The ‘Great’ Indian democracy

Individuals who believe in specific theory of developing India come together to form a political party. The theory becomes the party ideology. Party puts forward different representatives who present that ideology to the people. These people are voters. If voters believe in that ideology can benefit their constituency, issues or the nation they elect them to run the nation with that ideology.

These ideologies could be based on different issues –

1. Religion based – BJP, INC
2. Region based – Telangana Rashtriya Samiti, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, PDP (J&K)
3. Linguistic culture based – Shiv Sena, MNS
4. Caste based – Bahujan Samajwadi party, Republican party of India
5. Economic policy based – CPI, CPM

... and more


Another great democracy, United States of America follows a 2 party system whereas India has unlimited political parties. India has about 7 national parties, over 50 regional parties and more than 1,000 registered but non-operational political parties. Does that make us a fragmented nation? No.
India is a country of diversity. We have been learning that since standard I. We have people belonging to different tribes, ethnic profiles, economic sections, regions, religions, sects, castes, languages, dictions, migration histories, etc. Each of these have their cultural and emotional issues.
Also there are different geographical conditions in India like there are deserts along the western frontier, mountains along the north, flooding rivers along north-East and Coastline in the south. There are jungles, barren lands, fertile patches, and hilly plateaus. People living in different terrains have their specific set of problems that the terrain or the region gives rise to.
Then there are different levels of education, practices, cultures, beliefs, economic classes which means relevant set of concerns for each.
With the disparity that exists in India, it throws up different concerns and aspirations. To address this heterogeneity it becomes imperative to have different political parties represent different aspirations. Hence the multi-party democracy.

Secondly, the nature of democracy is majoritarian. It means that a majority opinion is considered for governance.