1.
INTRODUCTION
The maxim ‘democracy is kingless regime infested by
many kings’, said Beneto Mussolini in a bygone days. It is very true, at
least for India’s politics in present days. What to say about political parties
in India, where state and rural political parties are innumerable and moreover,
new parties are springing up in every corner with an agenda. Their ideology,
ironically, lies on the memorandum paper or on hype. The emergence of regional
parties with local issues is undoubtedly conducive to the region, but the
decisive influence in central politics brings the nation’s functional
institutions in doldrums.
Each and every issue of a village that can be handled on
village level is discussed on national level. Each regional level
political party has produced a king at national level. The consequence
is petty politics, politics of regional disparity, encouragement of corruption,
poor performance of external affairs of the nation, inability to vanquish
terrorism or drug trafficking, obscure national defence.
Regional Indian Political Parties: India’s social,
cultural and historical diversity, it is only natural that regional parties
play an important role in the country’s political life. Because of India’s
federal system, state assembly votes are held in an electoral arena that often
enables regional parties to obtain power by espousing issue of regional
concern. Simultaneously, the single-member district, first-past-the-post
electoral system has given the advantage to national parties, such as the congress,
which possess a realistic chance of gaining or retaining power at the national
level and the opportunity to use the central government resources to reward
their supporters.
2. REGIONAL PARTIES: IMPACT ON
NATIONAL POLITICS
With the congress-led alliance of as many as 19 political
parties emerging victorious in the recently held general elections, India’s
political stage has been set for yet another coalition regime at the center.
Pushing the BJP – led coalition of NDA out of power certainly seems to be a
historic feat for the congress party, which has emerged as the single largest
party in General elections 2004. However, the fact that the congress failed to
secure a clear majority and has been forced to woo a number of regional parties
to form government at the center, clearly indicates that multi-party
coalition government has now become indisputable reality of Indian democracy.
To make the marathon task of leading the
government more difficult for the congress, leaders of the regional parties, while
taking part in deliberations on picking out the right names for the final list
of ministers to be sent to president, categorically chose to adopt the tactics
of ’complaints and threats’ and said that they could back out from cooperating
with new government unless they were allocated their desired portfolios in
Dr.singh’s ministry. The fact that the pressure tactics worked
successfully some of the bigger regional coalition partners namely RJD
and DMK, of the congress party, was manifest in the manner in which they their
demands were conceded and they got away with what they had wished.
The victory in general elections, as it
seems today, has only marked the beginning of an extremely challenging journey,
a tightrope walk for the congress in terms of ensuring political stability in
the country. The sense of anxiety and uncertainty is writ large on the face of
every sensible observer as nobody actually wants to be a witness to
political instability and imbalance culminating in the pre-mature dissolution
of the Lok sabha. However,
every one acknowledges that in order to have a stable government at the center,
it has become imperative to mollify and yield to regional interests.
3. REGIONALISM AND REGIONAL PARTIES
Ever since India has risen to prominence
with its distinctive identity on the global political map as the world’s
largest democracy, it has invariably served as the habitat of numerous regional
parties representing different streams of popular conscience. Though these
parties always have some politico-ideological underpinnings, they are mainly
based on the principle of regionalism. Regionalism refers to the love of
a particular region in preference to the country and in certain cases, in
preference to the state of which the region was apart. It is a countrywide
phenomenon and often takes the form of well-conceived and well-organised
agitations and campaigns.
India since the eighties also has several
regional parties and an increasing number of regional parties and an increasing
number of regional movements in almost all the states of India. Not long ago
five states of Indian union ruled by regional parties – DMK in Tamil Nadu, AGP
in Assam, TDP in Andhra Pradesh, National Conference in J&K and Akali Dal
in the Punjab. All these parties have influenced national politics in
their own way and with coalition becoming a permanent feature of Indian
political culture, their role as ‘pillars of democracy’ has become even more
important.
