Role of Regional Political Parties in India
Role of Regional Political Parties
Regions in India are sub-national units. Under conditions of freedom and democratic political system, the regions were bound to demand and quite legitimately, their autonomous right for self-development. This is the logic of the federal system. Naturally, therefore, the rise of regional demands was inevitable. This resulted in the emergence and popularity of regional political parties.
In the early years of Indian independence, the role of regional parties in our democratic political system was just nominal. They were not a force to be reckoned with. But with the passage of time, the regional parties in State politics started gaining more importance.
In the present political scenario of the country, the role of the regional parties has become all the more important.
Legally speaking, there is no regional party as such provided for by and law of the land. The Election Commission in India recognizes two types of parties:
The National parties and
The State parties.
In general parlance, the State parties are termed as regional parties.
Most regional political parties have grown in the last three decades as instruments to capture the non-Congress space in their respective States and sometimes they play a crucial role in State politics. The regional parties—the AIDMK and ADMK, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), Nagaland People’s Council etc., maintain that the problems of their regions are not being attended to by the Central Government.
Other major regional parties like the Telegu Desam Party, Akali Dal etc. are some about the lack of educational facilities, good roads, water, electricity and communications in their respective regions.
In our coalition politics, we have seen that on several occasions, the multi-party system has made the national political parties dependent on regional parties when no all-India party was in a position to secure absolute majority in the Lok Sabha.
Because of this compulsion, the national political parties are constrained to conclude electoral alliances with the regional political parties. Most regional parties have come to stay as important political formations enjoining sizeable electoral support.
In India’s federal democratic polity, regional and local parties would continue to have relevance and appeal, especially for certain dominant social and economic interests. Many of these parties, in effect, have a characteristic similar to pressure and interest groups, both in their size and role in the political system. Their influence waxes and wanes in the context of national parties.
Several regional parties become coalition partners of national parties in forming State Governments. Some regional parties however, remain stable and major political formations in few States. In short, in our parliamentary coalition political system, the national parties cannot afford to ignore the regional political parties.
