STATE PARTY SYSTEM in HARYANA: NATIONAL PARTIES in REGIONAL CONTEXT Annapurna Sharma* Moti Lal Nehru College, Delhi University, Delhi Email: [email protected]
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International Journal of Research in Economics and Social Sciences(IJRESS) Available online at http://euroasiapub.org/journals.php Vol. 6 Issue 12, December 2016 ISSN: 2249-7382 Impact Factor: 6.225 | Thomson Reuters ID: L-5236-2015 STATE PARTY SYSTEM IN HARYANA: NATIONAL PARTIES IN REGIONAL CONTEXT Annapurna Sharma* Moti Lal Nehru College, Delhi University, Delhi Email: [email protected] National parties in regional context follow a particular strategy. They contest alone and also with allies in different states in order to gain political power. Each state has its own political atmosphere, which may or may not suit the national parties. The electoral norm is to maximize electoral gains. National parties follow this norm in order to maximize their electoral strength, they fight elections on their own where they are a major player and try to win some seats where regional parties arestrong. Segmented pluralism in the Indian party system gradually evolved during the last ten or fifteen years. Like any other political phenomenon, this change is a reflection of several transformations taking place in the Indian society. The emerging political culture is perhaps shaped by a new type of social relation influenced by the policy of economic liberalisation. Three features of economic liberalisation are important for the understanding of formations like political parties: openness of economy and therefore exposure to the processes of globalisation; gradual withdrawal of the state from the developmental programs, forcing the civil society to confront the market forces; and the empowerment of citizens as a result of an overall climate of competition. As discussed earlier, the four phases of the consolidation of the Indian party system are the period of Congress consolidation and dominance (1952-61), consolidation of opposition parties and emergence of multi-party system (1967-89); period of flux (1989-98); and the shaping of coalitional party system (1998-2004). The 1980s was a period of great flux. It saw the emergence of more and more new parties. Several National and regional parties were born as the Janata party began to fall apart. Some old parties took a new avatar, such as the BJP (formed in 1980), which began to gain strength as the major opposition to the Congress at the national level and in some States. International Journal of Research in Economics and Social Sciences Email:- [email protected], http://www.euroasiapub.org 457 An open access scholarly, online, peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary, monthly, and fully refereed journals International Journal of Research in Economics and Social Sciences(IJRESS) Available online at http://euroasiapub.org/journals.php Vol. 6 Issue 12, December 2016 ISSN: 2249-7382 Impact Factor: 6.225 | Thomson Reuters ID: L-5236-2015 The Bahujan Samaj Party began to take shape in the North as the representative of the Dalits. New regional parties sprouted, developed and captured power in States: such as the TDP (1983) in AP and the AGP (1985) in Assam. As a result, of reconfiguration of politics numerous small parties began to gain strength or emerge: All India Muslim League (1948), Shiv Sena (1966), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (1972), Manipur People‟s Party, Mizo National. Front (1965), J&K Panthers Party, Nagaland People‟s Party, Nagaland People‟s Council, Sikkim Sangrama Parishad, Indian People‟s Front, etc. Due to the fragmentation of major regional parties different splinter parties of SAD, DMK (the Anna DMK in 1972), Republican Party of India and Kerala Congress began toappear. The year 1989 marked the collapse of the Congress dominance at the national level and growth of BJP, and marked a turning point in the history of party politics in the country and it never recovered afterwards. In terms of its presence in the Lok Sabha, the Congress for the first time in 1996 became the second party, behind the BJP . The below mentioned table explains the comparative positions. Table:1PositionandperformanceoftheCongressandthe„Secondparty‟since 1952 CongressRelative position of the Congress compared to the “second Performance party” Year Total % of Seats % of Second Diffe Second Diffe % of Diffe seats vote won seats party - party - seats - vote rence seats rence rence 1952 489 45.0 363 74.2 10.6 63.7 16 347 3.3 71.0 (SP) (CPI) 1957 494 47.8 371 75.1 10.4 64.7 (CPI) 344 5.5 69.6 (psp) 1962 