CBSE Class 12 · Challenges to and Restoration of the Congress System

The Congress Split and the Syndicate: Indira Gandhi's Road to 1971 (Class 12 Political Science)

Updated 16 October 2026 · Fact-checked

The Syndicate was a group of senior Congress leaders who controlled the party organisation. Indira Gandhi turned the power struggle into an ideological one, and the 1969 Presidential election, won by independent candidate V.V. Giri over the official nominee, split the Congress. Her Congress (R) then won 352 seats in the 1971 election.

Follow the arrows: Indira's Left-leaning programme and Giri's 1969 win split the party, and her Congress (R) won 352 seats in 1971.

Illustration drawn for QuestionBuddy.

Understand The Congress Split and the Syndicate

Why this topic matters. This is the heart of the chapter: the Syndicate, the 1969 Presidential election, the split and the 1971 verdict are asked as 1-mark matching, 2-mark outcomes and 6-mark analyses. NCERT sections: 'Indira vs. the Syndicate', 'Presidential election, 1969', 'The 1971 Election and Restoration of Congress'.

1. The Syndicate.

The Syndicate was the informal name for senior Congress leaders who controlled the party's organisation. It was led by K. Kamaraj and included S.K. Patil (Bombay), S. Nijalingappa (Mysore), N. Sanjeeva Reddy (Andhra Pradesh) and Atulya Ghosh (West Bengal).
Shastri and later Indira Gandhi owed their position to it, and it had a decisive say in her first Council of Ministers; it expected her to follow its advice.
Indira Gandhi chose a trusted group of advisers from outside the party and slowly sidelined it. She needed independence from the Syndicate and had to win back the ground lost in 1967.
Her bold strategy was to turn a power struggle into an ideological one. In May 1967 the Congress Working Committee adopted a Ten Point Programme with a Left orientation: social control of banks, nationalisation of General Insurance, a ceiling on urban property and income, public distribution of food grains, land reforms and house sites for the rural poor. The Syndicate formally approved but had serious reservations.

2. The Presidential election of 1969.

Step	Detail
Vacancy	President Zakir Hussain died; the post fell vacant
Syndicate's choice	Over Mrs Gandhi's reservations, it named her long-time opponent N. Sanjeeva Reddy, Speaker of the Lok Sabha, as official candidate
Her reply	She encouraged Vice-President V.V. Giri to stand as an independent, announced nationalisation of fourteen leading private banks and the abolition of privy purses
Desai	Morarji Desai, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, had serious differences with her on these and left the government
Voting	Congress President Nijalingappa issued a whip for Reddy; her supporters sought a special AICC meeting (hence 'requisitionists'), which was refused; she called for a 'conscience vote'
Result	Giri won, the official candidate was defeated; the Congress President expelled her; she claimed her group was the real Congress

By November 1969 there were two parties: Congress (Organisation), the Syndicate group or Old Congress, and Congress (Requisitionists), Indira Gandhi's group or New Congress. She presented the split as an ideological divide between socialists and conservatives, the pro-poor and the pro-rich.

3. Privy purse. At the time of integration the former rulers' families were assured they could keep certain private property and receive a heritable grant measured by the state's extent, revenue and potential. Hereditary privileges were not consonant with equality and social and economic justice, and Nehru had been dissatisfied. Indira Gandhi supported abolition after 1967; Morarji Desai called it morally wrong, a 'breach of faith with the princes'. A 1970 constitutional amendment failed in the Rajya Sabha, an ordinance was struck down by the Supreme Court, she made it a major election issue in 1971, and after the victory the Constitution was amended to remove the obstacles.

