- The Indian democratic form of governance keeps throwing one or the other challenges where several criticalities are interwoven which is not easy to dissect or discern seamlessly. As you are aware, the national parties in a democratic country will be no more than 3 or 4 at the most interspersed with several regional parties. And in a geographically humongous country like India, regional parties hold sway in most of the regions, but one can also witness the overwhelming presence of national parties too. Looking back will reveal that the Grand Old Party had its presence across the length and breadth of the country for a long. Now, the Bharatiya Janata Party has steadily consolidated its presence in several important pockets of the country too.
PC: Soutik Biswas and Vijdan Mohammad Kawoosa
- Against this backdrop, the national party inevitably takes the lead in reaching out to strong regional outfits to not only gain a firm foothold in impressing the electorates but also eke out an independent identity to fulfill the expansionist ambitions. Yes, we have had a few successful coalition alliances emerging over the last two decades both at the national as well as regional levels. In between, the coalition government at the center was toppled too after a few months of coming into power. Yes, the common minimum program acted as the binding force but one-upmanship amongst the coalition partners invariably pulled the plug under the rug leading to a collapse of the feeble arrangements. Still a work in progress, you see.
- You would have noticed how the recent political developments in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu offer insights into the complexities of coalition politics. One of the major flashpoints in coalition politics in India is cracking the extremely complex caste arithmetic. This is where the ideologies like secularism vs nationalism vs nepotism vs jingoism vs offering sops to attract commoners get bandied about incessantly by every political party. Indeed, political parties will leave no stone unturned in consolidating the assiduously nurtured vote banks. In TN, the secretary of AIADMK mentioned that political ally BJP is trying to grow at the expense of his party. Soon after, leaders in both parties tried to paper over the cracks but the cracks will likely show again.
PC: Press Trust of India
- Similarly, the former chief minister of Karnataka HD Kumaraswamy of JD(S) claimed that he allowed his 14-month coalition government with Congress to crumble in 2019 on account of the mounting frustration in trying to manage the partnership. Yes, durable political coalitions are infrequent in India. An ambitious national party trying to expand its footprint will lead to frayed ties. The acrimonious fallout between long-standing allies BJP and Shiv Sena in Maharashtra was partly caused by clashing ambitions. Mind you, successful coalitions are also about partners reining in ambitions. Thus, it can be safely assumed that coalition governments will not succeed in the long run as partners will be pulling in different directions and also work at cross-purposes.
