Political Parties PDF

Political Parties Overview In this tour of democracy, we have come across political parties several...

Political Parties Overview In this tour of democracy, we have come across political parties several Chapter 4 times. In Class IX, we noticed the role of political parties in the rise of democracies, in the formation of constitutional designs, in electoral politics and in the making and working of governments. In this textbook, we have glanced at political parties as vehicles of federal sharing of political power and as negotiators of social divisions in the arena of democratic politics. Before concluding this tour, let us take a close look at the nature and working of political parties, especially in our country. We begin by asking two common questions: Why do we need parties? How many parties are good for a democracy? In the light of these, we introduce the national and regional political parties in today’s India and then look at what is wrong with political parties and what can be done about it. D e m o c ra t i c Po l i t i c s 2024-25 46 Chapter 4.indd 46 08-04-2022 12:33:27  Why do we need political parties? Political parties are easily one of to be very critical of political parties. the most visible institutions in a They tend to blame parties for all So, you agree with me. Parties democracy. For most ordinary that is wrong with our democracy are partial, citizens, democracy is equal to and our political life. Parties have partisan and lead political parties. If you travel to become identified with social and to partitions. remote parts of our country and political divisions. Parties do speak to the less educated citizens, Therefore, it is natural to ask – do nothing but you could come across people who we need political parties at all? About divide people. may not know anything about our hundred years ago, there were few That is their real Constitution or about the nature of countries of the world that had function! our government. But chances are any political party. Now there are that they would know something few that do not have parties. Why about our political parties. At the did political parties become so same time, this visibility does not omnipresent in democracies all over mean popularity. Most people tend the world? Let us first answer what political parties are and what they do, before we say why we need them. Meaning © (1) M Govarthan (2) A Muralidharan (3) M Moorthy (4) T Singaravelou, The Hindu A political party is a group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government. They agree on some policies and programmes for the society with a view to promote the collective good. Since there can be (1) different views on what is good for (3) Po l i t i c a l Pa r t i e s (2) Election Commission has officially banned wall writing by parties during election times. Most political parties argue that was the cheapest way for their campaign. These election times used to create amazing graffiti on the walls. Here are some examples from Tamil Nadu. (4) 2024-25 47 Chapter 4.indd 47 08-04-2022 12:33:31  © RK Laxman - Brushing up the years all, parties try to persuade people mainly among the candidates put why their policies are better than up by political parties. Parties select others. They seek to implement their candidates in different ways. these policies by winning popular In some countries, such as the USA, support through elections. members and supporters of a party Thus, parties reflect fundamental choose its candidates. Now more political divisions in a society. Parties and more countries are following are about a part of the society and this method. In other countries thus, involve partisanship. Thus, like India, top party leaders choose a party is known by which part it candidates for contesting elections. stands for, which policies it supports 2 Parties put forward different and whose interests it upholds. A policies and programmes and the political party has three components: voters choose from them. Each of  the leaders, us may have different opinions and Partisan: A person  the active members and views on what policies are suitable D e m o c ra t i c Po l i t i c s who is strongly  the followers for the society. But no government committed to a Functions can handle such a large variety party, group or of views. In a democracy, a large What does a political party do? faction. Partisanship number of similar opinions have Basically, political parties fill political is marked by a to be grouped together to provide offices and exercise political power. tendency to take a a direction in which policies can Parties do so by performing a series side and inability be formulated by the governments. of functions: This is what the parties do. A party to take a balanced 1 Parties contest elections. In most reduces a vast multitude of opinions view on an issue. democracies, elections are fought into a few basic positions which it 2024-25 48 Chapter 4.indd 48 08-04-2022 12:33:33  supports. A government is expected That is why, they feel close to parties to base its policies on the line taken even when they do not fully trust by the ruling party. them. Parties have to be responsive 3 Parties play a decisive role to people’s needs and demands. in making laws for a country. Otherwise people can reject those Formally, laws are debated and parties in the next elections. passed in the legislature. But since Necessity most of the members belong to a This list of functions in a sense party, they go by the direction of answers the question asked above: the party leadership, irrespective of we need political parties because their personal opinions. they perform all these functions. 