November 12 holds a special significance in the history of India. For this was the day in 1969 when one of India’s most powerful prime ministers, Indira Gandhi, was expelled from her own party on charges of violating the party discipline.
On November 12, 1969, the then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi was purged out of the Congress party after simmering tensions between herself and the “Syndicate”, a group within the Congress party, broke out in the open. The party President, S. Nijalingappa, one of the foremost leaders of the “Syndicate” expelled Prime Minister Indira Gandhi from the party for “fostering a cult of personality”. Indira’s ouster ultimately led to the split in the Congress party.
The fallout between the “Syndicate” and Indira Gandhi could be ascribed to the leadership crisis in Congress following the demise of India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1964. Nehru committed a host of blunders during his tenure as the country’s head but one of his lesser talked about failures is not leaving behind him a credible deputy who would lead the Congress party in his absence or after his retirement.
As a consequence, there were several regional leaders in the Congress party but none powerful enough to fill in the void left by Nehru. Mutual interest and self-preservation dictated them to join hands and take the reigns of the party, which would have been practically impossible in their respective individual capacities. This group of powerful leaders who were non-Hindi speaking came to be called the “Syndicate” and they started wielding outsize influence on the Congress party after Nehru’s demise.
The preeminence of the “Syndicate” group was such that they are largely credited for electing responsible for electing Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi as the prime minister for the first time after Nehru’s death. Most of the members of this “Syndicate” were from the South, led by K Kamaraj. Indira locked horns with this “Syndicate” and was re-elected as the Prime Minister of the country in the 1967 elections. However, she had to yield to the Syndicate’s demand of appointing Morarji Desai as the deputy prime minister.
1969 Presidential elections pits Gandhi against the Syndicate
Indira was chafed at the repeated interference of the syndicate in the smooth functioning of the party and hobbling the Prime Minister of the country in effectively dispensing her duties. The syndicate, on the other hand, could not quite come to grips with the fact that the “gungi gudiya” (dumb doll)—their snide reference for Indira—had started raising opposition against them.
During that time, India’s then-president Dr Zakir Hussain died and VV Giri, who was the vice president, was made the acting president. The Syndicate wanted Neelam Sanjiva Reddy to succeed Khan as the president of the country. Reddy was already the Lok Sabha speaker then and Indira feared his appointment to the post of President would pave the way for the Syndicate to replace her with Morarji Desai as the Prime Minister of the country.
In a bid to avert this crisis, Indira floated the name of Jagjivan Ram in the Congress Working Committee but it was vetoed by the Syndicate and Reddy was selected as the official candidate for president. Meanwhile, VV Giri had resigned and nominated himself as an Independent candidate for the post of President. In the absence of Giri, CJI Hidayullah was made the acting president.
The syndicated suggested Giri could be appointed as the Lok Sabha speaker. This was the moment when the rift between Indira and the Syndicate finally came out in open. Although Indira had to contend with the syndicate’s choice of Neelam Sanjiva Reddy during the 1969 presidential elections, being the leader of Congress members in Lok Sabha, she played her trick and refused to issue a whip to Congress members. She also asked Congressmen to “vote according to their conscience”, which was an indirect appeal to vote against the Congress’ chosen candidate. V.V Giri, the rebel Congress candidate won the election. A total of 163 Congress MPs voted for VV Giri and 11 out of the 12 Congress-ruled states also got a majority.
Indira Gandhi expelled from the Congress party, resulting in the split of the party
The Syndicate decreed that CD Deshmukh, the candidate of opposition Jana Sangh and Swatantra Party, should be given the second priority vote. But Indira Gandhi had her way and ensured that the Congress’ official candidate Neelam Sanjiva Reddy is defeated by the rebel Congress candidate, VV Giri. Following the presidential elections, Indira Gandhi launched a concerted campaign to weaken the hold of the Syndicate on the Congress party. She toured various parts of the country and mobilised Congressmen as a show of strength to the syndicate.
Indira Gandhi’s supporters went against their own party, demanding a special Congress session to elect a new president. They were convinced that the Syndicate did not enjoy the majority and was clinging on to the power through illegitimate means. Disgruntled by Indira Gandhi and her supporters, Nijalingappa wrote an open letter, accusing the Prime Minister and her associates of sabotaging the internal democracy of the party. In response to the letter, Indira Gandhi stopped attending the meetings called by Nijalingappa.
Then on 12 November 1969, the Congress Working Committee met at two places—one at the PM’s residence and the other at the Congress’ Jantar Mantar road office. At the meeting that held at the Jantar Mantar office, Nijalingappa expelled Indira Gandhi from the party on disciplinary grounds. Indira’s expulsion led to the split in the Congress party, with 446 of the 705 Congress members walking over to Indira’s side. The faction led by Indira Gandhi was known as Congress(R) and also referred to as “Indicate” while the one led by the syndicate leaders came to be known as Congress(O) or “Syndicate”.
