But it has to be done to uphold the majesty of law. We convict him of the offence of contempt of Court.
Since the contempt raises larger issues which affect the very foundation of the secular fabric of our nation, we also
sentence him to a token imprisonment of one day.

Chief Justice Venkatachaliah and Justice G.N. Ray of Supreme Court

Observations in a judgement on the failure of the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh to keep the promise that he
had made before the National Integration Council to protect the ‘Ram Janam Bhumi-Babri Masjid’ structure,
Mohd. Aslam v. Union of India, 24 October 1994

Gujarat riots
In February-March 2002, large-scale
violence took place in Gujarat. The
immediate provocation for this violence
was an incident that took place at a
station called Godhra. A bogey of a train
that was returning from Ayodhya and was
full of Karsevaks was set on fire. Fifty-
seven people died in that fire. Suspecting
the hand of the Muslims in setting fire
to the bogey, large-scale violence against
Muslims began in many parts of Gujarat
from the next day. This violence continued
for almost a whole month. Nearly 1100
persons, mostly Muslims, were killed
in this violence. The National Human
Rights Commission criticised the Gujarat
government’s role in failing to control
violence, provide relief to the victims and
prosecute the perpetrators of this violence.
The Election Commission of India ordered
the assembly elections to be postponed.
As in the case of anti-Sikh riots of 1984,

2018-19
 188 Politics in India since Independence

“
On 27 February1947,
at the very first meeting of
the Advisory Committee of
the Constituent Assembly on
Fundamental Rights, Minorities
and Tribals and Excluded Areas,
Sardar Patel asserted:
“It is for us to prove that it is a
bogus claim, a false claim, and
that nobody can be more interested
than us, in India, in the protection
of our minorities. Our mission is
to satisfy every one of them. Let
us prove we can rule ourselves
and we have no ambition to rule
others”.
“The tragic events in Gujarat,
starting with the Godhra incident
and continuing with the violence
that rocked the state for over two
months, have greatly saddened
the nation. There is no doubt, in
the opinion of the Commission,
that there was a comprehensive
failure on the part of the state
government to control the
persistent violation of the rights
to life, liberty, equality and dignity
of the people of the state. It is,

“
of course, essential to heal the
wounds and to look to a future
of peace and harmony. But the
pursuit of these high objectives
must be based on justice and
upholding of the values of the
constitution of the republic and
who plan
Can
we ensure
that those
plan, execute
and support such
massacres are brought
to the book? Or at
the laws of the land. least punished
politically?
Is this going
to continue to be our
National Human Rights
Commission, Annual Report future? Is there no way we
2001-2002. can make all this a matter of
past?

2018-19
Recent Developments in Indian Politics 189

“
Gujarat riots show that the governmental machinery also becomes
susceptible to sectarian passions. Instances, like in Gujarat, alert My one message
us to the dangers involved in using religious sentiments for political
purposes. This poses a threat to democratic politics.

Emergence of a new consensus

to the Chief Minister [of
Gujarat] is that he should
follow ‘raj dharma’. A
ruler should not make any
discrimination between his
“
The period after 1989 is seen sometimes as the period of decline of subjects on the basis of caste,
Congress and rise of BJP. If you want to understand the complex
creed and religion.
nature of political competition in this period, you have to compare the
electoral performances of the Congress and the BJP.
Prime Minister Atal Behari
Vajpayee, Ahmedabad,
4 April 2002.

Now let us try to understand the meaning of the information given in

the figure.
• You will notice that BJP and Congress were engaged in a tough
competition in this period. What is the difference between

2018-19
190 Politics in India since Independence

their electoral fortunes if you compare these with the 1984

elections?
.• You will notice that since the 1989 election, the votes polled by
the two parties, Congress and the BJP do not add up to more than
fifty per cent. The seats won by them too, do not add up to more
than half the seats in the Lok Sabha. So, where did the rest of the
votes and seats go?
• Look at both the charts showing Congress and Janata ‘family’ of
parties. Which among the parties that exist today are neither part
of Congress family of parties nor part of Janata family of parties?
• The political competition during the nineties is divided between
the coalition led by BJP and the coalition led by the Congress.
Can you list the parties that are not part of any of these two
coalitions?

Lok Sabha Elections 2004

In the elections of 2004, the Congress party too entered into coalitions
in a big way. The NDA was defeated and a new coalition government
led by the Congress, known as the United Progressive Alliance came to
power. This government received support from the Left Front parties.
The elections of 2004 also witnessed the partial revival of Congress
party. It could increase its seats for the first time since 1991. However,
in the 2004 elections, there was a negligible difference between the
votes polled by the Congress and its allies and the BJP and its allies.
Thus, the party system has now changed almost dramatically from
what it was till the seventies.
The political processes that are unfolding around us after the
1990s show the emergence of broadly four groups of parties – parties
that are in coalition with the Congress; parties that are in alliance
with the BJP; Left Front parties; and other parties who are not part of
any of these three. The situation suggests that political competition
will be multi-cornered. By implication the situation also assumes a
divergence of political ideologies.

Growing consensus
However, on many crucial issues, a broad agreement has emerged
among most parties. In the midst of severe competition and many
conflicts, a consensus appears to have emerged among most parties.
This consensus consists of four elements.

F
irst, agreement on new economic policies – while many groups
are opposed to the new economic policies, most political parties
are in support of the new economic policies. Most parties believe
that these policies would lead the country to prosperity and a status
of economic power in the world.

