Profiles of the Parties: Social Composition, Pattern of Recruitment And Mobility Status

Transcription

1 Chapter Four Profiles of the Parties: Social Composition, Pattern of Recruitment And Mobility Status In this chapter an attempt is made to present the profiles of the three political parties under study. It is based on the information obtained from a sample of the party members and leaders about their socio-economic characteristics and their careers in the respective political parties. Any analysis of the actual functioning of the parties will not be meaningful without a proper appreciation of the social composition of the political parties. Thus analysis in the later chapters is dependent upon what is described in the present chapter. All political parties, pluralistic and secular in nature, are composed of people with diverse socio-economic backgrounds of various age groups, religions, castes, regions and occupations. It is, therefore, assumed that there would not be any significant difference among them in these characteristics. It is also assumed that the pattern of recruitment would also be similar. Mobility status is operationlly defined as the positions held by a leader and power he exercises. It is hypothesised that differences among leaders are the result of social and economic status of the persons involved. Social Composition of the Political Parties The null hypothesis of the study is that there are no substantial differences among the leaders of the three political parties in terms of social composition and other background charateristics. This is despite the fact that while CPM claims itself to be a revolutionary party representing the working class and deprived sections of the society. The TDP projected itself as a party of peasants and youth. Congress has the image of a broad based party, in terms of castes, classes and rural-urban categories. The data, relating to the district leaders (DL) and local level leaders (LL) as well as party activists and members (PM) is analysed in the following pages. Almost all the district leaders live in urban areas, regardless of the

2 fact that a large number of them hail originally from villages. Since the sample included.three rural mandals, it is found that a large proportion of local leaders and party members live in villages and small towns. The population of the distrct is predominantly Hindu and so is the case with the leaders of all the parties. About 82 per cent of party members and leaders belong to Hindu religion, about 13 per cent are Christians and 5 per cent Muslims. The distribution of respondents by religion does not show much difference for the three parties (see Table 4.1). Table 4.1 Religion of the Respondents: Party-Wise and Level-Wise. Religion CONG TDP CPM Total DL LL PM Hindu 60(80) 70(86) 62(82) (87) 75(85) 78(79) Muslim 2(3) 4(5) 4(5) 10 2(4) 3(4) 5(5) Christian 13(17) 7(9) 10(13) 30 4(9) 10(11) 16(16) More than half of the respondents from the TDP and CPM are less than 40 years old and the proportion of respondents of this age group in CPM is relatively very high. This could be attributed to the proposition that Table 4.2 Years Less than Age Wise Distribution of Party Leaders and Members (Percentages are given in parentheses) Number of persons in each party Number of persons in each category CONG TDP CPM Total DL LL PM 30 years 2(3) 9(H) 14(18) 25 1(2) 7(8) 17(17) (33) 33(41) 31(41) 89 16(36) 37(42) 37(36) i 21(28) 24(30) 9(12) 54 10(22) 18(20) 26(26) (23) 10(12) 13(17) 40 11(24) 14(16) 15(15) 60 years and above 10(13) 5(6) 9(12) 24 7(16) 12(14) 5(5) 75 75(100) 81(100) 76(100) (100) 88(100) 99(100)

3 younger elements have a tendency to get attracted to communist ideology, which advocates a radical change in society. The higher proportion of younger leaders in the TDP could perhaps be attributed to the fact that as a new party, founded in 1982, it attracted youth, many of whom were fans of NTR. In the middle-age groups the proportion of respondents in TDP and Congress is the same, while it is low in CPM. The proportion of older leaders in the Congress and CPM is found to be same, while in TDP it is low (see Table 4.2). A look at the mean age, average of the actuals, shows that there is significant difference between Congress on the one hand and the CPM and the TDP on the other. Table 4.3 Mean Differences in Age (party-wise) 76 Party N Mean S.D. Calculated t values Significance level Congress Congress & TDP % TDP TDP & CPM CPM CPM & Congress % There is no significant difference between TDP and CPM as far the age of the respondents is concerned. Education:, As regards the educations! status, it is found that there are no illiterates at the level of district leadership in any of the three parties. However, there are some at the level of local leaders and primary members. They are more in the CPM, with about one-third members, who are either illiterate or those just able to read and write with no formal education. TDP has a large proportion of persons with Master degree or professional education such as medicine, engineering, etc. Table 4.4. gives the details. We find no significant difference between Congress and TDP and Congress and CPM in regard to mean educational status, coded in a range of 0 to 7. The variation between TDP and CPM is high. However, the difference in educational level between three levels of party organisation, for all the

