IAI Working Papers 14 | 08 - JUNE 2014 ISSN 2280-4341 | ISBN 978-88-98650-13-2 © 2014 IAI |Domestic policy |Elections |Foreign policy next five years. will witness a qualitatively different style of governance in the image looms largerthanthepartyandhiscolleagues. India the powerful figure of PrimeMinister , whose party andsubscribes toadistinctideology. It isalso headedby the original one. TheBJPunlike theCongress isacadrebased party dominant system is however dramatically different from party, andthelackof anopposition. The“new”one- system that wasonce used to describe thehegemony of the Parliament, have brought backtheone-party dominant The current elections, which gave totheBJPamajority in Abstract by Neera Chandhoke One-Party Dominant System India 2014:Return of the keywords IAI Working papers 14 | 08 - JUNE 2014 ISSN 2280-4341 | ISBN 978-88-98650-13-2 © 2014 IAI 2 the vote shareof theallies of thetwo coalitions, the tally goes up to38.5percent for share; theimplication isthat half the electorate voted for otherparties. If wecount The vote shareof theBJPplus theCongress makes for 50percent of thetotal vote It hasbeenestimated that less thanfour out of every tenvoters voted for theBJP. * the winning party has been 41 percent. in thehouse,with avote shareof 31percent. T It isalso easytoexaggerate thescale of thevictory. TheBJPhassecured282seats largest party, theT is no officially-recognized opposition in the Indian Parliament. In 1984, the second members, andsecured49.01of the votes cast.It isalso notthefirsttimethat there in 1984,theCongress, led byherson Rajeev Gandhi,won 414seats inahouseof 533 In thegeneral elections heldaftertheassassination of PrimeMinisterIndira Gandhi impressive majority on its own inthepopular houseof Parliament, theLok Sabha. This isnotthefirsttimein India’s electoral history that apolitical partyhas won an seats inits kitty, simply does notqualify, nor does any otherparty. house, apartyhastosecure10percent of thetotal seats. TheCongress, with 44 to qualify for thestatus of anofficially-recognized opposition inthe543-member for actsof omission andcommission, hasbeenpractically wiped dout. In order opposition that can keep watch on thegovernment, andthat canbringit tobook process, anintegral andcritical component of parliamentary democracy, aviable Congress, andsocomplete isthevictory of theB opposition. Socomplete istheelectoral defeat of non- Indian politics. For thelastfive years India hadno government, andnow it hasno television screens on 16 May, political analysts were to wryly remark on the irony of As results of the2014general elections inIndia flashed up minute byminute on Introduction by Neera Chandhoke* One-Party Dominant System India 2014:Return of the India 2014:Return of theOne-Party Dominant System . national fellow of the Indian Council of Social Science Research Science of Social Council Indian fellow of the national Affairs Institute ( Institute Affairs and T (IAI) Internazionali University, Affari LUISS Istituto by organized power” global Paper presented at a seminar entitled “After the elections: the future of India as a regional and and aregional as of India future the elections: entitled “After the at aseminar presented Paper Neera Chandhoke is former Professor of Political Science at the University of Delhi and currently currently and of Delhi University at the Science of Political Professor former is Chandhoke Neera T WAI) Rome on in 9June 2014 elugu Desam,won only 30seats inthegeneral elections. . The BJP mark is below this by 10 percent. raditionally the lowest vote shareof haratiya (BJP).In the . BJP parties, particularly the orino Worldorino IAI Working papers 14 | 08 - JUNE 2014 ISSN 2280-4341 | ISBN 978-88-98650-13-2 © 2014 IAI 3 considerable clout, even iftheyhadonly two or three membersinParliament. As a alliance with either of thetwo national parties, regional parties managedtowield a government at thenational level, simply because theyarestate-centric. But in more or less confined totheir states. Ontheir own none of theseparties can form had catapulted tothe forefront thepolitical agendasof regional parties that are would never beable tosecureamajority on theirown. Theeraof coalition politics definitively over, andthat thetwo national parties, theCongress andtheBJP, by coalitions, that thedays of theone-party dominance of theCongress were After 1989,political pundits haddeclaredthat henceforth India would begoverned to winaconsiderable percentage of the vote shareinWest Bengal. emerged victorious. West. In Orissa,T B The BJPalso secured mostof theparliamentary seats inChattisgarh, Jharkand and in thestates of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Delhi,Uttarakhand, Himachal PradeshandGoa. Uttar Pradesh,which sends80representatives tothelower house.It won all theseats The partywon animpressive tally of 71seats inone of thecountry’s largeststates, Jammu, andKashmirintheNorth-West. tip of thecountry, toArunanchal PradeshintheNorth-East Jammu inthestate of India party, with representatives winningfrom Kanya Kumari inthesouthernmost The BJPnow hasanational presence,electorally speaking.It hasemergedasapan- Parliament, but also because theelection haschangedthenature of thepartyitself. for thefirsttimeanon-Congress partyhassecuredamajority inthe lower house of regularly attached totheanalysis. Thewinisindeedremarkable notonly because landmark, landslide,andgame-changeraresome of theembellishments that are Commentators have runout of adjectives intryingtodescribe theBJPwin:historic, of Indians across classand caste. politics ingeneral. Like MsGandhididearlier, MrModi hascaught theimagination of acharismatic leader looms largerthanhisor herparty, anddominates Indian for thefirsttimeinthirty years, or sincethedeath of Ms Indira Gandhi,theimage the Congress andtheBJP, toform coalitions, namely theUPA andthe(NDA). Three, centre. Small andmainly regional parties clustered around thetwo