10.1] National and Regional Political Parties

Political parties are essential institutions for representative democracy. Political parties perform various roles like formation of government, formation of opposition, political education, political socialization etc.

On one hand there are scholars like Laski who believe that political parties are essential for democracy. On the other, there are leaders like Gandhi MN Roy and Jaiprakash Narayan who believe in a party-less democracy.

1. What is Party System?

A party system refers to the way political parties are structured, interact, and operate in country’s politics. It includes the number of parties, their relative strengths, and the relationships between them. It should be noted that party system is not based on number of parties but it is based on number of parties having systemic relevance.

For example, at the time of independence there were multiple parties but Indian party system was known as one party dominant system because of dominance of Congress.

1.1 Indian Party System

Zoya Hasan

According to Zoya Hasan political parties in India reflect many unusual features.

1. No concern for ideology – there is a growth of catch-all parties.
2. Rather than policy-oriented, parties are office-oriented
3. The disconnect between people and parties.
4. Connection between political parties and corporate groups including among the communist and socialist parties.
5. Some parties have unique nomenclature like AIADMK.
6. None of the parties have any grand design

Paul Brass

Indian parties reflect paradoxical features. There is a blend of Western bureaucratic structure with indigenous political practices and institutions. Indian political parties also lack intraparty democracy.

Yogendra Yadav

Political parties in India are going through the process of institutionalization as well as deinstitutionalization. On one hand, their reach is increasing but on the other hand, the depth and intensity of the voters have been declining. The role of political parties has got reduced to the instrumental act of voting. They have overlooked the broader agenda of a democratic nation and nation-building.

2. Evolution of Indian Party System

The evolution of Indian party system can be understood in various stages:

1. Stage 1 – Up till 1967 – Congress system
2. Stage 2 – From 1967 to 1977 – breakdown of Congress system.
3. Stage 3 – 1977 in 1979 – two-party system.
4. Stage 4 – from 1979 to 1989 – the emergence of a multi-party system.
5. Stage 5 – 1989 till 2014 – multi-party democracy system, age of coalition politics.
6. Stage 6 – 2014 onwards – BJP dominant party system.

At the time of independence, India had multiple parties but the Indian party system as described by Morris Jones used to be known as a one-party dominant system.

Letter on, Rajni Kothari has coined the term ‘Congress system’. It shows the dominant status of Congress. no other party with the exception of Kerala and Kashmir could form the government even at the state level. Rajni Kothari calls Congress, a party of consensus and other parties as parties of pressure.

“Party of consensus” refers to the Congress Party’s ability to incorporate diverse interests and maintain broad support across different sections of society. Rajni Kothari calls Congress a Rainbow coalition. Congress itself was a Grand coalition. Congress programme could incorporate the interest of the different sections of the society.

In contrast, “parties of pressure” were other political parties that exerted pressure on the Congress by representing specific interests of regional, caste, and community groups. The status of these opposition parties was like pressure groups. They located outside the margins of the party system.

Unique features of India’s one-party dominance system.

While Chinese party system can also be called as one-party system, it does not have a democratic one-party system. On the other hand, India’s party system retained democratic character. The other parties were outside the margin but they made sure that the ruling party does not become autocratic.

2.1 Congress System

The hegemony of the Congress was because of its role in the Indian National Movement. Congress became a mass party under the leadership of Gandhi. Congress maintained centrist agenda. Congress rejected communalism as well as communism.

Leader of Congress, Nehru, maintained a democratic intellectual climate within the party. Nehru promoted freedom of speech and expression as well as the culture of toleration and accommodation within the party. Nehru showed sensitivity towards minorities. Most importantly Nehru could convince the Indian masses that Congress is critical for the survival nation.

Breakdown of Congress system.

The breakdown of Congress started in 1967 when Congress lost its majority in nine States. In 8 states for the first time the non-Congress government could come to power and in the 9th State Congress could form a government only in the coalition.

Reasons for Decline

Internal factors

1. De-institutionalization of democracy within the party
2. Concentration of power in the hands of a single leader
3. Lack of intraparty democracy (Intra-party elections have not taken place since 1972)
4. Congress lost the touch with grassroots leaders. Newline Central leadership was dependent on loyalists. There was no scope for internal criticism and descent.

External factors

1. As suggested by Yogendra Yadav, the decline of Congress is linked to the deepening of democracy. 1st democratic upsurge has resulted in OBCs coming out of the Congress. 2nd democratic upsurge resulted in the Dalits coming out of the Congress.
2. Today Congress remains the party of minorities and Scheduled Tribes community. At present Congress’ social base comes from minorities and even in the 2014 election 35% of minority words had gone to Congress.
3. Other causes for the decline of the Congress system also includes Green Revolution and state reorganisation. This has resulted in the strength of OBCs and the rise of the regional parties.

Present status of congress

According to Suhas Palshikar, Congress is not in a state of decline, rather the 2014 election mark the death of Congress. The number of seats which country got in the 2014 election is even less than the number of seats Congress could get after the emergency.

Congress’ social base, as well as territorial base, has shrunken.

In 2024 elections, Congress did succeed to win 99 seats, up from 52 seats it had won in 2019. However, its vote percentage have only increased marginally from 19.7% to 21.4%

Future prospects

Views of Pratap Bhanu Mehta

Congress should leave the majority and minority complex. Congress should know how to make strategic alliances. Instead of the party of defence, Congress should emerge as a party of transformation. The party should go back to the role of organising social movements and should not restrict itself to electoral calculus.

