What does the word "dispensation" mean in sentence?

Question

I read a sentence in my book which was:

Since 1969, the Congress party had started shedding its character as an umbrella party which accommodated leaders and workers of different ideological dispensations and viewpoints.

The word "dispensation" doesn't seem to make much sense to me in the context. Instead I think the word "inclination" would have made much more sense. Am I right?

Answer 1

Dispensation, second meaning in Oxford:

A political, religious, or social system prevailing at a particular time.

Examples:

• Scholarship is conveyed to a wider audience than under the old dispensation.

• So within these four parameters, one needs to crystallize the political dispensation that one would like to have in Afghanistan.

This meaning of dispensation was new to me too.