national parties, since 1984.In theperiod betweenthenandnow coalition governments ruled at the own. Two, apolitical partyhaswon amajority for thefirsttimeinthirty years, i.e. time in India’s electoral history a non-Congress party has come into power on its Even so,thiselection isremarkable for at least threereasons. One,for thefirst today’s Parliament, whereas BJP’s 18.5percent fetched it 116seats in2009. vote shareof theBJPin2009,i.e.18.5percent.But theCongress hasgot 44seats in gets inParliament. Thevote shareof Congress, i.e.19.3percent, ishigher thanthe of elections; thevote shareof apartyhaslittle connection tothenumber seats it other parties. Thisisaproblem that isintrinsic tothefirst-past-the-postsystem Progressive Alliance (UPA). It still means that 39 percent of the electorate voted for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), andtoalmost 23percent for theUnited India 2014:Return of theOne-Party Dominant System ihar. Thebulk of thewinningseats continue tobefrom theNorth andtheNorth- amil Nadu, Andhra PradeshandWest Bengal, regional parties But the BJP opened its account in T amil Nadu and managed IAI Working papers 14 | 08 - JUNE 2014 ISSN 2280-4341 | ISBN 978-88-98650-13-2 © 2014 IAI 4 Longman. p. 1161-1173.p. T party. things, or notdo thesethings,and(c)ademocratic andconsensual dominant alternative tothegovernment, but which canpressthegovernment todo certain and competitive partysystem,(b)afracturedopposition that cannotprovide an According toKothari, thefeatures of theone-party dominant systemare(a)anopen was there,within theparty, even ifit wasnotasignificant presencein Parliament. intricate processes of mediation andarbitration within theparty. Theopposition of acompromise betweendifferent andincommensurate views, forged through opposed eachotherwithin theparty. Party decisions weretherefore theoutcome that theCongress wasanumbrella party;acoalition of interest groups that often attached toone-party rule inclosed andauthoritarian systems.He suggested Kothari, however, rescued Indian democracyfrom thenegative connotation concern, astheone-party systemdidinmany Sub-Saharan countries. the Congress andthelackof aviable opposition inParliament could have caused the country, controlled thecentral aswell asstate governments. Thedomination of decades afterindependence,theCongress, which hadled thefreedom struggle in party or multi-party system,nor tothat of the one-party system.For almost two wrote Kothari in1970,approximates neither totheestablishedmodelof thetwo- politics inIndia, andtotheCongress partyinparticular. India’s electoral system, noted political analyst Rajni Kothari tocapture aphenomenon peculiar toelectoral The phrase“theone-party dominant system” wasoriginally fashioned bythe 1. Theone-party dominant system dominant system. signifier of a U-turn in Indian politics, thiselection hasbrought back the one-party India 2014:Return of theOne-Party Dominant System 1 Command of thepartyto control popular upsurges that hadbeenlaunched under and competing points of view on theother.Thenetwork also enabled theHigh between theCongress leaders andtherankfile of theparty on the one hand, men, who exerted bothmaterial andsymbolic power, mediated therelationship women and youth organisations, workers and peasants. peasants, industrialists, professional classes, caste andreligious communities, however dependent upon anetwork of “big men”, largelandowners, themiddle interest and identity groups to forge a broad coalition. It iswell known that sincethe1920sCongress brought togetheranumber of in thefinal instance,thesedecisions arrived at aconsensus. difficult and protracted negotiations between rival views. What is important isthat centred andplural nature of Indian society, where decisions areproduced through

Rajni Kothari, “ Kothari, Rajni 1 Kothari seemedtosuggest that theCongress wasacondensate of thede- he argument was expanded in his 1970 work 1970 in Politics India his in expanded was he argument T he Congress ‘System’ in India”, Survey Asian in in ‘System’ he Congress , Vol. 4, No. 12 (December 1964), 1964), , Vol. (December No. 4, 12 The party leadership was This network of big , New Delhi, Orient Orient Delhi, , New IAI Working papers 14 | 08 - JUNE 2014 ISSN 2280-4341 | ISBN 978-88-98650-13-2 © 2014 IAI 5 the generational changeintheCongress, represented byRahul Gandhi,asbereft warpath. As apiece intheFrontline wastocomment, the2014elections “exposed Gandhi could neither rebuild theparty, nor prove aworthy rival toaMrModi on the independence haslost its holdover thepopular psyche. Much ashetried, Rahul The once mass-basedpartythat mobilised millions of Indians in thecause of contributed significantly tothemassive defeat of theCongress in2014. reliance on theNehru Gandhifamily toholdit together.Boththesefactors This Congress has paid heavily for organisational degeneration and its complete to freedom. the party. Increasingly thepartywastolose touch with thepeople it hadonce led and conflicting views. In the process it lost its capacity either to represent or toarbitrate between plural making underacharismatic leader. Thepartydegenerated into abandof courtiers. decision-making within thepartyyielded toahighly centralized form of policy- and genderon thepopulist platform of “remove poverty.” Thefederal nature of Ms Gandhiappealed tothenational electorate across regions, castes,religion of MsIndira Gandhi,thepartyatrophied organizationally. In the 1971elections, over thecountry. More seriously, inthe1970s,undercharismatic leadership lost control of state politics, andit hasnever beenable toregaincomplete power formed theirown regional parties, competed instate elections, andwon. Congress “Congress” systemimploded. In the1967elections, sections of thepartybroke away, unforeseen results. India wasnoexception. In thelate 1960sand the 1970s, The institutionalisation of democracy, however, tendstobreedits own logic and enabled