Indian National Congress and Ideological Dimension: Historical Perspective

• Dr. Chayanika Uniyal

On December 28, 1885, the Congress was established at the Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College in Bombay under the chairmanship of Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee. It was attended by more than 100 participants all over the country. In the coming decades, swinging between the spirit of Swami-bhakti and the urge for progressivism, this party gradually and steadily changed into an inclusive movement of broad-based multi-classes. The political vision of the Indian National Congress was not limited to mere opposition to colonialism, rather it had a strong ideological foundation. The vision of the Congress was based on the ideological view of a secular, republican, democratic, civil libertarian political order. The leadership emphasised that economic and political order must be based on principles of social equality. Interestingly this vision is still relevant.

While denying Indians the right to self-rule, British colonial authorities and British intellectuals argued that democratic governance is totally impossible given the backward religious and social institutions and lack of historical tradition of republic in India. In contrast, the Indian political leadership made the case for Swaraj by showing India’s ancient republican traditions. Indian National Congress, since inception, was fully committed to parliamentary democracy and civil rights and kept the democratic structure alive within the organization as well. Countless examples of decisions taken on the basis of majority by open voting after heated debates on proposals in Congress sessions can be seen on the pages of history. In 1920, for instance, the proposal of non-cooperation movement proposed by Mahatma Gandhi was also passed on the basis of 1886 votes as compared to 1841. The Congress not only had a strong tradition of freedom of expression, but it also always encouraged minority opinion to freely express itself. In 1942, around 13 left inclined members of the Working Committee of the Indian National Congress voted against the resolution of ‘Quit India’ in 1942. Instead of criticizing it, Gandhiji began his famous speech of “Do or Die” with these words, “I congratulate the thirteen friends who voted against the resolution, in doing so, they have nothing to be ashamed of. For the last twenty years we have tried to learn not to lose courage even when we are in a hopeless minority and are laughed at…………. I was, therefore, glad to see that these friends had imbibed the principle which I have tried to follow for the last fifty years and more.”

From the beginning, zealous in defence of civil rights had also been an important dimension of the ideological aspect of the Congress. Lokmanya Tilak often claimed that “liberty of the press and liberty of speech give birth to a nation and nourish it.” During the Non-cooperation movement, Gandhi wrote in Young India in January 1922 that “We must first make good the right of free speech and free association before we can make any further progress towards our goal… We must defend elementary rights with our lives.” Jawaharlal Nehru’s dedication for civil liberties is clearly reflected in the resolution on fundamental rights, drafted by him in 1931. As a result of Nehru’s efforts, an apolitical, secular organization- the Indian Civil Liberties Union was formed, the propose of which was to mobilize the public opinion against the attacks on civil rights. In 1940, Nehru declared that “Civil liberty and freedom of the Press consist in permitting what we do not like, in our tolerating the criticism of ourselves”.

Congress made secularism the basic element of its political ideology. This ideology of secularism was further strengthened by leaders like Gandhiji, Chittaranjan Das, Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru, Maulana Azad, Dr. MA Ansari, Subhash Chandra Bose, Sardar Patel and Rajendra Prasad. The Nehru Report presented on 10 August, 1928, envisaged a democratic representative parliamentary system, at the same time special emphasis was laid on securing fundamental human rights for the Indian citizen. The interesting fact is that the secular character of the state was included in the fundamental human rights. In the decades of 1930s and 1940s, Jawaharlal Nehru played an important role in giving direction to the secular vision of the Congress. Jawaharlal Nehru owes credit to the creation of a secular constitution in India and the foundation of a secular state and society after independence, in the face of extremely hostile conditions. Though the Congress did not directly raise the question of women until 1917, but it is interesting that only four years after its foundation, there was a presence of women in the Congress session of 1889 AD. The report of the 1889 Congress mentions that no less than ten lady delegates graced the assembly. During the Congress session of 1890, a woman was allowed to address or to give a vote of thanks to the Speaker. During the thirty-third session of the INC in December 1918, Sarladevi Chaudharani moved the resolution supporting the voting rights for women. The announcement by Mahatma Gandhi at the Second Round Table Conference held in London in September 1931 by the British government to consider a new constitution for India, “I would boycott that legislature which will not have a proper share of women members”, Reflects Congress’ allegiance to the idea of gender equality.

The Congress also ideologically fully recognized the diversity of the Indian people. While programs for abolishment of untouchability became the basic constituent of the political dynamics of the Congress after 1920. On the other hand, Congress started organizing its provincial or regional committees on linguistic lines by recognizing India’s cultural aspirations of various linguistic groups, not according to British created multi-lingual provinces. From the 1920s, strong socialist trends also developed in the Congress. Jawaharlal Nehru played an important role in popularizing the idea of socialist India. He believed that political freedom is meaningless without economic liberation of the people. In the Congress this revolution of socialist ideas was well expressed in the Congress resolutions of Karachi, Lucknow, Faizpur (1931 to 1936) and the election manifesto of 1945-46 and the economic and social reforms undertaken by the Congress cabinets after 1937-39.

All these ideals and values of the ideology of the Indian National Congress acted as a bridge between the developmental efforts after independence and gave the process of development a continuous revolution. The strong legacy of these ideals and values is also the strong foundation of the present Congress. But any legacy, no matter how strong, if it is not continuously nurtured and developed, becomes irrelevant. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the present Congress generation not only to strengthen this legacy but sometimes make creative changes according to the changed circumstances.

The author is a Junior Fellow NMML (2009-11), Assistant Professor, SPM College, DU