INDIAN GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS – II

CIA 3 (COMPONENT 1)

NAME- ARADHYA

CLASS- 4BA LLB

REG.NO- 20113009

INDIAN SUBCONTINENT AND BASE OF POLITICAL INFRASTUCTURE

ABSTRACT

Indian party system is unique. It does not fit in any kind of classification that is generally
used to categorise the party systems. It is defined by the singular nature of Indian politics tie
one hand and the nature of the state-society relationship on the other. In the last two decades,
there has been a substantial change both in the nature of politics as well as in nature of
relationship between the state and the society. The only factor explaining the rapid growth in
the number of political parties in India is the difference in ideology. Some people are pro-
liberalization, while others are anti-capitalism. Ideological differences also exist in the social
sphere, with some political factions espousing Hindu nationalism, while the rest seem content
with progressive westernization It is the multiplicity of ideologies and their practitioners that
makes Indian politics a difficult but interesting case study.

KEYWORDS

IDEOLOGY, WESTERNISATION, LIBERALIZATION, ANTI CAPITALISM.

POLITICAL PARTIES IN INDIA AND THEIR IDEOLOGIES

A political party is essentially a social group with an associative nature of social relational
activity and interpersonal relationships Membership officially depends on free recruitment it
is a social group because it embodies the system of interdependent activity and interpersonal
relationships. Secondarily, it operates through goal-oriented coordinated actions. The
organization expects its members to act in a rational way in order to achieve commonly
agreed upon goals. The goal of a political party is to gain power and use it to influence
legislation or get elected to office. A political party is a client-oriented organization which is
always trying to gain as many members as possible. It is open to potential members in order
to maximize its membership base. The party is a relationship in which people are both taking
advantage of each other. Gabriel Almond defined political party as the socialized aggregation
structure of modern societies.
Parties are formed for different reasons in different countries and at different stages of life.
The ruling political party may be based on any of a variety of factors, such as religion,
economics, and type of government, nationality, or class interests. Religious affiliation
creates religious parties which are usually reactionary, conservative, and focused on
revivalism or fundamentalism.

For example, India's Hindu Mahasabha, Akalidal Party, Pakistan's Jammer Teislam, or
various Catholic and other Christian parties in some European countries. But the religious
basis is not a sound principle for political parties Hate speech divides the nation and obstructs
the resolution of political, social, and economic problems. There is a strong opposition to
progress and development of human life and society, as well as differences between races and
nationalities. This often creates different parties, especially where different racial and
national minority groups exist. In the 19th century, there were two main political parties: the
monarchist party and the republican party. One favoured a monarchy and the other a
republican form of government. Class parties also occasionally occur, such as the party of the
landlords, industrialists, or workers. In modern times, parties are usually organised on the
basis of political and economic programs and policies.

The party system during the first two decades after independence was termed as the Single
Dominant Party system. It was a multi-party system where the ruling party played an
overwhelmingly dominant role.

Although a number of other political parties existed and operated politically, yet the central
space of politics was occupied by the Indian National Congress only. The dominance of the
Congress was determined by its immense organisational strength as well as its capability to
capture large number of seats both in the Union Parliament and the state legislatures.
Dominance of the Congress as the ruling party did not mean absence of competition.

Congress has been the ruling party in India for no less than 49 years The political party that
has been in control of Indian politics for the past 10 years has been able to win a majority of
seats in 6 out of 10 elections. They have formed coalitions for 4 out of 10 elections. The
Congress Party has a generally socially liberal outlook, which places it on the Centre-Left of
the political spectrum. The organization adheres to the principle of upliftment of all sections
of society, using a variety of methods. Unlike many other contemporary political parties, the
Congress supports liberal nationalism, which is a more tolerant form of nationalism that
allows for equality, freedom, and rights. Critics of the Socialist government of India often say
that its policies of restrictive economics have contributed to the country's economic decline.
There is a big difference of opinion between the party's economic policies. The government
supports free market policies, but it is also prepared to wait and see how the economy
develops before making any further decisions about liberalising it. Despite all this, it is
believed that the party has launched denormalization, liberalization and privatization policies.