thedecentralization of power aswell ascontrol. the federal system in the 1950s and 1960s. issues intheirown regions, such astheformation of linguistic states asunits of on state leaders. National leaders relied upon state leaders tomanagecontentious owned land,labour,andresources. Symptomatic of thisarrangement wasreliance subaltern classesweremediated aswell ascontrolled bypowerful “big men” who of thisthesisareplain.In thefirsttwo decadesafterindependence,assertions bythe competition among shiftingpolitical coalitions within theparty. and through acontinuous search for dynamic equilibrium inthemidstof internal the Congress was preserved by the accommodation of diverse social interests, After independence,writes B its aegis. India 2014:Return of theOne-Party Dominant System 3 2 Freedom in 1945-47 India, Freedom Political Dominance Political and Structure, Ideology, and Indian Social 1885-1985. Society, Indian Congress National The b

Myth and Reality. The Struggle for and Myth Reality. (ed.), Struggle Gupta The Kumar Amit in “Introduction”, Kumar, Ravinder rass and Francis Robinson (eds.), (eds.), Robinson Francis and Brass Paul R. in Revisited”, Dominance “Congress D. Dua, hagwan 2 , Delhi, Chanakya Publications, 1987, at 357. p. 349-372, p. Publications, Chanakya , Delhi, , New Delhi, Manohar, 1987, at xxiv-xxv. p. Manohar, xiii-xxviii, p. Delhi, , New The decisions of the dynastic leader were the decisions of hagwan Dua,theinherent composite characterof The federal-like structure of theparty 3 Theimplications IAI Working papers 14 | 08 - JUNE 2014 ISSN 2280-4341 | ISBN 978-88-98650-13-2 © 2014 IAI 6 p. 4-10,p. at 6. p. power structures. Yet in 2014all theseparties, except thePaswan-led partythat had that hadbeenmarginalized intheHindu social hierarchy begantoparticipate in contributed agreat deal tothedemocratization of thecountry insofar asgroups led byRam Vilas Pawan. Theriseof caste-basedparties with theirown agendas Dal (U)led byNitesh Kumar which rules inB in thesamestate, theRashtriya led byLaloo Yadav inB currently holdspower inUttar Pradesh,theBahujan Samaj partyled byMayawati this genreof partyistheSamajwadi partyheadedbyMulayam Singh Yadav that and aggressively promoted theinterests of their own group. Prominent among pollution. Now formerly marginal castesasserted themselves politically asaparty, and economic life byacomplex systemof taboosbasedon notions of purity and such asthedalits andthebackwards,hadbeenexcluded from cultural, social is hierarchically organized on thebasisof caste,andsome of thesecastegroups, idea that theHindu community wasahomogenous or unified entity. Hinduism minorityism wasrent apart bycaste-basedparties. Theseparties challenged the Interestingly, at thesametimeBJP’s ideology of majoritarianism andanti- India, now governed thecountry, albeit inalliance with otherparties. liberals, because it single-mindedly pursued theproject of building amajoritarian other parties. Thepartythat hadbeentypedasuntouchable bytheleft andthe electoral results, andin1998thepartycametopower at the centre inalliance with the BJP, thepolarization of Indian society on thebasisof religious violence bore communal riots between Hindus and Muslims that the country had ever seen. For the Hindu right. Thedemolition of themosque wasfollowed bysome of theworst mosque wasrazedtotheground bymobsbelonging tovarious organisations of a mixof theatrics, symbolism,impassioned rhetoric, andhate speech.In 1992,the and brought anewidiom into Indian politics. T he campaign gainedsteamthrough as theydidthereligious right wing.In themid-1980s, thecomplex asserteditself languishing on theperiphery of Indian politics sinceindependence,representing organisations. Thecomplex of groups that subscribe toHindu majority rule hadbeen Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or simply theRSS, along with anumber of smaller The BJPisthepolitical armof arabidly right-wing organization termedthe was acommunal project. the site wasvacated bythedemolition of theBabrimosque. Implicit inthisagenda was notaproblem; theproblem wasthat thetemple could only beconstructed if dedicated toLord Ram, one of theGodsof theHindu Pantheon. Building atemple seats in1984),begantowhip up political passions around thebuilding of atemple which at that timewasmore or less marginal toIndian politics (it gainedtwo in India, asnewagendasfilled thespacevacated bytheCongress party. TheBJP, In the1980s,two events of considerable magnitude transformed thepartysystem of political imagination andlackinginpeople-connect, creativity and efficiency”. India 2014:Return of theOne-Party Dominant System 4

Venkitesh Ramakrishnan, “Right at the Centre”, Frontline at the in “Right Venkitesh Ramakrishnan, ihar, andtheLok Janshakti party , Vol. 31, No. 11 (31, Vol. May-13 No. 11 31, June 2014), ihar, theJanata 4 IAI Working papers 14 | 08 - JUNE 2014 ISSN 2280-4341 | ISBN 978-88-98650-13-2 © 2014 IAI 7 population of the state, voted for percent of thedalit tickets to 20 castes into theparty, and thisstrategy proved successful. In thiselection shegave able toforge aconstituency beyond hertraditional this time.The2009winwaslargely due tothefactthat theBSPleader Mayawati was of thevote and 20seats inthegeneral elections in2009,wascompletely wiped out Samaj Party (BSP),which speaksfor the . The BSP, which won 27.42 percent the , which is grounded in the backward castes, and the 71 out of 80 seats. UPhasbeenruled intherecent pastbytwo caste-basedparties, their strategies. T entered anewphaseof politics within caste.Caste-basedparties will have torethink or that. Casteandits pettyhierarchies have notgone away; but weseemtohave with narrow agendas,andafocus on hand-outs, such asmore quotas for thiscaste Two, thedefeat of caste-basedparties intheelections illustrates sheerimpatience endless compromises, U-turns indecisions, andnodecisions. to the people across castes and classes because it promised an