The Phases of India's Political Party

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Much has been said about India’s party politics. It has travelled though many phases. It has been characterised differently at different points of time e.g. One Party Dominant System, competition between national and regional parties, a clear fight between two broad alliances and a recurrent appearance of third front etc. This third front business usually represents the regional parties (though some of them claim to be national parties) and an uncanny opportunism disguised as regional aspirations.

In India, government formation at the centre has always been an interesting game. Right from the beginning the Congress had a decisive advantage owing to its leadership in the independence struggle. After the constituent assembly was formed, congress members occupied key positions in the government. But the political ethics were such that the first government accommodated leaders from other parties as well. It reconciled and accommodated leaders from both ends of the spectrum to form the first cabinet. The eventual exit of these leaders from the government due to difference of opinion is a different matter. What needs to be underlined is the pattern of party politics adn the culture of reconciliation. However, this ethic of politics did not sustain for very long. The conciliatory approach was soon taken over by a confronting approach. This was reflected at both national and regional level where congress lead central government was at odds with state governments lead by other parties e.g. Communist Kerala, DMK lead Tamil Nadu etc.

We know the history of the post Nehruvian congress party. We know how it splintered and how its factions fought amongst themselves to claim legacy to THE Congress party. The Congress party had enviable hold...

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...rience but from the contempt for Babuji. The Charan Singh-Babuji rivalry dated back to state politics in Bihar and UP. Babuji’s decision not to merge his Congress for Democracy into Janata was also driven by a hope that he wanted to keep his independent leadership intact. Had he gotten an opportunity to claim the top job in the government with the help of support from other parties, a separate party would have made it easier for him. The PM Morarji was not very different in this regard either. His statement on the floor of the house “I will remain unruffled even if the skylab falls” speaks volumes.

My do not intend to label Janata government as an epic fail. It did a remarkable job in terms of railways under Madhu Danadwate and foreign policy under Vajpayee but such one off success wasn’t enough for a party which was voted into power with humongous expectations.

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