494 44.7 361 73.1 10.0 63.1 29 332 5.9 67.2 (CPI) (CPI) 1967 520 40.8 283 54.4 9.3 45.1 44 239 8.5 46.0 (BJS) (SWA) 1971 518 43.7 352 68.0 10.4 57.5 25 327 4.8 63.1 (INCO) (CPM) 1977 542 34.5 154 28.4 41.3 12.9 295 141 54.4 - (BLD) (BLD) 26.0 International Journal of Research in Economics and Social Sciences Email:- [email protected], http://www.euroasiapub.org 458 An open access scholarly, online, peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary, monthly, and fully refereed journals International Journal of Research in Economics and Social Sciences(IJRESS) Available online at http://euroasiapub.org/journals.php Vol. 6 Issue 12, December 2016 ISSN: 2249-7382 Impact Factor: 6.225 | Thomson Reuters ID: L-5236-2015 1980 529 42.7 353 66.7 19.0 47.8 41 312 7.8 59.0 (JP) (JNPS) 1984 514 49.1 404 78.6 7.7 70.9 22 382 4.3 74.3 (BJP) (CPM) 1989 529 39.5 197 37.2 17.8 19.5 143 54 27.0 10.2 (JD) (JD) 1991 534 36.4 244 45.7 20.1 25.6 120 124 22.5 23.2 (BJP) (BJP) 1996 543 28.8 140 25.8 20.3 5.5 161 -21 29.7 -3.9 (BJP) (BJP) 1998 543 25.8 141 26.0 25.6 0.4 182 -41 33.5 -7.9 (BJP) (BJP) 1999 543 28.3 114 21.0 23.8 -2.8 182 -68 33.5 - (BJP) (BJP) 12.5 2004 543 26.5 145 26.7 22.2 4.5 138 7 25.4 1.3 (BJP) (BJP) Source: Data Unit, Lokniti-CSDS, Delhi. The growth of the BJP after 1989 and its subsequent establishment of national government in 1998 marked a turning point in the history of party politics in the country. That the difference between the first and second parties was reduced to almost to zero showed that the BJP‟s performance was not a one-time affair. The rapid expansion in the electoral support for the BJP and sudden increase in the number of its MPs in Parliament, and its ability to forge alliances with several parties to come to power marked the party politics of the 1990s. This marked the emergence of bipolarities in the States and at the Centre. While in the States it is in the form of a competition between two parties or between two competing alliances, at the national level it was mainly a competition between competing alliances. As the BJP gained strength, the effort by the Janata Dal and other regional parties of the United Front to work with the third alternative (to the Congress and the BJP) proved to be in vain. The tri-nodal party system that raised hopes in the 1990s slowly meltedaway. The formation of alliances and coalition governments at the National and State levels ushered in a new phase in party competition and cooperation. It is amazing that the NDA government at the Centre during 1999-2004 had about 25 partners in it. Deluded by its former glory, the Congress party wanted to come to power on its own. But on the eve of 2004 Lok Sabha elections it finally realized that it could not do so and forged alliances with 16 parties. The International Journal of Research in Economics and Social Sciences Email:- [email protected], http://www.euroasiapub.org 459 An open access scholarly, online, peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary, monthly, and fully refereed journals International Journal of Research in Economics and Social Sciences(IJRESS) Available online at http://euroasiapub.org/journals.php Vol. 6 Issue 12, December 2016 ISSN: 2249-7382 Impact Factor: 6.225 | Thomson Reuters ID: L-5236-2015 ability to rope in the support of the regional and small parties and their electoral performance decided the fate of the National parties. In 2004 elections, a loss of few allies and the poor performance of two or three of its partner State parties resulted in an electoral disaster for the NDA. The reverse saw the forming of the Congress Government (Yadav, 2004). Thus, the alliance affect became crucial in the defeat and victory of parties at the national and State levels. The Congress allies added about 10 per cent to the UFA, while the BJP allies added about 14 per cent to the NDA. the below mentioned table explains the alliance status since 2004. Voteforalliesofthetwomajorparties Year Congress BJP allies 1991 2.1 0.8 1996 0.9 4.6 1998 0.3 10.6 1999 5.7 17.0 2004 10.1 13.7 Source: Data Unit, Lokniti-CSDS,Delhi. The reasons for such political alliances can be attributed to the following reasons. 1: The rapid emergence and increase in the number of relevant parties. 2: Changes in the status of the National and State parties. 3: Change in the relative electoral strength of the National and State parties. 4: Most of the major parties had captured power at one or the other level (see the below mentioned table) S. No. Name of the Party Party Nationa l Status Status level level National Parties that ruled or shared power at both the levels 1.