4 77 Table 4.4 Educational Levels of Respondents (percentages are in parentheses) Level of education Number of persons in each party Number of persons in each category CONG TDP CPM Total DL LL PM Illiterate 4(5) 10(12) 6(8) 20-7(8) 13(13) Just literate 11(15) 13(16) 18(24) 42 1(2) 15(17) 26(26) Primary 10(13) 5(6) 11(14) 26 3(7) 11(13) 12(12) Secondary 20(27) 15(19) 14(18) 49 7(16) 22(25) 20(20) Undergraduate 12(16) 7(9) 10(13) 29 5(11) 11(13) 13(13) G raduale/t echnieal Training 10(13) 17(21) 15(20) 42 14(31) 16(18) 12(12) Masters and above, inch professional education 8(11) 14(17) 2(3) 24 15(33) 6(7) 3(3) n = parties together, is found to be significant, particularly between those at the first level on the one hand and local leaders and district leaders on the other. Table 4.5 Level N Mean SD Calculated t values Significance level Party Members (PM) PM & LL % Local Leaders (LL) LL & DL % District Leaders (DL) DL & PM % The finding meets the common assumption that leaders at succesive higher level tend to have a higher educational status in any party organisation. Caste and Tribe: The most important and unique aspect of Indian society is the caste system. Indian society is made of multiplicity of castes, hierarchically arranged

5 and unequal in social status and economic standing. Major political parties in India draw persons of all castes. They represent in miniature the social heterogeneity of India. When it comes to detail, the extent of representation from various castes may vary from party to party. A word about construction of scale is in order here. Hindu society has four vartias and all the jatis (sub-castes) can be grouped under any one of the varnas, namely Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaisya and Sudra. There is another category, which has been historically outside the Hindu fold and was ascribed a very low status i.e., the untouchables or presently known as Scheduled castes. Tribal people represent another distinct socio-economic category, outside the mainstream of Hindu social order. They are extremely backward in their modes of life, levels of education, and standards of living. So in this study, they (S.Ts) are placed at the bottom and above them are S.Cs, Backward Castes (B.Cs.), Sudras (middle castes whose members are basically engaged in farming), Vaisyas, Kshatriyas and Brahmins, in that ascending order. However, problems arise in fixing the Muslims and Christians in the ordinal scale. Since most of the Christians are recent converts and Table 4.6 Caste Composition of the Parties (at three levels) 78 Caste/ Category No. in of respondents each party No. of respondents in each category CONG TDP CPM Total DL LL PM S.T. 2(3) 10) - 3 1(2) 1(1) 1(1) S.C. 15(20) 9(11) 12(16) 36 6(13) 13(15) 17(17) B.C.. 17(23) 11(14) 13(17) 41 8(18) 16(18) 17(17) Muslim 2(3) 5(6) 4(5) 11 2(4) 4(5) 5(5) Sudra 33(44) 51(63) 45(59) (58) 47(53) 56(57) Vaisya/ Kshatriya/ Brahmin 6(8) 4(4) 2(2) 12.2(4) 7(8) 3(3) N = they identify themselves with one c»t the other caste to which they originally belonged, they are included in their original caste. Muslims, considering their overall declining status, are kept below Sudras but above Backward

