Political Parties in India PDF

Summary

This document provides an overview of political parties, their characteristics and functions, and their role in India's political system. It includes details regarding the various types of political party systems in India, along with relevant examples and historical context.

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## 3. Political Parties In the last chapter we studied the working of constitution and election procedure. Political parties are a link that connects common people, democracy, representation and elections. Whatever we read or hear about politics is related to political parties. Political parties ex...

## 3. Political Parties In the last chapter we studied the working of constitution and election procedure. Political parties are a link that connects common people, democracy, representation and elections. Whatever we read or hear about politics is related to political parties. Political parties exist in all democratic systems. In fact political parties compete with each other only in a democracy. In this chapter we will study the political party system in India. In your school and the surroundings you must have seen some groups, institutions, organisations working to achieve some objective. Some organisations take initiative in resolving social problems. You may have read about the various movements and their work. Just as there are active groups, institutions and movements, similarly there are political parties who contest elections. Political parties are also a kind of social organisations, but there is a difference between political parties and other institutions and organisations in society. The difference is in the goals and style of working of political parties and other organisations. On this background, we can say that when people form organisations with the objective of achieving political power and participate in the electoral process, such organisations are called political parties. Political parties thus can be described as a group of people who aim to contest elections, win elections and get power and establish the government of their party. Following are some important characteristics of political parties: - **To be in power:** Achieving power through elections is the main objective of political parties. Thus different political parties compete with each other to get power. There is nothing wrong in this competition, but the competition should be fair. - **To pursue an ideology:** Every political party has some policies and world views. Parties have a particular stand about social issues. These together make party ideology. The people who consider any specific party ideology as acceptable support that political party. Social support received by a political party is called the 'mass base' of political party. In modern days ideologies of all political parties appear to be similar hence it has become difficult to differentiate between the parties on the basis of ideologies. - **To have a Party Agenda:** Political parties prepare their party's agenda on the basis of party ideology. They implement the agenda after they get political power. Even if they do not get political power, political parties try to get support of people on the basis of this agenda. - **To Establish a Government:** Political parties establish the government and govern the nation. The political party which gets majority in elections forms the government. The parties which do not get majority act as opposition parties. - **To act as a link between the Government and the people:** Political parties work as a link between the Government and the people. Political parties communicate the demands and complaints of the people to the government. The government tries to get support of the people for its policies and programmes through political parties. What do you understand by the following news in newspapers? Explain in brief - Opposition parties held a meeting in Mumbai to resist the Ruling party. Will take up the issue of farmers? - Ruling party organised 'Samvad Yatra in rural areas. Imagine you are an opposition party leader and you have observed that the ruling party has not done good work in the field of health. What will you do as a leader of opposition? **Think and Write** Mahatma Gandhi, Vinoba Bhave and Jayprakash Narayan put forth the idea of partyless democracy. What has to be done to bring such democracy in modern times? ## Changing nature of political party system in India 1. The Congress was a strong political party in the post-independence period. Congress had a majority at Centre and in most of the States. Indian politics was controlled by the Congress Party. This era was described as Era of 'Single dominant party system'. 2. The non-Congress parties came together and challenged 'Single dominant party system' in 1977. 3. After the 1989 Loksabha Elections, the system of one party emerging as dominant party came to an end. Since then different parties began to come together to form coalition governments. Both the Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress Party made an experiment of establishing coalition governments. The belief that coalition government brings instability was proved wrong by the political party system in our country. In fact, the coalition government system as stabilised in India. ## Do you know? - If power remains with one political party for a long period and if no other political parties are influential - the party system is called as one party system - In politics, when two political parties are influential and if political parties enjoy power alternatively, the party system is called two party system - When many political parties compete for political power and more or less they are equally influential, the party system is called multi-party system. ## Do this. Find out the member parties of the following leading coalitions: 1. National Democratic Alliance (NDA) 2. United Progressive Alliance (UPA) ## Also understand The national parties and the regional parties. ## To get recognition as a national party, the Election Commission has prescribed the following conditions: - A political party should secure minimum 6% of the valid votes in four or