4 Parties form and run governments. But we still need to ask why modern As we noted last year, the big policy democracies cannot exist without decisions are taken by political political parties. We can understand executive that comes from the the necessity of political parties by political parties. Parties recruit imagining a situation without parties. leaders, train them and then Every candidate in the elections make them ministers to run the will be independent. So no one government in the way they want. will be able to make any promises 5 Those parties that lose in the to the people about any major elections play the role of opposition policy changes. The government to the parties in power, by voicing may be formed, but its utility will different views and criticising remain ever uncertain. Elected Okay, granted government for its failures or representatives will be accountable that we can’t wrong policies. Opposition parties to their constituency for what they live without also mobilise opposition to the do in the locality. But no one will political parties. government. be responsible for how the country But tell me on 6 Parties shape public opinion. will be run. what grounds do They raise and highlight issues. We can also think about it by people support a Parties have lakhs of members and looking at the non-party based political party? activists spread all over the country. elections to the panchayat in many Many of the pressure groups are the states. Although, the parties do not extensions of political parties among contest formally, it is generally different sections of society. Parties noticed that the village gets split into sometimes also launch movements more than one faction, each of which for the resolution of problems puts up a ‘panel’ of its candidates. faced by people. Often opinions in This is exactly what the party does. Po l i t i c a l Pa r t i e s the society crystallise on the lines That is the reason we find political parties take. parties in almost all countries of the 7 Parties provide people access world, whether these countries are to government machinery and big or small, old or new, developed welfare schemes implemented by or developing. Ruling Party: Political governments. For an ordinary citizen The rise of political parties is party that runs it is easy to approach a local party directly linked to the emergence government. leader than a government officer. of representative democracies. 2024-25 49 Chapter 4.indd 49 08-04-2022 12:33:34  As we have seen, large societies responsible government could be need representative democracy. formed. They needed a mechanism to As societies became large and support or restrain the government, complex, they also needed some make policies, justify or oppose agency to gather different views them. Political parties fulfill these on various issues and to present needs that every representative these to the government. They government has. We can say that needed some ways, to bring various parties are a necessary condition for representatives together so that a a democracy. Categorise these photographs by the functions of political parties they illustrate. Find one photograph or news clipping from your own area for each of the functions listed above. © (1) C V Subrahmanyan (2) K Gopinathan 2 (3) A Chakrabarty, The Hindu 1 3 1: Activists of BJP Mahila Morcha demonstrate against hike in prices of onions and LPG in Visakhapatnam. 2: Minister distributes ` One lakh cheque to the families of hooch victims at their houses. 3: Activists of CPI (M), CPI, OGP and JD (S) take out a rally in Bhubaneswar to protest against POSCO, the Korean steel company for being permitted by the State Government to export iron ore from Orissa to feed steel plants in China and Korea. How many parties should we have? D e m o c ra t i c Po l i t i c s In a democracy any group of citizens the race to win elections and form is free to form a political party. In the government. So the question is: this formal sense, there are a large how many major or effective parties number of political parties in each are good for a democracy? country. More than 750 parties In some countries, only one are registered with the Election party is allowed to control and run Commission of India. But not all the government. These are called these parties are serious contenders one-party systems. In Class IX, in the elections. Usually only a we noted that in China, only the handful of parties are effectively in Communist Party is allowed to 2024-25 50 Chapter 4.indd 50 08-04-2022 12:33:38  rule. Although, legally speaking, coalition. When several parties in a