Open Forum
New Delhi, 4 May, 2017
Whither Political Parties
WANTED VIGILANT WATCHDOGS
By Dr.S.Saraswathi
(Former Director, ICSSR, New Delhi)
The nation was shocked
to hear of attempts to bribe the Election Commission (EC) by a faction of the
AIADMK to get the Party’s symbol of “two leaves” frozen by the Constitutional
body. The dispute over it is presently before the Commission.
Amidst this, Kejriwal’s
AAP blamed the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) for its debacle in Delhi’s municipal and
Punjab Assembly elections, Mulayam’s Samajwadi raised the bogey of communal
politics to hide its performance deficiencies in the UP Assembly election. As for the Congress despite emerging as the
largest single party in the Goa and Manipur Assemblies
it failed to muster support for forming the Governments and blamed the BJP for reversing
the poll verdict.
Be it the AIADMK, AAP,
Samajwadi or Congress – their declining phase
is visible, but by itself this does not matter to democracy. Changes in the fortunes of Parties reflect
the health of India’s
Party system and need not be grudged.
None of these Parties is willing to look inwards and identify its own
weaknesses and take remedial actions.
The degeneration is
not only in the electoral or Parliamentary performance of Parties, but is
reflected in the oral and written communications of their leaders and tone of
delivery. The way Parties handle their tasks and criticize one another speaks
volumes on the prevailing political culture.
Well groomed democratic behavior is a rare quality in inter-Party
relationship.
A strong conviction
that there are factors more important than ideologies, policies and performance
to win elections has gained ground. The despicable attitude of cultivating
faith in short cuts and crooked methods that many adopt for personal and
professional success has invaded the political arena. Few believe in
value-based politics and fewer of those who believe succeed in a political
career.
In India,
enrolment in Parties is not common among citizens and Party affiliations in elections
depend on people’s perception of Parties and candidates which change
frequently. Grassroots workers recruited by them mostly remain employees
earning small benefits as wages and allowances.
Besides, leaders of Parties
have not always emerged through a democratic elections process. Some Parties
are democratic in appearance but oligarchic in organization and functioning. In
most of them, political offices are distributed among the near and dear of
leaders, blatantly ignoring senior and capable members.
In fact, tough leaders
with strong local support are bypassed by some national and State Parties keen on
imposing centralized control firmly. A number of small State and district level
Parties are centred around a local group leader.
Importantly, starting
and promoting a political outfit is also used as a means of evading taxes and
getting privileges to conceal income since Parties enjoy many exemptions from
income tax. Consequently, there is proliferation of personality-centred Parties
who invent issues to justify their existence and play with popular emotions to
divide voters politically, but are not keen on winning elections.
Knowledgeable persons mostly
prefer to remain outside politics offering their expertise whenever
required. But Party politics does not
spare them and tends to associate them with specific Parties. Even entertainment industry artistes are
subject to this treatment.
Surprisingly, decline
in Party affiliation is widespread in Europe and Latin
America also. A poll survey recently pointed out that 42 per cent
of Americans identified themselves as independents in political
affiliation. The percentage must be more
in India
which is underscored in the “anti-incumbency” phenomenon motivating voters. In
most democracies, there is no direct Constitutional provision for establishing
or regulating Parties.
However, there are two
glaring exceptions. The Constitution of
the Fifth French Republic
(1958) prescribed that the French National Assembly could make no law
curtailing the rights and activities of Parties thus recognizing their Constitutional
status. The basic law of the Federal Government of Germany
(1949 and amended in 1990) gave legitimacy to Parties, but made it difficult
for minorities and splinter groups to form outfits.
Interestingly, there is
no mention of Parties in the Indian Constitution. They are recognized later in the Tenth Schedule
pertaining to defections added in 1985.
Parties owe their existence to the recognition given by the Election
Commission.
Our federal polity and
Panchayati Raj with two or three
tiers of elected bodies, municipal councils and corporations have expanded the
responsibilities of Parties. Even
village panchayats, supposed to be
outside Party politics, are not so in reality.
Therefore, what
happens within Parties and how they behave in public add and subtract to the
democratic content of our democracy whereby our democratic system is facing a queer situation
of quantum rise in Parties and qualitative decline in their operations.
Alas, political crimes
have increased and “palace intrigue-type” political manoeuvres in some States
expose the darker side of electoral Party politics. What is happening in Tamil Nadu appears to
have opened a new era of “cut throat’ politics.
In recent years, our Parliamentary
function is largely understood as disrupting the proceedings and preventing
work. No public or private workplace anywhere permits unruly behavior and pays
salaries and perks for obstructing work.
It is high time that Party leaders teach the basics of work and Parliamentary
duties to its members and refrain from leading mob action by MPs or MLAs.
Also, conflict of
interest among our legislators has been noted in several instances, but no
remedy has been found. The problem is
universal, but is no excuse for searching a local solution.
In a rare show of
political solidarity, Parties have come together to oppose the proposal to
bring their outfits under the Right to Information Act. An Central Information Commission order in
2016, declared 6 national Parties --- BJP, Congress, CPI, CPI(M), NCP, and BSP
--- as public authorities coming under the purview of the Act as all of them are
being substantially financed by the Central Government and their role and
duties have a public character.
Information is
believed to be an antidote to corruption and other malpractices. This can limit abuse of discretion. But, in a competitive system, unrestricted publicity of Party matters might
adversely affect inner Party democracy and weaken an outfit’s stature before the
public.
Hence, a via media has
to be worked out to make information with predominant public interest and
concern available to people without leaking out internal working and decision-making
of the Parties.
Constantly engaged in
a power tussle, Parties are as much concerned about building their financial
resources as public support. All other functions like educating people,
analyzing issues, examining laws and ensuring implementation of programmes etc are
lost in the power game.
It is doubtful whether
a law to govern establishment and functions of Parties can arrest degeneration of this vital democratic
system. What is urgently needed is
“principled Party politics” --- an ideal incorporating the seven “Nolan
principles” --- selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness,
honesty and leadership.
Parties engaged in
battles for power cannot become monasteries but people who are watching their
ways can turn as vigilant “watchdogs”. The ultimate hope lies with the people.
---- INFA
(Copyright, India
News and Feature Alliance)
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