Founder
(of BJS): Syama
Prasad Mookerjee (1901-1953)
Presidents:
It
is the dominant component of the National
Democratic Alliance. As the largest party
in opposition former party president and Deputy Prime
Minister in the previous government Lal
Krishna Advani is the leader
of the opposition in the 13th Lok
Sabha.
The party has close ties to the Hindu
nationalist
Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) organization and
is considered by many to be responsible for inciting
Hindu-Muslim riots on a number of occasions. Muslim
groups claim that workers of the BJP were responsibe
for destroying the Babri Mosque
in Ayodhya which, many Hindu groups allege, had been
built after destroying a Hindu
temple.
The
BJP considers itself to be a Hindutva
party and defines Hindutva not in terms of religion
but as Indian-ness. According to the party this is
in consonance with the root meaning of the word Hindu
by which the Arabs referred to all people inhabiting
India. However the BJP is considered by some to be
a Hindu-fundamentalist
party.
In
2002,
Abdul Kalam,
architect of the Indian nuclear programme, was nominated
by the BJP in spite of being a Muslim to become President
of India and he won the subsequent elections
for the post. This nomination is seen by many as a
bargaining point as non-Hindu candidates are conspicuous
by their absence in the BJP.
Following
the 2004
elections, the NDA was confronted with
its failure to secure sufficient seats to form a government.
There were significant setbacks in rural states, but
the BJP also had major reversals in key urban centres
including Mumbai,
Calcutta,
Delhi
and Chennai.
This electoral shock was widely attributed to popular
discontent with the BJP's record on economic policy,
notably its perceived inability to extend the benefits
of strong economic growth to a broader range of the
populace. Disaffection was particularly evident amongst
the rural electorate, suffering under the pressures
of drought, a dearth of infrastructure investment,
and relative impoverishment. The mantle of power has
thus passed to the alliance headed by the Indian
National Congress, led by Sonia
Gandhi.
On
July 14, 2004,
the BJP announced that it would oppose the proposed
hike in sectoral caps for foreign
direct investment in the insurance, civil
aviation and telecom sectors. This is in contrast
to the policies the NDA followed when it was in power
when it hiked caps and introduced foreign direct investment
in insurance sector.
The
Communist Party of India (CPI) is a political
party in India. In the Indian communist movement
there are different views on exactly when the
Indian communist party was founded. The date
maintained as the foundation day by CPI is 26
December 1925. But the Communist Party of India
(Marxist), which is a split-off from CPI, claims
that the party was founded in USSR in 1920. |
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Communist during the colonial period
During the 1920s and beginning of 1930s the party
was badly organized, and in practice there were several
communist groups working with limited national coordination.
The British colonial authorities had banned all communist
activity, which made the task of building a party
very difficult. Only in 1935 was the party ready to
be accepted as the Indian section of the communist
Third International.
I
connection with the change of policy of the ComIntern
toward Popular Front politics, the Indian communists
changed their relation to the Indian National Congress.
The communists joined the Congress Socialist Party,
the leftwing of Congress. In Kerala communists won
control over CSP, and for a brief period controlled
Congress there.
During
the Second World War the were drastic changed for
the Indian communists. After that the USSR had sided
with Britain in the war, the Communist Party of India
was legalized for the first time. Communists strengthened
their control over the All India Trade Union Congress.
At the same time, communists were politically cornered
for their nonsupport to the Quit India Movement.
Communists after Independence
Mural in Thiruvanathapuram.During the period around
and directly following Independence in 1947 the internal
situation in the party was chaotic. The party shifted
rapidly between leftist and rightist positions. In
several areas the party led armed struggles against
a series of local monarchs that were reluctant to
give up their power. Such insurgencies took place
in Tripura, Tebghana and Kerala. The most important
rebellion took place in Telegana, against the Nizam
of Hyderabad. Communist built up a people's army and
militia and controlled an area with a population of
three million. The rebellion was brutally crushed
and the party left the armed struggle. In the general
elections in 1957, CPI emerged as the largest opposition
party.
In
1957 CPI won the state elections in Kerala. This was
the first time that a opposition party won control
over an Indian state. E.M.S. Namboridipad became Chief
Minister.
A
serious division surged in 1962. One reason was the
Indo-China border conflict, where they Soviet loyalists
part of the Indian communists backed the position
of the Indian government, whereas the oppositional
tendency claimed that it was a conflict between a
socialist and a capitalist state. The split was completed
in 1964 when two parallell party conferences were
held, one of CPI and one of the Communist Party of
India (Marxist).
