Party System and Party Politics in India

Suri, K. C.

doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198084952.003.0006

Cited by 9 publications

(15 citation statements)

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“…As Wyatt notes in his introduction to this special issue, small parties often represent particular groups or interests and are capable of winning seats in the State Assembly and gaining a foothold in the Lok Sabha, but are not in a position to form a government even at the local level. Small parties in India, gained salience in the 1990s with the transformation of the Indian party system and the move away from single-party dominance (Suri 2013). Arora and Lama Rewal (2009) argue that the 1990s and 2000s witnessed a federalisation of the party system that has seen an increase in the number of single-state parties.…”

Section: Centre-state Relations and Party Politics In India And Tamilmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Herzog (1987: 317) argues that small or 'minor' parties are often considered to be unimportant, but 'they play an active and significant role in the negotiations on the sociopolitical boundaries and rules of the game of a given political system'. Drawing on her research, Suri (2013) calls for more research on small parties in India both because they are interesting in their own right, but also because they shine a light on wider political processes and structures. Elsewhere (Gorringe 2017), I have elucidated the impact of the VCK on Tamil politics and society.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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‘A voice for the last and least’: Thirumavalavan and the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi in the Lok Sabha

Gorringe

2019

Contemporary South Asia

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Between 2009 and 2014, Thirumavalavan, the leader of the largest Dalit party in Tamil Nadu, served as an MP in Delhi. This paper draws on research with the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK or Liberation Panther Party) to raise a number of key questions about representation and democracy in a multi-level federal system. Although they are a minor party, their experience of national politics offers insights into the workings of party systems in India. The paper considers the extent to which they are constrained by alliance partners and political rules-of-the-game. It then considers the question of representation, and asks what the VCK managed to achieve in Thirumavalavan's constituency of Chidambaram and the extent to which they could raise issues at the national level both through formal and disruptive means. Finally, the paper reflects on the advantages and disadvantages for a small party of having a foothold in the Centre and draws out the lessons of the VCK's experience for our understanding of Indian politics.

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Section: Centre-state Relations and Party Politics In India And Tamilmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘A voice for the last and least’: Thirumavalavan and the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi in the Lok Sabha

Gorringe

2019

Contemporary South Asia

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“…A large amount of scholarship has identified the Indian National Congress as India’s dominant party in various aspects. Some studies (Faarooqi and Sridharan, 2016; Hanes, 1993; Hasan, 2006; Kohil and Singh, 2013; Reddy, 2005; Suri, 2013) have explained the Congress-type party characteristics and how the INC has survived in different political environments. Mitra (2011) and Kothari (2006) have described the INC’s function and system.…”

Section: Dominant Party Theory and Constructivism In Comparative Polimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The INC is regarded as a dominant political party due to its groundbreaking performance in national elections (Hasan, 2006: 478; Masum and Hoque, 2016: 27; Suri, 2013: 211). Its popularity incrementally declined after the mid-1970s as emerging competitors challenged its dominant position.…”

Section: Behind the Inc’s Electoral Performance: The Dominance And Thmentioning

confidence: 99%

Revisiting a dominant party: Normative dynamics of the Indian National Congress

Soikham

2018

Asian Journal of Comparative Politics

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Previous scholarship has established that the Indian National Congress (INC) is widely regarded as India’s dominant party due to its consecutive victories in winning the majority of the vote share in elections, its ability to manage and embrace internal conflict through strong organizational structures and the dominant capacity to set the public agenda and political order. To deepen understanding of this party, this article adopts a norm-based framework to define norms, a social understanding of social groups, which determines and shapes actions and behaviour. Building upon this framework, despite the electoral setbacks and even decline in electoral fortunes of Congress after Indira Gandhi since 1977, the INC has been able to maintain a significant presence in Indian party politics due to certain key norms, allowing it to adapt to a changing context. This article concludes that the INC’s set of norms on self-autonomy, social and national inclusivity, nationwide organization, social justice and peaceful and democratic resolution has over time shaped the Congress’s aspirations and achievements to become a dominant party. Regardless of the relative decline of electoral performance, these norms continue to set the INC as India’s dominant party, with a strong organizational structure and the ability to frame India’s political order.

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“…This has led some (notably Subramanian, 1999) to regard Tamil Nadu as a bastion of social pluralism, but Dalit movements arose in large part because they faced continuing discrimination and were excluded from the body politic (Barnett, 1976). Their emergence mirrors that of lower caste parties in Uttar Pradesh (UP) which occupied a space opened up by the failure of the dominant party (Congress in UP) to accommodate the rising aspirations and demands of the Other Backward Castes (OBCs) and Dalits (Pai, 2002;Suri, 2013).…”

Section: Dalit Politics In Tamil Nadumentioning

confidence: 99%

Dalit Parties and the Dilemmas of Democratization in Tamil Nadu

Gorringe

2016

Studies in Indian Politics

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In 1999, the largest Dalit movement organization in Tamil Nadu abandoned a decade-long boycott of elections and entered party politics as the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (Liberation Panther Party, VCK). The focus of this article will be on the processes of institutionalization both into political institutions and into socio-cultural ways of doing politics. It will chart both how the party has changed as a result of entering formal politics, and the ways in which it has managed to change the institutions it entered. Looking at institutionalization in this way problematizes the usual focus on a party's electoral success or failure and compels us to analyze their political performance within its specific context. I show how institutionalization in Tamil Nadu has taken particular forms which have some benefits for VCK supporters, while also creating a rift between the party and its core support.

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Party System and Party Politics in India

Cited by 9 publications

References 0 publications

‘A voice for the last and least’: Thirumavalavan and the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi in the Lok Sabha

‘A voice for the last and least’: Thirumavalavan and the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi in the Lok Sabha

Revisiting a dominant party: Normative dynamics of the Indian National Congress

Dalit Parties and the Dilemmas of Democratization in Tamil Nadu

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