Democracy Indian Style: Subhas Chandra Bose and the Creation of India's Political Culture by Anton Pelinka

Author:Anton Pelinka [Pelinka, Anton]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, Political Ideologies, Democracy, History, Asia, General, Political Process
ISBN: 9780765801869
Google: M6gLpMf5-jwC
Goodreads: 6074468
Publisher: Transaction Publishers
Published: 2003-01-15T08:07:04+00:00

8

No Parties—Or Too Many Parties?

Ramakrishna Hedge, the former chief minister of Karnataka from the ranks of the Janata Dal, entitled his contribution to the volume India at 50 “Egos, Not Parties.” Hedge recounts India’s successes in the first fifty years of independence: agriculture, industry, education, and many other sectors. But in one area, he wrote, India has failed: “half a century since India became free, there is yet no stable party system” (Hedge 1997: 49).

Indeed, India’s party system has been characterized since the beginning by the hegemony of a single party surrounded by smaller parties that proved no real competition—similar to the party systems of Japan, Italy, and Mexico at that same time. For decades in Japan it was not possible to build a majority without the Liberal Democratic Party; in Italy between 1948 and the early 1990s the Democrazia Cristiana was necessary for a parliamentary majority; and in Mexico the Party of the Institutionalized Revolution—the PRI—controlled the central political system as the permanent party of government until the year 2000, despite the existence of other parties. The Indian party system was similar during the period 1947–1977: in the beginning was the Congress Party, then came the Congress again; all other parties were of tertiary importance.

The hegemony of the Congress Party can be explained primarily in terms of the history of the independence movement. The Congress Party shares direct continuity with the National Congress. The Congress founded the state; the Congress defined the political identity of India. This was the basis for the hegemony of the Congress Party during the first thirty years of the history of Indian democracy.

This continuity is symbolized by the dynasty of Jawaharlal Nehru, who was able to draw on his appeal as the direct successor to Gandhi. Before 1947 the Congress was the only real force that could speak for India, not just for a segment of India’s population. For decades thereafter the Congress Party was the only relevant party that could not be reduced to a certain region or religion.

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