When Eleanor Roosevelt, former First Lady of the United States of America said “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people” she was stating the importance of ideas in Politics as well as in general life. Ideas guide thoughts, which leads to inspiration for action thus ideologies have a very important role in politics. A leader is only connected with the masses when his/her ideology is similar to the citizens of the country, in fact he is supported and accepted by people of similar ideology and then only he/she can represent them. Political Analysts believe that there is a supporting wave of a particular ideology at times across the world. While the previous decade saw the ending of Liberal wave in the USA and India, many other countries like Germany chose the Conservative governments. Countries in Europe except France rode the Conservative wave and chose the governments accordingly at the time of immigration crisis. Political ideology in Indian context is narrow. The two main national political parties represent the two different ideologies and fight the elections based on them. The Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) is the right wing party on a national level whereas the Indian National Congress (INC) is on the Centrist-Left side of the political spectrum. The INC is regarded as the first Indian political party, formed in 1885, it is oldest political party in the country. The INC had been a balance of the left and right wing of the Indian politics since it’s formation. It had conservative as well as liberal leaders. Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru who was a liberal at heart became one of the key figures in the INC post independence but at the same time Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel had his own grounds in the party. If it had Rajendra Prasad, it also voiced Rajaji’s opinions. But the INC has shifted quite a lot since independence, in terms of political spectrum. The political party has a clear liberal agenda and inclination. But avoiding the label of a left party, INC has established itself has a Centrist-Left party. The BJP was formed as a result of dissolution of Bhartiya Jana Sangh. Late Atal Bihari Vajpayeeji emerged as a strong leader of from the BJP almost a decade later after the party’s formation. The BJP has boldly accepted the right wing nationalist ideology but also focuses on the inclusion of every section in the economy for the nation to develop. Since the Vajpayeeji era, the Indian voters at the national level have been divided in three parts — 1) The core BJP voters, mainly consisting of religious Hindus, businessmen. 2) The core INC voters — Religious minorities, SC/ST voters, liberals. 3) The neutral voters — these voters vote according to the manifesto of the parties.

The political parties have a core voter base which ensures them a minimum support even when they are at their lowest performance. The neutral voters played a significant role in Indian politics from the early 90s till the 2014 General Elections. The parties had their core voters and then aimed at a particular section of the population to gain enough votes to form the government. Promises were made to attract the neutral voters by the political parties, which gave birth to the politics of ‘appeasement’, meaning to formulate policies which ignored the national development but appealed to the targeted section in a short run in order to win their votes. Almost every political party has performed the politics of appeasement, whether at the national level or at the state level. But the problem began with the disappearance of this mass of neutral voters. After an exhaustive ten year term even Dr Manmohan Singh knew that an insulting loss was on the INC’s way because Mr Modi appealed to the masses, after Mr Vajpayee he had become the flag bearer of the right wing politics in India. The right wing mass had an opportunity to choose a leader who not only had a good work experience but also appeased the Hindu community that forms majority in the nation. As a result BJP registered a massive, single party majority in the 2014 general elections, the first political party to do so since 1984. Post 2014 general elections, the country saw a change in the political environment, the neutral vote was eliminated or was reduced to an extent that it did not affect the elections post 2014. The voters where either of the left wing or the right wing ideology but the right wingers outnumbered the left wing almost everywhere and made the BJP of the largest political parties in the world. Political Analysts claim that the BJP has used the ideological sentiments to its advantage and the 10 years long disappointing rule of the INC led UPA also helped it boost it. The BJP embraced its right wing place in the Indian politics and is now the voice of the nation, representing 15+ states in India and India on a global level.

As the general elections are knocking door, we will see the manifesto of different political parties which will directly reflect their ideology as the people they want to serve, the sectors they want to improve is guided by their background and ideas. Lets hope the better party wins and a strong leader gets elected to govern the country with a population of over 130 millions with hard work, efficiency and integrity. Jai Hind!