Other parties

There are many other regional or smaller parties serving as the advocates of regional or social groups. There are parties like Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) or Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which have been formed to express regional aspirations. There are parties like Rashtriya Lok Dal and Samajvadi Party which lobby for farmers’ interests. In majority of cases these parties are offshoots of All India Congress party. At different times these parties were born due to political differences between their founders and the central leadership, or due to their emphasis on specific issues. When no single party gets the majority in parliamentary elections or elections of state legislative assemblies they play a very crucial role in formation of government or in influencing the government policies. In national debates on issues which go beyond their major concerns also they play a significant role which is often guided by the political interests of their leaders.

There is, however, a caveat here. Many a times the new generation doesn’t know the roots/origin of the existing political parties such as Congress, BJP, etc. It is through the media coverage of the speeches of leaders and activities/rallies/etc., the new generation gets informed about the policies and programmes of different parties. Further, if we analyze the formation of government at the Central level, and also the formation of government in several States, in recent years/decades, we find that it is mostly on the basis of coalition (as absolute majority is lacking even by the major political parties Congress and BJP) that a government is formed. Several of the smaller parties may or may not be in existence few years/decades down the line. Their leaders may join larger parties and they may get absorbed one or more larger parties. If we see the trend of the last few elections, it is clearly noticed that absolute majority is becoming a distant dream; there is a rise of a number of regional political parties which play a major role in government formation. In such a scenario any discussion of the party manifestoes becomes meaningless and pragmatism and populism gain greater importance. Side by side a few social workers such as Anna Hazare or Yoga Gurus like Baba Ramdev have occupied the centre stage of politics and are affecting the public opinion.