Political Parties

Note: When people come together and participate in electoral process, to acquire political power, such organisations are called Political parties. It’s a social organization with a political ideology and agenda.

Note: National Conference is a party in Jammu and Kashmir State.

Note: Justice Party - a non-Brahmin movement was transformed into Dravid Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) Political Party. It is a regional party in the state of Tamil Nadu.

True.

Reason: Political parties act as a link between government and people. They communicate the demands and the complaints of the people to their elected representatives in the government. The government, on the other hand, tries to get support of the people for its policies through the political parties.

True.

Reason: Political parties are social organizations which the objective to attaining power, winning elections and forming the government. Political parties have an ideology and agenda towards achieving their social goals through electoral politics.

False.

Reason: Coalition politics has lead to stability in India after long years of dominant rule of the Congress party. Since there are many stakeholders to the power, coalitions governments have proved to be success stories of democratic political process in our country.

False

Reason: Shiromani Akali Dal is a regional party in Punjab. It was established in 1920 and has enjoyed power in the state of Punjab for many years. It has the current government in Punjab under the leadership of Prakash Singh Badal.

Regionalism can be simply put as the feeling of affinity among people of a particular region, unified with a common language. It’s an identity consciousness associated with language, literature, traditions and cultural movements and gave rise to the development of linguistic identities in modern India. Over the years, regionalism has become problematic vis-� -vis development of a region and the feeling that only people belonging to that particular region have the sole claim resources and employment opportunities. In such divided political environment, many regional political parties have mushroomed in various parts of the country to voice the concerns of the people in their region.

E.g. Shiv Sena (Maharastra), Shiromani Akali Dal (Punjab), Assam Gan Parishad (Assam) etc.

The political parties that secure a minimum of 6% valid votes in four (or more) States in the Loksabha or State Assembly elections and has minimum of its 4 elected members in the Loksabha, are recogised as National Parties. E.g. Indian National Congress (INC), Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP), Communist Party of India (CPI).

Another criteria for recognition as a National Parties mandates that the candidates of a party should be elected from minimum of 2% of total Loksabha constituency and minimum of 3 states.

The major characteristics of political parties are:

1. To attain power

It is the main objective of all political parties. They compete with each other for the same; there is nothing wrong with objective of gaining power as long as the competition is fair.

2. To pursue an ideology

A party’s stand on certain social issues defines its ideology. In modern times, most political parties have similar ideologies which make it difficult for the common voter to decide whom to support.

3. To have a common agenda

On basis of their ideologies, parties prepare their agendas. They aim to garner public support for their agenda in other to win elections and implement them.

4. To establish a government

The political party which gets majority of votes in the elections forms the government; the parties with lesser votes form the opposition.

5. To act as a link between people & the government.

Political parties are the connecting link between people and the government. They communicate the demands and the complaints of the people to the elected leaders and on the other hand, the government tries to get support of the people for its policies and programmes through the channel of political parties.

Three major phases that have marked the changing nature of political parties in India are:

1. Single dominant party system

After independence, the Congress was the single most power political party in the country. It had government both the centre and most regional states for a long time.

2. Challenge to the Single dominant party system

In 1977, in the spirit of democracy, the non-Congress parties come together to challenge the single party dominance. Congress lost elections at the centre owing to the anti-decentralisation policies of Indira Gandhi followed during the emergency years (1975-77) and various regional parties took this opportunity to mark their foothold in regional politics.

3. The Coalition Government

After 1989 General Elections, no single party could achieve a defining major to form the government at centre. Hence, different parties came together to form coalition governments. Contrary to popular believes, the coalition system of government has been a successful practice in India. Owing the multiple stakeholders in the government, the decision making process has been gradual but it is important to note that various regional concerns have found a voice at national stage, thus strengthening the democracy.

Pune is one of the Loksabha constituency that includes the name of my parents.

Opposition Party is a party which doesn’t have any power in hand whereas the Ruling party controls the government and their main motive is to take up those issues which increase the interests of the public.

Yes, the Opposition party will take the issue of the farmers as it will help them to increase their influence over the public. It will become their motive to anyhow resist the ruling party to focus on those problems which are currently the main issue of the public and they will also try to solve their issues. So that in future, they will get the support of these people. In states like Maharashtra, the maximum number of farmers commits suicide due to financial and climatic problems. They never get the support of the government to solve these issues.

If the opposition party want to resist the Ruling party in Mumbai, they should take up the issue of farmers and try to solve this.

From this news in the newspaper, it was questioned that whether opposition party will take this issue or not to resist the ruling party. So if the opposition party will discuss this issue they will only be gaining the support of the public (especially farmers) in the future.

‘Samvad yatra’ means Dialogue tour. In order to gain the support of the public, the political parties organise these Yatras or tours to connect with the public and to hear them. It is a way to connect with the people in rural areas who are always neglected by the government.

