Politics in India since

Independence
Textbook in political science for Class XII

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 12119 – Politics in India since Independence ISBN 81-7450-763-9
Textbook for Class XII

First Edition
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
June 2007 Jyaistha 1928
 No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
Reprinted or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
February 2008, January 2009, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the
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 This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade,
November 2012, January 2014, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise disposed of without the publisher’s
December 2014, December 2015, consent, in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published.

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price indicated by a rubber stamp or by a sticker or by any other means is
January 2019, February 2020, incorrect and should be unacceptable.
March 2021, July 2021 and
December 2021
Revised Edition
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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 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

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 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

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 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

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 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,

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 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

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 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.

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 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

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 x

Rationalisation of Content
in the Textbooks
In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is imperative to
reduce content load on students. The National Education
Policy 2020, also emphasises reducing the content load and
providing opportunities for experiential learning with creative
mindset. In this background, the NCERT has undertaken
the exercise to rationalise the textbooks across all classes.
Learning Outcomes already developed by the NCERT across
classes have been taken into consideration in this exercise.
Contents of the textbooks have been rationalised in view
of the following:
• Overlapping with similar content included in other subject
areas in the same class
• Similar content included in the lower or higher class in the
same subject
• Difficulty level
• Content, which is easily accessible to students without
much interventions from teachers and can be learned by
children through self-learning or peer-learning
• Content, which is irrelevant in the present context

This present edition is a reformatted version after carrying

out the changes given above.

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

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 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, 119,
122, 124, 153, 169 and 174. The Children’s Book Trust for
cartoons by Shankar on pages 21, 22, 26, 28 and 40. 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 . 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, and 152. DPA/PIB for pictures on pages 9 and 17.
Hindustan Times for pictures on pages 49, 120, 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. Raghu Rai for pictures on pages
86 and 166. Institute of Gram Swaraj for picture on page 55. Robin
Shaw Pushp/ Rajkamal Prakashan for picture on page 43. 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, 69, 75, 77, 83, 95, 111,
154, 166, 181 and 185. 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.

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Posters/Advertisements
GCMMF India for Amul advertisements on pages 71, 91, 111, 166,
173, 174 and 175. 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.
The Council acknowledges the contributions of the following review
committee members towards the rationalisation of the textbook:
Kavita Jain, PGT, Political Science, Delhi; Maneesha Pandey,
Department of Political Science, Hindu College, Delhi University,
New Delhi; Shankar Sharan, Professor, DESS, NCERT; Vanthangpui
Khobung, Assistant Professor, RIE, Bhopal, NCERT; Sunita Kathuria,
PGT, Political Science, New Delhi.

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Contents
Foreword  iii
Letter to the Readers  v
Rationalisation of Content in the Textbooks  x

Chapter 1
Challenges of nation building  2

Chapter 2
Era of one-party dominance  26

Chapter 3
Politics of planned development  44

Chapter 4
India’s external relations  54

Chapter 5
Challenges to and restoration of the congress system 72

Chapter 6
The crisis of democratic order  92

Chapter 7
Regional aspirations  112

Chapter 8
Recent developments in indian politics  136

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