Question

Read the following passage and answer the questions below :

" Patel, the organisational man of the congress, wanted to purge the congress of other political groups and sought to make of it a cohesive and disciplined political party . He ... sought to take the Congress away from its all-embracing character and turn it into a close-knit party of disciplined cadres . Being a 'realist' he looked more for discipline than for comprehension . while Gandhi took too romantic view of "carrying on the movement," Patel's idea of transforming the congress into strictly political party with a single ideology and tight discipline showed an equal  lack of understanding of the eclectic role that the congress, as a government, was to be called upon to perform in the decades to follow." - Rajni Kothari

(a) Why does the author think that Congress should not have been a cohesive and disciplined party?

(b) Give some examples of the eclectic role of the Congress party in the early years.

(c) Why does the author say that Gandhi’s view about Congress future was romantic?

Answer 1

(a) Because she wanted to take the Congress away from its all embracing character and turn it into a close knit party of disciplined caders.

(b) These examples are in the form of social and ideological coalition of Congress:

1. It provided a platform for numerous groups, interests and even political parties to participate in national movement.
2. Congress party represented a rainbow like social coalition representing diversity of India including various castes, religions and languages.

(c) Because Gandhiji believed in hand- in-hand characteristic of national movement led by Congress which attracted various sections groups and society to form a social and ideological coalition in Congress.