By Akhilesh Pillalamarri
Why India’s left collapsed and why its political future is with the right.
Political scientists in the United States divide American political history into several “party systems,” which refer to periods characterized by certain political alignments and features. For example, the period during and after the American Civil War is known as the Third Party System and was characterized by the dominance of the Republican Party, which won the war, ended slavery, and presided over a period of industrialization. The evolution of party politics through a number of systems is characteristic of most democratic countries. Similarly, India is currently in the process of undergoing a new political alignment with distinct characteristics.
While the periodization of India’s political systems is debatable, it is generally accepted that prior to the current political alignment in India, which features a party from the right attaining a majority in India’s Parliament for the first time, there were at least two major political alignments in independent India’s history.
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