2018-19
Recent Developments in Indian Politics 191

Note: This illustration is not a map drawn to scale and should not be taken to be an authentic
depiction of India’s external boundaries.

S
econd, acceptance of the political and social claims of the
backward castes – political parties have recognised that the
social and political claims of the backward castes need to be
accepted. As a result, all political parties now support reservation
of seats for the ‘backward classes’ in education and employment.
Political parties are also willing to ensure that the OBCs get adequate
share of power.

2018-19
192 Politics in India since Independence

T
hird, acceptance of the role of State level parties in governance
of the country – the distinction between State level and national
level parties is fast becoming less important. As we saw in this
chapter, State level parties are sharing power at the national level
and have played a central role in the country’s politics of last twenty
years or so.

F
ourth, emphasis on pragmatic considerations rather than
ideological positions and political alliances without ideological
agreement – coalition politics has shifted the focus of political
parties from ideological differences to power sharing arrangements.
Thus, most parties of the NDA did not agree with the ‘Hindutva’
ideology of the BJP. Yet, they came together to form a government
and remained in power for a full term.
All these are momentous changes and are going to shape politics
in the near future. We started this study of politics in India with the
discussion of how the Congress emerged as a dominant party. From
that situation, we have now arrived at a more competitive politics,
but politics that is based on a certain implicit agreement among
the main political actors. Thus, even as political parties act within
the sphere of this consenus, popular movements and organisations
are simultaneously identifying new forms, visions and pathways of
development. Issues like poverty, displacement, minimum wages,
livelihood and social security are being put on the political agenda
by peoples’ movements, reminding the state of its responsibility.
Similarly, issues of justice and democracy are being voiced by the
people in terms of class, caste, gender and regions. We cannot predict
That
is my the future of democracy. All we know is that democratic politics is
question – will here to stay in India and that it will unfold through a continuous
democracy churning of some of the factors mentioned in this chapter.
survive?
1990: Will V. P. November 1990: June 1991: Will June 1996: Will
Or may be
Singh survive? Will Shekhar Rao survive? Gowda survive?
survive?
the real question
is – will democracy
offer meaningful
political choices?
Credit: Ravishankar/India Today

April 1997: Will March 1998: Will

Gujral survive? Vajpayee survive?

2000:
Will India
survive?

2018-19
Recent Developments in Indian Politics 193

Party Position in 16th Lok Sabha

(As on 19.02.2015)

Source: http://loksabha.nic.in

2018-19
 194 Politics in India since Independence

1. Unscramble a bunch of disarranged press clipping file of Unni-Munni…

and arrange the file chronologically.
(a) Mandal Recommendations and Anti Reservation Stir
(b) Formation of the Janata Dal
(c) The demolition of Babri Masjid
(d) Assassination of Indira Gandhi
(e) The formation of NDA government
(f) Godhra incident and its fallout
(g) Formation of the UPA government

2. Match the following.

(a) Politics of Consensus i. Shah Bano case
(b) Caste based parties ii. Rise of OBCs
(c) Personal Law and iii. Coalition government
Gender Justice
EXERCISES

(d) Growing strength of iv. Agreement on Economic

Regional parties policies

3. State the main issues in Indian politics in the period after 1989. What
different configurations of political parties these differences lead to?

4. “In the new era of coalition politics, political parties are not aligning or re-
aligning on the basis of ideology.” What arguments would you put forward
to support or oppose this statement?

5. Trace the emergence of BJP as a significant force in post-Emergency

politics.

6. In spite of the decline of Congress dominance, the Congress party

continues to influence politics in the country. Do you agree? Give reasons.

7. Many people think that a two-party system is required for successful

democracy. Drawing from India’s experience of last 30 years, write an
essay on what advantages the present party system in India has.

8. Read the passage and answer the questions below:

Party politics in India has confronted numerous challenges. Not only
has the Congress system destroyed itself, but the fragmentation of the
Congress coalition has triggered a new emphasis on self-representation
which raises questions about the party system and its capacity to
accommodate diverse interests, …. . An important test facing the polity is
to evolve a party system or political parties that can effectively articulate
and aggregate a variety of interests. — ZOYA HASAN

2018-19
Recent Developments in Indian Politics 195

(a) Write a short note on what the author calls challenges of the
party system in the light of what you have read in this chapter.
(b) Given an example from this chapter of the lack of accommodation
and aggregation mentioned in this passage.
(c) Why is it necessary for parties to accommodate and aggregate
variety of interests?

LET US DO IT TOGETHER

• This chapter covers the major developments in Indian politics until the
2004 Elections (14th Lok Sabha). Subsequently, the Lok Sabha elections
were held in 2009, during which the UPA led by the Congress won. In
the 2014 Elections, the NDA led by the BJP emerged victorious. The
position of various parties in the 16th Lok Sabha is given on page 193.
• A detailed study of Members of the 16th Lok Sabha is available on the
website of the Lok Sabha (http://loksabha.nic.in).
• Compare and contrast the electoral performances of various political
parties in the 2009 Elections (15th Lok Sabha) and the 2014 Elections
(16th Lok Sabha) by collecting the data about the results from the
website of the Election Commission of India (http://eci.nic.in).
• Prepare a timeline of the major political events in India since 2004.
Share and discuss it in your classroom.

2018-19
2018-19