Difference between left and right politics in india
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What are right wing, left wing, and centre in Indian context?
These terms have a confusing meaning in the Indian context so I hope these images will aid the understanding better.
Historically "Right" has broadly come to be associated with conservative parties while "Left" with socialist parties.
So in an Indian context, this is what you'd expect on a political spectrum
The term "liberal" is associated with the Congress Party, usually referring to social liberalism and a mixed capitalist and socialist economy. Meanwhile, "conservative" is used to tag the BJP, largely taking into consideration the BJP's Hindu nationalist and social conservative policies.
However this is a very western approach of classifying politics in India. This model fails to take into account some of the unique nuances of Indian politics.
For example,
Would support for reservations be classified as liberal or conservative, especially since reservations have largely preserved the status quo, while a lack of reservations have significantly provided more opportunity for lower castes.
Should the casteist parties (Janta Dal, RJD, BSP, SP) be considered liberal or conservative (left winger or right)?
Indian political parties keep on changing their stance based on weather they are in power or not.
Therefore in an Indian context, this 2 dimensional political spectrum shows the current situation as to which party stands where on socio-economic left-right scale.
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While conventionally, Left and Right is used to represent social or economic positions, in India it exclusively refers to role Religion plays in the ideology. The Religion, is with a capital R as it exclusively refers to Hinduism, either in the religious sense or the cultural sense. Religions such as Jainism or Sikhism also tend to be clubbed in with Hinduism.
In terms of economic policies, almost every Party and Leader tend to have a socialist mindset, BJP included and we genuinely lack free-market oriented, or small government, political parties. BJP while believed to be more right economically, rightfully allows this perception to be perpetued to corner the middle class votes while continuing the socialist doles to avoid political suicide.
In terms of social values, the communist parties often tend to be more socially liberal, but only to an extent. Almost, any village level leader regardless of the party will take a similar social stand. We shouldn't be surprised to see the positions of political issues diverge more based on part of the country than within the country.
Right: Shiv Sena, Akali Dal, Hindu Mahasabha
Essentially, the parties that have Religion as a focal point of their agenda and a crucial factor for the support thery derive.
Right of Centre: BJP
I have not clubbed it with the Right, as under Modi it has moved considerably to the centre, with a larger role for minorities to play(e.g Goa) and also given its expanding national footprint, religion often takes a backseat. However, in certain states e.g Western Uttarpradesh, the party is distinctly more right as compared to Goa.
Left of Centre: Indian National Congress
Again, given a long and complicated history, it the ideology has been shifting it's position. However, under Sonia Gandhi, the party hasoved increasingly to the left, economic policies included. In certain states Congress behaves more left of Centre(eg. soft Hindutva in MadhyaPradesh). In several others it now almost regarded as Anti-Hindu e.g Malda in WB.
Left: CPI, CPI(M), AIMIM
These parties are referred to as the Left, either due to historical factors where they were to to the left of Nehru in terms of economic policies or are oppesed to the more identifiable Right parties. AIMIM with a very strong religious flavour is still considered to the left of the political spectrum, since classifying it as right would be terribly confusing and suggest ideological similarities with the BJP.
Essentially, as with every country India has its own unique definition of left and right. However, due to few differences in tems of economic policies, it essentially represents the Social and Religious conservatism.