Forming
a Government by bringing together a number
of political parties, splinter groups
and independent members of a Legislature
or Parliament may be broadly defined as
a coalition. If the parties, other groups
and individuals are a disparate group
solely with the object of grasping power,
such a formation may be described as a
conglomeration. Very often it is seen
as a bundle of opportunists and unless
they shed their selfish interests and
think of larger interests of the party
or country, such an arrangement is bound
to flounder sooner or later. The political
democracy that we have adopted under our
Constitution pre-supposes the existence
of two major parties, having their own
well-defined policies and programmes.
The majority party forms the Government
and its leader is appointed by the President
or Governor, as the case may be. He is
the senior among equals and his sagacity
and wisdom may make the Govt. sail smoothly.
Democracy
in UK, USA:
The United Kingdom, for example, has the
Labour and Conservative parties. There
may be some smaller parties that hope
to have a majority, if not immediately,
at least at a distant future. Similarly,
in the United States there are Democratic
and Republican parties. If one of the
parties (in England or US) gets the majority
number of seats, the other party waits
for its turn. When the other party may
come to power and the ruling party becomes
the opposition party. In these countries
democracy is like walking with two legs.
If one leg is forward, the other is behind;
later the latter places its foot forward,
the former is behind. Thus democracy is
a walk by a person (government) with two
legs.
If
there are many parties vying with one
another to come to power, the largest
group among these smaller parties may
form the Government. It is a coalition
government. It is not a two-legged race.
As K. Hanumanthaiah once described, it
is a multi - legged race! We have three
- legged races on the sports grounds.
If one of the two persons stumbles, the
other also falls! The same fate is faced
by a coalition government (multi - legged
race) and the chances of its falling are
very great. This tendency cannot be avoided
under our system. This is because unlike
the other organisations which are expected
to register themselves with a set of bylaws,
the political parties cannot be forced
to register themselves. Freedom of association
is guaranteed under our Constitution and
any two or more persons may come together
and form a party. This freedom is mainly
responsible for the existence of quite
a large number of parties, many of which
may be called splinter groups.
Another
strange factor is that while it is believed
that number gives strength to the party
and greater the number the greater the
strength, this law does not apply to the
political parties. Let us take the example
of the BJP Government in the State. The
party could not manage to get the magic
number. It was short by three members.
The rebels, who had contested the elections
on their own, became very powerful. The
mine lords spoke to them. Their language
was “money”. Long ago an American
writer called Upton Sinclair wrote a book
called “Money Writes”. Here
money spoke. Money made them rulers. The
BJP had to succumb to the exigencies of
the situation.
But
as a corollary to this situation, the
BJP with the help of the influential members,
managed to enroll members from the opposite
ranks. They were tempted to defend their
parties and resign. They were included
in the list of Ministers. They had to
contest the elections on BJP tickets from
the same constituency from which they
had won earlier. One cannot say that it
is high morals. But survival is the law
of the jungle. Survival of the fittest
is the rule. Power tends to gravitate
towards the government in powers. The
BJP, of course, has only its members.
The fate of the independents is not known.
It is not a coalition government just
now.
In
the beginning, when the Republic of India
was born, there was only one party at
the Centre and in most of the States.
That was the Congress party. Gandhiji
had advised the Indian National Congress
should be dissolved and it must be converted
into Social Welfare Party. Under the banner
of the Congress, people with different
views had come together, with the single
objective of gaining independence. It
is not realistic to treat the Congress
as a political party. There was bound
to be much heart burn and expression of
dissidence. Some people left the Congress
party and formed their own parties. The
Congress had in its belly many dissidents
and disgruntled persons. The High Command
had to take into account these dissidences
and appease those groups. So it was a
sort of the formation of the ruling party
(group) and the opposition party (group)
within the party.
Regional
aspirations:
Later, the popularity of the Congress
began to wane. It was considered to be
just like any other party. Parties were
formed at the Centre and the State-level
solely with the objective of gaining power
and fulfilling regional aspirations. There
were often defections from one party to
another. This caused much instability.
Those who defected were considered to
be opportunists. They were called Aya
Ram and Gaya Ram.
Rajiv
Gandhi, when he was the Prime Minister,
tried to call a halt to this tendency.
And the Anti-defection Act was a step
in the right direction, though there are
a few loopholes. The Centre or State Governments
formed with parties and groups representing
all-India or regional interests could
not last long. There was always some problem
or the other in the form of the conflict
of regional and national interests. The
UPA Government at the Centre was a strange
formation of many parties. The Leftists
lent support from outside. It was like
wielding power with no responsibility.
The Trust Vote on Tuesday was based on
a conglomeration of money interests, some
good, some bad.
Under
the two party systems in the USA or England,
each party has members representing most
radical and least progressive interests.
It is developed into an art. We in India
have a long way to go.
HSK
Courtesy:
Star of Mysore
