The Indian National Congress, which, as the foremost political party in India, led the national movement and took over power from the British in 1947, was formed in 1885. Initially a middle-class organization representing the interests of a growing number of educated Indians who wanted to play an increasing part in the governance of their country, it later became a mass organization under the leadership of Gandhi and Nehru. Always a centre party, Congress, influenced by Nehru, remained an ideological amalgam of nationalism, Fabian socialism, and a commitment to modernization of the country's economy. Self-reliance was another theme pursued by Nehru that led India to follow non-alignment as its foreign policy, and to pursue an economic policy based on import-substitution. The importance of the Congress to India's national movement, a strong leadership with a specific and well-articulated political agenda, and the ability to respond to opposition movements led to Indian politics being characterized as a one-party dominant system. Under the leadership of Nehru's daughter, Indira Gandhi, the Congress Party faced internal division and greater challenges from opposition parties, and responded with populist slogans and a centralized organization. Failure to deliver its promises led to growing popular discontent, to which the Congress government responded by imposing a state of Emergency, lasting from 1975 to 1977, when the fundamental rights of Indian citizens were suspended. The Congress lost the subsequent election after further break-aways, and in the face of an opposition united against the excesses of one-party rule.
Indira Gandhi returned to power at the head of a Congress government in 1980, but the party lacked the ideological and organizational coherence which had characterized its early years of rule under Nehru. The central government's manipulation of politics in the Punjab gave rise to a separatist movement, and the escalating violence led to the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984. Increasingly associated with government corruption, organizationally weak, with no clear political platform and a leadership that failed to resist the lure of the Gandhi dynasty (first calling on Rajiv, later Sonia (his wife) ), the party has had to adjust to declining electoral fortunes.
— Shirin Rai/Alistair McMillan
