ABSTRACT
The original Orissa consisted of three coastal districts, which were a division of Bengal, and later part of the combined state of Bihar and Orissa. The history of democracy in Orissa can be synoptically seen through the four elections, 1936, 1947, 1952 and 1956, and through an important event—the formation of a Coalition Government—in 1959. Up to 1947 the division between Government and Opposition in the Assembly reflected not only alignments in the struggle for Independence, but also a major social cleavage in British Orissa: between the rentier class on the one side and on the other side the peasants led and represented by Congress politicians. The brokers undoubtedly provide education in the political techniques which are characteristic of some representative democracies: but they are a check upon the growth of civic responsibility among the common people. The cleavage in outlook between the Government and their people is also perhaps a normal and inevitable feature in politics.