end to dithering, and a platform of stability andathorough shake-up of thesystem.Thisagendaappealed authority. In themiddle of polity paralysis MrModi emergedasanational leader on Consequently hewasunable tofashion ateamthat could work togetherunderhis . ThePrime Minister lost moral authority within theparty. to report toMsSonia Gandhi,thepresident of theparty, thantoPrimeMinister the Congress partyalso bredadverse consequences, because ministerspreferred to policy paralysis, andabrupt reversal of decisions. Dual centres of power within convicted inthetelecoms scam.Theconstant threat of destabilization of UPA-II led and who wasthetelecommunications ministerinthecentral government, was its ministersfrom UPA-II government because A.Raja, who belonged totheparty, like the sword of Damocles over theleadership. TheDMK, for instance,withdrew claims andtheirown interests upon policy. Threats of withdrawal of support hung in thealliance heldtheCongress leadership hostage,astheypressedtheirown that caused uneasewascoalition politics at thecentre. Very often, smaller parties factors that have bedevilled Indian politics over thelastfive years. Thefirstfactor The electoral verdict represents impatience anddiscontent with anumber of 2. What does themandate represent? the one-party dominant system,but inanewavatar. a fragmented opposition that cannotoffer alternatives. We arebacktothedays of The wheel hasturnedfull-circle, with one partydominating national politics and joined theBJPbefore theelections, lost tothe BJP. India 2014:Return of theOne-Party Dominant System B rahmins and 19 Muslims, but ake Uttar Pradesh(UP),India’s largeststate inwhich theBJPwon population, remained loyal toher. BJP. Her own sub-caste Jatav, which comprises 12 dalits, which comprise 19 percent of the base.Shebrought upper Bahujan IAI Working papers 14 | 08 - JUNE 2014 ISSN 2280-4341 | ISBN 978-88-98650-13-2 © 2014 IAI 8 article/opinion/editorials/remaking-the-bsp. social policies enactedbytheCongress look for opportunities. It hasbeenestimated on designer codes.Thosewho have beennewly liberated from poverty through The middle classaimsfor jobsinthecorporate sector, andfor alife-style modelled memory of Nehruvian India, of thevalues of socialism or indeedthoseof secularism. Manmohan Singh introduced economic reforms in1991.Thisgeneration hasno imagination of anewgeneration of one million globalised Indians born afterDr Four, MrModi’s vision of anewIndia andanewsocial compact caught the captured amoment of discontent. upright man; but hepresidedover one of India’s mostcorrupt regimes.MrModi of Indians. Former PrimeMinisterManmohan Singh, it isgenerally agreed,isan the very timethat unemployment, inflation, and risingprices dogged the footsteps the spacewhere hewasfasting,andexpressedtheirrageat large-scale corruption at was first visible when Anna Hazare went on fast in Delhi in 2010. Crowds thronged A groundswell of deep-rooted anger against a non-performing andcorrupt system been voted backinto power in2009,waswracked bymassive corruption scandals. general listlessness. Above all, the Congress partyandits allies inUPA-II that had of decisiveness, economic decline,unemployment, risingprices of foodstuffs, and and thecorruption of theprevious government, its inability to provide jobs,its lack anger felt byIndians across theboard.He exploited tothehilt theinefficiencies Three, MrModi’s campaign tapped into thepowerlessness, helplessness, andsheer middle classeshave always voted for theBJP. TheMuslim vote wasfragmented. membership of which overlaps with that of the was combined with aggressive campaigning bytheRSS, acadre-basedformation, changing moodof anaspirant middle class.Theappeal of atrans-casteagenda an aspirant tothepostof Prime Minister,wasstupendous. It tells usalot about the caste member,enormously successful astheChief Ministerof Gujarat, andnow Modi represents entrepreneurship, hardwork, anddrive. Theappeal of abackward as the son of a man who sold tea on railway platforms. For the “lower” castes, Mr Above all, MrModi played up hisorigins asamemberof abackwardcaste,and become irrelevant for thesestrata. a number of social policies that brought thepeople out of poverty, seemstohave opportunities. Ironically, theCongress party, which inUPA-I andIIhadenacted to structures of opportunity. TheBJPpromised themthisdignity andthese are nolonger content with hand-outs. Their search for dignity demandsaccess newly emancipated from poverty through various anti-poverty programmes, class inthelower andbackwardcastes.Theelection hasproved that people, importantly, the party’s agenda fits in with the rising aspirations of a middle backward among thebackwardcastes,because it promised themrewards.More The BJPappealed tothemostmarginalized among thedalit India 2014:Return of theOne-Party Dominant System 5 b adri Narayan, “Remaking the B the “Remaking Narayan, adri The Hindu The SP”, in , 26 May 2014, p10, http://indianexpress.com/ 2014, May , 26 BJP. 5

The upper castes and the castes,andthemost IAI Working papers 14 | 08 - JUNE 2014 ISSN 2280-4341 | ISBN 978-88-98650-13-2 © 2014 IAI 9 Mr Modi belongs to thecadresof theRSS, asdidformer PrimeMinisterVajpayi. ideology through neighbourhood committees andthepolitics of everyday life. that this meticulously organized and rigidly disciplined organization spreads its itself asnon-political andasasocial service organization, but research hasshown Pakistan, andsoliddedication tothebuilding of aHindu India. TheRSS presents nationalism, fervent promises tosafeguard national frontiers, suspicion towards It isalso known for its anti-minority stance,commitment toastrong variety of based formation, theRSS. TheRSS iswell-organised, committed, andaustere. strength of theBJPlies inastrong, ideologically-oriented, disciplined, andcadre- lapsed into populism on predictable occasions, notably elections. Bycontrast, the from the umbrella-like Congress, which offered