4. The 1971 election.

The split left her government in a minority, kept going by issue-based support of the CPI and DMK. To end this dependence and seek a mandate, she recommended dissolution of the Lok Sabha in December 1970; the fifth general election was held in February 1971.
The Grand Alliance of the SSP, PSP, Jana Sangh, Swatantra Party and BKD had no coherent programme; its only common agenda, she said, was 'Indira Hatao'. She offered the positive slogan 'Garibi Hatao', promising growth of the public sector, ceilings on rural land and urban property, removal of disparities and abolition of princely privileges, aiming at the landless, Dalits, Adivasis, minorities, women and unemployed youth.
Result: the Congress (R)-CPI combine won 375 seats and 48.4 per cent of votes; Congress (R) alone 352 seats with about 44 per cent; Congress (O) just 16 seats; the Grand Alliance fewer than 60. She swept the 1972 State elections.
Restoration, but of a different kind. The new Congress relied on the popularity of the supreme leader, had a weaker organisation, could not accommodate all opinions, and depended on the poor, women, Dalits, Adivasis and minorities. Spaces for democratic expression shrank.

Key quotations

Short lines worth knowing by heart: who says them, when, and why they matter.

political narcissism
S. Nijalingappa, letter to Indira Gandhi expelling her from the Congress, 11 November 1969: Part of a passage on what happens to democracy when a leader rises on a popular wave.
Shows how the organisation saw the dispute.
The Grand Alliance of the opposition proved a grand failure.
NCERT, Politics in India since Independence, Chapter 5: On the 1971 verdict.
The one-line summary of the 1971 result.

The Congress Split and the Syndicate: key facts

Syndicate: K. Kamaraj
S.K. Patil
S. Nijalingappa
N. Sanjeeva Reddy
Atulya Ghosh; Morarji Desai is not in this list.
Ten Point Programme (May 1967): Social control of banks
Nationalisation of General Insurance
Ceiling on urban property and income
Public distribution of food grains
Land reforms
House sites for rural poor; Bank nationalisation came in 1969.
1969 split: Official candidate N. Sanjeeva Reddy
Independent V.V. Giri
Whip
Conscience vote
Giri won
Congress (O) and Congress (R); Old and New Congress.
1971 results: Congress (R)-CPI 375 seats, 48.4%
Congress (R) 352 seats, about 44%
Congress (O) 16 seats
Grand Alliance below 60; Fifth general election, February 1971.

How to answer The Congress Split and the Syndicate questions

Split questions reward a clear sequence: cause, trigger, event, result. Name the actors on both sides.

1Cause: the Syndicate expected control; Indira Gandhi wanted independence and regained ground after 1967.
2Strategy: the Ten Point Programme gave a Left orientation to turn the struggle into an ideological one.
3Trigger: Zakir Hussain's death, Reddy versus Giri, whip versus conscience vote.
4Result: Giri won, expulsion, Congress (O) and Congress (R).
5Follow-up: privy purse, the December 1970 dissolution, Garibi Hatao and the 1971 figures.
6Report the claims of both sides as NCERT does; do not take a side.

The Congress Split and the Syndicate in real life

The idea, met in an everyday situation. Answer the question in your own words, then compare with the model answer. The one-line hook is what to remember.

Minority government and the fresh mandate

A student council has 5 of its 11 seats after a split. It can pass a proposal only when members of two other groups agree on that particular issue. Tired of this, the council head asks the school to hold fresh council elections.

Which situation of 1969-1970 does this resemble, and what step did the Prime Minister take? (2 marks)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

Passing proposals issue by issue with outside help recalls the minority government after the split.
It survived on issue-based support of the CPI and the DMK.
She recommended dissolution of the Lok Sabha in December 1970 to seek a mandate.

Answer: It resembles the minority government that followed the Congress split, which continued with the issue-based support of the CPI and the DMK. To end this dependence and seek a popular mandate, Indira Gandhi recommended the dissolution of the Lok Sabha in December 1970.

Memory hook: Borrowed votes, then a fresh mandate.

Turning a power struggle into a contest of ideas

Two seniors compete to control the school council. One of them announces a plan for free sports kits and library cards for every student, so that the contest is now seen as a choice between two policies rather than between two people.

