NCERT Solutions for Class 12 Political Science Chapter 2 Era of One Party Dominance

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Class 12th Political Science NCERT Solutions Part B Politics in India Since Independence

Q1. Choose the correct option to fill in the blanks :

(a) The first general election in 1952 involved simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and ……………………….. (The President of India/State Assemblies/Rajya Sabha/The Prime Minister)
(b) The party that won the second longest number of Lok Sabha seats in the first elections was the ……………………….. (Praja Socialist Party/Bharatiya Jana Sangh/ Communist Party of India/Bharatiya Janata Party)
(c) One of the guiding principles of the ideology of the Swatantra Party was ……………………….. (Working class interests/Protection of Primery states/ economy free from state control/Autonomy of state within the Union.)

Answer:-
(a) State Assemblies
(b) Communist Party of India
(c) economy free from state control.

Q2. Match the following leaders listed in List A with the parties in List B.

List A
(a) S.A. Dange
(b) Shyama Prasad Mukherjee
(c) Minoo Masani
(d) Ashok Mehta
List B
(i). Bharatiya Jana Sangh
(ii). Swatantra Party
(iii). Praja Socialist Party
(iv). Communist Party of India

Answer:-
(a)—-> (iv)
(b)—-> (i)
(c)—-> (ii)
(d)—-> (iii)

Q3. Four statements regarding one party dominance are given below. Mark each one of them as true or false.

(a) One party dominance is rooted in the absence of strong alternative political parties.
(b) One party dominance occurs because of weak public opinion.
(c) One party dominance is linked to the Nation’s colonial past.
(d) One party dominance reflects the absence of democratic ideals in a country.

Answer:-
(a) True,
(b) False,
(c) True,
(d) False

Q4. If Bharatiya Jana Sangh of the Communist Party of India had formed the government after the first election, in which respects would the policies of the government have been different? Specify three differences each for both the parties.

Answer:- Bharitya Jana Sangh’s policies would have been different in these three respects:
a. Bharitya Jana Sangh would have primarily given significance to the territorial and political integration or unification of the country by rejecting any ideas of dismantling the Indian union.
b. Bharitya Jana Sangh would have also given an imperative position to the linguistic unification of the country by not recognising the diverse set of dialectics present in the country of India.
c. Bharitya Jana Sangh would have imposed the narrative of one culture and one country upon different sections of society without empowering their needs regarding the conservation of native and different cultures.

Communist party of India’s policies would have been different in these three respects:
a.The respective party would have given primacy to the ‘class struggle’ present in the country in economic and political realms.
b. The party would have changed the patterns of distribution of power resulting in the concentration of authority among the upper class or the ruling sections of the society.
c. They would have established a ‘socialistic society’ and a political system working or functioning along the parameters of being a ‘welfare state’.

Q5. In what sense was the Congress an ideological coalition ? Mention the various ideological currents present within the Congress.

Answer:- Indian National Congress came into existence in 1885 by A.O. Hume and it became the platform for the argumentational participation of various sections of society. It is considered as an ideological coalition because :
(a) It consisted of the intellectual masses from the upper class and educated classes.
(b) It constituted of the moderates and extremists , with different set of ideologies and beliefs.
(c) Later on, it also consisted of agricultural masses , which increased the grassroot ideology within the political party.

Q6. Did the prevalence of a ‘ one party dominant system’ affect adversely the democratic nature of Indian politics ?

Answer:- The one -party dominance in India did not affect its democratic structure because the establishment of the political and electoral dominance by the Indian National Congress was primarily done in a democratic atmosphere where the equal expression of electoral and political rights was given the opposition parties. The dominative structures in authoritative regimes hinder the exercising of democratic practices in a respective scenario because of the lack of
‘system of checks and balances’ and ‘free and fair elections’, which were present in Indian context.

Q7. Bring out three differences each between Socialist Parties and the Communist Party and between Bharatiya Jan Sangh and Swatantra Party.

Answer:- Differences between Socialist Parties and Communist Party:

The Socialists believed in the ideology of democratic socialism whereas Communist Party worked mainly within the fold of the Congress party.
The Socialists believed in peaceful Constitutional methods, while Communist party believed in peaceful and violent methods.
The socialists criticised the Congress for favouring capitalists and landlords and ignoring the working class and farmers. The Communist party believed in tfye welfare of workers and peasants.

Differences Between Bharatiya Jan Sangh and Swatantra Party:

Bharatiya Jan Sangh believed in the ideology of ‘one country, one nation, one culture and one national ideal’. On the other hand, the Swatantra Party believed in equality of opportunity for all people without distinction of religion, caste, race etc.
Bharatiya Jan Sangh stands for the nationalisation of basic and defence industries, but it does not favour the policy of taking more and more industries under state ownership and control because it believes that this tendency is harmful both for democracy and economic development. Swatantra Party stands for the principle of maximum freedom for the Individual and minimum interference by the state.
Jan Sangh favoured to follow the policy of non-alignment “with the two power blocs as also of non-involvement in international affairs not directly affecting India. Swatantra Party was critical of the policy of non¬alignment and advocated close ties with U.S.A

Q8. What would you consider as the main differences between Mexico and India under one party domination ?