something toeveryone, and which The second avatar of the one-party dominant systemis,however, radically different 3. Thenewnessof theone-party dominant system to Indian politics. And India hasreturnedtotheone-party dominant system. majority inParliament, andgeneral lethargy. It isthislanguagethat hasreturned a variety of factors, such astheneedtoplacate allies inthecoalition, alackof a blocked inthedays that followed theentry of theCongress into power in2004by a turnaround ineconomic policy at acrucial juncture.But economic reforms were controls on industry, andopening up theeconomy toforeign investment marked Minister Narasimha Rao. T regime in1991hiscapacity asFinance Ministerinthegovernment of Prime not new. After all, it wasDrManmohan Singh who haddesigned theneo-liberal The emphasis on theinstitution of themarket andits potential toresolve issues is backburner its traditional commitments andcametospeakhislanguage. temple or aMandir.Under thecharismatic sway of MrModi, theBJPput onto the the by now tired emphasis on caste politics or Mandal, or even the new generation. Remarkably, thelanguageof themarket proved victorious over transparency, governance, and infrastructure. He setforth avision of India modeled on thephilosophy of themarket, efficiency, his personal uncorruptability persuadedmany that hewasthesolution for India. growth stance,hisno-nonsense style of governance, hisemphasis on results, and give afillip totradeandcommerce. Mr Modi’s pro-development andpro-economic that roads, infrastructure, andbullet trainswill connect every partof India and rivers, which happen tobethemostpolluted intheworld, will becleaned up, and employment andaccesstoeconomic opportunities. He promised that sacred and minimum government, acorruption-free regime,economic growth, Five, MrModi promised othergood thingsaswell, such asmaximum governance high turnouts andthedesirefor change,inthiscasethecorrelation seemstostand. of 66.7percent. Though empirically little correlation canbeestablishedbetween the general population. Theelection itself wasmarked byhigh electoral turnouts that thevote share for theBJPamong theyouth was5percent higher than among India 2014:Return of theOne-Party Dominant System rade andfinancial liberalization, the loosening of state This vision of India appealed to a BJP’s dream, a 10 IAI Working papers 14 | 08 - JUNE 2014 ISSN 2280-4341 | ISBN 978-88-98650-13-2 © 2014 IAI apolitical, but for that very reason attractive topeople who aresimply fed up with which isunexceptionable tomost sectors of society. Theagendaispeculiarly Modi’s stance,andnow hespeaksthelanguageof governance anddevelopment, a constituency wider than the one he ideologically belongs to has moderated Mr Electoral democracybreedsits own reverberations. Thenecessity of speakingto even aggressive, body language, andcatchy slogans. rhetoric, interesting plays on words andsignificant turns of phrase,confident, and and anaggressive foreign policy. All thisiscommunicated through powerful economic growth, infrastructure, anefficient and corruption-free government, issues. His focus ison thefinancial crisisandeconomic decline,development, Up till now, thePrimeMinisterhasnottouched any one of thesecontentious no distinction on thebasisof casteor creed. the Indian Parliament, terming it thetemple of democracy. And democracymakes something heisaware of. After all, thisisthemanwho genuflected at the doors of out-negotiate theRSS ifhewants tobeademocratic PrimeMinister.And thisis no fault with thebonhomie andthecourtesyon bothsides.MrModi will have to the PrimeMinisterof Pakistan Nawaz Sharifwasclosely watched, critics could find SARCC toattend theceremony wasamasterstroke. Though hisinteraction with was elected PrimeMinister.His invitation totheleaders of membercountries of Mr Modi’s detractors have, however, been taken aback by his actions after he are Muslim. 1000 deadandmany more homeless. Themajority of thesehomeless andjobless Hindu mobstargetedtheMuslim community in2002. Thiscommunal riot left difficult toshrug offthestain ofpresiding over a government that kept silent when Muslim minority inhisspeechesGujarat on earlier occasions. And hefinds it towards Pakistan, and towards Initially during theelection campaign MrModi showed strainsof intolerance worship different gods andspeakdifferent languages. going tobalance hiscommitment tothe RSS andtoaplural society inwhich people minorities. How isMrModi going tomanagethesecontentious issues? How ishe enactment of a uniform civil code that would do away with the personal laws of the building of a temple at the site of the demolishedmosque in Ayodhaya, and the the special status of Jammu and Kashmir (see Article 370 of the Constitution), the the partyagenda.Hence thereiteration inthepartymanifesto of abrogation of party. Not all membersof the BJP belong totheRSS, but thelatter tries toinfluence different interest groups bargainingwith eachotherwithin theprecincts of the the BJPisnothinglike theCongress inits heyday, i.e.aloosely-knit coalition of This time,theone-party dominant systemhasreturnedtoIndian politics, but policy. functioned within theconstraints of acoalition government that moderated his by RSS ideology andtogovern according tothetenetsof liberal ideology. He also But MrVajpayi wasable totranscendthelimitations imposed on hisgovernment India 2014:Return of theOne-Party Dominant System Bangladeshi migrants inIndia. He had attacked the 11 IAI Working papers 14 | 08 - JUNE 2014 ISSN 2280-4341 | ISBN 978-88-98650-13-2 © 2014 IAI ravaged Afghanistan andSri Lankabybuilding infrastructure. Bangladesh. Theprevious government also placedgreat emphasis on helping war- Pakistan on the Siachen andSir Creek disputes, andon river water sharingwith for theeconomic integration of theregion, tried toarrive at anagreement with the previous government, which encouragedcross-border trade,took initiatives The policy of giving primacytotheregion