By IANS,
New Delhi : The era of coalition governments since 1989 has its genesis in the late 1960s when multiple bipolarities to the Congress started emerging in the states, political analyst E. Sridharan said Wednesday, adding that coalition politics had opened up space for smaller parties.
Delivering a lecture “Coalition Politics in India” at the Political Science Department of Jamia Millia Islamia, Sridharan said the vote share of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the regional parties had risen in the 1990s.
Sridharan, who is Academic Director at the University of Pennsylvania Institute for the Advanced Study of India, said no single party has has got absolute majority in general elections since 1989 and this necessitated the formation of minority or coalition governments.
“The years 1967-89 saw the emergence of multiple bipolarities,” he said, adding that the opposition non-Congress space in states was occupied by different political parties.
He said in Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, the opposition space was occupied by the Jan Sangh and later by the BJP while in states such as West Bengal, Tripura and Kerala by the Left parties.
He said Congress lost power in some major states in 1967.
“The first expression of coalition was to form a broad coalition against Congress,” he said, adding ideologically indiscriminate candidates were put together to win against Congress candidates.
He said in 1977 there was unification of a few parties into Janata Party on an anti-Congress platform.
Sridharan said in 1989 general elections there was adjustments between various parties to defeat the Congress.
“They (opposition parties) did not unify themselves into a party as it did not work (earlier),” he said.
He said National Front government consisted of regional parties such as Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and was supported from outside by the BJP and Left parties.
“Members of regional parties became ministers for the first time at the centre,” he said.
He said power maximalisation theory (broadly meaning just taking enough parties to form a majority) applies more to coalitions in India than policy affinity theory (meaning an ideologically compatible coalition).
Sridharan said a unique aspect of India’s politics was that three minority coalition governments had completed full term.
Answering queries, he said prime minister of a coalition government was not as powerful as in single party government as he has to manage alliance partners.
However, he added that coalition politics opens up space for smaller parties.
“Space has been opened up by coalition politics which did not exist earler,” he said.