During
the period 1970-77 CPI was allied with Congress. In
Kerala there was government together with Congress,
with the CPI-leader Achutha Menon as Cheif Minister.
After the fall of the regime of Indira Gandhi, CPI
reoriented itself towards cooperation with CPI(M).
|
Communist Party of India (Marxist) |
The Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M),
is a political party in India. It is strongest
in West Bengal and Tripura, where it is holding
government (2004). It split from the Communist
Party of India in 1964 because of what it describes
as the latter's revisionism and sectarianism.
It claims to have 814,408 members as of 2002.
CPI(M)
took 5,5% of vote in last legislative election
(May 2004) and it has 43 MPs. They support new
Indian National Congress-led United Progressive
Alliance government, but without taking part
in it. |
 |
In
West Bengal and Tripura it participates in Left Front.
In Kerala the party is part of Left Democratic Front.
In Tamil Nadu it is part of the Progressive Democratic
Alliance.
The
current general secretary of CPI(M) is Harkishan Surjit
Singh. The CPI(M) MP Somnath Chatterjee is the speaker
of the Lok Sabha (2004).
Propaganda
vehicle The principal mass organizations of CPI(M)
are:
Democratic Youth Federation of India
Students Federation of India
Centre of Indian Trade Unions
All India Kisan Sabha (peasants' organization)
All India Agricultural Workers Union
All India Democratic Women's Association
In Tripura, the Ganamukti Parishad is a major mass
organization.
Students Federation of India
Mural in Kolkata From the Centre, two weekly newspapers
are published, People's Democracy (English) and Lok
Lehar (Hindi).
On state level there are a variety of vernacular publications,
including five daily newspaper;
Ganashakti
(West Bengal, Bengali)
Deshabhimani (Kerala), Malayalam)
Daily Desher Katha (Tripura, Bengali)
Theekathir (Tamil Nadu, Tamil)
Prajashakti (Andhra Pradesh, Telugu)
CPI(M) poster
In
Hindi CPI(M) is often called MaKaPa (Marksvadi Kamyunist
Party).
A
large number of parties have been formed from splits
of the CPI(M), such as CPI(ML) (where Communist Party
of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation has it's roots),
Marxist Communist Party of India, Marxist Coordination
Committee in Jharkhand, Janathipathiya Samrakshana
Samithy and Communist Marxist Party in Kerala, Party
of Democratic Socialism in West Bengal, People's Democratic
Front in Tripura, Ram Paslagruppen in Punjab, Orissa
Communist Party in Orissa, etc.
The
Indian National Congress (which later
became the Congress Party) is the oldest
surviving political organisation in India,
and is also one of its largest political parties.
In the 13th
Lok Sabha (1999-2004),
it was the second largest party with 109
members.It played a major role in the Indian
independence movement and was the
ruling party in most of independent India's
governments. |
 |
Following
the 2004
elections, the Congress Party is again the
ruling party.
It was founded in 1885
with the object of obtaining a greater share in government
for educated Indians, and was initially not opposed
to British rule. Indeed, it was a Scotsman, Allan
Octavian Hume, who brought about its first
meeting in Bombay,
with the approval of Lord
Dufferin, the then-Viceroy. Later, however,
its demands became more radical in the face of constant
opposition from the government, and the party became
very active in the independence movement. During this
period there were two camps in the Congress: the Garam
Dal, or Extremists (literally "hot faction"), and
the Naram Dal, or Moderates (literally "soft
faction");depending on their attitude towards the British.
Its leaders before Indian independence included Mohandas
Gandhi (aka Mahatma Gandhi) and Subhash
Chandra Bose (also known as Netaji S. C.
Bose).
Gandhi is said to have held the view that the party
was formed only for independence and should have been
disbanded in 1947.
But the party ruled India for much of the time after
independence under Jawaharlal
Nehru, Nehru's daughter Indira
Gandhi, her son Rajiv
Gandhi, and P.
V. Narasimha Rao, among others.
In the 1980s
and 1990s
it was also known as Congress-I, where the I stood for
Indira (initially to distinguish it from Congress-O,
led by Kamaraj,
and other organisations). Slowly, many groups broke
away from the Congress and there are now scores of parties
each derived from the Congress and hence having Congress
somewhere in their party names, thus decreasing somewhat
the strength of the Congress from the 1940s
to the 60s,
when it used to regularly get a two-thirds majority
in Parliament.