inaway continues theinitiatives of be maderoutine toacertainextent. formalities of bilateral negotiations andregional summits. Thesecontacts should that thebuilding of good relations with neighbours requirescontact beyond the neighbours areof utmost importance. at the borders of the country, and that economic and political transactions with one analyst pointed out, MrModi appreciates thefactthat foreign policy begins criticism from hardliners andthearmy inhisown country tocome toIndia. As but all eyes were upon the Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif, who had braved had done. Theleaders of every membercountry of SARCC attended theceremony, his own aggressive nationalistic stance,astheprevious BJPPrimeMinisterVajpeyi Modi government isnoexception. ThePrimeMinistermoved away sharply from their stancesandhostilities themoment theycome into government. And the and nopermanent enemies. Parties inopposition areknown toradically transform territory intheNorth-East of India. But inpolitics therearenopermanent friends Bangladeshi migrants in India, and also condemned China for laying claim to campaign MrModi hadattacked Pakistan for exporting terror, criticized illegal solidarity tocountries that hadbeenvilified intheelectoral campaign. Duringthe in India. It wassimultaneously anattempt toholdout thehandof friendship and carried. Theceremony wasmeant toshowcase thesuccess of electoral democracy with its neighbours. Thisisthemessagethat theswearing-inof thecabinet country canaspiretothestatus of amajor power unless it sorts out its problems is anessential precondition tointernal stability andpeace.More significantly, no importance thenewgovernment placeson theregion. Astable neighbourhood to leaders of SARCC countries toattend theswearing-in ceremony emphasized the the BJPmounted harshcriticism of neighbours, especially Pakistan, theinvitation In democracies, foreign policy follows abroad continuity. Though inopposition 4. Theforeign policy angle run thecountry well. He iscertainly runningthecountry’s foreign policy well. provider of services. ThisisMrModi’s agenda,andmostpeople believe that hewill old-style politics. Thecitizen hasbecome theconsumer andthegovernment the India 2014:Return of theOne-Party Dominant System 6 point-someone-2/2071308. Indian Express

C. Raja Mohan, “Five-Point Someone: T Mohan, Raja C. , 26 May 2014, p. 10, http://m.indianexpress.com/article/opinion/editorials/five- p. 2014, May , 26 The The in Vigorous of Diplomacy”, Modi’s he Foundations 6 Theinvitation also carried themessage 12 IAI Working papers 14 | 08 - JUNE 2014 ISSN 2280-4341 | ISBN 978-88-98650-13-2 © 2014 IAI thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article6075692.ece. 2013, MrModi hostedanofficial delegation from Pakistantodiscusssolarenergy Huawei andadeep-sea port for Gujarat. Despite tensions over thelineof control in in themiddle of a border row with China tospeakabout R&D investment from Haider recounts how MrModi asChief Ministervisited Beijing andShanghai during thefirstphase of UPI headedbyPrimeMinisterManmohan Singh. Suhasini particularly ifit wants toreturnIndia tothe89percent growth rate witnessed The government’s “look east”policy islikely tobestrengthenedinthearea of trade, results inboththesecountries. destinations, andhissearch for investment and expertise in infrastructure bore contacts with otherAsian countries. ChinaandSingapore becamehispreferred partnership with Japan. As Chief Ministerof Gujarat hehadestablishedstrong Mr Modi hasmadeit clear that hisgovernment will aimfor amutual strategic namely strong nationalistic positions andacommitment toeconomic growth. Minister ShinzoAbe admireeachotherbecause theyfollow similar strategies, expertise for hisdevelopment plansfor Gujarat. MrModi andthe Japanese Prime Modi hasfostered tremendous goodwill with Japan, anddrawn upon thecountry’s that didnotboycott himafterthe2002communal riot inGujarat. Subsequently, Mr After theregion, thepriority of theModi government isJapan. Japan was one country higher than100. the World Bank’s “Easeof Doing Business”indexfrom its current position of 134to India must put its own houseinorder. His objective istoraiseIndia’s rankingin trade andsecurity. For thisstrategy tosucceed, hehasemphasized repeatedly that that theIndian foreign service must recruit economic andregional expertson businessman, or a professional, should be attached toevery Indian embassy, and Modi hassuggested that aneconomic advisor, whether aforeign service official, a as Gujarat didinits annual global meetingreferred toas“Vibrant Gujarat.” Mr individual states should engagewith foreign countries inorder toattract investment, and increasedinvestment inIndia. driver of external relations, iseconomic diplomacy, which isfocused on trade Central totheforeign policy agendaof thenewgovernment, andindeedthemain the government of India will pursue aregional agendawith determination. in ceremony, MrModi went aheadandinvited him.Thereisreason tobelieve that Nadu, that President Rajapaksa of Sri Lankashould notbeinvited totheswearing- not boundbytheseconstraints. Ignoring theplea of theChief Ministerof T Colombo inNovember 2013.MrModi, secureinthemajority hispartycommands, is the PrimeMinisterfrom attending theCommonwealth Heads of State meetingin the sharingof river water with Dhaka, andthetwo parties inT Congress hadprevented DrManmohan Singh from finalizing anagreement on conclusion asaresult of theexigencies of coalition politics. The In theprevious government theseinitiatives could notbecarried totheir logical India 2014:Return of theOne-Party Dominant System 7