Regional parties like Shiv Sena and the
Gorkha Hill Liberation Front are in power in some of the local bodies in
Maharastra and West Bengal respectively. Apart from the above mentioned
recognized regional parties, there are many regional movements (some among them
militant) which are agitating and fighting against their respective state
governments, on the plea that great injustice has been done to their respective
regions since several decades. Such
movements are Telangana Rastra Samithi (in Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh),
Khalistan (for the sikh homeland in Punjab), Jharkand (for creation of Jharkand
state from some of the districts of Bihar; Orissa, West Bengal and Madhya
Pradesh), Bodoland (for the tribal homeland in the Brahmaputra valley of
Assam), Gorkha Hill Liberation Front (for Gorkhaland in West Bengal). While the
demand for Khalistan has been consigned to the backburner with suppression of
militancy in Punjab, demand for Greater Jharkand encompassing some areas of
Orissa and West Bengal, persists; though Jharkand has actually been formed
whereas the matter of Telangana is under consideration.
4. FACTORS
RESPONSIBLE FOR THE UPSURGE OF REGIONAL PARTIES OVER THE LAST FEW DECADES
There may be three major factors that can
be held responsible for the upsurge of regional parties over the last few
decades.
1.
Problem of Economic and Social Development in
the Indian Society
During the days of struggle for Indian Independence,
the political leaders had told the people all over the country that their
sufferings and economic hardships were the result of British rule and if they
wanted to extricate themselves from those hardships they should unite to end
that rule. Once that goal had been reached, the people whose expectations had
been roused immensely began to feel that the removal of poverty and eradication
of their sufferings is at hand. By declaring India a secular state, the
constitution assured the masses that the government would not be influenced by
religion and would take steps to organize village panchayat, provide work, a
living wage for workers and better sanitation and hospitals as well. They would
also protect their religion and places of worship. But all these cannot be
fulfilled and the people were offered nothing but disappointment, more
hardships and more injustice. It is in this regard that regional parties,
inspite of their narrow perception of developmental issues and concerns, have
come up as a fresh alternative to the bigger political parties. More
importantly, they are able to address the problems of the people in their own
language and idioms.
2.
Fear of Losing Cultural Identity
The second reason of formation of regional parties is the increasing
awareness of people in the more backward parts of India that they are being
neglected in the matter of education and job opportunities, in the setting up
of plans and factories, in the construction of dams and bridges and, above all,
in the allocation of central funds and grants. Some, particularly the tribal,
are terribly afraid that their cultural identity is slowly disappearing on
account of the domination of dominant culture. They think that they are being
dispossessed of their culture, their values and their very identity through
well planned policies of the state such as policies of integration and
assimilation, to bring them into the so called national mainstream’. They
believe that for the balanced development of their languages, their regions
should be constituted as a separate state and they should be provided
opportunity to administer their region.
3. Personal Selfish motives of Politicians
The last factor that gives rise to regional and parochial tendencies in
the country is the personal and selfish mindset of the politicians. The country
had hardly become independent when a naked struggle began for power among them.
The weakening of central authority and in some cases, of the state authority is
considered by the state and regional leaders of all parties as vital to
enhancing their own authority and power and they don’t hesitate from
propagating regionalism among people. The creation of more and more states means
more governors, more Chief Ministers, more Ministers and MLAs. The narrow and
sectarian instincts of the ignorant masses are at times stirred up by
professional politicians to serve their own narrow ends and on minor pretexts
in the names of community, language and very often region or state also.
5. REGIONAL
PARTIES HOLDING THE TRUMP CARD,
NATIONAL
PARTIES OUT
There are only four states left in the Indian Union where
the electoral fight is going to be between the mainline parties. There is
a direct contest between the BJP and the Congress only in Madhya Pradesh,
Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Chattisgarh. In all the other states, the
regional parties are either frontline players or in the second positions.
Never before has there been such a decline of national parties as is being
witnessed in Election 2004.
In Jammu & Kashmir, the dominant forces are
People Democratic Party and National Conference, in Punjab the Akali
Dal. In Uttar Pradesh, the fight is a four-concerned one between Congress, Samajwadi
Party, BJP and BSP. In Bihar, Laloo Yadav’s RJD is the major player. In Maharastra,
it is the Shiv Sena. In Orissa, Naveen Patnaik’s regional grouping (BJD) is one
of the biggest partners in the alliance with the BJP.
