The contest

The 1971 election seemed heavily stacked against Indira Gandhi’s Congress (R). The party was, after all, only one faction of an already weakened Congress. Everyone knew that the real organisational machinery of the old Congress was now with the Congress (O). To make matters worse, nearly every major non-communist, non-Congress opposition party came together in an electoral alliance called the Grand Alliance.

This alliance included the Samyukta Socialist Party (SSP), the Praja Socialist Party (PSP), the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), the Swatantra Party (SWA), and the Bharatiya Kranti Dal (BKD). On the other side, the ruling Congress (R) had an alliance with the Communist Party of India (CPI).

Yet the new Congress had something its powerful opponents lacked: a clear issue, a coherent agenda, and a positive slogan. The Grand Alliance had no unified political programme. Indira Gandhi pointed out that the opposition’s only common goal was Indira Hatao — Remove Indira.

In sharp contrast, she offered a positive programme captured in the famous slogan: Garibi Hatao — Remove Poverty. This programme focused on:

• Growth of the public sector
• Imposition of ceilings on rural land holdings and urban property
• Removal of disparities in income and opportunity
• Abolition of princely privileges …