more States in the earlier Loksabha or State Assembly elections and minimum 4 members should be elected in the Loksabha from any state or states in the earlier elections. Or - The candidates of a party should be elected from minimum 2% constituencies out of total Loksabha constituencies and from minimum 3 states. ## To get recognition as a regional party, the Election Commission has prescribed the following conditions: - A political party should secure minimum 6% of the valid votes in the earlier Loksabha or State Assembly elections and minimum 2 members should be elected in the Vidhan Sabha (State Assembly). Or - A political party should secure minimum 3% of seats out of total seats of Vidhansabha (State Assembly) or minimum 3 seats. ## Let us know about some important political parties in India. **National Parties** - **Indian National Congress:** The Indian National Congress was established in 1885. At the time of its establishment, Congress was an all comprehensive movement working for national independence. Groups with different ideologies had come together in this nationalist movement. After independence the Congress emerged as the most dominant political party. The party, from beginning, follows the policy of secularism, all round development, equal rights and welfare for minorities and disadvantageous sections of the society. Accordingly, Congress has organised various programmes to achieve those objectives. The party believes in democratic socialism, social equality and international peace. - **Communist Party of India:** This party based on the communist ideology was established in 1925. It is an old party in India. This party works for the welfare of labourers and workers. The party opposes capitalism. The party leadership developed differences in the 1960s over the issue of whether Communist Party of India should accept the leadership of Communist China or the Soviet Union. This led to the split in Communist Party of India and a separate party- Communist Party of India (Marxist) was formed in 1964. - **Bharatiya Janata Party:** Bharatiya Janata Party is an important party at the national level. Bharatiya Jan Sangh was established in 1951. This party was merged with Janata Party that was established in 1977. The Janata Party could not survive. There was a split in the party and Bharatiya Jan Sangh - the component party of Janata Party established a new party in 1980-Bharatiya Janata Party. The party stands for the protection of Indian culture and traditions. The party gives importance to economic reforms. - **Communist Party of India (Marxist):** This party proclaims socialism, secularism and democracy. The party opposes imperialism. Party's policy is to protect the interests of workers, farmers and landless labourers. - **Bahujan Samaj Party:** Bahujan Samaj Party professes the Socialist ideology. In 1984 the party was established with the objective of protecting the interest of the 'majority'. Scheduled caste, scheduled tribes, religious minorities and other backward classes together constitute a majority. The party aims to give power in the hands of the 'majority'. - **Nationalist Congress Party:** In 1999, there was a split in the Congress Party and Nationalist Congress Party was established. The party believes in the values of democracy, equality and secularism. The party was in power in Maharashtra from 1999 to 2014 in coalition with the Congress Party. Nationalist Congress Party for a long period was also a part of coalition government led by Congress at Centre from 2004 to 2014. - **Trinamool Congress:** All India Trinamool Congress Party was established in 1998. Election Commission gave the party recognition as national party in 2016. The party supports democracy, secularism and protection of interests of weaker sections of the society. ## Number of seats secured by National parties in Loksabha elections of 2009 and 2014. | National Parties | 2009 | 2014 | |---|---|---| | Indian National Congress | 206 | 44 | | Communist Party of India |04|01| | Bharatiya Janata Party | 116 | 282 | | Communist Party of India (Marxist) | 16 | 09 | | Bahujan Samaj Party | 21 | - | | Nationalist Congress Party | 09 | 06 | ## Power shift in Tamil Nadu Political marketing leading to terror ## Formation of a new Party in Maharashtra Looking for opportune time to give up power? ## Which portfolio-Home or Social Welfare? ## Coalition of PDP and BJP ## Shiromani Akali Dal gets clear majority Anti Defection Law conducive to Democracy ## Haryana Janahit Congress achieves to objectives You must be reading different news in newspapers. Through these news items we get information about various parties existing in different states of India. - Do these parties function only at State level? - Some state leaders are influential at national level, while some have influence only at state level. Why is it so? With the help of such questions we will try to get information about various regional parties in India. We will study some of the regional parties from different parts of India. ## In India we find people speaking different languages and having different traditions and culture. They belong to different parts of India. We see different regions have their own language. You have already studied different geographical regions in Maharashtra. In Maharashtra there exists geographical and cultural diversity. Maharashtra is different from Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. The feeling of affinity developed about our language and region gradually turns into the identity consciousness and finally gives rise to regionalism. People start thinking primarily about the interest and development of their own region. They start feeling proud of their language, literature, traditions, history of social reforms, educational and cultural movements and this gives rise to the development of linguistic identity. Regional identity develops from the consciousness about the development of region and the feeling that people belonging to the region should have claim over resources and employment opportunities. When linguistic, regional, cultural and other identities get connected, regional consciousness emerges as a stronger feeling. Sometimes it gives rise