people are free to form political multi-party system join hands for the parties, it does not happen because purpose of contesting elections and the electoral system does not permit winning power, it is called an alliance free competition for power. We or a front. For example, in India cannot consider one-party system as there were three such major alliances a good option because this is not a in 2004 parliamentary elections– the democratic option. Any democratic National Democratic Alliance, the system must allow at least two parties United Progressive Alliance and the to compete in elections and provide a Left Front. The multiparty system fair chance for the competing parties often appears very messy and leads to come to power. to political instability. At the same time, this system allows a variety In some countries, power usually of interests and opinions to enjoy changes between two main parties. political representation. Several other parties may exist, So, which of these is better? I wonder how contest elections and win a few seats Perhaps the best answer to this very politicians in the national legislatures. But only manage these common question is that this is not the two main parties have a serious coalitions. I can’t a very good question. Party system chance of winning majority of seats even remember is not something any country can to form government. Such a party the names of all choose. It evolves over a long time, system is called two-party system. the parties. depending on the nature of society, The United States of America and its social and regional divisions, its the United Kingdom are examples history of politics and its system of of two-party system. elections. These cannot be changed If several parties compete for very quickly. Each country develops a power, and more than two parties party system that is conditioned by its have a reasonable chance of coming special circumstances. For example, if to power either on their own strength India has evolved a multiparty system, or in alliance with others, we call it it is because the social and geographical a multiparty system. Thus in India, diversity in such a large country is we have a multiparty system. In this not easily absorbed by two or even system, the government is formed by three parties. No system is ideal for all various parties coming together in a countries and all situations. Po l i t i c a l Pa r t i e s Let us apply what we have learnt about party systems to the various states within India. Here are three major types of party systems that exist at the State level. Can you find the names of at least two States for each of these types?  Two-party system  Multiparty system with two alliances  Multiparty system 2024-25 51 Chapter 4.indd 51 08-04-2022 12:33:39  Popular participation in It is often said that political parties are facing a crisis because they are very unpopular and the political parties citizens are indifferent to political parties. The available evidence shows that this belief is only partly true for India. The evidence, based on a series of large sample surveys conducted over several decades, shows that:  Political parties do not enjoy much trust among the people in South Asia. The proportion of those who say their trust in political parties is ‘not much’ or ‘not at all’ is more than those who have ‘some’ or ‘great’ trust.  The same is true of most other democracies as well. Political parties are one of the least trusted institutions all over the world.  Yet the level of participation in the activities of political parties was fairly high. The proportion of those who said they were members of some political party was higher in India than many advanced countries like Canada, Japan, Spain and South Korea.  Over the last three decades, the proportion of those who report to be members of political parties in India has gone up steadily.  The proportion of those who say they feel ‘close to a political party’ has also gone up in India in this period. D e m o c ra t i c Po l i t i c s Source: SDSA Team, State of Democracy in South Asia, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2007 2024-25 52 Chapter 4.indd 52 08-04-2022 12:33:42  © Tab - The Calgary Sun, Cagle Cartoons Inc. Crunching the Numbers Does the cartoon reflect the data graphics shown on the previous page? National parties Democracies that follow a federal special facilities are ‘recognised’ by system all over the world tend to the Election Commission for this have two kinds of political parties: purpose. That is why these parties parties that are present in only one of are called, ‘recognised political For more details the federal units and parties that are parties’. The Election Commission about registration present in several or all units of the has laid down detailed criteria of and recognition of federation. This is the case in India the proportion of votes and seats political parties by the as well. There are some country-wide that a party must get in order to Election Commission parties, which are called ‘national be a recognised party. A party that of India, visit https:// parties’. These parties have their secures at least six