The Hindu world order”, The in the in realities “New Haider, Suhasini 7 The Prime Minister has recommended that , 3 June 2014, p. 8, http://www. 8, p. , 3June 2014, amil Nadu barred rinamool amil, Mr 13 IAI Working papers 14 | 08 - JUNE 2014 ISSN 2280-4341 | ISBN 978-88-98650-13-2 © 2014 IAI to millions of people, andreshaped thegeography andtheeconomy of theworld. from around USD300to6,750over aperiod of thirtyyears brought prosperity report intheEconomist. In China,theincrease intheaverage annual GDP perhead question. Thirtyyears ago, India’s GDP wasthesameasChina’s, according toa far thenewgovernment canachieve aneconomic miracle is,however, anopen victory hasengendered.Victories of thisscale give birthto great expectations. How The second challenge hastodo with the wave of great expectations that thescale of for thenorms of cabinetgovernment andthepower of Parliament. executive fiat. Mr Modi will have tobalance effective administration with respect charge of thedepartment. Thereisanindication that India will seegovernment by principal secretarysupervising department headsover theheadsof theministerin There isevery indication that power will restinthePrimeMinister’s office, with the by-passing therelevant minister, andheexpectsthemtoperform andtoconform. ministers andasked themtoapproach himdirectly incasesof problems, again has met the secretaries in charge of departments over the heads of departmental departments through power-point presentations, andexpectsperiodic reports. He sector. He setstargets, asksofficials topresent achievements anddrawbacks intheir bureaucracy andhiscolleagues asaCEO does tohiscompany inthecorporate that hasbecome sluggish andeven inactive. In many ways MrModi relates tothe The firstchallenge facingthe government istostreamline abloated bureaucracy essential precondition efficient and trouble-free procedures and institutions. A successful foreign policy, predicated on economic diplomacy, requiresasan 5. Challenges confronting thenewgovernment removal of impediments todoing businesswill bewelcome. western countries that wishtobuild theirtradeandinvestment ties with India, the President Obamahasinvited thePrimeMinistertovisit theUSinSeptember.For to contain China’s territorial ambitions andits intrusion into theIndian Ocean. importance for its own economy. For India, partnership with theUSisessential recovery. For theUS,ahigh-growth economy andamiddle classinIndia isof economic partnerships with India, particularly ifIndia ison thepath toeconomic The United States hasshown interest in strengtheningbothits strategic and opportunities, such asChina,Japan, Israel, Singapore, andAustralia. projects. His visits asChief Ministerwereconfined tocountries that offer business India 2014:Return of theOne-Party Dominant System 9 8 The Economist The in prosperity”, out of poverty. Thehuman cost,intermsof frustrated, unemployed, ill-educated economy hasnever achieved themomentum that hasdragged much of EastAsia India introduced economic reforms in1991and hasseeneconomic growth, but its

Ibidem. “India’s Strongman: Narendra Modi’s amazing victory gives India its best chance ever of ever chance best its India gives victory amazing Modi’s Narendra Strongman: “India’s , 24 May 2014, http://econ.st/1nh5wNg. 2014, May , 24 8 9

14 IAI Working papers 14 | 08 - JUNE 2014 ISSN 2280-4341 | ISBN 978-88-98650-13-2 © 2014 IAI and hungry people, hasbeenimmense. India 2014:Return of theOne-Party Dominant System 10 national. For along time,theBJPhasdismissedsecularism asappeasement meant shortcomings of a partythat isnotsocially inclusive andtherefore incompletely I do notmeantodefend asystemof identity-based politics, justtopoint out the is torepresent theinterests, the demands,andthecomplaints of theminorities? in Punebecause of what theyperceived asoffensive postings on social media.Who themselves asbelonging totheHindu right murdered ayoung Muslim technocrat engaged invandalism againstmosques. And recently some thugs representing of theparty. In partsof thecountry victory processions of theruling party have The lackof Muslim representation iscause for anxiety given theanti-minority stand Muslims represent about 13percent of thepopulation. Parliament hasfewer Muslim ’membersthanany since1952,despite thefactthat in B face intheNDA isthat of Chaudhry ,who won theKhagariaseat of theparty’s candidates wereMuslim, andnone of thesewon. T he only Muslim the elections, theBJPmadenospecial effort to woo religious minorities. Just seven it isprecisely herethat theBJP’s record istroublesome. In setting-up candidates for invariably come at the expenseof the representation of diverse points of view. And This may beacynical statement, but stable governments that reston solidmajorities with society. agenda that does notrecognize andvalue plurality will beat oddswith itself and Indian social structure istraditionally plural, de-centred, andanarchic. Apolitical more thanjusteconomic growth, thesettingandmeetingof targets,andjobs. with theprevious government. Theproblem isthat Indian society demandsmuch Four, inthiselection theBJPcaptured andbenefited from tremendous discontent every year. challenge of doing thisisimmensebecause 10million Indians enter thejobmarket inflation policy. At thesametime, it hastocreate jobs for young people. The subsidies, widenthetaxbaseandallow thecentral banktopursue atough anti- a sluggish bureaucracy, clean out thebanks,negotiate thechronic deficit, cut of expectations inayouthful population. Thenewgovernment hastoresuscitate is half thelevel achieved byUPA-I. And thishastaken placeamidstarevolution government from 2004-2009. India’s sluggish rate of growth is4.5percent, which have destroyed theeconomic momentum witnessed inthefirstphase of theUPA a result of commissions charged by middlemen, and banksriddled with bad debts, base, inefficient collection, leakages,wastages,the high cost of doing businessas and prosperity, nothand-outs. But unstable public financescaused byanarrow tax The thirdchallenge isasfollows. Voters want accesstostructures of opportunities dignified life with excessive reliance on themarket, isagainan open question. policy andeconomic growth, providing citizens with thepreconditions for a Ibidem. ihar. Kaiserisamemberof