“Unfathomable,” is synonymous to 'India', midst the scholastic societies. Astronomical economic and populated growth coupled with extreme poverty, a patriotic citizenry coexisting with intense corruption, and modernity dyed-in-the-wool with inflexibility, makes one a confused observer of unreal times. The complex concoction is further thickened by the Coalition Governance, which is a continued hallmark of the country for nearly two decades. It is clear from this diversity of the country, that transformation will not happen overnight, and that its success cannot be left to chance alone.
India is one of the 81 countries of the world which has coalition government in power, as of today. Probably, the first instance of a Coalition Government was the ‘Delian League’ around 431 BC, which today has become an inseparable feature of the modern day democracy. There are some interesting facts associated to it - A coalition government created the great nation of Canada. In 1915, during the First World War, an all-party coalition was formed in UK, which replaced the last Liberal government in British history. Since, the independence of Finland in 1917, it has been governed by coalitions only. In Germany, the coalitions rarely consist of more than two parties.
India’s baptism to coalition was at West Bengal, when the Left Front comprising of Communist Party of India (CPI), CPI (Marxist) and others came together under the flagship of Jyoti Basu as the Chief Minister. Late Shri Morarji Desai Ji, pioneered the first coalition at the Centre for about two years, 24 March 1977 to 15th July 1979. However, the actual trend of corroboration started in the 90’s, when the bible of ‘Jood Tood Tamasha’ was written during 1996-1999. The period saw four Coalition Governments and two mid-term elections in a period of four years. The country finally harnesses the coalition horse in 1999, when the first successful coalition government completed its five year term. Today, it consists of 13 parties, with suffixes and prefixes varying on hourly basis.
The continuity of coalition governments indicates decline of one party rule and rise of regional and smaller parties. It showcases the dominance of a single party led by a charismatic leader over a cluster of smaller parties. Both the stable coalitions of the country have had their share of chaos with internal disputes because of differing manifestos of each member, however, the success of governance in such scenarios is dependent upon acceptance of Common Minimum Program ahead of their own ideologies
Over the year, the Indian Command Center’s resume has migrated from identity based politics to identity based parties with varying degrees of patronage. Essentially there have been two main stream alliances of NDA and UPA, and a burrping third front. Though the chances of emergence of any more fronts in the near future are bleak, but not impossible. If by some sort of a miracle, AAP of Mr Kejriwal, for which lot of us are hopeful, makes it to a respectable number, then with some permutation and combination, numerals of 4th, 5th or 6th front are possible. But, Mr Manish Tewari feels that – in the history of coalitions in the last 20 years the reality of a 3rd, 4th or 5th front is the "most enduring mirage of Indian politics."
The present day perplexion of ‘buy and sell : cash for votes’ and ‘portfolios : prospective gains’ have more relevance for the recant foggy chronology, which leaves us with following questions…
- No one in the world has been able to come up with a working model of ‘Coalition Governance’ and hence, there is large void of understanding. Can there be set rules of governance for a coalition?
- Do we have a choice for our ‘first-past-the-post’ electoral policy?
- The legacy of British – ‘Westminsterial Democratic Parliamentary System’. Do we have an alternative?
- Two party system is better way of ensuring continued reforms. Is that an option for us, considering our vast regional diversity and interests?
- Is it time to define the ‘Terms of References’ for the ‘Hostage Policy’ and ‘Hostage Politics’ in the Country?
No comments:
Post a Comment