to independent political parties or pressure groups or movements. All such developments aim at the protection of the interests of region. ## Regional Parties Regional parties are those groups in the region who have a proud feeling about the different identity of their region and who compete to get political power with the objective of regional development. The influence of regional parties is limited to a particular region. Though they play a significant role at the regional level, they influence national politics as well. Regional parties give preference to the resolution of regional problems. For the development of the region they demand more autonomy and authority. Though they cooperate with federal government, they try to protect their autonomy. Regional parties make several demands such as regional problems should be resolved at regional level; political power should be in the hands of the people from region and residents of the region should get preference in administration and jobs. ## Changing nature of regional parties in India: Regional parties came into existence in India in the post independent period. However, over the years their nature and role has changed significantly. 1. Initially regional identities gave rise to the separatist movements. The demands for independent Khalistan, Dravidistan were made with the objective of parting from the Indian federation and exist as an independent State. Regional parties from Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and Jammu and Kashmir have made such demands. 2. The demands of regional parties gradually changed. Instead of an independent state, they started demanding more autonomy. This was the second stage in the development of regional parties. This stage began after 1990. 3. The regional parties demanded that for the development of the region, people from region should get power at State and national level. For example, Shiv Sena, Telugu Desam, etc. 4. The development of regional parties in North East shows a different trend. They gave up their demand of separatism and have started demanding autonomy. The regional parties from North East are now entering in mainstream of national politics. ## In short we can say that role of regional parties in India has passed through various phases from separatism to autonomy and now towards entry into mainstream national politics. Coalition politics is one of the consequence of their increasing influence in national politics. ## In India we have many regional parties. It is not possible to know about all such parties in this chapter. We will study some parties as representative of India's East, West, North and South regions. ## Some Major Regional Parties as shown below: 1. **Shiv Sena:** - Main political party in Maharashtra established in 1966. - Objective - protection of the rights of Marathi people, promotion of Marathi Language, resistance to people from other regions. - In 1995 it entered into a coalition with BJP and came to power in Maharashtra. It shares power with the BJP in Maharashtra since 2014. - After elections in 2019 formed Government in allaiance with Congress party and National Congress party. 2. **Shiromani Akali Dal:** - Established in 1920- a prominent regional party in Punjab - Objective of cultivating religious and regional identity - Assumes power in Punjab for many years. 3. **Jammu and Kashmir National Conference:** - Main regional party in Kashmir established in 1932. - Protect the interests of Kashmiri people and protection of autonomous status. 4. **Assam Gan Parishad:** - Assam agreement was signed in 1985. - Resolve the problems of displaced people. Protect the unique cultural, linguistic and social identity of Assam, economic development of Assam. - Assumes power in Assam for many years. 5. **Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam:** - Justice Party - a non Brahmin movement in 1920 was transformed into Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam - a political party. In 1944, Justice party came to be known as Dravida Kazhagam. In 1944, a group separated from this party and established another party-Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. Another group separated from this party in 1972 and established All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. - Protection of Tamil Identity, member of Coalition Government at the Centre for some years. - The party has support of voters from all sections of society. It was in power for a long period and implemented many policies. ## In India we have many regional parties in every state that have influenced the state politics. The following chart shows the performance of regional parties in Maharashtra in the elections of 2009 and 2014. ## Regional Parties in Maharashtra (Representation in Vidhan Sabha) | Name of Party | Seats won Election Year 2009 | Seats won Election Year 2014 | |---|---|---| | Shiv Sena | 44 | 63 | | Maharashtra Navnirman Sena | 13 | 01 | | Peasants and Workers Party | 04 | 03 | | Republican Party of India-Bahujan Mahasangh | 01 | 01 | | Republican Party of India | - | - | | Samajwadi Party | 04 | 01 | | Bahujan Vikas Aghadi | 02 | 03 | | Rashtriya Samaj Paksha | 01 | 01 | | All India Majlis-E-Ittehadulla Musalmeen | 02 | 02 | | Janasurajya Shakti Loksangram | - | 01 | | Swabhimani Party | 01 | - | | *This party did not exist in 2009.