Answer:- The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) of Mexico has also witnessed an era of one party dominance just like the Indian National Congress in India but both of them are essentially different because:
(a) The main difference between the two dominative eras was that the former one was practised under undemocratic conditions and the latter one was legitimised and accountable due to the prevailing democracy.
(b) The opposition parties in Mexico were only present for formal purposes while as the Indian National Congress won in complete atmospheric conditions of electoral and democratic participation.
(c) The PRI in Mexico had some inherent connection with the military representation while as no military representation was visible in context of India.
(d) In India, Congress dominate for 15 years but PRI dominated the electoral politics for decades.

Q9. Take a political map of India (with state outlines) and mark:

(a) two states where Congress was not in power at some point during 1952-67
(b) two states where the Congress remained in power through this period.

Answer:-
a. Kerala and Jammu and Kashmir.
b. Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.

Q10. Read the following passage and answer the question 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 to romantic a view of ‘Carrying on the movement.’ Patel’s ideas 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 views about Congress future was romantic ?

Answer:- (a) The author is not in favour of disciplined and cohesive Congress party because the inclusive nature of the political party is very imperative for its survival in the diverse political and intellectual realm of dissent and diversity, which helped the party later on to form the government.
(b) Some eclectic (heterogenous) role played by the Congress in recent years is the increase in the participation of youth and the individuals belonging to the underprivileged sections of the society including women , Dalits etc.
(c) Gandhi’s view about the Congress is considered as ‘romantic’ by the author primarily because it was too idealistic for the country of India where the factional politics and fragmented power were the major concerns for the process of ‘nation-building’.

Extra Questions of Class 12 Political Science Chapter 2 Era of One Party Dominance

Q1. Which Political Party laid emphasis on the Idea of one country, one culture, and one nation?

Answer:- Jan Sangh.

Q2. During the first three general elections, the Congress won more seats than any other party. Which party stood at the second number during these:

Answer:- The Communist Party of India stood at the second number during these elections.

Q3. Who was the founder of the Bhartiya Jana Sangh?

Answer:- Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee was the founder of the Bhartiya Jana Sangh.

Q4. What inspired the formation of the Communist group in 1920e in different parts of India?

Answer:- In the early 1920s, Communist groups emerged in different parts of India by being inspired by the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia.

Q5. In which year the Election Commission started using EVM?

Answer:- The Election Commission started using EVM towards the end of the 1990s.

Q6. In which year was the Election Commission of India set up and who was the first chief Election Commissioner of India?

Answer:- 25 January 1950, Sukumar Sen.

Q7. Name the founder president of the Congress Socialist Party. What name was given to this party after 1948?

Answer:- The founder president of the Congress Socialist Party was Acharya Narendra Dev and after 1955 it came to be known as Socialist Party.

Q8. Differentiate between one party dominance and one party system.

Answer:- One party dominance refer to representation on behalf of popular consensus alongwith free and fair elections i.e. Congress in India whereas one party system refers representation based on malpractice, fraud etc. to ensure winning of a particular party.

Q9. When and why was the electronic voting machine used in India for the first time?

Answer:- The electronic voting machine was used in India in 1990 for first time for more accuracy and fair dealing while counting as well as it helps to check Booth capturing and other malpractices.

Q10. Highlight any two features of ideology of Bharatiya Jana Sangh.

Answer:-

Bharatiya Jana Sangh laid emphasis on ideology of one country, one culture and one nation.
Bharatiya Jana Sangh called for reunity of India and Pakistan in Akhand Bharat.

Q11. Explain the major difference of ideology between that of Congress and the Bharatiya Jana Sangh.

Answer:- The major difference of ideology between Congress and the Bharatiya Jana Sangh was that Bharatiya Jana Sangh emphasised on one party country. One culture, one nation
i.e. a Hindu nation or Hindutva whereas Congress formed ideological and social coalitions accommodating social diversities.

Q12. What were the reasons for dominance of one party system in India?

Answer:- The dominance of Congress in India was due to following reasons:

Congress was identified with the freedom struggle for building national unity and solidarity.
Congress was associated with Mahatma Gandhi’s name.
It had a broad based manifesto to include the various section of society.
Congress bore a popular appeal of charismatic leader like Mahatma Gandhi, J.L. Nehru, Sardar Patel, Indira Gandhi etc.
Congress focused on building role of the party.

Q13. How did India’s first general elections of 1952 become a landmark in the history of democracy all over the world?

Answer:- Because:

These elections were competitive among various parties.
The participation of people was encouraging also.
The results were declared in a very fair manner, even to be accepted by the losers in a fair manner.
This experiment of India, proved the critics wrong also.