Paradoxical Phenomenon of Regional Parties
STORIES, ANALYSES, EXPERT VIEWS
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) - the only religion-based political party in India - celebrated its 100th birthday on December 14 with our much fanfare. The party has ruled Punjab longer than any other political party and is currently trying to win Punjab in the upcoming Assembly poll.
Regional parties coexist with national parties
SAD’s existence for a hundred years, writes Kalyani Shankar (columnist, the former Political Editor of the Hindustan Times and former Washington correspondent of the Hindustan Times) “focuses on how small regional parties coexist with national parties like the Congress and the BJP. Many newer regional satraps like Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal, Nitish Kumar of Bihar, and Naveen Patnaik of Odisha have proved that good economics can also make good politics.
“The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and its offspring AIADMK have been powerful regional parties alternating in power in Tamil Nadu since 1967. The 1980s saw the emergence of many small political parties, including Telugu Desam (TDP), in Andhra Pradesh. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Trinamool Congress (TMC), PDP (J&K’s Peoples Democratic Party) and YSRCP (the ruling regional party based in Andhra Pradesh) led by Jagan Mohan Reddy are all the offspring of the Congress. Most of them have come to power ousting the national parties. UP has the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which had alternated in power since 1989 and yielded to the BJP only in 2017.”
Emergence of charismatic leaders: But, the “one thing in common is the emergence of charismatic leaders to head these regional parties. They include Bal Thackeray, Sharad Pawar, Mamata Banerjee, C M Annadurai, M Karunanidhi, M.G. Ramachandran, N.T. Rama Rao. Jayalalitha, Naveen Patnaik, Jagan Mohan Reddy, Dr. Farooq Abdullah, Mehboobha Mufti and Arvind Kejriwal, to name a few. Some of them have also become coalition partners in the NDA and UPA and ruled the country.
Moral of the story: regional satraps have found a new acceptable narrative
“Secondly, the regional satraps have found a new acceptable narrative to remain in power. Thirdly, Congress lost sheen and yielded place to many regional satraps. The BJP’s rise is only from 1998. The regional satraps have been able to satisfy the aspirations of the people of their region. The moral of the story is that the national parties have lost some of their space to regional outfits. These parties also believe in personality cults and coexist with the national parties in a democracy. This paradox is peculiar to Indian democracy.”
