Role of regional political parties in Indian politics
Role of regional political parties in Indian politics
Introduction
India as a democracy has the multi-party system in place, which means there are several political parties competing for power. Apart from the primary parties, each state has their own local political parties that rule and compete in their region.
Political significance
The multi party system in India has many political consequences. In the event of an election, the norm states that the party with the majority votes wins the election. However, in order to form a government, a party should have a certain number of votes. This need not happen, leading to problems. The majority party has to therefore join hands with a regional party in order to form government. This is where the importance of the smaller regional parties comes into play.
This situation is applicable not only to the centre, but also to the state politics. If a party is unable to win the required number of seats, a coalition is the only option. This could mean two regional parties joining hands to form the government (an unlikely event!), or the majority parties joining hands with the regional party who are supportive or sympathetic towards them.
However, is this trend desirable? With small local parties sprouting on a regular basis, we must raise this question. Take the case of Tamil Nadu. The Dravida Munetra Kazhagam (DMK) started out as a party born out of certain political ideologies. But today there are half a dozen spin-offs, ranging from the AIADMK, MDMK, DMDK, PMK, VCK etc. Most of these other parties are a result of intra party feuds, and expulsions. Likewise in the communist stronghold of Kerala, there are several communist parties.
Sometimes variety is the spice of life. But if we are spoiled for choice, it will only confuse us. An ideal government should work in the interest of the people, not go about creating parties to fulfill personal grudges or ambitions. When the voter has too many political parties on the ballot, she or he might just end up punching the button randomly. What is the easiest way to figure out that the candidate or party will work in the favor of the people? It is even more difficult to vote for a fairly new party, which has not had occasion to demonstrate their intentions.
On the other side of the coin, having a regional party in the centre has benefits for the region. The state from which the supporting party hails will have greater representation in the centre, and their issues will get a solid platform. Then again, this could be detrimental to other states.
Conclusion
It is a never ending debate. We can continue to argue on both sides, and never reach a satisfactory conclusion. As of now, in the current situation, having the support of regional parties in the centre will work in favor of the dominant parties. With the elections looming large, the verdict can be passed only over time.
Discussion
- rvtmzhlgiq -frmbhlbdt (10/03/23)
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- RE: Role of regional political parties in Indian politics -saket suman (08/22/14)
- I think the regional parties are very important in order to run the govt. But at present these parties are not reliable.
- RE: Role of regional political parties in Indian politics -Deepa Kaushik (05/01/14)
- Regional parties play a major role in the Indian politics. These parties get allied to any of the major parties to get a chief place in to the house of the parliament. The regional parties are a good vote bank, due to which they bear a chief importance for the major political parties contesting for the power.
These regional parties get tie-up with the major parties to complete their number of seats and win the majority in the house. In such a type of hung parliament, the major seat holding parties have to bow down to these smaller regional parties. They indirectly come into the situation that without the support of the regional parties, they’ll lose the power and the parliament can be dissolved any time. This type of insecurity in the most leading power of the country creates a big jolt on the economic status of the country and the share market.
With respect to the state, these parties can perform the good governance. They can take up the problems of the state to the vision of the centre and get a resolution for the same. But that requires the dedication towards the state and the citizens who have trusted these parties to take them to power. If this dedication is shown by the candidates contesting elections, then there is the possibility of the candidate getting full people support to form the government on majority, and these smaller regional parties will eventually lose their charm and power.
- Role of regional political parties in Indian politics -Nupur Bhargava (04/04/14)
Role of regional political parties in Indian politics
Till 1967, there was only one party ruling the nation that was ‘Congress’; but post 1967 a lot of other political parties came to the forefront along with power and started to play an imperative and persuasive role and also started participating in government decision making process. With the regional parties coming to the forefront the development of the state’s responsibility has gone to the regional parties as opposed to the central government taking care in the initial stages.
Regional parties are playing a major role in the Indian Politics and their influence is not just limited to particular religion or state but their decisions and thought process are important in the government planning processes and decisions. The occurrence of increasing number of regional parties has signified the various segmental personalities and interests. It has resulted into a huge gamut of culture and sub culture, caste and sub castes, philological and sub philological combinations and amalgamations on India's political background.
A common allegory about regional parties is that their upsurge has wrinkled the importance of national parties, but in reality the after the early 1990’s the competition in the election pattern has stabilised. When the central government is concocting policies it has to consider the regional parties point of views as well. Even though regional parties have executed with authority at the state level, jointly they get only 5 to 10% of the national vote in parliamentary elections. One of the biggest advantages of regional parties being formed is that personal attention is being given to the states and regions by their political parties for the purpose of growth and development. If there would have been just one national party taking care of the entire nation, it becomes difficult for each and every state to progress and prosper. The problems of the people of various states are dealt by their regional party. Another advantage of regional parties is that is it easy for the native people to approach a local political party leader rather than approaching higher officials in the national party.
Regional politics though play an important role in the Indian Politics. They are also equally involved and responsible to form the policies for not only the nation but also the state. The regional parties should genuinely concentrate on improving the prospects and living conditions of the local people and try to give them better facilities for their basic living. Although there is instability in terms of deciding on who should be the acting central government but the fact is that with the advent of regional parties the importance of each state has been formed and maintained.
