Equality before Law

Equality before Law

Anti-defection Law: Where the Shoe Pinches?

Anti-defection Law: Where the Shoe Pinches?

Democracy and Political Parties - with special reference to India

Democracy and Political Parties
- with special reference to India
K S VENKATARAMAN

At global level there has been a growing preference to the democratic form of government. Starting from 1970s, a strong democratic wave has spread in the world; though China, the most populated country of the world is in the grip of dictatorship by one political party, many countries have chosen democratic form of government.
For democracy, the following features are essential. The list is in a logical order, though they are not rigid compartments.
 Enlightened Civic Society in Which People Enjoy Basic Rights in Accordance with an Accepted Constitution
 Political Parties
 Free and Fair Competitive Elections Held by an Autonomous Body
 Legislatures whose Members are Elected Representatives of the People
 Citizen Advocacy Groups
 Independent Media
 Impartial and Efficient Bureaucracy
 Independent Judiciary
There may be minor variations in the organization of institutions and distribution of power but all these features should be there for a democracy to function smoothly and healthily. Even if a single feature is lost, it would mean the decay of all other features sooner or later.

Political parties

In a democratic form of government the political parties are expected to perform a role of informing and educating the people on the affairs of the nation in general and the public administration. In the matters of public interest, they should present a coherent picture and help the people form sound opinions.
The political parties offer to provide good governance to the people and explain how they would run government. They also present the persons, who would execute the party’s plans and programs if elected to power. After evaluating the offers of political parties, the people elect their representatives from among the candidates of the different political parties and allow the political party, which has obtained a majority to form and run the government.
Whether small or big, each political party is a section of the people. If enlightened civic society of people is not there, the political parties cannot give roots. The first and foremost function of the parties is to ensure that the people of the country remain united and enlightened; they should develop the spirit of patriotism and commitment to nation-building among the people.
What actually gives room for more than one political party is the hope that all the political parties would approach the public issues from different angles but they would never swerve from their commitment to public good.
The commitment to public good should be strong enough in political parties to give constructive support to the ruling party, without letting their guard down. They should not fail in alerting or warning the government if they are doing something wrong; if there is any case of abuse of power; if there are corrupt practices; if there is lethargy or slackness in implementing welfare programs. This constructive and meaningful opposition by the political parties not in power is as important as running the administration by the ruling party.
The duties of the political parties include:
 Interacting effectively with the people and help them emerge as patriotic, united, well-informed and vigilant society
 Promotion of noble political values and improving the political standard of the people
 Formulation and articulation of public policies
 Developing honest and efficient political leaders to serve the nation
 Being always ready to serve the nation as ruling party or as constructive opposition party
When we say, ‘different political parties’ it does not mean that there can be any number of them without any basic norms. A multitude of political parties would not be able to contribute to the welfare of the country. Vying with one another to gain prominence and carve out separate empires for themselves, they would discard even the national interests. There can only be as many political parties in a country, as there are possibilities of formulation of policies in the interest of ‘whole’ nation. Maybe, two or three political parties would be ideal.
The emergence of various regional parties in India has played havoc with the national unity. It has brought about a situation that there is not a single political leader in India now, who is recognized and respected in all parts of the country. When the ‘national’ character is lost, it only means the democracy in that country is in its last legs.
The presence of various languages is not a valid reason for the emergence of countless political parties. In India, we see that political parties come into being as easily as business-houses. Such political parties isolate and compartmentalize different sections of the population; instill in them hatred against other sections; create vested interests for them; and just manage to mentally partition the country as they like.
In the absence of emphasis on national unity, the people stand divided by regions, religions, languages, castes and what not. The regional political parties in India have already succeeded in misleading the people to live in segments of their own; sad but true, most of the people in India have become incapable of thinking themselves as Indians.
Instead of highlighting and emphasizing the common factors of life and integrating those belonging to different regions, religions etc., the political parties have messed up the whole political atmosphere in India. The description of political parties by Madison and Rousseau in the eighteenth century as ‘sinister interests prone to undermining, perverting or usurping the will of the majority’ has already come true in India.
In a nation, no section of the population, however small or weak it is, should be given a chance to think of itself as isolated; and as opposed to the nation as a whole. But this is exactly what political parties have deliberately done to various sections in India.
Whereas States in India should be thought of as administrative units, enabling people to take care of their local affairs, people have been encouraged to think of their states as separate kingdoms, totally opposed to the nation. This is what the regional political parties have contributed to India. Forgetting that their representatives are only running the central government, the people of different regions are misled to ‘go to war for protection of their interests’ and to ‘fight till death to become free (?) from the domination of this or that section’!
Then, I had mentioned ‘well-informed’ and ‘vigilant’ society. The contribution of political parties in both these aspects has been disappointing. It is clear that most of the politicians do not want the people to be either well-informed or vigilant. How can one explain otherwise the prevalence of wide-spread corruption at all levels?
The people of the country as a whole should be the ultimate source of everything, including political power. When they are not allowed by political parties to grow as what they ought to be; and when they are spoiled deliberately by getting divided into groups and by being incited against one group or other; and when they are made to lose hope and confidence about all democratic institutions, including media, bureaucracy and judiciary; and when there are no strong national level leaders in sight, why should I mince words? The regional political parties in general have become a curse and scourge for the people of India. The so called national parties are increasingly at the mercy of the regional parties and have to dance to their tunes just for retaining whatever hold they have in government.
In India, the multiplication and growth of regional parties has suffocated democracy. These organizations, strictly speaking are not political parties. They are merely pressure groups of various sorts, who have taken advantage of the weak political system in India. There is a strong need in India for reorganizing the party system, preventing all chances of abusing it by the narrow minded politicians and ensuring unity of the people in the country.
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K S Venkataraman is a political observer and the Associate editor, Dynamic Youth Online Magazine.
E-mail: dynamicyouth_development@yahoo.com
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