ABSTRACT

The Indian political party system has changed dramatically in the last two decades. These changes have included the rise of Hindu nationalism and the emergence of the Bharatiya Janata party as a true national party and a rival to the Congress party in electoral strength and ideology; the increase in strength of state-based parties; the ethnification1 of politics in north India, that is, the emergence of caste-based parties;and the arrival on center stage of coalition governments at the national, state,and local levels.In 1994 Brass wrote of the “universal presence of the Congress” in all states,“even where Congress has been reduced to seemingly permanent minority status.”2