Just imagine what would happen if the Congress, the BJP and the CPI(M) join hands to fight an election? Unbelievable? Its true. The three have joined hands to collectively fight elections of the Sikkim Vidhan Sabha under the banner of the United Democratic Front. In this case the three call themselves "like minded" parties. It is important to note here that the only likeliness among the three that i could gather in this case was that all three have been out of power in the state for well over 15 years.These like minded parties which have never shared a single opinion on the national stage have decided to collectively pool their resources to fight in the state with the least population in the country.
Are they facing a fight for their survival? Is Sikkim a taste of what is to come on the national scene in ,say 20 years time?
I bet the constitution makers would not have thought this in the their wildest of dreams. This would bring the worlds largest democracy to the knees as with no options to choose from your and my voting rights are as good as gone too.
The point I am trying to make here is that is collective action all that good?
comments and criticism are welcome..
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5 comments:
This kind of action can be successfu for a short time interval but in a longer run cohesion between people with ideological differences is not possible. Collective action is only possible when there is crytallisation of ideas among the actors. whatever you are discussing above is oppotunistic behaviour rather than collective action
What you are saying is not sustainable in the long run because these parties may come to power for the time being but after they assume power there will be tussle between them for forming the government. And if this does not happen, then consider that India is the most peaceful country in the world. Because it is human nature to accumulate power and wealth and if these political parties are not doing as such then we can safely assume that we Indians have reached the self actualisation stage (as the political parties are formed of elemnets from society and hence they are the mirror of society). But since this is not possible in a materialistic world like ours, so such a coilation (or cartel) like this is not sustainable in the long run.
the idea of political differences vanishing in face of a common enemy or common goal is nothing new..!!
this kind of "collective actions" have been happening for a long time. in fact, in international relations between the countries, you will find that ideological differences or for that matter similarities take a back seat in pursuit of a benefit.
when MAO was creating headaches for america and russia, both the countries thought about bombing china together. this was despite the overall comuunist "brotherhood". churchill very happily fought with communist russia agaisnt germany. many arab countries refrained from coming forward for Iraq.
if there is a common good in this coming together of parties for the people, then we should take it as cooperation rather than cartel formation.
The alliance with different political parties in different states is purely issue based. Take example of Democratic front government in Maharashtra which is an alliance between Congress Party and Nationalist Congress Party. The birth of Nationalist congress Party itself was to oppose Ms.Sonia Gandhi or any other "outsider" for that matter from becoming Prime Minister of India. But, the complex democratic structure and extra rational motivations of different political leaders made it possible to join both these parties come together. So, I feel, the recent developments that are happening in Sikkim might be an indication of what is there for us in box but taking it to extreme level and saying that it will defeat demacracy itself might not be very valid argument.
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