Ideology and politics & ruling parties in India

Since independence while a number of poli tical parties have emerged in India, the polarisa tion of ideological forces has not been achieved. The political parties, specially the ruling parties, have represented ideological continum rather than ideology divergence. The basic theme of ideology of political parties other than Congress, does not differ from what Congress ideology has stood for. The ideological position of 'Centre' occupied by Congress is shared by other political parties as well. The 'centrist' ideology represents a consensus between conflicting economic interests operating within the system. The ideology of 'centre' is quite open and in accordance with the nature of the political struggle for power, the ruling parties are able to adjust their ideologies. It is thus quite possible to move freely on the ideological range provided by the centre-left-of-centre, centre-of-centre and right-of centre.

The ruling parties have been successful in evolving the ideological mechanism for adjust ing the competing economic demands made upon them by the dominant groups in the society. This adjustment has been made possible by separating the symbolic content of ideology from the substantive content.

This book highlights the nature of the ideology of the ruling parties in India-the Congress Party, the Janata Party and the Janata Dal. It traces the evolution of Congress ideo logy since the inception of Congress in 1885 and highlights the impact of various ideological groupings within the broad movement on the Congress ideology. It deals in detail with the nature of ideology and the political use of ideology during various phases of Congress under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. It also analyses the nature of ideology of other ruling parties like Janata Party and Janata Dal and makes a comparative analysis of ideology of these parties with the ideology of Congress Party.