Which strategy of Indira Gandhi after 1967 does this resemble? Name one step she took under it. (2 marks)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

Recasting a fight for control as a fight over policy resembles converting a power struggle into an ideological struggle.
She gave government policy a Left orientation.
One step: the Ten Point Programme of May 1967, or the 1969 announcements on bank nationalisation and privy purses.

Answer: It resembles Indira Gandhi's bold strategy of converting a simple power struggle with the Syndicate into an ideological struggle by giving government policy a Left orientation. One step was the Ten Point Programme adopted by the Congress Working Committee in May 1967 (another was the 1969 announcement of the nationalisation of fourteen leading private banks and the abolition of privy purses).

Memory hook: Change the question from who to what.

Tricks to remember The Congress Split and the Syndicate

Short memory aids. Say each one aloud once, then use it on a question the same day.

K-P-N-R-G
Kamaraj, Patil, Nijalingappa, Reddy, Ghosh: the Syndicate.
Use it when: Names of Syndicate leaders.
Reddy lost, Giri won
Official Reddy lost; independent Giri won; Congress split.
Use it when: 1969 Presidential election.
375-352-16-60
Alliance 375, Congress (R) 352, Congress (O) 16, Grand Alliance below 60.
Use it when: 1971 results.

The Congress Split and the Syndicate: solved examples

Ordered from board level to HOTS. Try each one before you open the solution.

Example 1: The Ten Point Programme · 1 mark · MCQBoard level

Which of the following was a part of the Ten Point Programme adopted by the Congress Working Committee in May 1967?
(a) Nationalisation of fourteen leading private banks
(b) Abolition of privy purses
(c) Public distribution of food grains
(d) Dissolution of the Lok Sabha

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

The programme included social control of banks, nationalisation of General Insurance, ceilings, public distribution of food grains, land reforms and house sites; bank nationalisation and privy purse abolition came in 1969 (1 mark).

Answer: (c) Public distribution of food grains

Example 2: Morarji Desai's differences · 2 marks · Very short answerBoard level

State the two issues on which Morarji Desai differed with Indira Gandhi in 1969, and what happened in the end. (2 marks)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

The two issues (1 mark).
The outcome (1 mark).

Answer: Morarji Desai, then Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, differed with the Prime Minister on the nationalisation of fourteen leading private banks and on the abolition of privy purses, which he called morally wrong and a breach of faith with the princes. Serious differences emerged and he left the government.

Example 3: Assertion and reason: the restored Congress · 1 mark · Assertion-reasonHarder board level

Assertion (A): After 1971 the Congress could not absorb all tensions and conflicts as the earlier Congress system had done.
Reason (R): The new Congress did not have many factions inside it, so it could not accommodate all kinds of opinions and interests.
(a) Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A.
(b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A.
(c) A is true but R is false.
(d) A is false but R is true.

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

NCERT: despite being more popular, the new Congress lacked the capacity to absorb tensions; it did not have many factions and so could not accommodate all views (1 mark).

Answer: (a) Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A.

Example 4: The Ten Point Programme and the Syndicate · 4 marks · Short answerHarder board level

Explain how the Ten Point Programme of 1967 changed the nature of Indira Gandhi's dispute with the Syndicate. Mention any three items of the programme. (4 marks)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

The change from power struggle to ideological struggle (1 mark).
Three items (1.5 marks).
The Syndicate's reaction (1.5 marks).

Answer: Indira Gandhi needed independence from the Syndicate and had to regain the ground the Congress lost in 1967. She adopted a bold strategy, converting a simple power struggle into an ideological struggle by giving government policy a Left orientation. The Congress Working Committee adopted a Ten Point Programme in May 1967, which included social control of banks, nationalisation of General Insurance, a ceiling on urban property and income, public distribution of food grains, land reforms and house sites for the rural poor. The Syndicate leaders formally approved the programme, but they had serious reservations about it.