* ## Can you tell? Every State in India has regional parties. It is not possible to take review of all those parties. Find out information about other regional parties with the help of a map of India. In this chapter we took a review of national and regional political parties in India. In the next chapter we will try to understand the importance of social movements in our life. ## 4. Social and Political Movements Read out the news in a local newspaper. Movement against child marriage has been successful to a great extent and the extent of child marriages have reduced by 50%. The workers in this movement worked very consciously. Workers from the movement against dowry also helped them. Now there is a need to start a drive against malnutrition, because poverty and malnutrition are two important problems to be taken on priority basis. - In the above newspaper item different movements are included. Can you explain their meaning? - This news deals with different subjects. Are movements related to only one issue? - If different movements cooperate with each other will they be more effective? In the last chapter we got information about the national and regional parties. Political parties compete for political power. They win elections and try to resolve the problems of the common men. Political parties generally adopt comprehensive perspective. They cannot concentrate on just one particular issue. From public cleanliness to space research, they have to take into consideration all matters from national perspective and take decisions. Political parties are expected to have a programme for the problems of all sections of the society. Political parties adopt policies taking into consideration the interests of all-farmers, labourers, businessmen, women, youth, and senior citizens. ## Why movements? All the people in the society cannot participate in political parties and contribute to social welfare. Some people focus on a particular issue and persue it. They organise people and try to pressurise the government to resolve that issue. They constantly follow up on the issue, build public opinion about it and thereby put a pressure on political parties and the government. This type of organised activity is called a movement. Organised activity is the essence of any movement. ## Such movements are very important in a democracy. Different social problems come under discussion through these movements. The government then has to pay attention to such problems. Leaders and activists of the movement provide necessary information about those issues to the government. This information is very useful for the government while making policies. ## Some movements aim at opposing a particular decision or policy of the government. The right to protest is considered an important right in democracy. However this right needs to be used patiently and responsibly. ## Can you tell? Which movements in India are actively working for rehabilitation of the displaced and to secure their livelihood ? ## What is a movement? - A Movement is a collective action. People's active participation is expected in the movement. - A Movement can be formed when people come together in the interest of a particular issue, for eg. Pollution can be a single issue for which a movement can be created. - A movement has a particular social objective or a focussed problem. For eg. Movement against corruption aims at ending corruption. - Movements have a leadership. Leadership keeps the movement active. Objectives of the movement, programme of action, strategy of agitation are decided by its leaders. A strong leadership makes movement effective. - Movements have organisations. Without an organisation, it becomes difficult to follow up the issues. For eg. Farmer's organisation works for farmer's movement. - Any movement requires public support. People should feel connected to the issue that is undertaken by the movement. Movements have a programme of action which help them to shape public opinion. ## Discuss. Generally the movements are devoted to one particular issue but have an ideology behind them. For example movements against child marriage, dowry believe in values of democracy, women empowerment and social equality. Sometimes some movements gradually get transformed into political parties. ## Read the following dialogue and write a paragraph on it. If the human rights movement becomes influential worldwide, there is no need for other movements. But the problems in developing countries are of different nature. Different social, economic and cultural conditions may give rise to different movements. It’s true. Otherwise we would not have said’ save girls, We can get an experience of movement here itself. Can we start a movement to make the school surrounding safe for girls? Movements were suppressed during the British period. But in democratic system existence of movements is an indicator of healthy democratic system ## Can you find out? - Which movement in India led to the filing of Public Interest Litigation (PIL) and the Judiciary had to give a decision regarding PIL? - Name the movements started by Mahatma Gandhi, Mahatma Phule, Sant Gadge Maharaj, and Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. ## Discuss. On which issues does the 'Son of the soil movements in India insists? ## Do this. Collect the news in the newspapers about the movements such as Andhashraddha Nirmulan Movement, movement to stop the pollution of rivers, movement against female foeticide, Not in My Name, etc. ## Do you know? Civic problems need not originate only in the social sphere. They can emerge from any section of the society. In India, especially in Maharashtra, many social reform movements were started and society started getting modernised. Our struggle for independence was also a social movement. - The issues like protecting rights of the citizens, right to vote, minimum wages, and economic security are the focus of political and economic movements. Swadeshi movement is an important economic movement. ## Important movements in India - **Tribal movement:** In the pre-independence period, the British government deprived tribal people of their right to livelihood on forest land. There was a Tribal uprising in Kolam from Chota Nagpur, Gond from Orissa, Koli, Bhilla and Ramoshi from Maharashtra, Santhal and Munda from Bihar. The tribal struggle has continued since those years. Tribals in India face several problems. One major problem is that they are denied right over forests. The main demand of the tribal movement is to accept their right over forests. They should be allowed to collect products of forests and also should have a right to cultivate on forest land. - **Farmers movement in India:** Farmers movement in India is an important movement. During the British period, farmers started getting organised due to anti-agriculture policies of the British colonial government. You must be aware of farmers movements in Bardoli, Champaranya and movements against revenue collection. The farmers movements were inspired by the thoughts of Mahatma Phule, Justice Ranade