2.2 Party System Since 1989

Politics does not operate in a vacuum, similarly, parties also do not operate in a vacuum. The party system gets influenced by all factors internal and external. The Indian party system is also changing in the context of the changing external and internal development. India, which was known as one-party dominance system, got transformed into a multi-party system. From 1989, the era of coalition politics started. From 1977 itself we see the process of fragmentation and regionalization.

Causes for the Rise of Regional Parties

Institutional Factors

1. Delinking of parliamentary and state legislative elections. It has given opportunities for regional parties for mobilization of people on local issues.
2. India’s Federal system: State governments deal with those issues which are of day-to-day relevance. This also gives an advantage to the regional parties. The leaders associated with regional parties are in Greater contact with the people at the Grass root level.
3. Linguistic reorganisation of states gave rise to the dominant caste forming their own regional parties.

Social and Economic Factors

1. Green Revolution gave rise to economic affluence, resulting in intermediate caste asserting their power, even in the political sphere
2. The deepening of social cleavages as a result of the continuous mobilization of people on ethnic grounds
3. The growing politicization of religion
4. The growing consciousness about rights and democracy
5. The suspension of democracy and the introduction of emergencies also led to the fragmentation of Congress and the strengthening of regional parties

Consequences

Regionalization of Indian political party system has resulted into both negative as well as positive consequences.

1. It led to the rise of coalition politics.
2. Coalition politics in the absence of healthy coalition culture has given rise to
   • Party paralysis
   • Increased role of money and muscle power
   • Politicization of the post of speaker
   • Decline of parliament

On the other hand, regionalization has resulted into,

1. Indian democracy becoming more representative
2. Regionalization has strengthened the federal axis of Indian political system. It has strengthened the bargaining power of state governments

Some of the other consequences include

1. Regional issues dominating over national concerns
2. Greater role for states even in foreign policy

2.3 Third Front

In Indian politics, the Third Front refers to temporary alliances which began in 1989 among smaller parties to offer a third option to Indian voters. These alliances arose to challenge the Indian National Congress (INC) and Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP). While usually these fronts are formed prior to elections, in certain situations it can also be formed post elections, to take advantage of political situation.

It is to be noted that the third front is a fluid category. Its combination keeps on changing. It is primarily the collection of regional parties. However, that third front is not insignificant. It continues to have significant share of votes and has dominant presence at state level. Since third front represents OBCs as well as other sections like Muslims, Dalits, it is always an important force.

National Front (1989–1991)

In 1989, the National Front (NF) posited itself as an alternative to Congress and BJP. It was a coalition of political parties, led by the Janata Dal. With fractured mandate for major parties i.e. INC and BJP, the National Frond indeed formed a government between 1989 and 1990. In 1991, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha became part of the NF.

United Front (1996–1998)

In 1996, under the name of United Front, the third front brought together Janata Dal, Samajwadi Party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Telugu Desam Party, Asom Gana Parishad etc. It was a 13-party United Front (UF). The coalition formed two short lived governments between 1996 and 1998; the first prime minister was H. D. Deve Gowda from Janata Dal, who was succeeded by I. K. Gujral. Both governments had outside support from the Indian National Congress.

Third Front (2009)

The CPI(M) led the formation of the Third Front for the 2009 general election. This front was a collection of regional political parties which were not part of the United Progressive Alliance or the National Democratic Alliance. It included the Communist Party of India (M), Communist Party of India, All India Forward Bloc, Bahujan Samaj Party, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Biju Janata Dal, Telugu Desam Party, and other small parties. This alliance held 109 seats before the 2009 election, but won only 82 seats in that election.

Mahagatabandhan (2019)

In 2019 elections, 3rd front was formed under the banner of Mahagatabandhan. And even Congress was part of it. It was, however, ineffective to influence election outcome.

Problems with 3rd front

1. Too many leaders
2. Opportunism
3. Too parochial in their approach
4. Lack nationalist agenda
5. Often a negative coalition with no positive agenda

2.4 AAP Phenomenon.

AAP (Aam Adami Party) is a byproduct of globalization. AAP phenomenon is not unique to India. The other parallel examples are Tehreek-i-insaf in Pakistan, Syriza Party in Greece, Workers Party in Brazil, People’s movement in Hong Kong.

AAP is also considered as urban phenomenon. Globalization has resulted into the increase of inequalities. Globalization has increased democratic consciousness awareness about good governance. AAP was formed in 2012. It emerged out of anti-corruption movement. AAP describes itself as anti-politics and anti-ideology. AAP is against power politics.

According to them, they are joining politics, not for power, but for change. They need power to change the system from within because the pressure from outside has not worked. AAP rejects high command culture. AAP goes for bottom-up approach. AAP stands for the intra-party democracy. No two members of the same family can contest elections or can become member of executive council. Members have right to recall the executive council members.

2.5 Regional Parties

According to Milan Vaishnav, rise of regional political parties is an eternal theme of Indian politics.

Regional parties operate within limited geographic area and bank on language, minority, religion etc.

Number of regional parties in India is much larger due to large variety.

According to Sudha Pai, regional parties are rooted in regional ground. They should not be seen as a byproduct of regionalism, rather phenomenon in its own right. It is a result of linguistic reorganization, decline in congress system, uneven development etc.

2.6 2024 Lok Sabha Election Data

	2024 Elections				2019 Elections
Party	Seats	Votes %		Party	Seats	Votes %
BJP	240	36.9		BJP	303	37.7
INC	99	21.4		INC	52	19.7
SP	37	4.6		DMK	23	2.3
AITC	29	4.4		AITC	22	4.1
DMK	22	1.8		YSRCP	22	2.6
IND	7	2.8		IND	4	2.7
Others	109	28.1		Others	116	30.9

Electors: 97.7 Crore

Votes Polled: 64.5 Crore

Turnout: 66.0%