The Indian National Congress (Organisation) also known as Congress (O) or Syndicate/Old Congress was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

formed when the Congress party split following the expulsion of

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 un ...

. On 12 November 1969, the Prime Minister of India

was expelled from the Congress party for violating party discipline. The party finally split with Indira Gandhi setting up a rival organisation ''Indian National Congress (Requisitionists)'', which came to be known as '' Congress (R)'' or ''Indicate'' . In the

All India Congress Committee The All India Congress Committee (AICC) is the presidium or the central decision-making assembly of the Indian National Congress. It is composed of members elected from States and union territories of India, state-level Pradesh Congress Commit ...

, 446 of its 705 members walked over to Indira's side. K Kamaraj and later

Morarji Desai Morarji Ranchhodji Desai (29 February 1896 – 10 April 1995) was an Indian politician and Indian independence activist, independence activist who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India between 1977 and 1979 leading th ...

were the leaders of the INC(O). INC(O) led governments in

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

under Bhola Paswan Shastri,

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

under Veerendra Patil, and in

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

under Hitendra K Desai. It was also a part of the Janata Morcha that ruled Gujarat under Babubhai J. Patel from 1975–1976 during the emergency era. The split can in some ways be seen as a

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

right-wing Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...

division. Indira wanted to use a

populist Populism is a contested concept used to refer to a variety of political stances that emphasize the idea of the " common people" and often position this group in opposition to a perceived elite. It is frequently associated with anti-establis ...

agenda in order to mobilise popular support for the party. The regional party elites, who formed the INC(O), stood for a more right-wing agenda, and distrusted

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

help. In the 1971 general election, the Indian National Congress (O) won about 10% of the vote and 16

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

seats, against 44% of the vote and 352 seats for Indira's Indian National Congress (R).
In March 1977, the party fought the post-Emergency election under the banner of

Janata Party The Janata Party (JP, ) is an unrecognised political party in India. Navneet Chaturvedi is the current president of the party since November 2021, replacing Jaiprakash Bandhu. The JP was established as an amalgam of Indian political partie ...

. The Janata Party alliance inflicted crushing defeat to Indira's Congress Party. Nevertheless, the total vote share of Congress (O) in 1977 was almost halved from 1971 and they lost three seats. Later the same year, INC(O) formally merged with the

Bharatiya Lok Dal Bharatiya Lok Dal () was a political party in India. The BLD or simply BL was formed at the end of 1974 through the fusion of seven parties opposed to the rule of Indira Gandhi, including the Swatantra Party, the Samyukta Socialist Party, the ...

, Bharatiya Jan Sangh, Socialist Party of India,

Swatantra Party The Swatantra Party was an Indian classical liberal political party that existed from 1959 to 1974. It was founded by C. Rajagopalachari in reaction to what he felt was the Jawaharlal Nehru-dominated Indian National Congress's increasingly so ...

and others to form the

. Congress (O)'s leader

served as the fourth

Prime Minister of India The prime minister of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen Union Council of Ministers, Council of Ministers, despite the president of ...

from 1977 to 1979; this was India's first non-Congress government. But this government could not run for 5 years and fell in 1979. Fresh Elections were called in 1980 and Indira's Indian National congress (R) swept the country and defeated the Janata party.

Leaders

* Neelam Sanjiva Reddy * S. Nijalingappa *

K. Kamaraj Kumaraswami Kamaraj (15 July 1903 – 2 October 1975), popularly known as Kamarajar was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the Chief Minister of Madras from 13 April 1954 to 2 October 1963. He also served as the pr ...

* S. K. Patil * Hitendra K Desai * Veerendra Patil * C. M. Poonacha * Atulya Ghosh * Satyendra Narayan Sinha * Chandra Bhanu Gupta * P. M. Nadagouda * Ashoka Mehta * Tribhuvan Narain Singh * Ram Subhag Singh * B. D. Sharma

References

{{Indian Emergency Indian National Congress Defunct political parties in India Political parties established in 1969 Political parties disestablished in 1977 Conservative parties in India Indian National Congress (Organisation) Indian National Congress breakaway groups

Leaders

See also

References