Example 5: Source-based: a letter of expulsion · 4 marks · Source-basedHarder board level

Read the extract (from the letter of S. Nijalingappa to Indira Gandhi expelling her from the Congress party, 11 November 1969) and choose the most appropriate answer for each question.

"History ... is replete with instances of the tragedy that overtakes democracy when a leader who has risen to power on the crest of a popular wave or with the support of a democratic organisation becomes a victim of political narcissism and is egged on by a coterie of unscrupulous sycophants......"

(i) The letter was written by the:
(A) President of India (B) Congress President (C) Speaker of the Lok Sabha (D) Chief Justice of India
(ii) The letter was written after:
(A) the 1971 election (B) the defeat of the official Congress candidate in the Presidential election (C) the Emergency (D) the 1967 election
(iii) According to the writer, democracy suffers a tragedy when a leader who has risen on a popular wave:
(A) becomes a victim of political narcissism (B) abolishes planning (C) ends the privy purse (D) changes foreign policy
(iv) The group led by the Prime Minister was afterwards called:
(A) Congress (Organisation) (B) Old Congress (C) Congress (Requisitionists) (D) Swatantra Party

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

(i) (B) (1 mark).
(ii) (B) (1 mark).
(iii) (A) (1 mark).
(iv) (C) (1 mark).

Answer: (i) (B) Congress President; (ii) (B) the defeat of the official Congress candidate in the Presidential election; (iii) (A) becomes a victim of political narcissism; (iv) (C) Congress (Requisitionists).

Example 6: Long answer: ideology or power? · 6 marks · Long answerHOTS / competency

"The Congress split of 1969 was both a clash of ideas and a clash of power." Assess the statement. (6 marks)

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution

Power side (1.5 marks).
Ideology side (1.5 marks).
The 1969 events (1.5 marks).
Judgement (1.5 marks).

Answer: On the side of power, the Syndicate, a group of senior leaders controlling the party organisation and led by Kamaraj, had helped install both Shastri and Indira Gandhi and expected her to follow its advice. Indira Gandhi wanted independence and chose advisers from outside the party. The contest over the Presidency showed the struggle: the Syndicate named her long-time opponent Sanjeeva Reddy, she encouraged V.V. Giri to stand as an independent and then called for a conscience vote against the party whip; Giri won and she was expelled.

On the side of ideas, she converted the power struggle into an ideological one. The Ten Point Programme of 1967 gave policy a Left orientation, and she announced the nationalisation of fourteen banks and the abolition of privy purses, over which Morarji Desai differed and left the government. She presented the split as a divide between socialists and conservatives, the pro-poor and the pro-rich.

On assessment, ideas gave the struggle public meaning and mass appeal, as the 1971 verdict showed, while the immediate trigger was a contest of power in the choice of President. The Congress President's expulsion letter spoke of "political narcissism"; she presented the split as a divide between socialists and conservatives. NCERT shows both: a power struggle made ideological, and a party that afterwards depended on one leader.

Where students lose marks in The Congress Split and the Syndicate

The slips examiners see most often, and what to write instead.

Mistake: Putting Morarji Desai in the Syndicate
He was her rival, not a member of the group.
Wrong working
Morarji Desai was a leader of the Syndicate.
Right working
NCERT lists Kamaraj, Patil, Nijalingappa, Reddy and Ghosh; Desai differed with Indira Gandhi on banks and privy purse and left the government.
Do this: Learn the five names.
Usually costs: 1 mark.
Mistake: Calling Giri the official candidate
The candidates are mixed up.
Wrong working
V.V. Giri was the Congress nominee.
Right working
The official nominee was Sanjeeva Reddy; Giri was an independent supported by Indira Gandhi.
Do this: Reddy official, Giri independent.
Usually costs: 1-2 marks.
Mistake: Calling Congress (R) the Old Congress
Names are swapped.
Wrong working
Indira Gandhi's group was the Old Congress.
Right working
Her group, the requisitionists, was the New Congress; the Syndicate group, Congress (O), was the Old Congress.
Do this: O stands for Organisation and Old.
Usually costs: 1 mark.
Mistake: Ignoring the ideological side of the split
Treating it as a pure power fight.
Wrong working
The split was only about the Presidency.
Right working
Indira Gandhi turned the power struggle into an ideological one through the Ten Point Programme, bank nationalisation and privy purse.
Do this: Add one policy example to a split answer.
Usually costs: 1-2 marks.

