Analysis of Internal Party Democracy of Indian National Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party and Asom Gana Parishad
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International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology Vol. 29, No. 2, (2020), pp. 4453 - 4462 Analysis of Internal Party Democracy of Indian National Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party and Asom Gana Parishad Ila deka Research scholar, Department of Political Science, Assam University, Silchar, Assam, India Abstract Intra-party democracy is an essential ingredient of good democratic practice of political parties. Since it ensures the participation of all members, it is essential for any political party of any democratic country to ensure intra-party democracy. It is because when a decision is taken by some on behalf of others, participatory democracy will lose its very essence. One of the most important ways to secure intra party democracy within political parties is the intra-party electoral systems and procures. Therefore, it is important to make the election process within parties inclusive, transparent and democratic. A democratic party should always believe in democratic principles while dealing with internal businesses of the party and therefore, should operate on the principle of social justice, gender equality and equity. This paper intends to throw a light on the understanding of the concepts of intra-party democracy and also on the process of intra-party democracy of two national Indian political parties and one regional political party of Assam. Introduction The concept of intra-party democracy is broadly used in the political science literature. The concept essentially means that there is a need for the political parties to be democratic in their organization in various aspects such as the definition of policy positions or the selection of candidates for parliamentary cabinet or internal positions. It is essential for any political party to be democratic as it promotes party unity that further reducesfragmentation and factionalism. It also encourages the process of collective ownership of decisions and a culture of democratic debate and deliberation where the party workers have the scope to discuss every critical issue within the party organization. Objectives: The objectives of this present study are- 1) To make an understanding about the concept of intra-party democracy. 2) To examine the process of intra-party democracy of two main national Indian political parties, namely the Indian National Congress (INC) and the Bhartaiya Janata Party (BJP) and one regional political party of Assam namely Asom Gana Parishad (AGP). ISSN: 2005-4238 IJAST 4453 Copyright ⓒ 2020 SERSC International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology Vol. 29, No. 2, (2020), pp. 4453 - 4462 Method of data collection: The required information is obtained from secondary sources such as books, journals, newspapers, memorandums, pamphlets, party proceedings and manifestoes, archival records both official and non-official and other internet sources. The method of historical analysis is employed to find out the research objectives proposed in the paper. Findigs: Intra-party democracy basically means democracy within a party. A party which makes it possible for all its members right from the grass root level to get involved in its decision making process can be termed as internally democratic. All the party proceedings are held in a democratic way in the parties when they are internally democratic. Existence of intra-party democracy encourages a party to develop a wider democratic culture which clearly believes in decentralisation. A democratic party should always ensure the participation of all sections of society without any discrimination based on sex, class, caste or race. It is also necessary for such a party to embrace the principle that women’s rights are human rights and should allow everyone to exercise their civil and political rights where everyone is made enable to stand for elections within their political structures and to effectively participate in the mainstream activities of the party without fear of intimidation. The exercise of these democratic principles and procedures would bridge the gaps between various groups of the party to participate efficiently in the party activities and programmes. It is well known to everyone that a modern democracy needs well- structured political parties. These well- structures parties should represent the will and interest of its citizens and it is very much clear that unless and until the parties do not follow these democratic principles within their party structures they can never serve its citizens regardless class, caste, sex or race. Only the parties which ensures its members to act freely, independently and adequately can be the voice of all sections of society. Therefore, it is important to take a closer look not only on the political visions, goals or ideas of the political parties, but also on their internal debates and discussions, their internal processes and procedures, internal organizations, the conflicts within different members of the party and the involvement of the members in the party activities. Only when the parties show their commitment to the democratic principles in their own organizations, they can fulfil their duties to their citizens with a clear commitment and dedication. It is believed that to promote democracy in a society and largely in a country, political parties must be internally democratic. It is because political parties are essential for the efficient and proper functioning of any democracy. Hence, they are instrumental for democratizing and consolidating democracy. Any political party’s ability depends on their organizational structure, behaviour and efficacy.Intra- ISSN: 2005-4238 IJAST 4454 Copyright ⓒ 2020 SERSC International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology Vol. 29, No. 2, (2020), pp. 4453 - 4462 party democracy has always been a challenge in democracies. Moreover in these countries, party democracy has mainly been analyzed and valued in terms of party’s contribution to the development of the overall democratic processes. There are many ways through which we can maintain intra party democracy of political parties. Some of these are discussed below- 1) Party leadership should be equal to each and everyone within the party starting from villages up to the national level. All the ‘ordinary’ party members should be respected by the party leadership. The different opinions on the basic party program should be tolerated. 2) To avoid a situation of conflict, the elections of the party should have a clear time frame. 3) To avoid unnecessary conflicts on leadership positions and faction fighting, the parties should institutionalize succession planning on the basis of consensus of members from all levels. 4) For the leaders, party interests should be above personal interests and he must be accountable to the party rank and file. 5) Parties should take action that aim at empowering marginalized social groups such as women, the youth and the people with disabilities.Participation of all members in the internal matters of the party should be promoted. It should be made possible for all the party members to voice their opinions within the party. 6) There should be compliance with the rules and regulations for membership participation and decision making processes within the party. The process of intra-party democracy of the INC, BJP and AGP India is regarded as the largest representative democracy in the world. Any Indian citizen has the right to contest elections if he/she fulfils the basic criteria set by the Constitution of India. All the political parties in India that contest elections have some organizational structure of their own. The structure and the strength of the parties depend on the nature and size of the party. Based on its nature parties can vary from formal to very formal or dependent on just one person. To illustrate, all major political parties in India have a constitution which prescribes membership details, organizational structure and leadership and selection of office bearers, however there is a gap between the constitution and its actual implementation. The constitution of both the Indian National Congress (INC) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) do not cover the candidate nomination process at all. In India, no party follows a clear process to nominate candidates. Only committee of a few members finalizes the nomination process. Secondly, the process of ISSN: 2005-4238 IJAST 4455 Copyright ⓒ 2020 SERSC International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology Vol. 29, No. 2, (2020), pp. 4453 - 4462 organizing elections for party leadership and office bearers and reporting them to the Election Commission of India seems to be a formality in most parties and is poorly implemented. Third, the main parties of India do not incorporate ways to involve party members in decision making process and do not give the grassroots workers the opportunities of a say in the candidate selection process. However, it is also seen that in most of the cases the senior leaders of the parties or their close associates contest the election in most of the constituencies where grass root workers have a very little say. There is no official standard of INC and BJP regarding the selection method of candidates asthe Constitutions of both the parties are largely silent on selection methods. The lack of inclusiveness and high level of centralization in the ticket distribution process has always been present in the political parties in India that creates differences between parties and candidates. The final choice of candidate selection is almost always made by smaller, national executive bodies though it is carried out with the inputs from the local leaders. Ordinary members have a very little say in the national affairs of the party and their activities are limited only with the lowest level of committees. The process of internal party democracy of INC, BJP and AGP is discussed below- Indian National Congress (INC) The Indian National Congress (INC) formed in 1885 by the British civil servant Allan Octavian Hume has been the only influential and the ruling party for many decades in the post-independence India. It is functioning as the main opposition party in the today’s Indian Political context.