Searching for Surjeet

Ever since the British left us to our fate, freedom and franchise, many Indians have yearned for a two-party system like the way they have it in England—a neat polity where two parties contest for power, and the loser would shadow the ruler.

- R. PRASANNAN

They forget that we got our freedom when a third party came to power on its own in the UK.

A few of us are also fascinated by the American way, where two parties fight for the top job in a neatly choreographed election where everything, except the winner, is pre-determined—the term of office, the date of polling, the date of counting, the date of inauguration, everything. The Ram Nath Kovind committee has prescribed something of that kind for us, boring to the core, but in a multi-party order.

Yearning for a two-party polity is one thing, but getting it is another. It ought to evolve. We can’t will it into being or wish it into existence. Why should we? Ours is a multi-culture society where our myriad political wills and electoral wishes can’t be force-packed into a bland political binary.