CONCEPT – COALITION GOVERNMENTS IN INDIA

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CONCEPT – COALITION GOVERNMENTS IN INDIA

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• A federal system: Political systems are federal or unitary, based on the distribution of powers between the centre and the state. The word federalism is derived from Latin Foedus, meaning League or treaty.
• Two levels: Federalism is a concept applied to a political system characterized by two levels of government deriving powers and functions from an authority which is not controlled by either level of government. The upper level of government is the national government and the lower level is a provincial or state government (or canton). Federalism requires understanding and negotiations between the centre and state governments in the making and implementation of policies.
• Coalition governments: These are a cabinet of a parliamentary government in which various political parties come together for governing. This immediately reduces the dominance of any one party within that "coalition".
• Why have a coalition government? Usually, this arrangement appears when no party on its own can achieve a majority in the parliament. A coalition government can be created in a time of nationals difficulty or crisis like a war or economic trouble. It gives the government a high degree of perceived political legitimacy.
• Nature of Indian Federalism: The history of the Indian federalism is traced back to the provisions in the Government of India Act, 1935. The Indian constitution fulfils the requirement of a federal system by prescribing the presence of two levels of governance simultaneously operating at (i) national (federal) government and (ii) state (provincial) government along with the division of powers between centre and state allocated by the constitution.
• Unitary bias: Though there is distribution of powers between centre and state in the Indian Federation and the respective areas of competence is earmarked, the constitution provides for a larger concentration of powers on the central government. In  the case State of Rajasthan v. Union of India, it was quoted that according to Granville Austin, the Constitution of India was perhaps the first constituent body to embrace from the start what A.H. Birch and others have called “cooperative federalism”.
• Emergence of coalitions in India: The process of fragmentation of the national party system and emergence of minority or coalition governments started in India from 1967. This period marked the emergence of coalitions and also new parties and mergers along with breakup of some parties and absorption of the others.

• The Indian Story:

1. Since 1947, Indian National Congress was the major political party and ruled most of the nation. The first PM Nehru, second PM Lal Bahadur Shastri and the third PM Indira Gandhi, all were from the Congress party.
2. Raj Narain, who unsuccessfully contested election against Indira from the constituency of Rae Bareilly in 1971, lodged a case, alleging electoral malpractices. In June 1975, Indira was found guilty and barred by High Court from holding public office for six years. The Emergency was declared under the pretext of national security, in 1975.
3. The 1977 election's result led to India's first-ever coalition govt. forming at the national level under PM Morarji Desai, which was also the first non-Congress national government. It worked from 24 March 1977 to 15 July 1979.
4. The first coalition was headed by the Janata Party, which was an amalgam of political parties opposed to Emergency imposed between 1975 and 1977. As the popularity of Janata Party dwindled, Morarji Desai had to resign and Charan Singh, a rival of Desai became the fifth PM. This coalition government did not complete its five-year term, and imploded.
5. Congress returned to the power in 1980 under Indira Gandhi, and later under Rajiv Gandhi as the 6th PM.
6. The next general election of 1989 once again brought a coalition government under National Front, which lasted until 1991, with two Prime Ministers, the second one being supported by Congress.
7. The 1991 election resulted in a Congress led stable minority government for five years.
8. The next 11th parliament produced three Prime Ministers in two years and forced the country back to the polls in 1998.
9. The first successful coalition government in India which completed the whole 5-year term was the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led National Democratic Alliance with Atal Bihari Vajpayee as PM from 1999 to 2004.
10. 2004-2014 : Another coalition – the Congress led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) – consisting of 13 separate parties ruled India for two terms from 2004 to 2014 with Manmohan Singh as PM.
11. 2014 : In the 16th general election in May 2014, BJP secured majority on its own (first party to do so since 1984 election) and National Democratic Alliance again came into power, with Narendra Modi as PM. 

• Issues with Coalition Governments in India:

1. In recent times, the appointment of the governor became controversial due to coalition form of government. Political compulsions to form the government especially at the national level solely guided by the majority gaining political party certainly results in deteriorating Centre-State relations.
2. The participation of regional parties in the Centre has significantly impacted Indian federal structure. The formation of coalition government has resulted to a large extent deviation from the characteristic of Indian federalism with centralising tendencies. With regional parties emergence the demand for state autonomy has increased.
3. Some also say that participation of regional parties has resulted in unstable, weak government at the centre. Every party to the coalition attempts to assert its own geographical, cultural and economic interests in the political process. The regional parties emphasis on the development of their region instead of focussing on the development of the nation as a whole.

• Summary: Thus, we may say that though the coalition form of Government provides an opportunity to different to Socio-Cultural and Economic parties to participate in the governance of the nation, it brings about new turf wars also. The regional parties at the centre attempt to articulate and aggregate regional interests irrespective of the larger interest of the nation which in turn affects the overall development. But given the vast diversity of India, such governments may be inevitable.

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