Rashtriya Samajwadi Congress (RSC; ) 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, ...

in the Indian state of

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

from 1986 to 1989. RSC was founded by

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

leader

Pranab Mukherjee Pranab Kumar Mukherjee ( ; born, 11 December 1935 – 31 August 2020) was an Indian statesman who served as the president of India from 2012 until 2017. He was the first person from West Bengal to hold the post of President of India. In a pol ...

who was the former

President of India The president of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, and the commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the Indian Armed ...

, as a result of the leadership struggle within the Indian National Congress after the demise 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 ...

. Mukherjee was opposed to

Rajiv Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi (20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991) was an Indian statesman and pilot who served as the prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the Assassination of Indira Gandhi, assassination of his mother, then–prime ...

being appointed the prime minister of India. He saw himself as the rightful successor to the post due to his seniority within the party and was opposed to the dynastic nature of the transition. The RSC rejoined the INC in 1989 after it was unsuccessful in attracting major political figures to its fold and unable to garner wide support. This may have been due to Mukherjee not being a mass leader and never having contested elections. On his return to the party he was welcomed and again joined the top leadership. Since then he has built up an image of a Nehru–Gandhi family loyalist.Financial Times
2009-05-25.

Notes

Rice-Mukherjee sign US-India Civilian Nuclear Cooperation Agreement

Defunct political parties in West Bengal Defunct socialist parties in India Political parties established in 1986 1986 establishments in West Bengal Political parties disestablished in 1989 1989 disestablishments in India Indian National Congress breakaway groups {{India-party-stub

See also

Notes