Role of Political Parties in Indian Democracy

Leaders who are most successful are often able to extract the best out of their people. In order to do so, they allow people to take independent decisions. They delegate both responsibility and authority. People need not come to their superiors to consult them on every issue. They are trusted to take care of decision making in their own realms. Consequently there is a sense of empowerment and resilient agency among people, as they acquire a sense of ownership and exert effort thinking that the country is their own, and they have to strive for its success. Selflessness is an important characteristic that leaders must possess. This allows leaders to think beyond themselves and care for other organizational stakeholders. Once other organizational stakeholders know that their leaders genuinely care for them, they are willing to put in their best efforts. From their leaders, other people also learn to work selflessly, as they seek to emulate their leaders. This leads to mutual goals being achieved, as both leaders and people are able to work for each other, rather than for themselves. Research has also indicated that feelings of selflessness as demonstrated by the citizenship behaviour of altruism result in increased job satisfaction. People deeply appreciate kindness and better quality of interpersonal relationships as this satisfies their needs of community, dignity and respect. Their social needs are also taken care of, as they can rely on each other for support. The need for belonging to a sense of community, which is an important social need, is also taken care of when leaders exhibit kindness towards their people. The nature of leadership also influences the events that take place in terms of the social exchange of people with the country. Some of these events have the potential for fostering values of altruism in people, while others can lead to a sense of competition. To a large extent, it is a function of leadership to see whether feelings of altruism are cultivated among people, or whether they begin to compete with each other. When the work environment does not encourage authentic relationships between people, and they have to engage in emotional labour through surface and deep acting, the job satisfaction levels of people decline. Thus, the lack of emotionally fulfilling expressions at work leads to lower levels of satisfaction, and this can also hinder the culture of excellence in the country. If leadership desires to create a culture of excellence in the country, it is necessary that people have the space to discover and express their emotional selves in the fullest possible ways. In the event of such emotionally fulfilling expressions, there are several benefits that could emerge for the country. The coordination between team members and information exchange between them creates the possibility of fulfilling strategic role expectations. It is the responsibility of leadership to create an environment of coordination, where people feel free in exchanging information and knowledge with each to contribute to the general excellence of the country.

Owing to the diverse geographical, social and cultural concerns, India has nurtured the growth of the multi-party system. Over a period of time, national and regional political parties became the vital constituents of the world’s largest democracy, India. Whether the proliferation of parties has helped the country’s cause, is a different debate altogether. However, it’s important to know what exactly these political parties stand for and what role do they play within the parliamentary democracy. Every political party has its own set of vision and ideologies , which are often aligned with the needs and concerns of the state or region they belong to. Once people choose them during the elections, they become legitimate rulers of the country. The party members get the power to run the executive, as well as the legislative machinery of India. The party that wields the power also bears certain responsibilities. The primary onus of building political and social consciousness lies on the parties. Under the greater objective of serving the nation and its people, there are several smaller goals that parties set for themselves to ensure that public concerns are allayed, social indicators are favored and corruption is eradicated. In case of a coalition setup, the national and regional parties work together to become a platform for common people to put forward their views. They become the voice of the people by representing them at a national level. While the primary role of the ruling party is to run the government effectively, the ones who sit in the opposition also have their tasks cut out. They position themselves as government watchdogs, with the sole mission of scrutinizing the ruling party’s actions. It is incumbent upon them to prevent the ruling party from becoming dictatorial. On a much broader level, the opposition gives a probing look into the performance of the government and sees to it that good governance benefits the entire nation and not just a few communities. In India, the opposition parties are quick to act against faulty policies and unjust laws. There had been incidents when strong protests were staged against certain bills forcing the government to retract. However, there is a downside to excessive interference and impudence at various levels of functioning. It often derails the development process. The political parties in India, both the ruling and the opposition, need to practice more discretion and Political parties perform an important task in government. They bring people together to achieve control of the government, develop policies favorable to their interests or the groups that support them, and organize and persuade voters to elect their candidates to office. Although very much involved in the operation of government at all levels, political parties are not the government itself, and the Constitution makes no mention of them. The basic purpose of political parties is to nominate candidates for public office and to get as many of them elected as possible. Once elected, these officials try to achieve the goals of their party through legislation and program initiatives. Although many people do not think of it this way, registering as a Democrat or Republican makes them members of a political party. Political parties want as many people involved as possible. Most members take a fairly passive role, simply voting for their party's candidates at election time. Some become more active and work as officials in the party or volunteer to persuade people to vote. The most ambitious members may decide to run for office themselves.

The people represented by elected officials are called constituents. Whether Republican or Democrat, constituents make their concerns known to their representatives. In turn, elected officials must not only reflect the concerns of their own political party but must also try to attract support from people in their districts or states who belong to the other party. They can attract this support by supporting bipartisan issues (matters of concern that cross party lines) and nonpartisan issues (matters that have nothing to do with party allegiance). Political parties are not policymaking organizations in themselves. They certainly take positions on important policy questions, especially to provide alternatives to the position of whichever party is in power. When in power, a party attempts to put its philosophy into practice through legislation. If a candidate wins office by a large majority, it may mean that the voters have given him or her a mandate to carry out the program outlined in the campaign. The party political domain of India is replete with a large number of parties representing the tapestry of the Indian society. Many of them are based in specific regions and states, built around social and linguistic identities. While this enhanced the representative character of the parties, it also contributed to varied patterns of political competition and unstable governments. The two major national parties—the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party—becoming ready and willing to form coalitions heralded an era of coalition governments both at the centre and states,

offs. Parties across the political spectrum have tended to converge on macroeconomic policy, but continue to diverge on social policies and larger issues that confront India, such as nation building and secularism. Chronic lack of internal democracy coupled with the rise of political corruption and clientelist practices are matters of serious concern. A broader view of governance, resisting temptations to concentrate power and pursue personal enrichment would enable parties to deliver policies for a better, more just society. The particular social divisions that the two countries encounter are different from each other, although not unique in terms of the types of social divisions typically encountered by nascent or even established democracies.

India has not experienced military interventions, the majority of its people did suffer extreme oppression under apartheid for more than forty years and less formalized oppression for much longer. Ultimately, the two countries are ripe for research because of their success at democratization relative to their peer states and also because the challenges they still face with social division over religious and ethnic issues are common challenges to democracies, particularly transitional ones.

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Academic Journal, 3, 2013.