Briefly explain – a) What has contributed to the strengthening of federalism and democracy in our country? Explain. b) “Lack of internal democracy within parties is a major challenge to political parties all over the world.” Analyse the statement.
Answers
Answer:
(a)There was a beginning of the era of COALITION GOVERNMENTS at the
Centre since 1990s. Since no single party got a clear majority in the Lok Sabha, the major national parties had to enter into an alliance with many parties including several regional parties to form a government at the Centre. This has led to a new culture of power sharing and respect for the autonomy of State Governments.
This trend was supported by a major judgement of the Supreme Court that made it difficult for the Central Government to dismiss state governments in an arbitrary manner. Thus, federal power sharing is more effective today than it was in the early years after the Constitution came into force.
(b)Tendency in political parties towards the concentration of power in one or few leaders at the top.
Parties do not keep membership registers.
They do not hold organizational meetings.
They do not conduct internal elections regularly.
Ordinary members of the party do not get sufficient information about the happening of the party.
Personal loyalty to the leader becomes more important.