During the decade of the 1950s, the Jawaharlal Nehru government vigorously pushed an agenda of "social modernization" which amounted to dismissing the customs and traditions of India as backward and despicable, and enacting laws based on "modern values," "progressive outlook" and "scientific temper" which enshrined Western perspectives and systems of marriage, divorce, inheritance and human relationships as the law which the courts of India would uphold. These vigorous efforts caused great disquiet among those educated sections of society who realized what was going on. However, the absence of an organized opposition party was an insuperable impediment to organized political resistance to this agenda. The Congress Party had the reputation and glamour of having secured the independence of India from Britain, and there was essentially no second political party in the electoral firmament.