Exam tips

Asked in: 2023 board paper 59/3/1 Q30(b) (6 marks, aspects of the 1969 Presidential election that led to the split); 2025 board paper 59/7/3 Q18 (2 marks, outcomes of the official candidate's defeat); 2026 board paper 59/2/3 Q23 (4 marks, factors behind Indira Gandhi's popularity in the early 1970s); 2025 59/7/1 Q18 (2 marks, justify abolition of privy purses). Answers here are our own.
Keep the names straight: official Reddy, independent Giri.
Write the Congress (O) / Congress (R) equivalents: Organisation = Old, Requisitionists = New.
Always tie the split to one policy: Ten Point Programme, banks or privy purse.
Report both sides' claims, as NCERT does, without praising either.

Practice questions on The Congress Split and the Syndicate

Write each answer on paper first. Open the hint only if you are stuck, and the answer only when you have finished.

Q1 · 1 mark · MCQBoard level
Which of the following was NOT a member of the Syndicate as listed in NCERT?
(a) K. Kamaraj
(b) S.K. Patil
(c) Morarji Desai
(d) Atulya Ghosh
Hint
Check the five names.
Answer
(c) Morarji Desai. NCERT lists Kamaraj, S.K. Patil, S. Nijalingappa, N. Sanjeeva Reddy and Atulya Ghosh.
Q2 · 2 marks · Very short answerBoard level
Name any four social groups among whom Indira Gandhi tried to build support through the "Garibi Hatao" slogan. (2 marks)
Hint
Landless, Dalits, Adivasis, minorities, women, youth.
Answer
Any four: landless labourers, Dalits, Adivasis, minorities, women and the unemployed youth.
Q3 · 2 marks · Very short answerHarder board level
NCERT reproduces a cartoon called "The Left Hook", published after the 1969 Presidential election. Whom do the boxer with the garland and the figure on his knees stand for, and how does the title fit the events? (2 marks)
Hint
Giri; the Syndicate's nominee shown through Nijalingappa; Left orientation.
Answer
The boxer with the garland is V.V. Giri, who won the Presidential election; the figure on his knees is Nijalingappa, standing for the Syndicate whose nominee lost. The title fits because Indira Gandhi's side had given government policy a Left orientation, through the Ten Point Programme and the announcements on bank nationalisation and privy purses, before Giri's victory.
Q4 · 1 mark · Assertion-reasonHarder board level
Assertion (A): Indira Gandhi's supporters in 1969 came to be known as "requisitionists".
Reason (R): They had requisitioned a special meeting of the AICC, which was refused.
(a) Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A.
(b) Both A and R are true but R is not the correct explanation of A.
(c) A is true but R is false.
(d) A is false but R is true.
Hint
Where does the name come from?
Answer
(a) Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A: NCERT says that is why the faction came to be known as requisitionists.
Q5 · 4 marks · Short answerHarder board level
Compare the performance of Congress (R), Congress (O) and the Grand Alliance in the 1971 Lok Sabha election, using figures. (4 marks)
Hint
352, 16, below 60.
Answer
The Congress (R)-CPI combine won 375 seats and 48.4 per cent of the votes, more than the Congress had won in any of the first four general elections. Congress (R) alone won 352 seats with about 44 per cent of the votes. Congress (O), with many senior stalwarts, got less than one-fourth of the votes polled by Indira Gandhi's party and won merely 16 seats. The Grand Alliance of the opposition, which had no coherent programme, won fewer than 60 seats between all its parties, so it was a grand failure.
Q6 · 4 marks · Short answerHOTS / competency
In 1969 the Congress President issued a whip to vote for the official candidate, while the Prime Minister called for a "conscience vote". Analyse what this contest showed about where authority lay in the Congress at the time. (4 marks)
Hint
Organisation versus parliamentary leader; result; expulsion; two parties.
Answer
The party organisation, led by the Congress President S. Nijalingappa and the Syndicate, had nominated N. Sanjeeva Reddy and issued a whip asking all Congress MPs and MLAs to vote for him, expecting party discipline to decide the matter. The Prime Minister's supporters requisitioned a special AICC meeting, which was refused, and she then openly called for a conscience vote, meaning that Congress MPs and MLAs should be free to vote as they wished. The independent candidate V.V. Giri won and the official candidate lost, which showed that a large section of the party's legislators followed the Prime Minister rather than the organisation. The Congress President then expelled her, she claimed her group was the real Congress, and by November 1969 there were two parties, Congress (O) and Congress (R). The contest thus showed that authority had shifted from the organisation towards the parliamentary leader, which the 1971 verdict later confirmed.
Q7 · 6 marks · Long answerHOTS / competency
Examine the dispute between Indira Gandhi and Morarji Desai on the privy purse and bank nationalisation as an example of the ideological dispute in the Congress. (6 marks)
Hint
Assurance to princes; equality; breach of faith; amendment; ordinance; 1971.
Answer
At the time of integration the princely rulers were assured that their families could keep some private property and get a grant measured by the extent, revenue and potential of their states. There was little criticism then, as integration was the primary aim. But hereditary privileges were not consonant with the principles of equality and social and economic justice in the Constitution, and Nehru had expressed dissatisfaction. After the 1967 elections Indira Gandhi supported abolition, while Morarji Desai, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, called it morally wrong, a breach of faith with the princes.
In 1969 the dispute widened: she announced the nationalisation of fourteen leading private banks and the abolition of privy purses at the time of the Presidential contest, and serious differences with Desai led him to leave the government. A constitutional amendment in 1970 failed in the Rajya Sabha, and an ordinance was struck down by the Supreme Court. She made the issue central in 1971, got popular support, and after the massive victory the Constitution was amended to remove the legal obstacles.
The case shows the ideological divide she projected between pro-poor and pro-rich, socialists and conservatives; those who differed saw it in terms of faith and fairness to the princes. Each side argued from principle; NCERT records that the issue won her a lot of public support in the 1971 election.

