One-Party Dominance Test - 5

Read the passage given below carefully and answer the questions that follows:

Earlier, Lal Bahadur Shastri had resigned from the position of Railway Minister accepting moral responsibility for a major railway accident. Shastri was the country’s Prime Minister from 1964 to 1966. During Shastri’s brief Prime Ministership, the country faced two major challenges. While India was still recovering from the economic implications of the war with China; failed monsoons, drought and serious food crisis presented a grave challenge. As discussed in the previous chapter, the country also faced a war with Pakistan in 1965. Shastri’s famous slogan ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’, symbolised the country’s resolve to face both these challenges. Shastri’s Prime Ministership came to an abrupt end on 10 January, 1966, when he suddenly expired in Tashkent, then in USSR and currently the capital of Uzbekistan. He was there to discuss and sign an agreement with Muhammad Ayub Khan, the then President of Pakistan, to end the war.

Q. Why Shastri resigned from the position of Railway Minister?

Read the passage given below carefully and answer the questions that follows:

Earlier, Lal Bahadur Shastri had resigned from the position of Railway Minister accepting moral responsibility for a major railway accident. Shastri was the country’s Prime Minister from 1964 to 1966. During Shastri’s brief Prime Ministership, the country faced two major challenges. While India was still recovering from the economic implications of the war with China; failed monsoons, drought and serious food crisis presented a grave challenge. As discussed in the previous chapter, the country also faced a war with Pakistan in 1965. Shastri’s famous slogan ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’, symbolised the country’s resolve to face both these challenges. Shastri’s Prime Ministership came to an abrupt end on 10 January, 1966, when he suddenly expired in Tashkent, then in USSR and currently the capital of Uzbekistan. He was there to discuss and sign an agreement with Muhammad Ayub Khan, the then President of Pakistan, to end the war.

Q. What two major crises India faced during Shastri’s tenure?

Read the following excerpt and answer the questions that follows: The dramatic nature of the political change would be more apparent to you at the State level. The Congress lost majority in as many as seven States. In two other States, defections prevented it from forming a government. These nine States where the Congress lost power were spread across the country – Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa, Madras and Kerala. In Madras State (now called Tamil Nadu), a regional party — the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) – came to power by securing a clear majority. The DMK won power after having led a massive anti-Hindi agitation by students against the centre on the issue of imposition of Hindi as the official language. This was the first time, any non-Congress party had secured a majority of its own in any State. In the other eight States, coalition governments consisting of different non-Congress parties were formed. A popular saying was that one could take a train from Delhi to Howrah and not pass through a single Congress ruled State. It was a strange feeling for those who were used to seeing the Congress in power.

Q. What is the current name of Madras?

Read the following excerpt and answer the questions that follows: The dramatic nature of the political change would be more apparent to you at the State level. The Congress lost majority in as many as seven States. In two other States, defections prevented it from forming a government. These nine States where the Congress lost power were spread across the country – Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa, Madras and Kerala. In Madras State (now called Tamil Nadu), a regional party — the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) – came to power by securing a clear majority. The DMK won power after having led a massive anti-Hindi agitation by students against the centre on the issue of imposition of Hindi as the official language. This was the first time, any non-Congress party had secured a majority of its own in any State. In the other eight States, coalition governments consisting of different non-Congress parties were formed. A popular saying was that one could take a train from Delhi to Howrah and not pass through a single Congress ruled State. It was a strange feeling for those who were used to seeing the Congress in power.

Q. In how many states a coalition government of non congress parties were formed?

Read the following excerpt and answer the questions that follows: The dramatic nature of the political change would be more apparent to you at the State level. The Congress lost majority in as many as seven States. In two other States, defections prevented it from forming a government. These nine States where the Congress lost power were spread across the country – Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa, Madras and Kerala. In Madras State (now called Tamil Nadu), a regional party — the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) – came to power by securing a clear majority. The DMK won power after having led a massive anti-Hindi agitation by students against the centre on the issue of imposition of Hindi as the official language. This was the first time, any non-Congress party had secured a majority of its own in any State. In the other eight States, coalition governments consisting of different non-Congress parties were formed. A popular saying was that one could take a train from Delhi to Howrah and not pass through a single Congress ruled State. It was a strange feeling for those who were used to seeing the Congress in power.

