Coalition government always in a troubleshooting mode

Gone are the days of any single party enjoying the absolute majority to be in power in a multiparty democratic system thus parties had to come together and set up a coalition government to keep the system functioning. After the independence of India, for almost three and half decades Congress party enjoyed absolute majority but since 1990s India was following a relatively new concept of coalition government as the single party failed to get the majority to form a government.

The coalition government has both its pros and corns. When a single party is in power with its absolute majority, the party would almost function as an autocratic government where it can get all the bills passed without any debates and the opposition party would not have any role in the policy making, to make any amendments or to prevent the autocracy of the government. Many a time the party’s polices are given predominant consideration than the priority and collective interest of the nation and this always jeopardizes nation’s interest.  It would be almost one party show in all the aspects of governance, where the various political parties do not get to exercise their democratic rights.

The other side of the coalition government is that the leading party in the coalition government will have to be always in negotiation with its allies to pacify them and bring them into consensus on police making. Thus, there is little time left for the true governance and the holistic development of the nation. The leading party within the coalition government needs to treat the allies well and no stand against allies could be done really taken which would ouster the government. Most of the time, the coalition government is in a troubleshooting mode for the damages that are being caused always. 

Apart from coalition government’s both pros and corns, the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) II, a coalition government, led by Manmohan Singh always in troubleshooting mode to settle down the issues caused by the allies such as Trinamool Congress, the second biggest constituent of the UPA, gave a major blow to the Manmohan Singh government when it decided to withdraw its support on the issue of petroleum price hike, FDI in retail and corruption on September 18, 2013. Recently, AIADMK also withdrew its support on Sri Lankan Tamil issues from the ruling coalition.

In both these cases, the government really got axed and found it extremely difficult to continue  in power and wooing other parties and getting outside support, thus, UPA II could land in a damage control zone. If the amount of time and resources that were used for the troubleshooting of the government could be converted to the developmental projects and policy making greater development could be achieved beyond any doubts.  

The same is the scenario back here in Kerala where there is often a rift between Congress and Kerala Congress parties in the UDF led government and often the house is stalled and sessions are adjourned due to the continuous disruptions. Parliament should meet for a minimum of 110 days every year and disgracefully Parliament is not in sitting even in one third of the total time it should be in sitting.