WikipediaExtracts:Indian National Congress

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The Indian National Congress (INC), also known as the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a big tent political party in India. It is India's oldest political party and is regarded by many as one of the world's oldest continuously active political parties, outside Europe and North America. It was founded on 28 December 1885, and it was the first modern nationalist movement to arise in the British Empire in Asia and Africa. Since the late 19th century, and more specifically since 1920, under the guidance of Mahatma Gandhi, the Congress became the main leader of the Indian independence movement. The Congress is one of the parties that led India to independence from the United Kingdom, and it has significantly influenced other anti-colonial nationalist movements in the British Empire.

The INC is a "big tent" party, that has been described as sitting on the centre of the Indian political spectrum. The party held its first meeting in Bombay in 1885, where W. C. Bannerjee was elected as its president. After India's independence in 1947, Congress became a catch-all, Indian nationalist and secular party. For the next five decades it dominated Indian politics on the federal level. The first Congress's prime minister was Jawaharlal Nehru, who led the socialist policies of the party including Planning Commission, Five-Year Plans, mixed economy, and secularism. After Nehru's death and Shastri's short term as Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi became the leader of the party. Since independence, the Congress has had an overall victory in seventeen general elections, won by an absolute majority on seven occasions. In additon, there were three prime ministers who came from the Congress party, which lead the government in form of coalition in three cases. The total number of years of power belongs to the Congress is more than 54 years. The party has had six Prime Minister, the first of whom was Jawaharlal Nehru (1947–1964), and the last is Manmohan Singh (2004–2014). Since the 1990s, the Bharatiya Janata Party has emerged as the main rival of the Congress in both national and regional politics.

In 1969, the party was split up into two factions after one of them led off by Indira Gandhi formed the Congress (R), with the rest forming the Congress (O). The Congress (R) took over as the dominant faction, winning the 1971 general election in a landslide. Between 1975 and 1977, Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency in India, leading to widespread oppression and abuse of power. Another split of the party occurred in 1979, resulting in yet another party called the Congress (I), later recognised as the Congress by the Election Commission in 1981. The party won a huge victory under Rajiv Gandhi during the 1984 general elections, and failed to win the election in 1989 against the National Front. The Congress then returned to power during the leadership of P. V. Narasimha Rao, which pushed for an economic liberalization agenda, unlike any prime minister before him. However, it would lose the 1996 general election and would be replaced in government by the National Front. After being out of office for a record eight years, the Congress-led alliance, United Progressive Alliance (UPA) under Manmohan Singh, formed a government after the 2004 general elections. The UPA formed the government again after winning the 2009 general elections, and Singh became the first prime minister since Indira Gandhi in 1971 to be elected to a second term after serving a full term of five years. In the recent 2024 general election, the party won 99 seats, forming the official opposition with the highest seat count in a decade.

On social issues, it advocates secular policies that promote equal opportunity, right to health, right to education, civil liberty, and supports social market economy, and a strong welfare state. Being a centrist party, its policies predominantly reflected balanced positions including secularism, egalitarianism, and social stratification. The INC supports contemporary economic reforms like liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation. A total of 61 people have served as the president of the INC since its formation. Sonia Gandhi possesses the longest tenure as the president of the INC, holding office for more than twenty years from 1998 to 2017 and again from 2019 to 2022 (as interim). Mallikarjun Kharge is the current party president. The district party is the smallest functional unit of Congress. Further there exists a Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC), which is present at the state level in every state and union territories. Together, the delegates from the districts and PCCs form the All India Congress Committee (AICC). The party is further divided into into various committees and segments including the Working Committee (CWC), Seva Dal, Indian Youth Congress (IYC), Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), and National Students' Union of India (NSUI).

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WikipediaExtracts:Indian National Congress

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