Until recently, the Congress Party was the main opposition
party at the Center (i.e., the central or federal government)
and has also formed the government in a majority of
Indian states. In 2004,
it again became the ruling party of India.
Its current leader is Sonia
Gandhi, widow of the former Prime Minister
Rajiv Gandhi. There was some controversy about the foreign
(Italian) origin of Sonia Gandhi, which raised doubts
about the appropriateness of her becoming the Prime
Minister, when the party returned to power in 2004.
In the election
of 2004, the Congress won an upset victory
over the Bharatiya
Janata Party of Atal
Behari Vajpayee. Shortly thereafter Sonia
Gandhi was nominated by the 19 Congress allies to be
the next Prime
Minister of India. But in what was described
as dropping of a political bombshell, Sonia Gandhi
refused to take the position based on her "inner
voice". Eminent economist, former Union Finance
Minister and senior Congress leader Dr. Manmohan
Singh was backed by her for the post of Prime
Minister. The swearing in ceremony took place on 22
May 2004
.
Leaders
Janata
Dal is an Indian political party which broke
off from the Janata Party.
It
first came to power in 1989, after allegations
of corruption, known as the Bofors affair, caused
Rajiv Gandhi's Congress (I) to lose the elections.
The National Front coalition that was formed
consisted of the Janata Dal and a few smaller
parties in the government, and had outside support
from the BJP and the Communists. V. P. Singh
was the Prime Minister.
|
 |
In November 1990, this coalition collapsed, and a
new government headed by Chandra Shekhar which had
the support of the Congress (I) and a faction of the
Janata Dal came to power. This coalition fell shortly
causing new elections in June 1991 which brought the
Congress back to power.
Its
second spell of power started in 1996, when the Janata
Dal-led United Front coalition came to power, with
outside support from the Congress, choosing H. D.
Deve Gowda as their Prime Minister. Congress (I) withdrew
their support in less than a year, hoping to gain
power with the support of various United Front constituent
groups, and Inder Kumar Gujral became the next Janata
Dal Prime Minister. His government fell in a few months,
and in February 1998, the Janata Dal-led coalition
lost power to the BJP.
This
party has had several splits. Amongst the larger splinter
groups include the Rashtriya Janata Dal, which rules
the state of Bihar, and the Janata Dal United Party,
whose leader George Fernandes is India's Defense Minister.
Several smaller splinter groups also exist.
| Nationalist
Congress Party |
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is an Indian
political party.
It
was formed on May 25, 1999, by Sharad Pawar, P.A.
Sangma, and Tariq Anwar after a dispute with the the
Congress (I) Party about the role of Sonia Gandhi
in the party's leadership. The three leaders protesting
about Italian roots of Sonia Gandhi.
In
January 2004, Sangma quit the NCP to join with NEPF
because he felt Sharad Pawar was getting closer to
NCP's enemy Sonia Gandhi.
The
NCP advertises itself a progressive, secular party
that stands for "democracy, Gandhian secularism,
equity, social justice, and federalism." It positions
itself as a moderate, left-leaning alternative to
the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress.
The party's election symbol is an analog clock that
reads 10:00. The party is in power in state of Maharashtra
with Congress(I) support and some of its members are
in Manmohan Singh's cabinet at center, after victory
of Congress(I) in 2004.
1.1
Proposed Governmental Commissions
NCP Policies
Establishment of a national agricultural policy
Establishment of a national policy to empower women
Review and revision to the national health policy
to add a separate sub-component on women's health
Integrated implementation of a national nutrition
policy to merge and coordinate various services provided
by different government departments and agencies
Citizenship law reform to stipulate that high offices
in government be confined to natural-born Indian citizens
(see Sonia Gandhi)
Reserving for women one-third of the seats in parliament
and in state legislatures
Enactment of a competition law to protect against
corrupt practices
Enactment of a bio-diversity law to protect bio-diversity
and intellectual property
Enactment of a law establishing an independent telecasting
authority
Proposed Governmental Commissions
An Exclusive Scheduled Tribes Commission with constitutional
status
An Exclusive Minorities Commission with constitutional
status
A Commission on Corporate Governance to establish
self-regulating Fair Practices Code
Railways Safety Commission.
The Samata Party is a political party in India. It
is led by George Fernandes. In October 2003, it announced
that it will be merging with the Janata Dal (United)
Party. It is part of the ruling coalition the National
Democratic Alliance.
In
the 13th Lok Sabha (1999-2004), it had 12 (out of
545) members.