If the news of the Ruling party organised ‘Samvad yatra’ in the rural areas comes in the newspaper, it means they are trying to interact with the people in the rural areas. The Ruling Party usually organise ‘Samvad yatra’ due to the following reason:

• With this tour, they try to interact with the people living in rural areas and try to listen to their problems.

• They interact with the people to clear the false accusations made on them.

• They interact with them to let them know about the welfare policies introduced by the state government in their favour.

• This way they also increase their influence over the people and could resist the Opposition party on doing what they are not supposed to.

• BJP in Maharashtra started ‘Samvad yatra’ to counterattack the opposition party and to reconnect with the farmers.

Ruling Party has the authority to make changes and improvement in the various fields. As an opposition party leader if I have observed that the ruling party has not done good work in the field of health than it is my responsibility to take this cause further to let people know about what ruling party is doing in this particular field.

As a leader of the Opposition party, I will do the following things:-

• I will make sure that people should know what their rights are as a citizen of the country.

• Will have a discussion or meeting on what improvement they should have in the field of Health.

• Will tell the people about what are the responsibilities of the ruling party to make development in the field like Health which is a major concern.

• Give examples of various improvements made on the other fields like economy, budget and nothing is done in the field of health.

• Will try to propagate the ideas of major improvements that will be made by us (opposition party) if they will choose our government in the future.

• Will assure them if they choose us (opposition party) as their next leader than we will make the required changes in the field of Health like setting up of hospitals in the areas which are neglected by the government, providing free health check to the poor people, use of various new equipment to treat every disease as possible, providing equal treatment to the people, etc.

Mahatma Gandhi, Vinoba Bhave and Jayprakash Narayan were the activists who believed in Sarvodaya Samaj where every individual should have equal opportunities and there will be universal upliftment of all. Sarvodaya movement was started by the Mahatma Gandhi before independence and it was then promoted by the Vinoba Bhave and Jayprakash Narayan after independence.

M.N. Roy and Jayaprakash Narayan were the individuals who promoted the idea of partyless Democracy at different times. Partyless Democracy refers to the Democracy where there will be no Political parties, no parliamentary and presidential form of government. Various measures should be adopted to bring such Democracy in Modern times which are as follows:-

• The country like India which is a diverse country, management of the citizens and to take initiative to preserve their culture and traditions should be the priority of the Partyless Democracy.

• Irrespective of caste, color and creed they should provide every individual with equal opportunities in every field. It means there will be no discrimination.

• As we know, democracy means for the people, by the people and of the people. Thus, Partyless Democracy means to actually adhere to this concept and create a country where there will be no political parties and no voting system to form the government.

• To create the Partyless Democracy they have to listen to the demands of every individual and try to bring welfare measures to fulfil their needs.

• Awareness to be created to maintain peace in the society and other measures among the citizens to run the country with Partyless democracy.

In other words, Partyless democracy in today’s world will be difficult especially in a country like India which is a multi-ethnic and multi-linguistic country. But the above-mentioned measures will definitely bring such democracy in modern times.

National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is a centre-left political party led by the Bharatiya Janata Party. The member party of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Shiv-Sena, Lok janshakti party, Shiromani Akali Dal, Rashtriya Lok Samta party, Apna dal, Naga People’s front, All India N.R Congress, National People’s Party, Pattali Makkal Katchi, Swabhimani Paksha, Republican Party of India, All Jharkhand Students Union, Bahujan Republican Ekta Manch, Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam, Goa Vikas Party, Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, Hindustani Awam Morcha , Indhiya Jananayaga Katchi[, Jammu & Kashmir People's Conference, Jana Sena Party, Kamtapur People's Party, Kerala Congress (Nationalist), Kerala Congress (Thomas), Kongunadu Makkal Desia Katchi, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, Manipur Peoples Party, North-East Regional Political Front, Puthiya Needhi Katchi, Rashtriya Samaj Paksha, Revolutionary Socialist Party (Bolshevik), Shiv Sangram, United Democratic Front and Sikkim Democratic Front.

United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is a coalition of the centre-left political parties and Indian National Congress is the largest member party of the UPA. The member party of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Indian National Congress, Telugu Desam Party, Nationalist Congress Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Rashtriya Lok Samta Party, Indian Union Muslim League, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Janata Dal (Secular), Kerala Congress (M), Rashtriya Lok Dal, Revolutionary Socialist Party, Swabhimani Paksha, Communist Marxist Party (John), Kerala Congress (Jacob), Peace Party of India, Mahan Dal, Bharatiya Tribal Party, Hindustani Awam Morcha, Karnataka Pragnyavantha Janatha Party, Telangana Jana Samithi and Loktantrik Janata Dal.

There are various regional parties. Some of the major Regional parties of India are mentioned in the map of India.