per cent of the eci.gov.in units in various states. But by and total votes in an election to the large, all these units follow the same Legislative Assembly of a State and policies, programmes and strategy wins at least two seats is recognised that is decided at the national level. as a State party. A party that secures Every party in the country at least six per cent of the total votes has to register with the Election in Lok Sabha elections or Assembly Commission. While the Commission elections in four States and wins at Po l i t i c a l Pa r t i e s treats all parties equally, it offers least four seats in the Lok Sabha is some special facilities to large and recognised as a national party. established parties. These parties According to this classification, are given a unique symbol – only there are six recognized national the official candidates of that party parties in the country as per can use that election symbol. Parties notification of the Election that get this privilege and some other Commission of India issued in 2023. 2024-25 53 Chapter 4.indd 53 19/03/2024 10:45:03  Aam Aadmi Party 3.63 per cent votes and secured 10 (AAP): Formed on seats in the Lok Sabha. 26 November 2012, Bharatiya Janata Party following the 2011 (BJP): Founded in 1980 anti-corruption movement. The by reviving the erstwhile party was founded on the idea of Bharatiya Jana Sangh, accountability, clean administration, formed by Syama Prasad transparency and good governance. Mukherjee in 1951. Wants to build a In the year after its formation, AAP strong and modern India by drawing emerged as the second largest party inspiration from India’s ancient in the Delhi Legislative Assembly culture and values; and Deendayal election. It formed a government Upadhyaya’s ideas of integral with the support of Indian National humanism and Antyodaya. Cultural Congress (INC). It also emerged nationalism (or ‘Hindutva’) is an as the third front in the politics of important element in its conception Gujarat after 2022 Gujarat Legislative of Indian nationhood and politics. Wants full territorial and political Assembly election. Presently, AAP integration of Jammu and Kashmir formed governments in Punjab and with India, a uniform civil code Delhi. In the Lok Sabha election held for all people living in the country in 2019, it secured one seat in the Lok irrespective of religion, and ban on Sabha. religious conversions. Its support Bahujan Samaj base increased substantially in the Party (BSP): 1990s. Earlier limited to north and Formed in 1984 west and to urban areas, the party expanded its support in the south, under the leadership of Kanshi east, the north-east and to rural areas. Ram. Seeks to represent and secure Came to power in 1998 as the leader power for the bahujan samaj which of the National Democratic Alliance includes the dalits, adivasis, OBCs (NDA) including several regional and religious minorities. Draws parties. Emerged as the largest party inspiration from the ideas and with 303 members in the 2019 Lok teachings of Sahu Maharaj, Mahatma Sabha elections. Currently leads Phule, Periyar Ramaswami Naicker the ruling NDA government at and Babasaheb Ambedkar. Stands for the Centre. the cause of securing the interests and Communist Party welfare of the dalits and oppressed of India - Marxist D e m o c ra t i c Po l i t i c s people. It has its main base in the ( C P I - M ) : Fo unded state of Uttar Pradesh and substantial in 1964. Believes presence in neighbouring states like in Marxism-Leninism. Supports Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, socialism, secularism and Uttarakhand, Delhi and Punjab. democracy and opposes imperialism Formed government in Uttar and communalism. Accepts Pradesh several times by taking democratic elections as a useful the support of different parties at and helpful means for securing the different times. In the Lok Sabha objective of socio-economic justice in elections held in 2019, it polled about India. Enjoys strong support in West 2024-25 54 Chapter 4.indd 54 19/03/2024 10:50:20  Bengal, Kerala and Tripura, especially its ideological orientation, the party among the poor, factory workers, espouses secularism and welfare of farmers, agricultural labourers and weaker sections and minorities. The the intelligentsia. Critical of the new INC supports new economic reforms economic policies that allow free flow but with a human face. Leader of the of foreign capital and goods into the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) country. Was in power in West Bengal government from 2004 to 2019. In the without a break for 34 years. In the 2019 2019 Lok Sabha election, it won 19.5% Lok Sabha elections, it won about 1.75 votes and 52 seats. per cent of votes and 3 seats. National People’s Party Indian National Congress (NPP): Formed in July 2013 (INC): Popularly known under the leadership of P.A as the Congress Party. One Sangma. NPP is the first of the oldest parties of the political party from North world. Founded in 1885 and East India to have attained has experienced many splits. Played a dominant role in Indian politics at the status of a national party. It the national and state level for several believes in diversity of the country and decades after India’s Independence. recognizes that different regions have Under the leadership of Jawaharlal different developmental challenges. Nehru, the party sought to build a The core philosophy of the party is modern secular democratic republic in education and employment to all as India. Ruling party at the centre till 1977 well as empowerment of all sections of and then from 1980 to 1989. After 1989, the society. It formed government in its support declined, but it continues Meghalaya and has presence in many of to be present throughout the country, North Eastern States. In the Lok Sabha cutting across social divisions. A centrist election held in 2019, NPP secured one party (neither rightist nor leftist) in seat in the Lok Sabha. State parties Other than these seven parties, most Over the last three decades, the of the major parties of the country are number and strength of these parties has classified by the Election Commission expanded. This made the Parliament as ‘State parties’. These are commonly of India politically more and more referred to as regional parties. Yet diverse. No one national party is able these parties need not be regional in to secure on its own a majority in the their ideology or outlook. Some of Lok Sabha, until 2014. As a result, the these parties are all India parties that national parties are compelled to form happen to have succeeded only in alliances with State parties. Since 1996, Po l i t i c a l Pa r t i e s some states. Parties like the Samajwadi nearly every one of the State parties has Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal have got an opportunity to be a part of one national level political organisation or the other national level coalition with units in several states. Some of government. This has contributed to these parties like Biju Janata Dal, Sikkim the strengthening of federalism and Democratic Front, Mizo National democracy in our country. (See the Front and Telangana Rashtra Samithi map on the next page for details of are conscious about their State identity. these parties). 2024-25 55 Chapter 4.indd 55 02/04/2024 12:48:42  D e m o c ra t i c Po l i t i c s Map not to scale 2024-25 56 Chapter 4.indd 56 08-04-2022 12:33:45  Challenges to political parties We have seen how crucial political in the working of political parties. parties are for the working of Political parties need to face and democracy. Since parties are the overcome these challenges in order most visible face of democracy, it is to remain effective instruments natural that people blame parties for of democracy. whatever is wrong with the working The first challenge is lack of of democracy. All over the world, internal democracy within parties. people express strong dissatisfaction All over the world there is a tendency with the failure of political parties in political parties towards the to perform their functions well. concentration of power in one or This is the case in our country too. few leaders at the top. Parties do not Popular dissatisfaction and criticism keep membership registers, do not has focussed on four problem areas hold organisational meetings, and Berlusconi Puppet Theatre do not conduct internal elections regularly. Ordinary members of the party do not get sufficient information on what happens inside the party. They do not have the means or the connections needed to influence the decisions. As a result, the leaders assume greater power to make decisions in the name of the party. Since one or few leaders exercise © Riber Hansson - Svenska Dagbladet, Cagle Cartoons Inc. paramount power in the party, those who disagree with the leadership find Po l i t i c a l Pa r t i e s Berlusconi was the Prime Minister of Italy. He is also Why don’t one of the top businessmen parties give in Italy. He is the leader of enough tickets the Forza Italia founded in 1993. His company owns TV to women? Is channels, the most important that also due to publishing company, a foot lack of internal ball club (AC Milan) and a bank. This cartoon was made democracy? during the last elections. 2024-25 57 Chapter 4.indd 57 08-04-2022 12:33:46  it difficult to continue in the party. The third challenge is about More than loyalty to party principles the growing role of money and and policies, personal loyalty to the muscle power in parties, especially leader becomes more important. during elections. Since parties are The second challenge of dynastic focussed only on winning elections, succession is related to the first they tend to use short-cuts to win one. Since most political parties do elections. They tend to nominate not practice open and transparent those candidates who have or can procedures for their functioning, raise lots of money. Rich people and there are very few ways for an companies who give funds to the ordinary worker to rise to the top parties tend to have influence on the in a party. Those who happen to be policies and decisions of the party. In the leaders are in a position of unfair some cases, parties support criminals advantage to favour people close to who can win elections. Democrats them or even their family members. all over the world are worried about In many parties, the top positions the increasing role of rich people and are always controlled by members big companies in democratic politics. of one family. This is unfair to other The fourth challenge is that members of that party. This is also very often parties do not seem to bad for democracy, since people who offer a meaningful choice to the do not have adequate experience or voters. In order to offer meaningful popular support come to occupy choice, parties must be significantly positions of power. This tendency different. In recent years, there has is present in some measure all over been a decline in the ideological the world, including in some of the differences among parties in most older democracies.   parts of the world. For example, the difference between the Labour Party and the Conservative Party in Britain is very little. They agree on more fundamental aspects but differ only in details on how policies © Huffaker - Cagle Cartoons Inc., 16 June 2004 are to be framed and implemented. In our country too, the differences among all the major parties on the economic policies have reduced. Those who want really different D e m o c ra t i c Po l i t i c s policies have no option available to them. Sometimes people cannot even elect very different leaders either, because the same set of leaders keep shifting from one party to another. This cartoon was drawn during the Presidency of George Bush of the Republican Party in the USA. The party’s symbol is elephant. The cartoon seems to suggest that the Corporate America controls all major institutions of the country. 2024-25 58 Chapter 4.indd 58 08-04-2022 12:33:46  Does this suggest that in democracies people contest elections only to make money? But isn’t it true that there are politicians © Manjul - DNA committed to the well-being of the people? Can you identify which of the challenges described in this section are being highlighted in these cartoons (on pages 57 to 59)? What are the ways to curb the misuse of money and muscle power in politics? How can parties be reformed? In order to face these challenges, leaders. If all of them do not wish to political parties need to be reformed. reform, how can anyone force them The question is: Are political parties to change? willing to reform? If they are willing, Let us look at some of the what has prevented them from recent efforts and suggestions in our reforming so far? If they are not country to reform political parties Po l i t i c a l Pa r t i e s willing, is it possible to force them and its leaders: to reform? Citizens all over the  The Constitution was amended Defection: Changing world face this question. This is not to prevent elected MLAs and MPs party allegiance from a simple question to answer. In a from changing parties. This was done the party on which a democracy, the final decision is made because many elected representatives person got elected (to by leaders who represent political were indulging in defection in order a legislative body) to parties. People can replace them, to become ministers or for cash a different party. but only by another set of party rewards. Now the law says that if 2024-25 59 Chapter 4.indd 59 08-04-2022 12:33:48  is mere formality. It is not clear if this step has led to greater internal democracy in political parties. Besides these, many suggestions are often made to reform political parties:  A law should be made to regulate the internal affairs of political parties. It should be made compulsory for political parties to maintain a register of its members, to follow its own © Keshav - The Hindu constitution, to have an independent authority, to act as a judge in case of party disputes, to hold open elections to the highest posts.  It should be made mandatory for Do you agree that this form of reforming political parties will be acceptable to them? political parties to give a minimum any MLA or MP changes parties, number of tickets, about one-third, he or she will lose the seat in the to women candidates. Similarly, legislature. This new law has helped there should be a quota for women bring defection down. At the same in the decision making bodies of time, this has made any dissent even the party. more difficult. MPs and MLAs have  There should be state funding of to accept whatever the party leaders elections. The government should decide. give parties money to support their  The Supreme Court passed an election expenses. This support order to reduce the influence of could be given in kind: petrol, paper, money and criminals. Now, it is telephone, etc. Or it could be given in mandatory for every candidate who cash on the basis of the votes secured contests elections to file an affidavit by the party in the last election. giving details of his property and These suggestions have not yet criminal cases pending against him. been accepted by political parties. If The new system has made a lot of and when these are accepted these information available to the public. could lead to some improvement. But there is no system to check if the But we must be very careful about D e m o c ra t i c Po l i t i c s information given by the candidates legal solutions to political problems. is true. As yet we do not know if it Over-regulation of political parties has led to decline in the influence of can be counter-productive. This the rich and the criminals. would force all parties to find ways Affidavit: A signed to cheat the law. Besides, political  The Election Commission document submitted parties will not agree to pass a law passed an order making it necessary to an officer, where a that they do not like. for political parties to hold their person makes a sworn There are two other ways organisational elections and file their statement regarding her in which political parties can be income tax returns. The parties have personal information. started doing so but sometimes it reformed. One, people can put 2024-25 60 Chapter 4.indd 60 08-04-2022 12:33:48  pressure on political parties. This can those who want this, join political be done through petitions, publicity parties. The quality of democracy and agitations. Ordinary citizens, depends on the degree of public pressure groups and movements and participation. It is difficult to reform the media can play an important role politics if ordinary citizens do not in this. If political parties feel that take part in it and simply criticise they would lose public support by it from the outside. The problem of not taking up reforms, they would bad politics can be solved by more become more serious about reforms. and better politics. We shall return Two, political parties can improve if to this theme in the final chapter. 1. State the various functions political parties perform in a democracy. 2. What are the various challenges faced by political parties? Exercises 3. Suggest some reforms to strengthen parties so that they perform their functions well? 4. What is a political party? 5. What are the characteristics of a political party? 6. A group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government is called a _____________________. 7. Match List I (organisations and struggles) with List II and select the correct answer using the codes given below the lists: List I List II 1. Congress Party A. National Democratic Alliance 2. Bharatiya Janata Party B. State party 3. Communist Party of India (Marxist) C. United Progressive Alliance 4. Telugu Desam Party D. Left Front 1 2 3 4 (a) C A B D (b) C D A B (c) C A D B (d) D C A B 8. Who among the following is the founder of the Bahujan Samaj Party? A. Kanshi Ram Po l i t i c a l Pa r t i e s B. Sahu Maharaj C. B.R. Ambedkar D. Jotiba Phule 9. What is the guiding philosophy of the Bharatiya Janata Party? A. Bahujan Samaj B. Revolutionary democracy C. Integral humanism D. Modernity 2024-25 61 Chapter 4.indd 61 08-04-2022 12:33:49  10. Consider the following statements on parties. A. Political parties do not enjoy much trust among the people. B. Parties are often rocked by scandals involving top party leaders. C. Parties are not necessary to run governments. Which of the statements given above are correct? (a) A, B, and C (b) A and B (c) B and C (d) A and C 11. Read the following passage and answer the questions given below: Muhammad Yunus is a famous economist of Bangladesh. He received several international honours for his efforts to promote economic and social development for the benefit of the poor. He and the Grameen Bank that he started jointly, Exercises received the Nobel Peace Prize for the year 2006. In February 2007, he decided to launch a political party and contest in the parliamentary elections. His objective was to foster proper leadership, good governance and build a new Bangladesh. He felt that only a political party different from the traditional ones would bring about new political culture. His party would be democratic from the grassroots level. The launching of the new party, called Nagarik Shakti (Citizens’ Power), has caused a stir among the Bangladeshis. While many welcomed his decision, some did not like it. “Now I think Bangladesh will have a chance to choose between good and bad and eventually have a good government,” said Shahedul Islam, a government official. “That government, we hope, would not only keep itself away from corruption but also make fighting corruption and black money a top priority.” But leaders of traditional political parties who dominated the country’s politics for decades were apprehensive. “There was no debate (over him) winning the Nobel, but politics is different – very challenging and often controversial,” said a senior leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. Some others were highly critical. They asked why he was rushing into politics. “Is he being planted in politics by mentors from outside the country,” asked one political observer. D e m o c ra t i c Po l i t i c s Do you think Yunus made a right decision to float a new political party? Do you agree with the statements and fears expressed by various people? How do you want this new party organised to make it different from other parties? If you were the one to begin this political party, how would you defend it? 2024-25 62 Chapter 4.indd 62 08-04-2022 12:33:50