The Indian polity is at a crucial juncture today. There are so many political parties & so many different combinations that there is no clarity as to who stands where? Time & again it is proving counterproductive for the health of Indian Parliamentary System.
Ours is a multi party system. Given to the diverse culture of our country, probably, we have adapted the multi party system so that enough representation is made for the regional aspirations. However it is now creating a bottleneck for every progressive step.
There are regional parties in North, South, East, West, … who are at best traders & brokers. Their sole idea of politics is to score some seats here & there & then trade heavily for the support they will offer to the ruling party.
Then there are pocket parties like Shivsena, MNS, NCP, AIADMK, Lok Janshakti etc. whose agenda more or less is governed by one man’s agenda who happens to be the Supremo.
Does India need so many political parties at all? After all, a political party is supposed to be formed on the basis of an ideology. It is expected to have a clear stand on all the issues of national importance. It must have, at the minimum, an economic as well as a foreign policy model for the country.
US, UK, & some other good democracies have two party system. Both these parties have clearly defined ideologies & a clear political stand in all matters of national interest. Hence it is easy for the general public to chose. It’s either A or B. There are not any hung parliaments. There are not any individual agendas over the national one.
We can not have only two parties but we need to see how many more we need? The politics of coalition is no politics at all in my view. It’s the politics of convenience rather. It’s a politics of blackmail too. Did CPM support congress for any ideological alignment in the previous tenure? Or even today, Does Mamta has any ideological alliance with the Congress?
In my view, Indian polity should have 4 parties at the most because India has seen four types of thoughts after independence:
Left & Extreme left: Primarily represented by CPI & CPM who are driven by Marxist principles.
Right & Extreme Right : It is a mix of Hindu Nationalism + Religion + Opposition to Minority politics of Congress. The leading protagonist is BJP. Others are like Shivsena etc. There is also what is generally called as Sangh Parivar.
Centre : Represented by The Congress Party. Nobody knows exactly what it is but it is partly left & partly right, so to say. The best definition in my view would be “Anything that keeps me in the Centre of power is my ideology. Whatever gets me vote in the elections is my ideology.”
Socialist thought proposed by Dr. Lohia : It is different than socialism. It is possibly least talked about & much less understood. But this was an original thought. In the international parlance, the word Socialism is used more or less interchangeably with Marxism & Communism. But Dr. Lohia’s Socialist party was absolutely away from Marxism or Communism. This may not be known to many. At least I was mot knowing it myself before I went into depth of it. Dr. Lohiya was an original thinker & his was an ideology born out of ground realities of India. He, from the very beginning, believed that both capitalism as well as communism would prove counter productive in the long run for India. And he was dead against the Nehruvian kind of Socialism (or Congressism), in which the daily expense on PM in those days was Rs 25000/- per day when the average expense of a common man was “three anna’. (He had raised this issue vehemently & Nehru had to demure with some flimsy explanations in the parliament).
In my view all the parties will belong to one of the four above. Every party should see which ideology is nearest to them & they should align themselves to it.
But given to the kind political parties are & the fact that they have tasted blood after being coalition partners they will never let this happen. However, sooner or later this will be a necessity. It will be same necessity like Jan Lokpal & the way to get it also will be “Public Movement “ only.
Ours is a multi party system. Given to the diverse culture of our country, probably, we have adapted the multi party system so that enough representation is made for the regional aspirations. However it is now creating a bottleneck for every progressive step.
There are regional parties in North, South, East, West, … who are at best traders & brokers. Their sole idea of politics is to score some seats here & there & then trade heavily for the support they will offer to the ruling party.
Then there are pocket parties like Shivsena, MNS, NCP, AIADMK, Lok Janshakti etc. whose agenda more or less is governed by one man’s agenda who happens to be the Supremo.
Does India need so many political parties at all? After all, a political party is supposed to be formed on the basis of an ideology. It is expected to have a clear stand on all the issues of national importance. It must have, at the minimum, an economic as well as a foreign policy model for the country.
US, UK, & some other good democracies have two party system. Both these parties have clearly defined ideologies & a clear political stand in all matters of national interest. Hence it is easy for the general public to chose. It’s either A or B. There are not any hung parliaments. There are not any individual agendas over the national one.
We can not have only two parties but we need to see how many more we need? The politics of coalition is no politics at all in my view. It’s the politics of convenience rather. It’s a politics of blackmail too. Did CPM support congress for any ideological alignment in the previous tenure? Or even today, Does Mamta has any ideological alliance with the Congress?
In my view, Indian polity should have 4 parties at the most because India has seen four types of thoughts after independence:
Left & Extreme left: Primarily represented by CPI & CPM who are driven by Marxist principles.
Right & Extreme Right : It is a mix of Hindu Nationalism + Religion + Opposition to Minority politics of Congress. The leading protagonist is BJP. Others are like Shivsena etc. There is also what is generally called as Sangh Parivar.
Centre : Represented by The Congress Party. Nobody knows exactly what it is but it is partly left & partly right, so to say. The best definition in my view would be “Anything that keeps me in the Centre of power is my ideology. Whatever gets me vote in the elections is my ideology.”
Socialist thought proposed by Dr. Lohia : It is different than socialism. It is possibly least talked about & much less understood. But this was an original thought. In the international parlance, the word Socialism is used more or less interchangeably with Marxism & Communism. But Dr. Lohia’s Socialist party was absolutely away from Marxism or Communism. This may not be known to many. At least I was mot knowing it myself before I went into depth of it. Dr. Lohiya was an original thinker & his was an ideology born out of ground realities of India. He, from the very beginning, believed that both capitalism as well as communism would prove counter productive in the long run for India. And he was dead against the Nehruvian kind of Socialism (or Congressism), in which the daily expense on PM in those days was Rs 25000/- per day when the average expense of a common man was “three anna’. (He had raised this issue vehemently & Nehru had to demure with some flimsy explanations in the parliament).
In my view all the parties will belong to one of the four above. Every party should see which ideology is nearest to them & they should align themselves to it.
But given to the kind political parties are & the fact that they have tasted blood after being coalition partners they will never let this happen. However, sooner or later this will be a necessity. It will be same necessity like Jan Lokpal & the way to get it also will be “Public Movement “ only.
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