Q. In how many states Congress lost the majority?

Read the following excerpt and answer the questions that follows: The dramatic nature of the political change would be more apparent to you at the State level. The Congress lost majority in as many as seven States. In two other States, defections prevented it from forming a government. These nine States where the Congress lost power were spread across the country – Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa, Madras and Kerala. In Madras State (now called Tamil Nadu), a regional party — the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) – came to power by securing a clear majority. The DMK won power after having led a massive anti-Hindi agitation by students against the centre on the issue of imposition of Hindi as the official language. This was the first time, any non-Congress party had secured a majority of its own in any State. In the other eight States, coalition governments consisting of different non-Congress parties were formed. A popular saying was that one could take a train from Delhi to Howrah and not pass through a single Congress ruled State. It was a strange feeling for those who were used to seeing the Congress in power.

Q. On what agenda DMK came into power in Tamil Nadu?

Read the paragraph given below and answer the questions that follows:

India ’s grand old party, the Congress, faced its first major split as the old guard led by party President, S. Nijalingappa expelled Prime Minister Indira Gandhi from the party for “fostering a cult of personality ”. The “Syndicate ”, as the senior members were called, could not quite come to terms with the fact that the “Gungi Gudiya ”(dumb doll)-their snide reference for Indira-had a mind of her own. The break was complete when Indira after proposing N. Sanjeeva Reddy ’s name for presidentship asked Congressmen to “vote according to their conscience ”. V. V. Giri, the rebel Congress candidate won. When the communal temperature was at its peak in India, the country had a Muslim President and a Muslim Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. After serving as vicepresident to the great Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan for five years, Zakir Hussain, an academic and former vice-chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University, became the philosopher scholar ’s successor at Rashtrapati Bhavan in 1967. Hussain, however, had one of the briefest terms as the country ’s president as he died less than two years later. He was also the first Indian president to die in office.

Q. Whose name was proposed for president by Indira Gandhi?

Read the paragraph given below and answer the questions that follows:

India’s grand old party, the Congress, faced its first major split as the old guard led by party President, S. Nijalingappa expelled Prime Minister Indira Gandhi from the party for “fostering a cult of personality”. The “Syndicate”, as the senior members were called, could not quite come to terms with the fact that the “Gungi Gudiya” (dumb doll)-their snide reference for Indira-had a mind of her own. The break was complete when Indira after proposing N. Sanjeeva Reddy’s name for presidentship asked Congressmen to “vote according to their conscience”. V. V. Giri, the rebel Congress candidate won. When the communal temperature was at its peak in India, the country had a Muslim President and a Muslim Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. After serving as vicepresident to the great Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan for five years, Zakir Hussain, an academic and former vice-chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University, became the philosopher scholar’s successor at Rashtrapati Bhavan in 1967. Hussain, however, had one of the briefest terms as the country’s president as he died less than two years later. He was also the first Indian president to die in office.

Q. Who was the first president to die in office?

Read the paragraph given below and answer the questions that follows:

India’s grand old party, the Congress, faced its first major split as the old guard led by party President, S. Nijalingappa expelled Prime Minister Indira Gandhi from the party for “fostering a cult of personality”. The “Syndicate”, as the senior members were called, could not quite come to terms with the fact that the “Gungi Gudiya” (dumb doll)-their snide reference for Indira-had a mind of her own. The break was complete when Indira after proposing N. Sanjeeva Reddy’s name for presidentship asked Congressmen to “vote according to their conscience”. V. V. Giri, the rebel Congress candidate won. When the communal temperature was at its peak in India, the country had a Muslim President and a Muslim Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. After serving as vicepresident to the great Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan for five years, Zakir Hussain, an academic and former vice-chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University, became the philosopher scholar’s successor at Rashtrapati Bhavan in 1967. Hussain, however, had one of the briefest terms as the country’s president as he died less than two years later. He was also the first Indian president to die in office.

Q. Who was called “Gungi Gudiya”?

Read the paragraph given below and answer the questions that follows:

India’s grand old party, the Congress, faced its first major split as the old guard led by party President, S. Nijalingappa expelled Prime Minister Indira Gandhi from the party for “fostering a cult of personality”. The “Syndicate”, as the senior members were called, could not quite come to terms with the fact that the “Gungi Gudiya” (dumb doll)-their snide reference for Indira-had a mind of her own. The break was complete when Indira after proposing N. Sanjeeva Reddy’s name for presidency asked Congressmen to “vote according to their conscience”. V. V. Giri, the rebel Congress candidate won. When the communal temperature was at its peak in India, the country had a Muslim President and a Muslim Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. After serving as vicepresident to the great Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan for five years, Zakir Hussain, an academic and former vice-chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University, became the philosopher scholar’s successor at Rashtrapati Bhavan in 1967. Hussain, however, had one of the briefest terms as the country’s president as he died less than two years later. He was also the first Indian president to die in office.

Q. Who was the vice-president to Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan?