Question

Who among the following Indian leaders advocated the idea of partyless democracy?
A.Mahatma Gandhi
B.Jayaprakash Narayan
C.Ram Manohar Lohia
D.Maulana Abul Kalam Azad

Answer 1

Hint: Political parties are an important non-statutory organisation in a democracy formed as a group of individuals who share the same ideology and contest elections. A party-less or non-partisan democracy is one in which individuals contest elections independently and there are no political parties, thus eliminating partisan politics as a whole.

Complete answer: Option A: is incorrect. Mahatma Gandhi often referred to the father of the nation was one of the most important figures in India’s struggle for independence. He advocated for decentralisation of powers by strengthening grassroots institutions. This was earlier included as one of the principles in Directive Principles of State Policy in Part IV of the Constitution and later with the advent of the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts in 1992, local self-government bodies in rural and urban areas were given adequate powers and functions.
Option B: is correct. Jayaprakash Narayan was a pioneering political leader during the freedom struggle in India and he was the first to advocate non-partisan democracy in India. He even formed the Congress Socialist Party, the left-wing of the Indian National Congress.
Option C: is incorrect. Ram Manohar Lohia was a political leader whose socialist ideology developed alongside Acharya Narender Dev, Achyut Patwardhan, Jaya Prakash Narayan, Ashok Mehta and others. He advocated for equality and justice but found both capitalism and communism to be unsuitable for the socio-economic and political environment of Indian and other South-Asian countries.
Option D: is incorrect. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad joined the freedom struggle by founding the pan-Islamic Khilafat Movement in 1919. After meeting Gandhi, Azad subscribed to his ideas of nonviolent civil disobedience, joined the Indian National Congress and even went on to become its president in 1923.

Hence, Option B is correct.

Note: Indian democracy has a multi-party system which means that there are a large number of parties competing to attain power both at the national and state level. At present, there are 8 recognised national political parties and 53 recognised state or regional parties in India.