POLITICAL PARTIES

INTRODUCTION
A political party is a group of citizens, more or less organized, having agreement
on broad principles of national policy. It tries to capture the government through
constitutional means.
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a
country's elections. It is common for the members of a political party to have
similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote
specific ideological or policy goals.
DEFINATIONS
According to R. G. Gettel, a political party is “a group of citizens more or less
organized, who act as a political unit and who by the use of their political power
aim at controlling the government and carrying out its general policies.”
Herman Finer defined it as “an organized body with voluntary membership, its
concerted energy being employed in the pursuit of political power.”
For Edmund Burke, it is “a body of men united for promoting by their joint
endeavors the national interest upon some particular principle in which they are all
agreed.”
R. M. MacIver considered it “an association organized in support of some principle
or policy which by constitutional means endeavors to make the determinant of the
government.”
From the above opinions we may infer that a political party is a group of citizens,
more or less organized, having some agreement on broad principles of national
policy with an effort to capture political power by some constitutional means.
CHARACTERISTICS OF POLITICAL PARTIES:
i) It should be an organized body, because it can derive strength from an effective
organization. Such an organization is all the more necessary to establish rapport
with the masses. Without a mass-basis, a political party cannot speak for the
people.
ii) The members of a political party must abide by the broad principles of public
policy adopted by its organization. The members may differ on the details of the
policy and programme, but there must be a cohesion of the minimum objectives of
the party.
(iii) Every political party must be national-minded, i.e., in aims and functions it
must take into consideration the interest of the nation. A party which falls short of
a national character and represents only a sectarian outlook cannot be a political
party.
(iv) It should be the bounden duty of every political party to capture power through
constitutional means. A party which does not have such power-capturing
programme cannot be included in the club of the political parties. But capturing
power by some violent or unlawful means cannot be allowed in the arena of the
political parties. The means of capturing such powers must also be peaceful and
lawful.
MERITS OF POLITICAL PARTIE
It Formulates Public Opinion:
Political parties are given the name of brokers of ideas, because their main focus is
on public opinion. The political parties formulate and organize public opinion. One
can say with confidence that but for the political parties there would be no public
opinion. It is the political parties that bring different issues before the people and
help to formulate opinion by their propaganda and discussion.
It Educates Public Opinion:
Through propaganda the political parties educate public opinion. The political
parties have their own newspapers, journals and various types of printed materials
through which they communicate their political ideology to the general public.
They also speak out their views through the press and the platform which are good
forums for public education. It is for this reason that A.L. Lowell called the
political parties “the brokers of ideas”.
The political parties threw the issue to the public to independently judge it. If the
issues are unacceptable, they are provided with the alternative. In this free
exchange of views, the public are enlightened in various aspects of public life.
Political Parties make the People Public-Spirited:
In addition to educating the people in public affairs, the political parties also
generate interest among the people on matters of public importance. We, therefore,
find that the entire population of the country is agog with a renewed enthusiasm
during the general elections of the country. This interest during the elections makes
the public attached to the interests of the nation. The final outcome is that the
people become patriotic and nation-conscious.
Political Parties Create National Unity:
Since every political party cover the majority of the voters irrespective of religion,
caste or sect, men of all occupations and walks of life get united under the banner
of the political party. This is so, because every national party must have national
consideration above other considerations.
It Works as a Link between the Government and the People:
The political party that commands majority in the legislature establishes a rapport
with the people and the government and thus serves as an effective link between
the people and the government. In this way, it helps the government to be really
representative of the wishes of the people. This kind of harmony between the
people and the government prevents the outbreak of any revolt or revolution in the
country.
It is Essential for the Success of Parliamentary Democracy:
Political parties are a must for the successful working of parliamentary form of
government. A parliamentary government is one where the majority party forms
the government and the minority party forms the opposition. Both being
indispensable in a parliamentary government it is not possible to make the
parliamentary mechanism function without them.
DEMERITS OF POLITICAL PARTIES
It Hampers Individuality:
Political parties deter individual thinking and individual way of life. The iron
discipline of the political parties, commonly known as the party whip, reduces the
party cadre into dumb driven cattle. The members of a political party sit and, stand
at the bidding of the party bosses.
If anybody expresses his own independent views not in line with the party
programme he is expelled from the party. It is this fear of expulsion that seals the
lips of the party members. This factor is responsible in reducing the party-men into
blind followers of the party bosses. We must, however, admit that without this type
of party discipline there will be utter chaos and anarchy in the party administration.
It Curbs Loyalty to the State:
The selfish and narrow outlook of the party is a hindrance to the loyalty to the
state. Very often the parties take to the streets and disrupt the administration to the
serious damages of the national interests. The political parties have a tendency to
subordinate the interest of the nation to that of the party. They do not hesitate to
think that their party is more important than the state.
So the net result of the parties is that the loyalty to the state suffers. We have to
note that this argument against political parties is not tenable, every political party
is required to make a declaration that the national integration must have primacy
over narrow party loyalties.
It Destroys Public Morality:
Political parties have no principles of public morality, display no sense of social
awareness and show no concern for public well-being. Rajiv Gandhi admits “There
is flagrant confrontation between what we say and what we do.” He found his own
party usurped by “self-penetrating cliques” of “brokers of power and influence”.
If Disrupts National Unity:
The third point of criticism against political parties is that they create a division
among the people and thereby stand in the way of national unity. They split the
nation into several irreconcilable camps. There is a tendency in all democratic
states to notice the people divided as the leftists and the rightists.
This is like a kind of division on religious grounds. In that case, the political parties
are definitely doing a great disservice to the nation. Very often violence is
associated with the party clashes. This argument is also not acceptable, because the
political parties put the nation above everything. If they cannot carry the whole
nation with them, they will lose their own existence as political parties.
It Demoralizes Public Opinion:
The party bosses and their followers have a tendency to harp on false propaganda
and imaginary calculations. In heart they know that things are in reality different
from what they are depicting. This kind of suppression of truth is called
suppression veri while the propagation of falsehood is called suggestio falsi.
Every political party glorifies itself and belittles the other parties. The party-men
are prone to get themselves confined to the party shells and they cannot come out
with the facts even if these were necessary in the interest of truth. They hedge their
charges against their opponents with deliberate disinformation. They have no
independent thinking and voice. They speak in their master’s voice.
So the party spirit encourages false-hood and immorality. The result is that the
public opinion generated by the party propaganda is one of confusion and
misguidance. It is common to hear from the public platform the scandals against
the leadership of the other parties, while the attack should have been on the wrong
policies and programs of the other parties.
Conclusion:
Political parties have merits and demerits. A rose has its thorns. We are to take the
rose, not the thorns. So instead of eliminating the political parties we should try to
preserve its good aspects and remedy the bad ones. This is all the more necessary
because democracy cannot function without political parties. Conversely, political
parties cannot thrive in the absence of democracy.
So, if we accept democracy, we are to accept the political parties. Democracy in
England and the USA has been successful because of healthy political parties. To
put it in another form, national unity in these two countries has not been at stake
because of political parties. Nor have the political parties curbed loyalty to the
nation or demoralized public opinion in these two countries.
In fine, the political parties constitute the life-blood of democracy.
So we may conclude with the words of W. B. Munro:
“No country has ever been able to maintain, over considerable period of time, any
form of democratic government without aid of political parties. And it is safe to
prophesy that no country ever will.”