A study of Indian democracy will be incomplete without the study of one of its fundamental component i.e. Political parties. Study of Political science include study of Political parties. In the first part of this article we are going to see when parties in India are formed? What factors impact their survival and what causes their eventual decline.

Formation of INC

          Indian national congress (INC) was founded on 28th December 1885.it was formed by a britisher A. O. Hume. He wanted to provide a safety valve to release the growing discontent of the indians. Therefore INC became the mediator to put forward the demands of Indians. Congress became the principal leader of the Indian independence movement. It is considered as the grand old party in Indian politics. Party was at its prime under the leadership of Pandit Nehru and Indira Gandhi.
          In the 17 general elections since independence, it has won an outright majority on seven occasions and has led the ruling coalition a further three times, heading the central government for more than 54 years.

Emergence of regional parties –

Re-emergence of one party dominace in 2014 –

          However the rise of single majority party especially since 2014 reversed the trend. There were many factors responsible for the glorious landslide victory of BJP in 2014 general elections but the factor to be noticed here is the voting behaviour of voters. When voters are offered with alternatives they always chose stability over chaos. Regional parties has regional aspirations. Though they are important for the federalism but they might sabotage the governance for their own benefit.

Election of 2014-

            The average turnout in 2014 election was around 66.40% the highest ever in the history of Indian general elections.
Bjp won 282 seats and congress finished at 44.
The question arises what were the reasons for the changing political landscape in India?

 Reasons –

• Corruption -UPA 2 had number of scams. Coal, 2G spectrum, augusta Westland

• Unemployment

• Janlokpal andolan– this issue single handedly made sure congress won’t be able to form government in the election.

• Narendra modi candidature – It is said in the time of turbulence people wait for the hero. Narendra modi was selected as candidate for PM in 2013 by the Bhartiya janta Party. This decision changed the dynamics of 2014 election. His clean image, The popularity of Gujrat model made him instantly famous among the masses.

• “Ache din “-  this slogan was launched with the intention of conveying that, prosperous future is not a distant dream but it could be reality if the BJP came into power. And the result was landslide victory of BJP, in 2014 election . Congress was failed to fulfill the basic criteria to claim the office of opposition leader(to have 1/10th seats in Loksabha elections)

This was reemergence of one party system at national politics.

Elections of 2019 –

          The average turnout of 2019 election was 67% which was more than 2014.

BJP won 303 seats, congress finished at 52.

          BJP knew very well that its 2014 victory was more a mandate against the UPA government. It was an anti-incumbency factor which confirmed their victory but this won’t repeat in 2019. They were prepared for the election since 2014.

          Congress had ruled India for more than 70 years on and off.  In 2019,congress didn’t want to lose the psychological supremacy in the Indian politics. They wanted to have an impact on people that only congress is able to run a stable government and serve the masses. There were similar realisation to the regional parties. So the alliance came together for the one cause ” Modi hatao“

 Campaign –

• Modi’s popularity– post 2014,it was his image of an honest and Hindu nationalist leader which impressed the people. Congress party decided to attack’ modi on these two credentials.

• Rahul Gandhi attacked modi with corruption charges and adopted a soft hindutva policy. He made it a point to visit the temples while his election campaign to minimise the effect of Modi’s Hindutva stance.

• “Chaukidar chor hai”-  this campaign could not create a impact. One could not simply ignore the fact that bjp was successful in providing good governance, superior infrastructure, health facilities, and maintain a clean image throughout the 5 years.

• So the campaign backfirered and it created sympathy for Modi.

• Pulwama air strike – Indian Air force launched air strike to take revenge of terrorist attack on Pulwama in February 2019. This scene changed the whole scenario of election at last minute. Congress had been hasty while reacting to the scene. they fail into the trap and question the authenticity of the strikes. This was not taken well by the voters.

This doesn’t sum up that BJP was too good to be defeated , it was opposition ‘s failure  to pick up issues which affected common man.

Election of 2024 so far-

           As India gears up for general election 2024,eyes of 1.4 B Indians have turn on 4th june which will  declare mandate of people.

Domestic opinion polls confirms modi’s popularity is still intact, but this election won’t be a cake-walk for BJP.

          In 2014,2019 BJP became the single largest party because of the fragmented and divided opposition. After two successive failures opposition seems determine to learn from the past defeats.

 Campaign –

• INDIA alliance – dozen of opposition parties came together to form new alliance. Under the intention to save the constitution from dictatorship.

• Most significant factor is INDIA alliance is currently leaderless. They haven’t projected any leader for the post of PM. As they are factually correct when they say India is a parliamentary democracy and not the presidential.

• Narendra modi– what INDIA alliance forget is larger than life image of modi has somehow turned the parliamentary system into presidential system. Though its not constitutionlly possible.

• No solid agenda-unlike 2014,2019  this time there is not a single agenda available to opposition as well as to the government on which the election could be fought.

•  Important issue are unemployment, economic growth and welfare.

• Welfare schemes – significant factor shaping the 2014 fight will be impact of welfare schemes on voting behaviour of citizens.

• Welfare policies of gas cylinder, toilets, electricity, direct benefit transfer of 6000 in farmers account. beneficiary are more likely to vote for BJP

• Ram mandir -as promised in their manifesto since 1989,bjp has constructed a grand Temple of Ram lalla at the disputed land .but what came as a surprise is BJP didn’t much utilised the grand construction of Ram mandir during their election campaign.

  Conclusion –

          So far election has come to its last phase. It will be clear in few weeks which party has clear mandate to rule the nation. Elections in democracies are very unpredictable. 

          Indian voters are traditionally wise enough to chose the best option available to them among the alternative but what is most important than the election, is the development of the nation as a whole and not the intrest of fragmented section.

          There has been considerable development in India since independence, but it has been uneven.

Let’s pledge to build a better India which will be free from hunger, unemployment and inequality.

Long live India long live Indian constitution!

Reference :-

Political Parties in india – by Amit Kumar
Indian Polity – M. Laxmikant
Indian Political Parties – Report Published in Centre For Policy Reserving Delhi

Author :-

Tejaswini Lalage

M.A (Political science) NET, SET 

Savitribai Phule Pune University

Department of Political Science and Public Administration

Experience  :- Arihant College Of Arts, Commerce And Science Pune.

(2 years as assistant Prof. (Political science)