Garibi Hatao

Topic: Challenges to and Restoration of the Congress System · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 5 "Challenges to and Restoration of the Congress System"; Class 12, Ch 6 "The Crisis of Democratic Order"

Meaning

Garibi Hatao ("remove poverty") was Indira Gandhi's slogan and programme for the 1971 Lok Sabha election. It promised growth of the public sector, ceilings on rural land and urban property, removal of gaps in income and opportunity, and an end to princely privileges. Its aim was to win the direct support of the poor and other groups left out of power.

It matters because it helped her Congress (R) win a landslide in 1971. It also changed the Congress itself. The party now rested on one leader's direct appeal to voters, not on the old network of local bosses.

Explanation

Background: why the slogan was needed

• The 1969 Congress split: After the split, Indira Gandhi's Congress (R) ("Requisitionists", the "new" Congress) did not have a majority of its own in the Lok Sabha.
• It survived on the support of other parties, such as the CPI and the DMK.

• The party organisation stayed with the Congress (O) ("Organisation", the "old" Congress). This meant its local units, office-bearers and senior leaders, known as the "Syndicate".

• Socialist signalling (1969-70): Her government kept stressing socialist aims to show which side it stood on.

• It ran a campaign to carry out the land reform laws already on the books.

• It passed new land-ceiling laws. A land ceiling is a legal limit on how much farm land one family can own. The extra land is given to the landless.

• Why she wanted an early poll:

• Depending on other parties limited what she could do.
• She wanted voters to give her programme a direct mandate.
• Courts had struck down key measures, such as the abolition of the privy purse, as ultra vires (beyond legal power). Her message was that she needed "legislations to transform society" [4].

What Garibi Hatao promised

• Growth of the public sector (industries and banks owned by the government).
• Ceilings on rural land holdings and urban property.
• Removal of gaps in income and opportunity.
• Abolition of princely privileges, such as the privy purse (yearly payments promised to the former rulers of princely states when they joined India).

Who it was aimed at

• Landless labourers.
• Dalits and Adivasis.
• Minorities.
• Women.
• Unemployed youth.

How it worked as a political strategy

• A positive agenda against a negative one:
• The Grand Alliance of opposition parties had no common programme beyond opposing her.
• She said their only plan was "Indira Hatao" ("remove Indira"), while her plan was "Garibi Hatao".

• This turned the opposition's unity into a weakness.

• Direct link with voters:

• She reached voters through the slogan and her own image.
• She built an independent nationwide support base.

• This base did not depend on local notables (landlords, caste leaders and party bosses who used to deliver votes for the Congress).

• Limits: NCERT asks whether it was only an election gimmick, because poverty continued long after 1971.

In the Constitution and practice

• How the 1971 poll came about:
• The Union Cabinet advised the President to dissolve the Lok Sabha.
• The President dissolved the Fourth Lok Sabha in December 1970, about a year before its five-year term ended.
• Article 83(2) fixes the Lok Sabha's term at five years "unless sooner dissolved". Article 85(2)(b) gives the President the power to dissolve it.

• The fifth general election was held on 1-10 March 1971 (NCERT says February 1971). It was the first mid-term poll for the Lok Sabha. A mid-term poll is an election held before the House finishes its full term.

• The contest:

• Grand Alliance: an anti-Indira front of the main non-communist, non-Congress parties. NCERT lists the SSP, PSP, Bharatiya Jana Sangh, Swatantra Party and Bharatiya Kranti Dal. The Congress (O) fought alongside them. Britannica calls it a "coalition of conservative parties" [4].

• Congress (R)'s ally: the Communist Party of India (CPI).

• Result (the Lok Sabha then had 518 seats):

• Congress (R) and the CPI together won 375 seats with 48.4% of the vote.
• Congress (R) alone won 352 seats with about 44% of the vote.
• Congress (O) won only 16 seats.
• All the Grand Alliance parties together won fewer than 60 seats.

• Britannica calls it a "landslide victory" for her "New Congress" [4]. NCERT's cartoon "The Grand Finish" mocks the Alliance's collapse.

• Promise turned into law: the privy purse was abolished by the Constitution (26th Amendment) Act, 1971. It deleted Articles 291 and 362 and added Article 363A [5].

• Lasting effects:
• Voters came to see Congress (R) as the "real" Congress.
• The Congress came back as the dominant party, but on a new base: one leader's popular appeal, not the old network of state bosses.
• Before this, Lok Sabha and state assembly polls were held together in 1951-52, 1957, 1962 and 1967 [2][3]. Early dissolutions of several assemblies in 1968 and 1969, and then of the Lok Sabha in 1970, broke this common cycle [2][3]. This is the historical root of today's "One Nation, One Election" debate.

Don't confuse with

• Indira Hatao: this was not an opposition slogan that Indira Gandhi answered. It was her description of the Grand Alliance's only plan. Garibi Hatao was her own slogan.
• Grand Alliance vs CPI: the Grand Alliance was made up of non-communist parties, together with the Congress (O). The CPI was allied with Congress (R), not with the Alliance.
• Congress (R) vs Congress (O): Congress (R) was Indira Gandhi's "new" Congress and used Garibi Hatao. Congress (O) kept the party organisation and the Syndicate, and won only 16 seats in 1971.
• Garibi Hatao vs the 26th Amendment: Garibi Hatao was an election promise made in 1971. The 26th Amendment Act, 1971 was the law that actually abolished the privy purse, after courts had struck down the earlier move [5].

Prelims Hooks

• "Garibi Hatao" was Indira Gandhi's slogan for the 1971 Lok Sabha election. "Indira Hatao" was how she summed up the Grand Alliance's only plan.
• 1971 was the first mid-term Lok Sabha poll. The Fourth Lok Sabha was dissolved in December 1970, about a year early (Article 83(2) term; Article 85(2)(b) dissolution).
• 1971 result: Congress (R) won 352 seats. With the CPI it had 375 seats and 48.4% of the vote. Congress (O) won 16 seats.
• Trap: the CPI was allied with Congress (R). The Grand Alliance (SSP, PSP, Jana Sangh, Swatantra, BKD, plus Congress (O)) was non-communist.
• Privy purse was abolished by the 26th Amendment Act, 1971, which deleted Articles 291 and 362 and added Article 363A [5].
• Target groups of Garibi Hatao: landless labourers, Dalits, Adivasis, minorities, women and unemployed youth.

Mains Points

• Populism and personal politics (GS-I):
• Garibi Hatao moved the Congress away from the federated "Congress system" run by state bosses, towards a direct link between one leader and the voters.
• This helped the party recover in 1971.

• But it also centralised power and weakened inner-party democracy, and both trends led towards 1975.

• Was it a gimmick? (GS-I/II):

• The slogan was backed by real measures: land ceilings, the 26th Amendment [5] and growth of the public sector.
• But poverty persisted and land reform was poorly carried out.

• Use this to discuss the gap between election promises and delivery.

• Opposition unity without a programme (GS-I): the 1971 Grand Alliance shows that a front formed only against someone ("Indira Hatao") can lose to a side with a positive agenda ("Garibi Hatao"). Compare it with the Janata experiment of 1977.

Related concepts

• 1971 general election
• Grand Alliance (1971)

Read more

• The 1971 election: "Garibi Hatao" versus "Indira Hatao"