theLok Jan ShaktiParty led byPaswan. Thenew 10 How thePrimeMinisterbalances social 15 IAI Working papers 14 | 08 - JUNE 2014 ISSN 2280-4341 | ISBN 978-88-98650-13-2 © 2014 IAI grammar of consolidation toasensibility that thrives inandon its variations”. of pluralism, thevocabulary of ‘oneness’ toanimagination of many-nesses, the have theimpudence tospeakthemonarchist languageof uniformism toarepublic thinker Gopal Gandhi to write an open letter to Mr Modi, asfollows: “No one should important in a multi-religious society. Such concerns motivated the distinguished religion anddetachesthestate from aparticular religion becomes more, notless, on trial today. Secularism asapolitical principle that grants theright tofreedom of to pacifyminorities andtocreate avote bank.It isprecisely secularism that stands India 2014:Return of theOne-Party Dominant System 11 government will bejudged on whether it managestobalance, on theone hand, is not only a consumer who is entitled to quick delivery of services. is aperson who hasconstitutional rights tojustice, toequality, andtofreedom. She market, of efficiency, and ofthedelivery ofservices. Theordinary citizen of India precisely thesevalues that aresidelinedbyneo-liberalism and thelanguageof the by commitment tosocial justice, entitlements, rights, andredistribution. It is economic recovery andbuilding India into amajor power, have tobe tempered to social goods towhich theyhave aright. Governance, efficiency, hard work, has toplay apro-active role inameliorating poverty andingiving people access caste andclass,poor, homeless, malnourished, non-literate, andjobless. Thestate place for thosemillions of Indians who aredoubly disprivileged byreasons of those who have something tobuy with, andsomething tosell. It simply hasno cannot be a solution, for the market is peculiarly amoral. It has a place only for government’s agenda.Themarket isnot,however, asolution toall problems. It base. Neo-liberalism andthedominance of themarket lie at thecore of thepresent needed, but notat theexpenseof theredistribution of ahighly-skewed resource Good governance isimportant, but apoor substitute for toleration. Efficiency is amoral andinsensitive tohuman needs. in robust notions of political ethics and justice. Byitself, technology canbecome name of astrong andunited India. T information, hate speech,andmalevolent messagesthat targetminorities inthe But technology can be dual-edged, it can connect and also disconnect through dis- through infrastructure, connected rivers androads, telecoms andcommunications. India through economic growth, andheseekstofusedifferent parts of thecountry Finally, MrModi’s ideaof India isstrongly nationalistic. He seekstocreate aunified agenda of theBJP. peopled bydifferent religious communities that will poseamajor challenge tothe by entitlements andrights. It precisely thefostering of thispolitical community community. Citizens arealso boundtoeachotherinthepolitical community Citizens are bound to each other by social ties, or by birth into a particular ascriptive contradictory given theplurality of castes,creeds,languages,andethnicities. Unlike Gujarat, thePrimeMinister’s home state, India iscomplex, diverse, and ece. www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/an-open-letter-to-narendra-modi/article6023507.

The Hindu Modi”, The in to “An Narendra letter open Gandhi, Gopalkrishna echnological solutions have tobeembedded , 19 May 2014, p. 8, http:// 8, p. 2014, May , 19 The present 11

16 IAI Working papers 14 | 08 - JUNE 2014 ISSN 2280-4341 | ISBN 978-88-98650-13-2 © 2014 IAI of themarket, on theother. religions, redistribution of scarce resources, anddignity for all, with thelanguage a systemof political ethics restingon amixof toleration andrespectfor other India 2014:Return of theOne-Party Dominant System Updated 25June2014 17 IAI Working papers 14 | 08 - JUNE 2014 ISSN 2280-4341 | ISBN 978-88-98650-13-2 © 2014 IAI Latest IAIW India 2014:Return of theOne-Party Dominant System www.iai.it [email protected] F +39 T +39 Via Angelo B and otherpapers’ series related toIAIresearch projects. (AffarInternazionali), two series of research papers (QuaderniIAIand Research Papers) publishes anEnglish-language quarterly (TheInternational Spectator), anonline webzine and theMiddle East;defence economy andpolicy; andtransatlantic relations. TheIAI in the global economy and internationalisation processes in Italy; the Mediterranean research sectors are:European institutions andpolicies; Italian foreign policy; trends and abroad andisamemberof various international networks. More specifically, themain that end,it cooperates with otherresearch institutes, universities andfoundations inItaly and disseminate knowledge through research studies, conferences andpublications. T economy andinternational security. Anon-profit organisation, theIAIaimstofurther Founded byAltiero Spinelli in1965,does research inthefields of foreign policy, political Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) 13 |33 13 |34 14 |01 14 |02 14 |03 14 |04 14 |05 14 |06 14 |07 14 |08 06 3224360 06 3224363 Next for Ukraine? Nona Mikhelidze,Second Revolution on Euromaidan: What Context of theSouthern Corridor Şaban Kardaş,TheTurkey-Azerbaijan Energy Partnership in the South-Eastern Mediterranean Energy Corridor Elif Burcu Günaydın, Turkey’s Potential Role in theEmerging Security Ariel Cohen, Caspian Gas,TANAP and TAP in Europe’s Energy David Koranyi, TheSouthern GasCorridor: Europe’s Lifeline? Dominant System Neera Chandhoke, India 2014:Return of theOne-Party Anti-Establishment Groups in Southern Europe Thanos Dokos etal., Eurocriticism: TheEurozone Crisisand Constitutional Insights pre- and post-2011 Mohammed Hashas,Moroccan Exceptionalism Examined: EU’s Southern GasCorridor Erkan Erdogdu, Turkey’s Energy Strategy and its Role in the Olgu Okumuş, Erbil SendsOil, Ankara GetsTrouble runetti, 9-I-00186 Rome, Italy orking P apers o