The Politics of Coalition
In the fast changing political scenario of our country, a single party government is hardly possible. Those days have gone when India could be ruled by one monolithic party like Indian National Congress. The countrymen had the faith in Congress, which had the history of sole sacrifice during freedom movement. The people of India recognised Congress as a successful party. They had the hope that the government of Congress Party, which could eliminate strong rule of foreigners and make India free, would be able to give better governance. Majority of the people voted for Congress for years to-gather. In course of time, when the Congress failed to appreciate the depth of regional needs, several regional parties emerged in different parts of the country. DMK and AIADMK were formed in Tamil Nadu on the crest of the anti-Hindi wave where the fears arose in Tamil Nadu during 1965 that the centre was bent upon imposing Hindi on the South and thereby replacing Tamil, politicians in Tamil Nadu whipped up frenzy on the language issue with the result that Congress never came to power in the state after 1965. The Akali Dal emerged in Punjab to organise the Sikh Community. Asam Gana Parishad came up as another powerful regional combine. Telgu Desam emerged in Andhra Pradesh under the late NT Rama Rao. There are several other smaller parties, all of which have thrown their weight in the formation of the governments at the centre and states. These parties emerged only as a protest against the alleged neglect of the states by the Congress which was the single party at the centre ruling since Independence.
In to-day’s politics, those regional parties, which emerged as single largest parties in the respective regions during mid-sixties, are struggling for being coalition partners for forming the government. In certain cases, they are in minority as their party could not work as per the promises made and they failed to address even genuine grievances of the people despite considerable governance in the region. Another reason of division of electorates was because of dirty politics of caste, creed and religion which has been created by the politicians of respective communities. They generally mislead the people to keep their vote bank intact.
If we take the example of the past, there was a quality of statesmanship in the politicians. They had the real qualities of a true politician. Their foremost motto was patriotism and service to the people whom they were representing. That was the reason of mass support and absolute trust of the people which they were enjoying. A tremendous deterioration has come in politics. The quality of statesmanship has not much meaning. The style of politics has changed. The society has been divided in to different political groups based on caste and religion. The politicians are taking advantage of such division. There is big criminalisation which now finds itself inducted in Indian politics. The political parties are giving shelter to the criminals for their political gain and they are very much responsible for impurity in politics. Another big reason for deterioration in Indian politics is laxity and legal flaw in our political system. As a result, a number of political parties are coming into existence like mushroom growth. How we can expect single party government under these circumstances? It will ultimately invite regional groups for forming the coalition government in the Centre as well as in States. It will keep on continuing till complete awareness comes among the electorates about the politics, intention of politicians and purpose of vote. How the voters in UK and USA assess the candidates ? They elect their representatives persons who are dynamic and useful in the real sense. They act very fair in casting their votes. It is the reason why the people of those countries are enjoying the rule of one largest party. It is for Indian electorates to understand this phenomenon, and decide how they can curb the politics of criminalisation, casteism and coalition.
It is difficult to run the coalition government. The stability depends if common minimum programme is acceptable to all the parties. If the government succeeds in fulfilling the interest of all the parties as per their agenda declared before the electorates during election campaign, there will be stability in the coalition and any deviation from will lead to failure. Stability depends on who leads the pack, who constitutes the pack, what is the capacity of opposition and several other extraneous factors come on the way. On the contrary, it is easy to run single party government which is generally stable.
It is no easy task for a leader of a coalition to manage all the parties all the time. If we take example of NDA government, which was formed at the Centre during 1998 under the leadership of Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the leader of coalition had a tough time reining in certain partners in his government. Perhaps, the leader of a coalition government cannot go ahead with his own time-tested plans of development since he has to accommodate the interests of all parties that form the coalition. Coalition demands an ethos of ‘give and take’ and it is by both the major and minor partners. But many junior partners are blackmailing the major partner by submitting unjustifiable demands. Though it is unfair, the major partners are adjusting in the interest of forming the government. It has no end in to-day’s politics of coalition. The political circumstances of the country itself spell out that the politics of coalition will continue for many more years. The general elections in 2004 confirmed the analogy by bringing the politics of coalition at the Centre. It was the turn of UPA government led by Congress and headed by Dr. Manmohan Singh to demonstrate by dint of word, action and unity of purpose that the new coalition is capable of completing its journey braving expected and unexpected storms. The UPA government too has to survive into the inescapable compulsions of coalition politics. It is a good thing for Dr. Manmohan Singh that he is an heir to the legacy of a sound economy bequeathed to him by Vajpayee government. It will help positively to quicken the pace of reforms for sustaining globlisation process which is the firm vision of the country. His government can also fulfil the aspiration of people of rural India through reform particularly in the fields of agriculture, power, education and health care in order to ensure the rural prosperity, which is the commitment of, UPA coalition government under common minimum programme.
There is instability in a coalition politics. We have seen two coalition governments at the Centre and many times in the States. We are aware about the situation that arose in Bihar and Jharkhand after the assembly elections held during 2005. No single party got majority for forming government. There was total political uncertainty in these states at that time. It is really a sign of political deterioration in the country. The time has come that the people of India have to review their stand for casting their votes in view of complications being experienced by coalition government and to prevent deterioration in Indian politics. The people of the country- should have the tendency for giving mandate only to the national parties which are carrying good image and can form government on their own.