In Andhra Pradesh it remains TDP versus Congress
in 1998 and now TRS also made its advent. In Tamil Nadu, it is only
regional parties which matter; it has confirmed the reading that the Democratic
Progressive Alliance (DPA) – a grand alliance of the DMK, Congress, the
Communist Parties, the PMK, the MDMK and the Muslim League – was the most
formidable alliance the state has seen in recent times. In West Bengal
Mamta’s Trinamool Congress will give the Left Front half a dozen more seats
than it would have otherwise got. It is AGP versus the Congress in Assam.
The list goes on.
The general elections of 1998 and 2004 have seen a spate
of regional parties becoming key players. Telangana Rastra Samithi is also
emerging as a powerful regional party in Andhra Pradesh. An offshoot of this
phenomenon is the regionalisation of national leaders. Hegde, who was at one
time a prime ministerial candidate, later became the head of a regional party,
though for years he ruled out the option of launching a regional outfit in
Karnataka. From being the president of a national party, Laloo Yadav is heading
a regional outfit now, though trying to do summit politics to firm up his
position in Bihar.
6. ALLIANCE OF
REGIONAL PARTIES DID THE TRICK FOR CONGRESS
The congress’ euphoric reaction to the election results and
its claim that a decisive mandate has been awarded to the party are somewhat
hard to reconcile after a closer examination of the share of votes and seats
won by the party. Anyone who looks only at the vote shares can be forgiven for
thinking that the congress may have actually lost the elections. The party’s
share of the votes through out the country is 26.7 per cent, followed by the
BJP at 22.2 per cent. In a strange coincidence both the parties lost exactly
1.6 percentage points each compared to their performance in the 1999 elections.
Yet, their tally of seats presents a very different picture. The BJP’s tally
has dropped to 138, down from the 182 seats it commanded in the previous House.
The congress, on the other hand, has increased its tally from 114 to 145. this
takes the congress to its highest tally since the 1991 elections, while the BJP
is down to its worst since 1991.
What accounts for this paradoxical result? A good
deal of the answer lies in the logic of alliances. The congress
contested only 417 seats this time leaving 36 additional seats for its allies
than it did last time. On the other hand, BJP contested 361 seats this time, 22
more than what it did last time. The real question thus is of the vote shares
of the two major alliances. Last time BJP did very well despite trailing the
congress in vote share because the alliance did very well. The share of the
then NDA stood at 40.8 per cent of national vote that enabled it to win 300
seats in Lok Sabha. Thus the allies contributed 118 seats and 17 per cent of
the vote to the NDA kitty in 1999. The congress had very few allies then. They
brought just 20 additional seats and 5.5 per cent of the national vote. The
congress alliance trailed the NDA by 7 percentage points and lost the
elections. This time the picture has changed. The congress-led alliance has
bridged the gap and both the alliances stand neck to neck – around 36 per cent.
The BJP’s allies contributed 51 seats this time and brought 13.8 per cent
of the vote. The congress’ first attempt at building alliances brought it rich
dividends: the allies contributed 74 seats and 9.1 per cent of the vote to the
combined tally. The figure is actually a little higher, for in many
states, the congress contested in alliance with the left whose figures are not
taken into account here. In other words, the NDA lost about 5 per cent of the
national vote share as compared to the last elections, while the congress-led
alliance gained two per cent of the national vote share.
In relative terms, the BJP’s allies fared worse than the
BJP, while the BJP lost about a quarter of its seats, the alliance lost more
than half of what they won last time. It is a moot question whether the
BJP can entirely escape the responsibility of the heavy reverses suffered by
its allies in states such as Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Bihar, especially
in Tamil Nadu where the BJP switched the allies around. The net results
that the BJP now dominates the NDA more than before as its share of seats in
the alliance has gone up from 60 per cent to 73 per cent.
As parties get used to the alliance arithmetic, the
country’s electorate is also beginning to accept coalitions as a normal part of
political reality. The CSDS (Centre for the Study of Developing
Societies) has tracked the responses of the ordinary people to coalition
government in its National Election studies since 1996 with the upsurge of
regional parties in the country. With
the overwhelming majority of seats to the increasing number of regional parties
has made inevitable to form a coalition at the center.
The picture of votes and seats has not undergone any
dramatic change for other parties. The samajwadi party put up 234 candidates
all over the country in the hope of emerging as a national party. But all it
succeeded in gaining outside the Uttar Pradesh was one seat in Uttaranchal and
an additional half a percentage point of the vote share. The Bahujan Samaj
Party has had greater success in expanding outside Uttar Pradesh as its
national vote share jumped up by one point to record a little over 5 per cent. Hence
the concept of upsurge of regional parties is not confining to its increasing
number of seats in their respective regions but also trying themselves to
emerge as national parties.
