Social Foundation of Indian Polity | UPSC Mains Essay Preparation PDF Download

Social Foundation of Indian Polity

A political system, is necessarily, a part of a larger social system within which it operates and from which it receives ‘inputs’. In other words, the working of political institutions is, inevitably, influence by social, economic and cultural dynamics peculiar to each society. Consequently, the interaction and mutual transformation of modern political institutions and traditional social structures has been underway for long, but the process has cut both ways. Thus, there has been more of a traditionalisation of modern political institutions, particularly at the lower levels of the polity,. than of a modernisation of traditional institutions and behaviour.

However, the modern idiom is not adequate guide to the understanding of Indian politics because it does not comprehend the totality of Indian life in the country. A great part of Indian politics is conducted in the traditional language. This is the language of Caste, Tribe, Religion, Language and Region. This language of Indian politics is far more important as a manner of behaviour than as a language of description; it is acted upon more than it is spoken about. It is the chief source of the contrast  between the inside and outside stories of Indian politics, even of the gap between practice and profession which is a striking feature of Indian polity.

Describing the political significance of caste, Jai Prakash Narian said. “It is the most important political party in India”. Caste is a distinctive category of the Indian social system. It had its beginning in the philosophy of four varnas but has resulted in the perpetuation of several caste groups. Although, caste seems to be declining in importance as a social factor; it is increasing in importance as a political factor. In their pursuit of power, political parties and politicians endeavour to mobilise social groups to build as wide a support as possible. Caste being one of the most easily identifiable social clusters, politicians are keen to exploit it to their own advantage. Thus, with independence and adoption of universal adult franchise, a new phase began in the history of caste in India.

Casteism is the exploitation of caste consciousness for narrow political gains. Implication of casteism are:

(a) It violates the basic principles enshrined in the constitution e.g. justice, equality and above all fraternity assuring the unity and integrity of the nation.

(b) It vitiates the atmosphere of election, thus weakening the modernization of the polity.

(c) By building caste associations and lobbies, it retains caste cohesion, which becomes an impediment to building up a secular state.

It may be noted that the impact of caste is not uniform at all levels of politics in India. It is most prominent at the grass-root level, where face to face social contacts and small size of constituencies make the mobilisation of caste votes crucial. The caste dimension becomes progressively less prominent at the higher level. However the growing politicisation of middle caste and the sharpening of self-awareness of the hitherto submerged lower caste has tended to push the caste factor upward.

Another important factor to note about caste politics interaction is that its significance varies from region to region. Bihar has earned the reputation of being the most caste ridden state. Even in states, marked for their caste-politics, pattern of caste competition differ considerably. In some states bilateral configuration is a marked characteristics of the caste profile e.g. Reddy-Kamma conflict in Andhra. However, for the proper assessment of political salience of caste, it is important to remember that it has ceased to be the only basis of power. Nevertheless, casteism in Indian politics is natural, for to seek a caste free politics in India, is to look for politics devoid of its social contempt. Emphasising the interaction between the two, Rajni Kothari says that it is not politics that gets caste-ridden, it is caste that gets politicised.

Thus interaction between caste and politics is a two way process of politicisation of caste and institutionalisation of politics. By drawing caste in its web of organisation, politics finds material for its articulation and moulds it into its own design. In making politics their sphere of activity caste groups get a chance to assert their identify and to strive for power.

“A Spectre is haunting Europe” cried out Marx and Engles, “the Spectre of Communism”. If communism was indeed the spectre haunting Europe of the 19th century, communalism is the spectre that looms meaningly over much of India in the 20th century.

In the west, communalism has a positive connotation, for everyone is concerned about the eclipse of community and traditional arrangements of life. However, in India, it has a very sinister implication in view of the fact that it is generally associated with a narrow, selfish, divisive and aggressive attitude on part of the religious group.

Communalism has two dimensions. On one hand, it connotes a narrow and fanatical attitude which breeds feeling of hostility between members of different communities. On the other hand, it involves the exploitation of religion for the achievement of purpose which are not religious but essentially political and economic. In short, communalism makes religion an instrument of power politics.

Communalism is perversion of religion from a moral order to a temporal arrangement of contemporary convenience, from a faith into an electoral constituency, from a strategy of living into a tactics of politics. Communalism is the conversion of religiosity into political bellicosity.

It is not as if communal forces have suddenly exploded over the sub-continent, for communal forces have for a long time been operating albret covertly, beneath the facade of secular politics. Independence gave India an opportunity to set the house in order. But the communally contaminated atmosphere continued to prevail, rather it was worsened with the passage of years, obviously due to lack of will on part of the Government to act.

Two factors contributed to the Growth of Communal virus after independence. The first reason for Hindu-Muslim discord was the tendency of the Muslims to keep themselves aloof from the majority community and isolate themselves from the secular-nationalistic politics of India. On the part of Hindus, aggressive Hinduism has been gradually rising in the country. In the recent times charge has been instituted against politicians, that they tend to exploit, the communal situation for electoral gains. The tree of resentment that has now burst into crescendo owes more to two other factors.

(a) The socialisation process in our society that instills the communal virus into over psyche at an early age, and

(b) The breakdown of the institutional apparatus of the polity has created which may be termed as an anchorless polity.

(a) If the communal wave is to be reversed the foremost task lies in renovating the dilapidated institutional edifice of the Indian polity.

(b) A more equity oriented growth process characterised by faster economic growth.

(c) The traditional socialisation process moving along communal grooves can be countered with resocialisation in the context of well institutionalised organisation and procedures.

However one should remember that the transition from a parochial political culture to a secular political culture will not be accomplished in few months but is bound to be an arduous journey.

Regionalism is one of the major expressions of India's socio-cultural diversity and its importance as a determinant of political behaviour is widely recognised. In India there is a common tendency to conceptualise Regionalism in purely negative terms as a parochial sentiment of narrow ‘provincialism’ which breeds localism, exclusivism and separatism. Regionalism has an obviously territorial connotation and can be defined as a feeling of attachment to a Geographically and culturally marked segment of national territory. regionalism is a phenomena by which the special identity of a state or of a region is sought to be asserted, juxtaposed against nationalism or national integration.

It is rooted in a number of factors:

(i) Geography; According to Seligs Harrison ‘The History of India can be viewed as History of three large Geographical regions—North, Deccan and South’. It is within these or Geo 

graphical boundaries that regional identities took form and gained increasingly sharp definitions.

(ii) History: History has provided the psychological ferment for the strengthening of regional awareness.

(iii) Language: It provides the most patent bound for groups identification, a common language sets the emotional boundaries of regional identity.

(iv) Politics: It seldom fails to exploit and accentuate the regional feelings for personal gains.

All manifestation of regionalism are necessarily antithetical to the growth of a composite and integrated Indian national identity.