Вплив Індійського Національного Конгресу на інституціоналізацію партійної системи Індії 1947–1989 рр.

Abstract

Indian National Congress (INC) became the country’s leading political force after it gained independence in 1947. Its participation in the formation of the party system of India is also decisive. The INC has been virtually a separate party system since the first parliamentary elections (during the British colonial rule) and even in the first decades after independence. That is why the first two decades after the independence are called Congress System in the Indian political science literature. However, both on the eve of independence and after it some political parties began to separate from the INC. They formed the first opposition. Some of these parties were founded much earlier, but they agreed to join forces under the wing of Congress during the liberation struggle. Such separation of various domestic political groups and parties characterizes the process of transforming the INC from a national liberation movement into a political party. In addition, during this period, the organization’s internal structure is reformed, various types of membership are tested to encourage as many citizens as possible to become active members. The article aims to characterize the process of fragmentation of the Indian party system in the first four decades after India gained independence (1947–1989). The study considers the formation of the INC as a mass movement and later a party, examines the problem of membership in the organization, in particular the problem of fake membership, which disturbed the party leadership throughout the entire period of the study. A significant emphasis of the article is placed on those political players who separated from the parent party, the INC, although the experience of parties that did not have a direct connection with the INC is not overlooked. The article also argues that due to the openness of India’s first party system, formed around the INC, the country managed to build a democratic culture of change of power, and this influenced the institutionalization of India’s party system.