Essay on Party System in our Politics

Our political system is largely based on the Parliamentary democracy of English model. In England previously there were two dominant parties: they were known as the Whigs and the Tories—in the 18th century, and Liberals and Conservatives in the 19th century. Now the Labour Party is a great force, besides the Conservatives.

In our country, political life in modern sense began towards the end of the 19th century. At first, there were only the Liberals. As struggle against the British developed, a section demanded more extreme steps. This divided the Congress Party—the parent organisation into two,—the Moderates and the Extremists.

Nowa­days there are many parties, but the two chief political opinions represented by parties are the Congress and the Leftists, mainly the Communists, though the BJP, a traditionalist party, has of late, become a political force to reckon with The Congress and its allies claim to work in co-operation with all sections of the people including the vested interests.

The, Communists profess to fight the latter and claim to serve the interest of the toiling people only. Recently the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has strengthened its position and emerged as a contender while assuming power at the centre and some states. Besides, the Janata Dal, practically a break-away from the Congress, the Bahujana Samaj Party of Kanshi Ram and Smt. Mayabati have also made their headway and created impact on the backward classes, and a dent in the ruling parties. There are also many small parties—splinter groups led by Maulayam Singh Jadav, Laloo Prasad Jadav, George Fernandes, Smt. Jaylalita, Mamata Banerjee and others.

The two-party system has its undoubted benefit. If one party forms the Government, the other party leads the opposition, and may do some good by its fearless criticism of high-handedness, corruption, etc. This prevents hasty and ill-considered legislation. Every measure is subjected to strong criticisms and scrutiny. The Government has to counter these with suitable answers. The conflict between rival parties also creates a good deal of healthy enthusiasm among the people who are gradually educated in political problems.

Parliamentary democracy functions by a nicely adjusted system of checks and counter-checks and an enlightened opposition. It is a form of salutary balance against official high handedness. Indeed, as Winston Churchill has said, democracy cannot function without taking into consideration the opinion of the opposition.

But the system has grave disadvantages. First, it creates much ill feeling among the candidates. This encourages corruption. Every­thing is taken to be fair in party warfare. Secondly, the tendency of one party is to undo the work of its rival. This prevents progress and the tempo of development halts and may lead to an influential group's rule.

The Conservative victory in England in 1951 resulted in undoing much of the work done by the preceding Labour Government and led to the de-nationalisation of the steel and other industries. Thirdly, parties have a tendency to place sectional interests over the interests of the nation. In this way, the achievements of the Congress government are often overlooked in the passion of exposing its shortcomings.

The future of the party-system is unpredictable. Parties reflect the clash of class interests. In England they organinated in the clash between the landed classes and the commercial classes; now they reflect the clash between capital and labour.

In India, conflict seems to be crystallising between the capitalists and the people, 'the haves' and 'the have-nots'. Splinter parties have no clear policy. They grow round some extremely vocal leaders like B.S. Thackeray, to highlight, local and regional interests. By stressing and to serve only regional interests, Parties like Aohom (Assam) Gana Parishad, Siv Sena, Telegu Desham, National Conference, AIDMK of Tamilnadu, Tamil Manila Congress, Trinamul Congress etc. have become enormously powerful in respective states.

It follows that parties are created by the opposition to class interests; for they either support the continuance of the present class structure of the society or oppose. It all depends upon how economic justice, which is patently absent in our society, is secured. But the two-party system is a boon. Too many parties, on the other hand, work as a bane of democracy. In UK the Conservatives and the Labour, in USA the Democrats and the Republicans strengthen democracy. But in France and Italy and Japan multiplicity of parties make the Govt. unstable. In India, also the existence of too many political parties may lead to a 'hung' Parliament.