Which is better; corrupt but secular political parties or corruption less but communal political parties
Vladimir Lenin once very rightly quoted that 'Politics begins where the masses are, not where there are thousands; but where there are millions, that is where serious politics begins' - which holds very true for a country like India, as in 1947 when we got Independence from the grips of Britain no one could speculate that this country would go on to become world's largest democracy.
Demographic analysis of India shows the varied structure of population spread along the length and breadth of the country ranging from Farmers, Soldiers, Traders, Laborers to Women, children, Business tycoons and Marginal employees. Therefore the best form of party system that suits the nation is a multi-party system which gives citizens a variety of choice to choose their leaders during largest festival a sprawling democracy celebrates i.e. Elections.
As per article 324 of Indian constitution and subsequently enacted Representation of the People Act, 1951 the constitutional authority responsible for administering election processes for multi parties contesting on each level is the Election Commission of India. As of now there are total 1841 parties registered, with 7 national, 49 state and 1785 unrecognized parties. Every recognized party differs in their political ideologies, development models, administrative functioning and geographical vision. So to find a party with all the Golden features required to transform a nation is a hard nut to crack.
Issues: In the recent few decades every political party at centre, state or grass root level has been found carrying flaws; pointed out by opposition, Election commission or in Parliamentary debates.
Out of these flaws two major ones that encircle each party tagging them suspicious are Corruption and not so secularist. In an advent of development and Economic growth it's really next to impossible to tell which party has come out to be an epitome of Utopia.
Because on one hand where corruption worth multi-crore like Commonwealth Games scam, 2G spectrum scam, Coal Mining & Cash for votes scam have dented the image of nation globally by placing India among low rankers with a poor score of 40 in corruption perception index by Transparency International. (Worst among Asian economies).
Similarly on the other hand major issues raised by Amnesty international report like abuse by armed groups, Caste based discrimination and violence, Communal and ethnic violence, Human rights violations are the reasons why Indian party politics seems flawed and needs a reality check.
Remedies: In this era where goals of our nation are really ambitious such as permanent UN security council seat, being a global growth engine with positive balance of trade and fighting terrorism, naxalism, border disputes and internal security.
Something really big has to be done which isn't possible unless a party with balanced power of Secularism and Transparency emerges out to set an example for other parties to follow. So not just better but a best possible option would be to turn existing parties into a blend of corruption-less and Secular parties.
Because a party that can hold both moral and political responsibilities enshrined in the Preamble of India is the need of the hour. Which can be achieved through following steps:-
1) Strengthening internal parties on grass root levels to function a smooth control over a group of population which won't have to rely on Vandalism, Riots and Arms to make their voices heard.
2) Monitoring and evaluation of funds allocated for welfare activities, Upliftment schemes and political campaigning during elections.
3) Becoming more inclusive and marginalized including Women, youth and unrepresented sections of society.
4) Adopting a holistic view with dual control by fulfilling developmental goals and catering interests of citizens by making them a part of decision making through RTIs, Community talks and Technological plateforms.
5) Doing away from party politics, corrupt practices and instigating masses by introducing an iota of transparency and accountability through Lokayukta and Lokpals.
Because it would be great to see one ideal party which would be better that thousand other ones who may follow the footmarks of one later. As only one is enough to bring about a revolutionary change in the democratic corridors of a developing nation like ours.
-Shailendra Chauhan
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