7. DOWNSIDE OF
REGIONAL PARTIES
Ø The
motive and agenda of regional parties are generally limited in favour of their
region and they represent only some part of community of state.
Ø Their
motive is not to serve the nation but is only limited to some region. This
narrow approach provokes regionalism, which is one of the biggest problems
India is facing today in the political atmosphere.
Ø They
join hands with national parties in forming central government and always keep
pressure on the government for fulfilling theie all-narrow demands that may not
be in national interest.
Ø They
change their sides easily as they have no specific agenda or principle to serve
the nation.
Ø On
coming to power, they favour reservation of the jobs in the government and
private sector for local people. They just use the local regional people as
vote-banks and they can do anything for coming to power for their narrow
interest, even if it is dangerous or in violation of Indian Constitution.
Ø They
make false promises and make use of caste, region as well as language. There
are many examples of this. One of them is: Being a regional party the DMK
always sought to pick up local issues to work up people’s passions in order to
stay on in power. Some years ago, Tamil Protection Organisation (TPO) took out
procession in Chennai and the participants shouted anti-Malayali slogans like
“drive out Malayalis (Keralites)”. The processionists stoned theatres screening
Malayalam pictures and indulged in other acts of violence and lawlessness.
On
the other hand, if we see the positive aspect of regional parties, then we find
that they are playing pivotal role in the Indian politics. They provide for
forming the stable central government. Regional parties, which have good agenda
and principles, always pressure the central government for not framing rules
that are against the will of the people of region as well as nation.
8. CONCLUSION
Hence I would like to conclude that there is a need to
evaluate the phenomenon of forming regional parties as well as regionalism of
the country. Instead of simply branding the formation of regional parties as
chauvinistic, secessionist struggle, extremist activities, fundamentalism,
insurgency, violent organization and so on. We have to understand the root
cause of regionalism and regional parties. That would facilitate us to provide
correct and complete solution to them.
All political parties should come forward on the
population issue, which is the creator of man problems. They should not look
for their vote bank on the questions of populations. The dismal scenario of
unemployment, education, agriculture, health, housing, drinking water,
nutrition, and other minimum needs are need to be addressed sincerely by
political parties especially in rural areas.
Reading from the present political map of the country, it
should be clear to all sundry and especially to political class that coalition
government has come to stay in India. The mood of the electorate is more
in the trend of some kind of coalition arrangements if though unintentionally.
Taking this as a positive development both national and regional parties should
learn to cobble up together to provide a government for its full term.
At last, in the larger interest of the nation, it is very
urgently needed that the government should spell out its guiding principles in
recognizing politico-cultural identity of the so far suppressed people in some
regions. Political parties should evaluate Plato’s saying “There will be
no end to troubles of states till philosophers become kings… or till those
kings and rulers really and truly become philosophers.”
REFERENCES
ARTICLES
1. Shailesh
Kumar, Regional parties, Competition Success Review, Jul 2004
2. Regional
Parties hold the trump card, Times of India, February 22, 2004
3. Neeraj
Choudary, Regional Parties take over, national parties out, Indian
Express, March 28, 1998
4. Jayaprakash
Narayan, The idea of India in danger, People Power, Februar
21, 2004.
5.
Black Birds in Sonia’s Coalition Pie, Times News
Network, Jul 12, 2003.
6.
Dilip Patel, Role of Political Parties in
Present Day in India, Civil Services Chronicle, July, 2002.
7.
N. Sata Murthy, Of coalitions and
coordination, Times of India, January 12, 2004
8.
Syed Sultan Kazi, Coalition Politics, Civil
Services Chronicle, November 2003.
9.
V.k. Madhavan Kutty, The coalition Experience,
Frontline, Feb 13-26, 1999
10. How
India Voted, The Hindu, May 20, 2004
JOURNALS
1.
Competition Success Review, July 2004
2.
Civil Services Chronicle, November 2003
3.
Civil Services Chronicle, July 2002
4.
Frontline, February 13-26, 1999
WEBSITES
3.
www.nic.in
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