Since independence, how the country’s Umbrella Party has remained in power in only two states after shrinking from the states? Which regional parties have challenged the Congress in the last 10 state assembly elections?
In the first assembly elections held in 1952, the Congress government was formed in 21 states.
In the assembly elections held for the first time in 1952, the Congress formed its government in 21 states, which has now reduced to just two states. The first major challenge to the Congress came from Kerala in South India. In 1956, Kerala was formed by merging several areas on the basis of language. Soon after, in the 1957 assembly elections, the Left led by EMS Namboodiripad formed the government, which took everyone by surprise.
This victory was seen as the beginning of the Left in India. Although the government fell within three years and the Congress returned again in the elections held in 1960, the one-time change of power gave new hope to the Communist Party.
As a result of this, again in 1967 in Kerala, seven parties formed an alliance and threw the Congress out of power. After this, sometimes the power has been in the hands of the Congress and sometimes the Left. However, if the Communist Party gets power again in the results of the 2021 elections, there are speculations that the condition of the Congress in Kerala will be like Delhi.
In 1952, the Congress government was in 21 states.
In 1967, there was a Congress government in 11 states.
In 1985, there was a Congress government in 12 states.
The era of 1967 when Congress got a tough competition from regional parties
Elections were held in 1967 after the death of two former Prime Ministers of the country, Jawaharlal Nehru and Lal Bahadur Shastri. In the elections held this year, the Congress was successful in forming the government in just 11 states. The main reason for this was the shortage of food grains. Due to the weak economy of the country, inflation was increasing day by day. Common people were upset with Congress.
In such a situation, people were filled with the Congress government for 20 years and now they wanted to try new parties. America had supported Pakistan in the 1965 war and Russia’s apathy towards India also came to the fore. In such a situation, there was resentment among the people about the foreign policy of the Congress government.
The biggest defeat of the Congress was in its stronghold Tamil Nadu i.e. Madras. Here the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) had won 138 of the 234 assembly seats. Here the National President of the Congress Party and former Chief Minister of Madras K Kamaraj was also defeated. Similarly, Congress was defeated in Bengal and Orissa also. For the first time in UP, a non-Congress government was formed under the leadership of Chaudhary Charan Singh. His new party, the Bharatiya Kranti Dal, formed the government with the support of legislators from other smaller parties.
In 1980, Congress had direct competition with regional parties in 5 states.
In 1971, the Congress Party led by Indira had governments in 17 states of the country. This was the time when civil war broke out in Pakistan. Indira Gandhi played an important role in liberating Bangladesh.
In such a situation, the Congress was once again emerging strongly in the country. Then in 1975 Indira Gandhi imposed Emergency. After this, anger was filled in the minds of the people against Indira. In 1977, even though the Congress was defeated at the hands of the Janata Party, but after 3 years once again, the Congress returned to the center by winning 353 seats out of 529. However, when assembly elections were held in 15 states in 1980, the Indira-led Congress suffered a setback in states such as Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.
At the same time, in this election, apart from CPI and CPM in Kerala, Muslim League, Kerala Congress Jacob Party gave competition to Congress. Similarly, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, the Akali Dal in Punjab and the People’s Party of Arunachal in Arunachal showed their strength to the Congress.
Congress did not return on its own in many states after 1990
After 1990, Congress has not been able to make a comeback on its own in states like Bihar, UP, Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir. The Congress party, which once won more than 80% of the seats in these states alone, is now unable to even think about its future without the help of regional parties in these states. The most surprising thing is that for the last 50 years in Tamil Nadu, the Congress has not been able to form the government on its own. Here the Congress plays a smaller role than the regional parties in forming the government.
Surprisingly, in 1990, the Janata Dal party of Lalu Yadav defeated the Congress in Bihar, later the Congress had to join hands with the same Janata Dal to save its land. After this, the strength of the Congress in Bihar has remained only that the RJD alliance taunts the Congress by saying that it will give 70 seats more than its capacity in the 2020 elections.
In the last 10 state elections, not only BJP, regional parties also became trouble for Congress
In 2021, assembly elections were held in 5 states of Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Assam. Similarly, elections have been held in 5 states of UP, Punjab, Manipur, Uttarakhand and Goa in 2022. If seen in these 10 states, there is only one state Uttarakhand, where there is a direct fight of Congress with BJP and no regional party is strong in the middle. Apart from this, the fight of Congress in 9 states is not only against BJP but also against regional parties. In such a situation it is clear that regional parties are now BJ for Congress.
