Indian Politics

Defecting Democracy: The New Normal of Party-politics in India

Defecting Democracy: The New Normal of Party-politics in India

Written by : Pratip Chattopadhyay Illustration : Avijit Ghosh Summary: Presently defection in party-politics is becoming the new norm to smoothen the rise of Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) in the era of second coming of one-party system in Indian democracy. Defection as a practice is as old as party system in a democracy. However the new normaility of defection in Indian context is that defection is not resulting in new party formation or apolitical position but resulting in joining the bandwagon of BJP-ism thereby distorting the very essence of democracy itself, i.e. pluralism. In this context, this article claims that Indian…
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Dynasty, the Ever-growing Trend in Indian Politics

Dynasty, the Ever-growing Trend in Indian Politics

Written By: Sankhadip Das Kolkata, India Illustration: Suman Choudhury Another general election is round the corner, and once again the same old discussion has started making rounds - The great Indian political dynasties. Despite being a flourishing democracy for the last seven decades, why politics in India, is more of a family business? Is it harmful to the economy and development? Should it at all exist? These questions have become more pertinent now, or you may say as the Lok Sabha election looms large, the ruling party at the centre is stirring these issues to surface. The reason being that…
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