The 1971 election and a new Congress

After the split, Indira Gandhi's Congress (R) was a minority in the Lok Sabha. Its government survived with support from the CPI and the DMK. To get a clear mandate, she called an early election in 1971.

Against her stood the Grand Alliance: the SSP, PSP, Jana Sangh, Swatantra Party, Bharatiya Kranti Dal (BKD) and the Congress (O). They had no common programme. Their main slogan was 'Indira hatao' (remove Indira).

Indira Gandhi answered with 'Garibi hatao' (remove poverty). It turned the election into a choice about the poor, not about her. She targeted those who had gained little so far: the landless, Dalits and Adivasis, minorities, women, and the unemployed young.

The results: a landslide.

• Congress (R) alone won 352 seats, with about 44 per cent of the votes.
• With its ally the CPI, it had about 375 seats.
• Congress (O) won only 16.

Months later came the 1971 war and the creation of Bangladesh. Indira Gandhi's popularity soared, and her party swept the state elections of 1972 too.

A new Congress: the party had been restored to dominance, but it was different from the old Congress system:

• It depended on the popularity of one leader, not on a strong organisation and many regional leaders.
• It had no strong factions to balance each other: it was less a coalition of many voices.
• Its organisation was weak.
• It spoke to the poor directly with a socialist programme.

So the Congress was restored by being changed, a change that would have serious consequences in the years ahead.