Congress Rule in India Since 1947
This essay makes a hard case against RaGa congress. It argues that the Indian National Congress used its long hold on power in ways that leave little to be proud of. This is the case that critics make. It is stated here in full and without softening. ii. Start with what the party did not build. The freedom struggle was won by millions of ordinary people and not by a party office. The Constitution was written by a Constituent Assembly of many voices led by B R Ambedkar and not by the Congress high command alone. The first elections were run by an independent Election Commission. The lasting parts of the republic belong to its citizens and its courts and its press. The Congress inherited them. It did not create them (Austin 1966 and Guha 2007). iii. Now look at what the party did with that inheritance. It dismissed an elected state government in 1959. It overruled the seniority of judges in 1973 and again in 1977. It suspended liberty in 1975 and jailed its critics without trial. It bent...