India itself is a coalition

Somnath Chatterjee, The Speaker, Lok Sabha:Address at the function to release the book, Forging Power, New Delhi, 30 November 2005

If I may borrow an expression from esteemed VP Singh ji, ‘India itself is a coalition’. Such a social set-up pre-supposes that the democratic system should develop credible mechanisms to ensure adequate representation of diverse sections of our population in the political processes and ensure that their concerns and considerations are adequately recognized and a distinctive roadmap for their welfare is articulated in the public policies. Parliamentary democracy is essentially a competitive system sustained by majoritarian notions, but providing space for varieties of political persuasions to co-exist and compete for the ruling space.

A close scrutiny of our democratic experience shows that coalition governance is not something new to us and that it existed even in the pre-Independence era when the Interim Government was formed under the leadership of Pandit Nehru in 1946. Since then, the nature and scope of our party system and that of the government have undergone a major change. Initially, the Congress Party itself acted as a ‘rainbow’ coalition of different interest groups and individuals.

Prof. Chakrabarty has observed that though the 1967 coalition experiment in different parts of the country was short-lived, it did, however, help in providing an alternative theoretical conceptualization of government-formation. What was lacking then was ideological congruity among partners to broaden the possibilities for a coalition to work harmoniously for a stable formation, otherwise it tends to weaken the coalition.

In this context, I must also draw your attention to a very thoughtful comment made by the respected Communist leader Shri E.M.S Namboothiripad in the wake of the emergence of the government under the leadership of Shri V.P.Singh in 1989. He had foreseen in that government the emergence of the era of coalition in Indian politics and went on to claim that it was here to stay. The inevitability of coalitions in India is the central argument of Prof. Chakrabarty also.

One may call the emergence of the coalition-era in India as a silent revolution in our political history. The growing practice of Parties extending support to the government from outside, without being a part of it, is a new phenomenon that merits special attention of the scholars and analysts. Our whole system of governance and every office within it, including even that of the office of the Speaker, has been impacted by the emergence of the coalition phase in our politics. The most visible impact of this is the broadening of the representational base in our democracy. Larger segments of our people have begun to feel that they now have a greater and more decisive say in the political decision-making processes, thus enhancing the legitimacy of our democracy itself. Home Speaker's Office Role of Speaker Speeches Profile Former Speaker Events Press Release Contact Related Links