Is the Politics of Coalitions over?
Coalition meaning and its history in India:
Coalition in simple language means alignment of two or more political parties to form government at the centre or state level.
India got its first taste of the coalition govt at centre on 24 March 1977 when Janta Party under the Prime Minister Sh. Morarji Desai formed the government which only lasted till 15 July 1979. But it was Vajpayee ji led NDA govt in 1999 which completed its tenure. Just a couple of month back also we had UPA govt which was formed with congress and its alliance.
Now BJP won the elections with staggering majority. It was unprecedented for the second oldest party of India.
But does that mean, it is the end of coalition politics?
Politics of coalitions can't be over till we have by-party system. Although there are only two major parties in India and 6 national parties yet there are many regional parties which make it difficult for any single party to win elections without aligning with the regional parties.
Why was election a game changer in the politics of coalition?
The clear majority in this election was due to the combination of mainly two factors. One being the Modi wave and another was due to the anguish of people against the UPA government for the rising inflation and corruption levels. So this doesn't mean that it is the end of coalition politics.
Future:
In the next five years if this BJP govt doesn't deliver to its promises we may see coalition politics again coming back. Also when the regional parties like AAP, BSP, CPM, SP are spreading their wings to national politics, it makes difficult for the coalition politics to end.
It is also said that in India, you don't cast you vote, you vote your caste. This religion and region divide will always play a spoil sport for the parties to get clear majority. Yes, people have realized with time that religion can't get you food but development can but it's too early to predict this for the states which are not developed.
In politics everything is possible and with the alliance of RJD and JDU in Bihar, it becomes more evident. Who would have thought this few months back when JDU and BJP were together?
BJP may have won hands down but in states like Punjab, Karnatka, Maharashtra it will need the support and alliance of regional parties to form the state government.
Coalition is basically based on the theory that you scratch my back and I will scratch yours; meaning thereby that larger party wants smaller party to form govt and smaller party needs alignment to have their control in the proceedings of the centre or the state.
Also till there is no control the leaders who keep on changing their parties, the end of coalition cant be ended. Everyone knows the impact the leaders like Paswan had on the victory of BJP.
Conclusion:
Coalition might be good if the interest of people is kept in mind in deciding the matters but mainly coalition card is played to stop the other party from getting the chair.
Coalition starts the game of blame game. The larger party accuses the smaller parties of inaction and smaller parties accuse the larger party for the chair. Also, sometimes the inefficient or incapable people get the seats of central ministry which make the matters worse. Few seats in the ministry are often reserved for the collating parties. It's the public which have to suffer in the end. So, coalition govt has many drawbacks but looking at the religion and region divide in India we have to admit that coalition govt is a harsh reality with which we Indians have to live with.
-Anurag Sharma
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