POLITICS IN INDIA

Politics in India (Hindi:भारतीय राजनीति) takes place within the framework of a constitution. India is a federal parliamentary democratic republic in which the President of India is head of state and the Prime Minister of India is the head of government. India follow the dual polity, i.e. double government which consists of the union at the centre and states at the periphery. The constitution defines the organisation, powers and limitations of both central and state governments, it is written, rigid and supreme, i.e. laws of the nation must conform to it. There is provision for a 

bicameral legislature consisting of an Upper House, i.e. Rajya Sabha, which represent the states of the Indian federation and a lower house i.e. Lok Sabha, that represents the people of India as a whole. Indian constitution provides for an independent Judiciary headed by the Supreme Court to adhere and protect the constitution and to settle disputes between the centre and the states or between the states, it can also nullify any central or state laws if they are against the constitution.^[1]

The governments,union or state, are formed through elections held every five years(unless otherwise specified), by having the majority of members in their respective lower houses (Lok Sabha in centre and Vidhan Sabha in states). India has its first general election in 1951, which was dominated by Indian National Congress, and went on to dominate the successive elections, uptill 1977, when the first non-Congress government was formed for the first time in independent India. The 1990s saw the end of Single Party domination and rise of Coalition Governments. The elections for 16th Lok Sabha are to be held in April 2014.

Social issues

The lack of homogeneity in the Indian population causes division between different sections of the people based on religion, region, language, caste andrace. This has led to the rise of political parties with agendas catering to one or a mix of these groups.

Some parties openly profess their focus on a particular group; for example, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's focus on the Dravidian population, and the Shiv Sena's pro-Marathi agenda. Some other parties claim to be universal in nature, but tend to draw support from particular sections of the population. For example, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (translated as National People's Party) has a vote bank among the Yadav and Muslim population of Bihar and the All India Trinamool Congressdoes not have any significant support outside West Bengal.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, the party with the second largest number of MPs in the 15th Lok Sabha, has a Hindu nationalist reputation. Such support from particular sections of the population affects the agenda and policies of such parties, and call into question their claims of being universal representatives. The Congress may be viewed as the most secular party with a national agenda. Many political parties are involved in caste-, religion- or language-based politics.

The narrow focus and votebank politics of most parties, even in the central government and central legislature, sidelines national issues such as economic welfare and national security. Moreover, internal security is also threatened as incidences of political parties instigating and leading violence between two opposing groups of people is a frequent occurrence.

Economic issues

Economic issues like poverty, unemployment, development are main issues that influence politics. Garibi hatao (eradicate poverty) has been a slogan of the Indian National Congress for a long time. The well known Bharatiya Janata Party encourages a free market economy. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) vehemently supports left-wing politics like land-for-all, right to work and strongly opposes neo-liberal policies such as globalization, capitalism and privatization.

Law and order

Terrorism, Naxalism, religious violence and caste-related violence are important issues that affect the political environment of the Indian nation. Stringent anti-terror legislation such as TADA,POTA and MCOCA have received much political attention, both in favour and opposed.

Terrorism had effected politics India since its conception, be it the terrorism supported from Pakistan or the internal guerrilla groups such as Naxalites. In 1991 the former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated during an election campaign. The suicide bomber was later linked to the Sri Lankan terrorist group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, as it was later revealed the killing was an act of vengeance for Rajiv Gandhi sending troops in Sri Lanka against them in 1987.

The Babri Masjid demolition on December 6, 1992 by Hindu Karsevaks resulted in nation-wide communal riots in two months, with worst occurring in Mumbai with at least 900 dead.The riots were followed by 1993 Mumbai Bomb Blasts, which resulted in more deaths.

Law and order issues, such as action against organised crime are issues which do not affect the outcomes of elections. On the other hand, there is a criminal–politician nexus. Many elected legislators have criminal cases against them. In July 2008, the Washington Post reported that nearly a fourth of the 540 Indian Parliament members faced criminal charges, "including human trafficking, immigration rackets, embezzlement, rape and even murder".