6 Castes. The processed data reveals (see Table 4.6) the following picture of caste composition of the three parties. Data reveals that the middle or Sudra.'castes supply the largest portion of leaders as well as members. Sociologists describe these castes as dominant castes. They are mainly Reddy, Kamma and Kapu castes. They are numerically large in the district, comprising nearly 40 per cent of its population. The prevalence of elitism, denoted by the presence of a high proportion of leaders from middle castes and a lower proportion from lower castes like the SCs and STs, perhaps reflects the normal tendency for leaders to be drawn by all parties from the strata of society that serve as major support bases of the respective parties. Besides, the social strata from which a high proportion of legislators and other functionaries are elected may have a tendency to dominate in the leadership sphere too as they have demonstrated a higher capability for voter mobilisation. This supports the findings of several researchers that Indian politics, especially in the relatively developed regions, is not dominated by the upper castes, but by the middle castes which have been becoming entrenched and dominant. However, no party is based on the support of a single caste, because it is not possible in the electoral system that prevails in India to mobilise votes and win seats in legislature or to capture political power. Hence, a successful political party draws members and leaders from almost all castes and religions. Such a situation may be termed as alliance of sub-coalitions by some writers. But this may not be an apt description because persons of a caste within a party may not always act as a sub-coalition. In fact, persons belonging to all castes located in a specific region are found in the factions of every major party like the Congress and the TDP. As Rajni Kothari argues that in a democratic polity caste gets politicised and factionalised. It follows that interests take precedence over sentiments. Changes in the support base of the parties is yet another factor impinging upon the social composition of the parties. It is widely acknowledged on the basis of empirical studies that the Congress party in Andhra Pradesh has a sizeable base among the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. Since the 1970s it has replaced the left paties and has entrenched itself well among these social groups. This fact explains to a great extent the reason the Congress party drawing a higher proportion of members and leaders from the SCs and STs than the CPM, much less to speak of the TDP. The leading positions at local and district level are occupied by people who belong 79

7 to forward castes. The situation has somewhat changed in favour of the backward castes with the introduction of reservations in panchayati raj and municipal bodies. Table 4.7 Mean Differences in Caste by Party 80 Party N Mean S.D. Calculated t values Significance level Congress Congress & TDP % TDP TDP & CPM CPM CPM & Congress Although the data does not reveal any signficant difference, it indicates that the average for Congress Party is lower than the average for CPM. The proportion of persons TDP draws from middle castes is higher compared to either Congress or CPM (see Table 4.7). However, there are no signfiicant differences between parties in terms of caste compostion, at various levels of party organisation. Occupation: Guntur district, like most other districts in the country is agriculture based. The largest occupational group in all the parties consists of those who own and cultivate land. The occupational distribution of the respondents as shown in table 4.8 reveals that the TDP and CPM recruited nearly half of their members and leaders from farming community. The Congress Party has substantial number of persons who belong to petty-business and trading communities. The CPM also has a high proportion of manual workers, but very few from higher occupational groups. An attempt is made to arrange the occupations in terms of a scale. It should be admitted that grouping numerous kinds of occupations into some broad categories poses problem for researchers in India because there are people who still carry out traditional occupations and in addition to that the multitude of occupations that exist in a modernising country. However, every respondent is put into one category or the other. The occupations are scaled on the basis of income, skills required and status that usually go along with a particular occupation. Though the categorisation included several separate categories, some occupations are grouped to facilitate statistical analysis.

8 Table Occupation of Respondents by Party and Level Category CONG TDP CPM Total DL LL PM Unemployed,including house-wife KD 2(2) 4(5) 7 5(6) 2(2) Agricultural labour/ industrial worker 12(16) 7(9) 19(25) 38 3(7) 15(17) 20(20) Artisan/skilled worker/ Petty business 15(20) 7(9) 9(12) 31 3(7) 11(13) 17(17) Land-owing peasant 22(29) 37(46) 35(46) 94 17(38) 31(35) 46(47) Employee(clerk, teacher, etc.) 4(5) 6(7) 8(11) 18 _ 9(10) 9(9) T rade/business/ Industry 15(20) 13(16) _ 28 11(24) 12(14) 5(5) Professional (doctor, engineer & lawyer) 6(8) 9(11) 1(1) 16 11(24) 5(6) - N = A large chunk of party activists and leaders are from peasants, especially so in the TDP and CPM. People from trade and business and also from professional categories are in sizeable number (28 and 27 percent respectively) in the Congress and TDP, while such persons are too few (one percent only) in the CPM. However, the proportion of manual workers in the CPM is 25 percent. When we look at the data on occupation of district leaders, local leaders and primary members it reveals that more than twothirds of district leaders in Congress and TDP are engaged in the last two occupations (Trade/business/industry and professions) and one-fourth of them are in farming. Two-thirds of CPM s district leaders are peasants. Most of the local leaders of all parties are from peasants, artisans, small businessmen and workers, in that order. Two-thirds of the primary members for TDP are also peasants. The means of occupational levels for the three types of partymen, namely district leaders, local leaders and primary members (Table 4.9) show that there is not much difference between LLs and PMs. However, the means are significantly different between PMs and DLs as well as between LLs and DLs. /