One more party in Indian Politics which is famous is BJP . There is no doubt that the BJP has
done well for the past three or four years The party gradually became more well-known and
accepted by the public before becoming the largest political party in India in terms of
representation in the Parliament. Originating from Bharatiya Jana Sangh, BJP maintains
ideological and organizational ties with the Hindu nationalist group Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh (RSS). The Ram Janmabhoomi movement has been prudently selecting and taking
stands on important national issues in order to gain better visibility. The stated ideology of
BJP is integral humanism. The theory of Upadhyaya was first formulated in 1965. The party
is a staunch advocate of social conservatism and believes in following a nationalist foreign
policy. Previously, the party has effectively played the role of an opposing force by raising
important issues like minority appeasement, secularism, and the need for a re-evaluation of
Article 370 in Kashmir. Recently, the BJP and its coalition partners have been focusing
mainly on neoliberal economic policy. Many believe that BJP's right-wing thinking and
professional business position is a need for time.

In India, party switching is more frequent than usual and almost every day some legislators
change allegiance and political parties. The expression "Aaya Ram Gaya Ram" in politics in
India means the frequent floor-crossing, turncoat behaviour, and switching of parties by
elected politicians. The term originated in 1967 in Haryana where there was an excessive
political horse trade, horse countertrade and horse countertrade; provoke several rounds of
frequent political misinformation the killing of serial defector politicians within a few weeks;
which led to the dissolution of the Haryana Legislative Assembly and, as a result, to the
holding of new elections in 1968 The subject of numerous jokes and cartoons, it became a
source of amusement for many. After 1967, several parties in India often traded power in a
way that benefited them rather than the people. To end this trend, we need to create a culture
of defect prevention. The term was coined when Gaya Lal, a Member of the Legislative
Assembly from Hodel in Haryana, won elections as an independent candidate in 1967 and
joined the Indian National Congress, and thereafter he changed parties thrice in a fortnight,
first by politically defecting from the Indian National Congress to the United Front,
then counter defecting back to INC, and then counter-counter-defected within nine hours to
United Front again. When Gaya Lal quit the United Front and join the INC, then INC
leader Rao Birendra Singh who had engineered Gaya Lal's defection to INC, brought Gaya
Lal to a press conference at Chandigarh and declared "Gaya Ram was now Aya Ram". This
triggered the worst cyclic game of the political defections, the counter-defections, the
counter-counter-defections, and so on, eventually resulting in the dissolution of the Haryana
Legislative Assembly and the President's rule was imposed.
1985 Anti-defection Act was passed in 1985 to prevent such defections. It was included in
constitution by Rajiv Gandhi government as the tenth schedule of Indian constitution. The
Anti-defection Act, applicable to both Parliament and state assemblies, specifies the process
for the Presiding Officer of a legislature (Speaker) to disqualify a legislators on grounds of
defection based on a petition by any other member of the House. Defection is defined as
either voluntarily giving up the membership of his party or disobeying (abstaining or voting
against) the directives (political whip) of the party leadership on a vote in legislature.
Legislators can change their party without the risk of disqualification to merge with or into
another party provided that at least two-thirds of the legislators are in favour of the merger,
neither the members who decide to merge, nor the ones who stay with the original party will
face disqualification. The Supreme Court mandated that in the absence of a formal
resignation, the giving up of membership can be determined by the conduct of a legislator,
such as publicly expressing opposition to their party or support for another party, engaging in
anti-party activities, criticizing the party on public forums on multiple occasions, and
attending rallies organised by opposition parties. The Presiding Officer has no time limit to
make his decision, for example if less than two third legislators of party defect then the
Presiding Officer can use his discretion to either disqualify the legislators before a vote of no
confidence is held or delay the decision on disqualification until after the "vote of no
confidence" is held.

CONCLUSION
The party system in India has undergone major transformation in the last five decades. As a
legacy of the National Movement, the Party System in 1947 was characterised by an
overwhelming dominance of the Congress party. As the central political institution of India,
the Congress completely controlled the power politics for the first two decades after
independence. The strength of the politics remain in its core in its organisational structure and
in its ability to accommodate diverse political interests. This peculiarity of the Congress was
linked with the homogeneous nature of the political elite whether belonging to the Congress
or the opposition. The party system changed substantially after 1967 with the change in the
nature of the socio-economic profile of Indian polity. With the politicisation of the masses as
well with the assertion of the new socio-economic groups, mainly the middle peasantry, the
backward castes and the Dalits, the party system also changed. People started shifting there
vote in favour of other parties. The parties whose ideology favoured. The inability of some
parties to accommodate conflicting interests and the erosion of its organisational structure led
to its. The contemporary party system is defined by its multiplicity. A number of national and
regional parties have filled in the vacuum created by the withdrawal of parties from its central
position. The regional parties have become more assertive as they have joined the national
politics as the allies of the national parties. This also has strengthened the federal structure of
India.