From Dominance To Decay: The Congress Story

How did the Congress go from overshadowing Indian politics to struggling to stay afloat?

Transcript

00:00Independent democracy is freedom.

01:00of India.

01:24Gandhi holds the Congress in the palm of his hand.

01:26His personality dominates the crowd.

01:28He tells them to be patient and to keep up their attitude of non-resistance, and that

01:33eventually India would be free and independent.

01:36If England does not grant your demands, are you prepared to return to jail again?

01:57India became an independent republic in the British Commonwealth.

02:21Millions of Indians, led by Prime Minister Nehru, celebrated the independence of this

03:25Your extreme enemies, of course, suggest that you want absolute majority for absolute

03:47power, that you want to move India in the direction of a sort of Russia.

03:50Now what's your answer to that?

03:53I wonder if you've ever seen our parliament.

03:55Is it possible in India?

06:55I have come to this office at a critical point in the history of our party.

07:21We are in danger of losing our central place in the polity of our country as the natural

07:29party of governments.

07:51We are in danger of losing our central place in the polity of our country as the natural

08:19party of governments.

08:33Congress party has done pretty badly, there's a lot for us to think about, and as vice president

08:41of the party, I hold myself responsible for what is happening.

09:11We are in danger of losing our central place in the polity of our country as the natural

09:39party of governments.

10:07We are in danger of losing our central place in the polity of our country as the natural

10:18party of governments.