Baba Ramdev’s decision to found a political party and contest 543 Lok Sabha seats in 2014 has the BJP worried. BJP President Nitin Gadkari has appealed to Baba Ramdev not to go ahead with the project. BJP is worried that Hindu votes will be split.
BJP and Baba Ramdev have some things in common. Both want Hindu Rashtra. Both talk of getting back black money in foreign banks.
Baba Ramdev knows the political parties in India. He has seen BJP’s rise and fall. He does not expect much from BJP.
BJP has alliance with various parties. It has no plan to contest 543 Lok Sabha seats in 2014.
Baba Ramdev wants death penalty for corruption, rape, dowry death, cow slaughter and terrorism. Many in India will oppose death penalty for cow slaughter. BJP would not like to have death penalty for corruption.
Baba Ramdev has said he had been preparing for the party for 20 years. He is unlikely to heed to BJP appeal or enter into a coalition with BJP.
Baba Ramdev’s estimate of black money is Rs.258 lakh crores. It is not known how this figure was arrived at. When this money comes to India what will be the exchange rate of rupee? Will the value of rupee vis-a-vis other currencies go up? If one rupee becomes equal to one dollar or euro or pound it is fine. This is presuming that Rs.258 lakh crores is Indian money illegally kept in foreign banks and the depositors will let it be there till India gets it back.
Baba Ramdev wants swadeshi. He wants to change educational, health, legal, economic, political, agricultural and administrative systems. In BJP some were in favour of swadeshi and they were not successful.
RSS has not said anything about Baba Ramdev’s political agenda. It controls BJP. It is unlikely to support Baba Ramdev.
Both BPJ and Baba Ramdev should realise that there are many in India who do not want Hindu Rashtra or Rama Rajya. For them Rama Rajya means oppression of Dalits and women. Non-Hindus can not expected to vote for a party that wants Hindu Rashtra.
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Tag: political parties in india
Political Parties in India
Most of the political parties in India are family or personal properties. Congress is the property of Nehru-Gandhi family, National Conference of Abdullah family, AIADMK of Jayalalitha, BSP of Mayawati, TMC of Mamata Banerjee, DMK of Karunanidhi, JD (S) of Deve Gowda and so on. BJP and Left Front parties are exceptions.
Constituencies have also handed over to family members. When an MP or MLA dies a member of his /her family is the inheritor.
A person who is unhappy in a party has to quit the party. He may join some other party or form his own party. Many parties have come into existence that way. Most of them disappear after sometime. Rarely someone topples the leader of the party and assumes control. Chandrababu Naidu toppled NTR and took control of TDP though technically it was split with NTR heading a faction.
At one time Election Commission of India insisted that every party should have internal elections as per its constitution. Any party that did not have internal elections as per its constitution was required to hold elections once every five years. Otherwise Election Commission could derecognise the party. At that time all parties complied. After that not much has been heard of party elections.
When YSR Reddy died there was a clamour for making his son Jaganmohan Reddy chief minister of Andhra Pradesh. Congress High Command resisted the pressure. It is said that Jaganmohan Reddy and his followers were disappointed and that led to opposition to the formation of Telangana to weaken K. Rosaiah.
Democracy has not been a hallmark of India’s political leaders. When in the election for the President of Congress Pattabhi Sitamaraiah lost and Subhash Chandra Bose won Mohandas Gandhi said Pattabhi Sitamaraiah’s defeat is my defeat. Subhash Chandra Bose had to resign after some months.
MLAs are supposed to elect the leader of the legislative party. Many times they pass resolutions authorising the party high command to appoint the leader. Leaders who have support of most MLAs are forced to resign or not to stake claim and someone else becomes chief minister. Many times someone who is not an MLA becomes chief minister. Sometimes he is unable to become MLA within six months and there is vacancy again.
Most of the parties are regional even though some of them have marginal presence outside their states. National Conference is of J&K, INLD of Haryana, BSP of UP, SP of UP, RJD of Bihar, TMC of West Bengal, AIADMK of Tamil Nadu etc.
Unless parties have internal democracy they can not grow. Some leaders may be charismatic and get votes and lead the party to victory sometimes but when he fails the party crumbles. In India there is no possibility of any party having internal democracy in the near future. Elections to Lok Sabha, Legislative Assembly and local bodies are the occasions for the people of India to express their choice and that decides the survival of parties.
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