Mentor’s Comment:

Diversity plays a crucial role in India which also led to the formation of various states such as linguistic, ethnicity etc. and accordingly the formation of regional political parties with their respective ideologies. Political ideology is the basis of political party for which it stands. It is like internal constitution of political parties. But these ideology should not be against the spirit of constitution. Intro should discuss about the above points.

Further, need to mention or rather compare the ideologies of constitution with that of ideologies of political parties. Like, constitution says secularism political ideology is based on communalism, Constitution talks about gender equality while there is no such equality in politics, political ideology is more for chair and electoral gain and they even don’t mind in bribing, lobbying, fake protests, walkouts, freebies etc. which goes against the spirit of constitution.

Next, mention the benefits of following the spirit of constitution which also paves ethical way of dealing with the situations. 

Ethics in politics are determined mainly by how near party is to people and how fast grievances are addressed. Both are litmus test for fine working of constitution, while each is claimed in political ideology but, having positive political attitude is important.

Bring conclusion based on content.

Model Answer:

Our Constitution does mention political parties, but it cannot be said to regulate them exhaustively. India is a vast country with 1.2 billion people, who differ from one another in language, ethnicity and social traditions. The creation of states is primarily based on language. People’s demands for economic and social development have helped the rise of parties with particular ideological features – for example, linguistic (DMK, ADMK), ethnic (Gorkha League, Bahujan Samaj Party), political ideology (CPIM), religious (Akali Dal), etc.

Political ideology is basis of Political party for which it stands. It is like internal constitution of party. But its not right when ideology of the party trumps over the spirit of the constitution:

• While secularism and socialism are certain ideologies imbibed in our constitution, but parties with communal and regional ideologies have tried to polarise the electorate on a fine line by only following the letter of the constitution and not its spirit.
• While all parties give lip service to gender equality enshrined in our constitution, However most of the political parties do not give adequate representation to women either in ticket distribution or in Party leadership.
• Every political party has sound and pro-people political ideology but rarely do they follow it because for electoral gains political attitude of individual politicians comes into action and hence bribery, lobbying, fake protests, walkout, insensitive mudslinging on other parties and freebies politics comes into play.
• In the realm of ideology, the society is being divided and a certain kind of Us vs. Them is creeping among the citizens which are dangerous for a democratic country like ours.
• Till the economic growth is maintained, everything is being accepted by the political parties under the veil of their ideology, even if it threatens the spirit of the constitution. For ex, mob lynching, cow vigilantism, riots etc.
• Political ideology is lip service, what we need is healthy political attitude for constructive politics.
• It will lead to more working hours of assemblies and parliament which is ethical demand of constitution and people.
• Ethics in politics are determined mainly by how near party is to people and how fast grievances are addressed. Both are litmus test for fine working of constitution, while each is claimed in political ideology but, having positive political attitude is important.
• Proper implementation of letter and spirit of constitution reinforces ethics in politics which is important as it attracts youths toward politics and restoring faith in democracy in difficult times when nation needs it most.

Hence, both spirit of constitution and ideology of parties should go hand in hand in words and action to instill ethical politics and democracy.