Test your recall

Answer in your head or on paper first, then open the card. Pulling an answer out of memory makes it stick far better than re-reading.

1.In which month and year was the Ten Point Programme adopted?Show answer
May 1967.
2.Which office did Sanjeeva Reddy hold when he was named the official candidate?Show answer
Speaker of the Lok Sabha.
3.On what date was Indira Gandhi's expulsion letter written?Show answer
11 November 1969.
4.Which combination won 375 seats in the 1971 Lok Sabha election?Show answer
The Congress (R)-CPI alliance, with 48.4 per cent of the votes.
5.Which item of the Ten Point Programme concerned insurance?Show answer
Nationalisation of General Insurance.
6.Whose death in 1969 left the office of President vacant?Show answer
President Zakir Hussain's.

The Congress Split and the Syndicate: frequently asked questions

Why were Indira Gandhi's supporters called requisitionists?

They requisitioned a special meeting of the AICC, which was refused; hence the name.

Did the Syndicate approve the Ten Point Programme?

It formally approved the programme but had serious reservations.

Where does the 1969 Presidential election fit between 1967 and 1971?

It lies between the 1967 verdict and the 1971 mandate and is the event that formalised the split.

Was the Congress system fully restored after 1971?

NCERT says dominance was restored, but by changing the nature of the Congress: it relied on one leader, had a weaker organisation and could not absorb all tensions as before.