Political Parties in India

Political parties developed in India during the national movement. Indian national congress was the foremost party that symbolised the freedom struggle almost on its own. The Muslim League was the other major political party involved in the national movement. Later, the Muslim League began to voice demand for a separate State of Pakistan for Muslims. At that time, political parties were organisations with a mission. The mission being to secure India's independence from the British. Party members were mostly selfless, honest, loyal and committed. Leaders were visionaries with a dream and a plan to realise the dream. Their ends as well as their means were clearly chalked out in advance. Gandhi was committed to India's independence together with betterment of the poor through non-violence and local self-government. Nehru was committed to India's modernisation by adopting the latest technology available. However, he was attracted towards the soviet model of controlled economy.

By 1951, (merely four years after independence) the Indian National congress had lost two main ideological segments. The aggressive Hindus lead by Purushottam Das Tandan and the socialists lead by Lohia had left the party. It was clear that congress would neither follow a militant Hindu path nor would it tread on extreme socialism/communism. Congress policy therefore has been essentially secular and placed somewhere between capitalism and socialism. However, it was still the most comprehensive umbrella of casts, communities, classes and sections of Indian society. In late eighties and early nineties, congress began to loose the support of lower casts as well as Hindus and Muslims. Lower casts or weaker sections went with smaller parties whose only constituency lay in them. The Bahujan Samaj Party of Kanchiram, the Samajvadi Party of Mulayam, the Janata Dal, the Republican Party and so on. The titles of parties may vary from region to region but the fact remained the same. Weaker sections felt more comfortable with smaller parties (many of them being one man dominated outfits only), rather than supporting an umbrella party like the Congress. Muslims left Congress after the Ayodhya controversy when Rao government could not protect the disputed structure from being destroyed. Hindus were overwhelmed by the Ram temple agenda being pursued so aggressively by the Bharatiya Janata Party. In the nineties therefore, Congress became a party that could only be identified with liberalisation and economic reforms. After 1996, Congress lost this uniqueness too because all parties agreed to follow the same economic policy no matter what they shout in public against them.

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