What led to the Rise of Regional Parties in India?
The fear of losing their cultural, political, and socioeconomic identity was the main factor behind the growing support base for regional parties in the 1960s thus these regional parties in India, have made Indian politics diverse. While these regional parties aim to fulfill the regional aspirations of people, it also cooperatively works with national-level parties. Thus, such a system of coordination has strengthened national unity. The central government has begun paying attention to addressing these regional problems.
The concept of regional parties is not limited to India. These parties are also found in other countries and have a profound influence over national politics. Some groups may oppose supporting them. According to such groups, regional parties have led to political instability and an increase in the demand for autonomy of regions. Political parties at the regional level have exploited the region’s ethnic and cultural factors.
Positive Regionalism
Some view the participation of regional parties as essential in the wake of the democratic spirit. The parties, according to them, have given spaces to articulate the interests of the underrepresented and neglected class.
Being the largest democracy in the world, India has an important feature of the multi-party system, which is recognized as national, state, and district-level parties. Positive regionalism is a way to strengthen and unite people divided by geographical and cultural attributes. The growth of regional parties in India is still in momentum. The following are some of the major reasons behind it:
- People from different regions are gaining knowledge about the importance of their distinct cultural identity. With a view to embracing and promoting their ethnic interests, regional parties are gaining importance. These parties highlight the regional imbalances and the neglect of their regions by the central government.
- The principle of self-governance and the desire to exploit the features of federalism has also led to the promotion of regionalism. These subcultural divisions have also ensured greater autonomy for the regions.
- In order to restrict the central government from taking actions that would disregard other communities and cultures, regional parties act as protectors of the interests of their respective regions.
- It is also important to note that the feeling of regionalism has persisted also because individuals have failed to recognize the interconnection of their own interests with national interests.
- The economic growth of India at the macro level has not been consistent. There are states that face bottlenecks at the regional level of growth. This inconsistency has intensified regional imbalances and inequalities.
- Political activities in various states have experienced corruption and scams. Due to this reason, government policies and programs were not effectively implemented.
- The expenditure of the central government on investment in human capital formation is not evenly spread across different states.
Role of Regional Parties in India
An important feature of the Political system in India is the presence of a large number of regional parties that play an important role in the politics of India at various levels- local, state, and national level. As the regional parties were becoming more assertive in national politics, the distinction between state and national-level parties was increasingly diminishing. The rise of many state-level parties has made it difficult for any single party to secure majority seats in the lower house. This kick-started the era of coalition politics, wherein different political parties joined hands to form a government. These regional parties have pressured the central government to recognize their interests thereby making the latter weaker.