and Mahatma Gandhi. Due to some reforms in agriculture (tenancy laws, laws relating to tilting of the land etc) the farmers movement slowed down. After the Green Revolution, the farmers movement became more active and effective. Though Green Revolution aimed at increasing agricultural production and achieving self-sufficiency in food grains, it did not benefit the poor farmers. The farmers were now divided into rich farmers and poor farmers. Dissatisfaction among the poor farmers led to the beginning of farmer's movement. Appropriate price for agricultural products, agriculture to be treated as an industry, implementation of recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission, debt relief, debt cancellation, national policy for agriculture are some of the demands of the farmers movement. Shetkari Sanghatana, Bharatiya Kisan Union, All India Kisan Sabha are some of the important farmers organisations in India. ## Do this. Name the policies started by the government for the welfare of farmers and landless labourers. ## Labour Movement: Labour movement in India emerged in the background of industrialisation. Textile industry, railway companies were established in India in the latter half of the nineteenth century. In 1899 railway workers went on strike for their demands. However, the first organisation for resolving the issues of workers was established in 1920. This organisation is known as All India Trade Union Congress. In the post-independence period labour movement started working more effectively. In 1960s and 1970s labour movement organised several agitations. But from 1980s labour movement started getting disintegrated. Globalisation has affected the labour movement to a great extent. In India, workers are facing different problems. Unstable employment conditions, contract labour, financial insecurity, absence of legal protection for workers, unlimited working hours, insecurity at the workplace, health hazards are some of the problems. ## Women's movement: In the pre-independence period, progressive men in India initiated the women's movement. The women's movement aimed at eliminating injustice against women and ending their exploitation, help them to lead a respectful life and participate actively in social life. Vidyasagar, Raja Rammohan Roy, Mahatma Jyotirao Phule, Savitribai Phule, Maharshee Dhondo Keshav Karve, Pandita Ramabai, Ramabai Ranade took initiative in ending the practice of Sati and child marriages. Reforms such as widow remarriage, women education and right to vote to women were possible due to the work of these reformists. After independence, the Constitution gave equal rights to women in all fields. In spite of this women were not treated equally in several fields. During this period women's movement aimed at freedom of women. The movement demanded that the women should be treated as human beings. In the latter period, women participated to a great extent in the movements against corruption, caste discrimination and religious extremism which made them aware of injustice against their own selves. Women started taking initiative in Organising against injustice. In India women's movement is not homogeneous in nature. However women's movements at various levels are taking up the issues like women's health, social security, financial independence, and empowerment. Today women's movement face the challenge of equal education for women and giving women a status and prestige as human beings. ## Environment movements: We are aware that environmental degradation is a serious problem at national and international level. At the international level several movements are working to stop the deterioration of the environment. We see a significant international cooperation in this field. In India many movements are working on differenet aspects of enviornment. The environment movements are taking up issues like protection of bio-diversity, protecting different sources of water. protection of forests, green belt, pollution of rivers, use of chemicals and their ill effects etc. ## Consumer movement: Consumer movement emerged in India after the Consumer Protection Act came into existence in 1986. This movement has a broad objective. The movement believes that each member of the society is a consumer. Due to the changing nature of social and economic system consumers face different problems. Adulteration, increased cost of items, frauds in weight and measures are some of the problems. The consumer movement works to protect consumers from such type of frauds. The movements increase the participation of people in public life. The post 1980 movements are called neo-social movements as their nature is different from the earlier movements. These movements are issue-based. It means they try to organise issue based mass movements. In the next chapter we will study challenges before democracy. ## Exercise 1. Choose the correct option from the given options and complete the sentences. - is the main demand of farmers movement. - Right to cultivate on the forest land - To get the right price for agricultural product - Protection of consumers - Building of dams - To increase agricultural production and become self-sufficient with regard to food grains was initiated. - Water revolution - Green revolution - Industrial revolution - White revolution 2. Explain the concepts. - Tribal movement - Labour movement 3. Answer the following questions in brief. - Explain the activities/role/functions of environmental movement. - Explain the nature of farmers movement in India. - For which reforms were the women's movement in the pre-independence period fighting? 4. State wheather the following statements are true or false. Give reasons for your answer. - Movements are important in democracy. - Movements do not need a strong leadership. - Consumer movement came into existence. ## Project - Collect the news in the newspapers about various activities of social movements. - Write a report on movements in your area which are working to resolve general problems. - Prepare a format of a complaint you will submit under consumer protection act if you are cheated in purchase of vegetables or grains.

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