Indian Politics And Government

 Indian Politics  And Government 

India is the world's most populous democracy.[222] A parliamentary republic with a multiparty system[223] it has eight recognized national parties, including the Indian National Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and more than 40 regional parties.[224] The Congress is considered center-left in Indian political culture[225] and the BJP is considered right-wing.[226][227][228] For most of the period between 1950 – when India first became a republic – and the late 1980s, the Congress held a majority in Parliament. Since then, however, it has increasingly shared the political stage with the BJP[229] as well as powerful regional parties, which have often forced the formation of multi-party coalition governments at the centre.[230]

In the first three general elections in the Republic of India, in 1951, 1957 and 1962, the Congress led by Jawaharlal Nehru won easy victories. After Nehru's death in 1964, Lal Bahadur Shastri briefly became Prime Minister; after his own unexpected death in 1966, he was succeeded by Néhru's daughter Indira Gandhi, who led the Congress to electoral victories in 1967 and 1971. After public dissatisfaction with the state of emergency she declared in 1975, the Congress was elected. out of power in 1977; the then new Janata Party, which opposed the Emergency, was voted out. Her reign lasted just over two years. The Congress was elected back to power in 1980 and saw a change in leadership in 1984 when Indira Gandhi was assassinated; she was succeeded by her son Rajiv Gandhi, who won an easy victory in the general election later that year. The Congress was voted out again in 1989 when the National Front coalition, led by the newly formed Janata Dal in alliance with the Left Front, won the elections; this reign also proved relatively short, lasting less than two years.[231] Elections were held again in 1991; no party won an absolute majority. As the largest single party, the Congress was able to form a minority government led by P. V. Narasimha Rao.[232]

US President Barack Obama is pictured here addressing members of both houses of parliament, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, in a joint session on November 8, 2010, at the Parliament of India in New Delhi.

The 1996 general election was followed by a two-year period of political turmoil. Power at the center was shared by several short-lived alliances. The BJP formed a government briefly in 1996; followed by two relatively long-lasting United Front coalitions that depended on external support. In 1998, the BJP managed to form a successful coalition, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the NDA became the first non-Congress coalition government to complete a five-year term.[233] In the 2004 Indian general election, again no party won an absolute majority, but the Congress emerged as the largest single party to form another successful coalition: the United Progressive Alliance (UPA). It had the support of left-leaning parties and MPs who were against the BJP. The UPA returned to power in the 2009 general election with increased numbers and no longer required external support from the Indian Communist Parties.[234] That year, Manmohan Singh became the first Prime Minister since Jawaharlal Nehru in 1957 and 1962 to be re-elected to consecutive five-year terms.[235] In the 2014 general election, the BJP became the first political party since 1984 to win a majority and govern without the support of other parties.[236] The incumbent Prime Minister is Narendra Modi, former Chief Minister of Gujarat. On 22 July 2022, Droupadi Murmu was elected as the 15th President of India and was sworn in on 25 July 2022.[237]

Government

Main articles: Government of India and Constitution of India

Rashtrapati Bhavan, the official residence of the President of India, was designed by British architects Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker for the Viceroy of India and built between 1911 and 1931 during the British Raj.[238]

India is a federation with a parliamentary system governed by the Constitution of India – the country's supreme legal document. It is a constitutional republic and a representative democracy in which "majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law". Federalism in India defines the division of power between the union and the states. The Constitution of India, which came into force on 26 January 1950,[239] originally referred to India as a "sovereign, democratic republic"; this characterization was amended to "sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic" in 1971.[240] Traditionally described as "quasi-federal" with a strong center and weak states,[241] India's form of government has become increasingly federal since the late 1990s as a result of political, economic and social changes.