The book titled ‘A Centenary History of the Indian National Congress’, meant to commemorate 125 years of the Congress, has blamed the former prime minister for the harm done to the party’s electoral base in north India, particularly Uttar Pradesh.
In an article by historian Sudha Pai that traces the downfall of the Congress in Uttar Pradesh, Pai says: “She attempted to reach down to the bottom level and restructure the party from the top into an oligarchy controlled with the help of her close aides. This led to the breakdown of the machine character of congress, which had been the strength of the party in some states.”
“By the mid-1980s, considerable damage had occurred to the organisation and electoral base of the party from which it has not yet fully recovered,” Pai writes. The book goes deep into some “unpleasant” chapters in Congress history, including Emergency and covers the period from 1964 to 1984. A large portion is focused on Indira.
While UP was Congress’s one-time stronghold, it was virtually decimated after Babri Masjid demolition which led to shift of Muslims to Samajwadi Party, to BSP and upper castes to BJP.
The book, which attributed the party’s dwindling base in the Hindi heartland to the “excesses of the Emergency”, says the support gained by Congress from minorities, Schedules Castes and Scheduled Tribes which in the Nehruvian era was backbone of the congress had broken down in 1977 due to excesses of the Emergency.
Party has not been able to come back to power in the state for more than two decades and has not been even able to finish among that top three parties in Assembly polls.