Indian politics

[Vosem]

Since Simfan made a thread about South Korea, I decided to just go ahead and ask this question: where could I find a really, really detailed summary of modern Indian politics? I remember Hash made a really good one for Spain, but Spain is a Western European nation with a pretty standard left-right axis and a few regionalist parties. So where could I find a similar summary for India?

[RogueBeaver]

Try PMing Xahar.

[Хahar 🤔]

India is very complex, obviously. I can try putting something together, although it won't necessarily be completely thorough.

[Vosem]

India is very complex, obviously. I can try putting something together, although it won't necessarily be completely thorough.

Of course -- take your time if you want. I was trying to read about the election in 2009 when it hit me that I barely understood at all what was going on and Wikipedia wasn't really helping, so I'd like some sort of guide. India is obviously really big with lots of parties -- either characteristic on its own makes trying to describe electoral politics (or politics in general) difficult, but on the occasions they are taken together it becomes really...hard...for the uninitiated.

[Sbane]

Caste is very important in politics in India. There are caste based parties such as the BSP which appeals mostly to Dalits (untouchables) as well as Muslims. Then there is the RJD and SP which appeal to the Yadavs. They are one of the OBC's(other backwards caste). In reality though they were never discriminated against like the Dalits were. They were the cow herders so while they were not powerful, they had a good social standing. In any case they make up about 25% of the population in the states of Uttar Pradesh as well as Bihar and are very politically powerful. Since they get affirmative action in addition to the Dalits, they are politically opposed to upper caste Hindus, who vote for the BJP. Indeed, upper caste Hindus are more opposed to AA for OBC's rather than Dalits who were basically excluded from society as opposed to the OBC's who were not. Also the BJP likes to hate on Muslims in order to get votes from beyond their upper caste Hindu base.  The Congress party is obviously the oldest party in India and are pretty much the moderate heroes who people vote for when they don't want to vote along caste or religious lines. It gets even more confusing from state to state though. A truly comprehensive analysis of Indian politics would have to go state by state.

Sorry this reads like a rant. Feel free to ask questions.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Will the power grid collapses the past two days have any political effect or not?

[Sbane]

The Indian voters have plenty to be pissed about. Add that one to the list.

[Zuza]

Do BSP, SP, RJD and other caste-based parties have any ideology other than defending caste interests? In particular, can Samajwadi be described as a socialist party (as it name intends)?

Why BSP have difficulties in expanding into states outside of Uttar Pradesh (most of which also have significant Dalit population)?

Are there any differences between DMK, AIADMK, MDMK etc.? Why Dravidian parties of Tamil Nadu don't try to expand into other Dravidian states?

Are there any differences between CPI, CPI (m) and RSP? Why two communist parties can't reunite?

Why left parties are so strong in Kerala?

Do INC and BJP have any internal factions, groupings? Internal conflicts etc.? How possible is major split in one of them?

[Sbane]

Do BSP, SP, RJD and other caste-based parties have any ideology other than defending caste interests? In particular, can Samajwadi be described as a socialist party (as it name intends)?

No, they more or less protect their caste interests, which in most cases means preserving a lot of government jobs which their caste members can get through affirmative action. So they tend to be of the left economically since they can't get affirmative action in private jobs. Though they are trying to change that....very scary. You can say goodbye to all progress made by India in the last 20 years if that happens.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

I think it's because they are a relatively young party, or at least they have had their success in the last 5 years or so. Uttar Pradesh is their base and so they do better there. In other states many Dalits and Muslims vote for the Congress and other left/socialist parties.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Not very familiar with south Indian politics but I think it has more to do with personalities than policies. They more or less have the same ideology. And there are wild swings based on "vote the bums out" populist feelings. Also these parties are Tamil parties rather than Dravidian parties. They may call themselves as such or whatever but everyone knows they represent the Tamil people.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Basically back in the 1950s and 1960s the CPI and CPM split based on support for the ruling congress party as well as support for Soviet foreign policy. The Soviets were happy with the Congress party and wanted the Communists in India to behave the same way. The CPM split off from the CPI since they didn't believe the class struggle in India was finished and they also supported the Chinese in the Sino-India war of 1962. They are basically traitors, but ruled West Bengal for 30+ years. It's absolutely ridiculous but it is what it is.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

25% Muslim. Lots of lower caste people as well. I don't know how Christians vote but it wouldn't surprise me if a lot of them voted for the left parties as well. Christians also make up a sizeable amount of the population in Kerala. It's a highly diverse place. Actually it's probably the original diverse place on earth with a sizeable Christian and Muslim population for more than a thousand years. And in any case the left parties aren't traitors like they are in Bengal and they have a high HDI even if economic growth itself isn't that strong. So they are doing at least something right.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Indian_states_and_territories_by_Human_Development_Index

You must be logged in to read this quote.

The INC most certainly does. The Trinamool Congress, which forms the government of West Bengal currently, is one such case. The BJP has less internal divisions but mostly because they are not as powerful as the INC.

[Хahar 🤔]

With regard to the CPI, it's worth noting that they were so unreservedly pro-Congress during the Emergency that they came to be known as the Communist Party of Indira. Neither of the Communist Parties are exactly good.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Is there a significant possibility of there being yet more subdividing of the individual states upon linguistic cum ethnic lines? Recently I read somewhere (I can't remember the source though) that there are serious discussions taking place on a proposal to divide up the UP into four separate states. Is this accurate and thus a serious prospect or just the random nonsense you pick about India from western sources?

Also is there still a lot of Anti-Hindi language sentiment in the south (esp. Tamil Nadu)? (And tied to that, how important is language politics now in contemporary India?)

[Zuza]

And in any case the left parties aren't traitors like they are in Bengal and they have a high HDI even if economic growth itself isn't that strong. So they are doing at least something right.

So Kerala's high HDI is mainly due to Communist rule? Communists were in power only for half of its history.

[Zuza]

Recently I read somewhere (I can't remember the source though) that there are serious discussions taking place on a proposal to divide up the UP into four separate states. Is this accurate and thus a serious prospect or just the random nonsense you pick about India from western sources?

I also heard about that proposal. It was made by former Chief Minister Mayawati, so most probably is a serious prospect.

[Sbane]

And in any case the left parties aren't traitors like they are in Bengal and they have a high HDI even if economic growth itself isn't that strong. So they are doing at least something right.

So Kerala's high HDI is mainly due to Communist rule? Communists were in power only for half of its history.

No, I'm not necessarily saying that but at least they didn't screw it up.

Recently I read somewhere (I can't remember the source though) that there are serious discussions taking place on a proposal to divide up the UP into four separate states. Is this accurate and thus a serious prospect or just the random nonsense you pick about India from western sources?

I also heard about that proposal. It was made by former Chief Minister Mayawati, so most probably is a serious prospect.

I wouldn't always take her so seriously. I can't think it is a serious proposal. It's not like there difference in geographic distribution of different religions or castes. Don't see ethnicity being a factor in Uttar Pradesh.

As for Gully's question about linguistic politics, it's not really a big deal anymore. And no one is trying to make Hindi the official language everywhere so any sort of language unification is out of the question. And to be honest, it's not really necessary. Unity between regions is pretty strong.