9 Table Mean Differences in Occupation by Level. Level N Mean S.D. Calculated t values PM PM & LL Significance level LL LL & DL % DL DL & PM % It shows that district leaders are from high income generating occupations, whole the local leaders are from middle and low occupations, and primary members are mostly from low occupations. The computed means for occupational levels for the three parties (Table 4.10) show significant differences between TDP and Congress on the one hand and the CPM on the other. Table 4.10 Means Differences for Occupation by Party Party N Mean S.D. Calculated t values Congress Congress & TDP Significance level TDP, TDP & CPM % CPM CPM & Congress % Data analysis shows that CPM members/leaders, on the whole, are drawn from relatively low occupations. There is no significant difference between the Congress and TDP. However, the variance is less in CPM and more in Congress Party: it means more homogeneity in CPM in terms of occupation. Income The last item in the backgound data relates to income. The difficulties encountered in survey research to obtain reliable and exact information regarding income are well-known. Nevertheless, every, effort is made to obtain information on income of the respondent. The proportion of respondents with high incomes (Rs and above per annum) is low in CPM, while their numbers are about one third in Congress

10 and TDP. About a majority in the TDP and Congress, and four-fifths in the CPM have annual incomes less than Rs.20,000. However, the income pattern among various levels, for all parties combined, shows that district leaders, on the whole, tend to have high incomes, and two-thirds of primary members have incomes less than Rs.20,000. Local leaders fall Table 4.11 Table Showing the Frequency Distribution by Annual Income (party and level) Category CONG TDP CPM Total DL LL PM Less than Rs (15) 13(16) 21(28) 45 3(7) 17(19) 25(25) 5,001-i 10,000 9(12) 12(15) 29(28) 50 9(20) 16(18) 25(25) 10,001-20,000 20(27) 14(17) 11(14) 45 3(7) 21(24) 21(21) 20,001-30,000 7(9) 11(14) 6(8) 24 3(7) 10(11) 11(11) 30,001-40,000 5(7) 5(6) 2(3) 12 3(7) 3(3) 6(6) 40,001-50,000 4(5) 7(9) 2(3) 13 5(11) 5(6) 3(3) 50,001 and above 19(25) 19(23) 5(7) 43 19(42) 16(18) 8(8) N = somewhere between the two though more to the side of primary members. The split-up of income levels of district and local leaders of the three parties shows that in CPM there are virtually no leaders with high incomes, i.e., more than Rs.40,000; district leaders with high income constitute 95 per cent in the TDP and 60 per cent in the Congress. When the three parties are compared in terms of income levels there is significant difference, on the whole, between mean incomes of CPM on the one hand and the Congress and TDP on the other. Data on computed mean for each party and significance levels are noted in Table

11 Tabid Mean Differences in Income by Party Party N Mean S.D. Calculated Significance t values level Congress Congress & TDP TDP TDP & CPM % CPM CPM & Congress % When the incomes for the three different levels (Table 4.13) are compared, the differences are significant between respondents of the three levels, as seen from data presented in the folloing table (4.13): Table 4.13 Mean Differences in Income by Level Level N Mean S.D. Calculated t values Significance level PM PM & LL % LL LL & DL % DL DL & PM % Socio-Economic Status A combined index to find out socio-economic status (SES) of the respondents is developed taking into account the background data relating to caste, education, occupation, and income. SES index has been constructed by giving weights to these socio-economic background characteristics, each respondent being placed on a scale for each of the characteristics. The scores on all the four independent variables are summed. All respondents at three levels are divided into three categories low, medium and high socio-economic status with scores less than 10, 11-19, and 20 and above respectively. Data on SES is presented in Table 4.14.

12 Table Less SES Scores of Respondents by Parly and Level District Leaders^ Local Leaders^ Primary Mcmbers\ TouH\_ CONG TDP CPM CONG TDP CPM^ CONG TDP CPM\ CONG TDP CPM1 than and above N = A good number among the District leaders enjoy high socio-economic status (Table 4.15). It can also be interpreted that people with high socioeconomic status tend to occupy leadership positions. The difference in SES is significant for ail the three levels. Table 4.15 Mean Differences in Socio-Economic Status of Respondents by Level Level N Mean S.D. Calculated t values Significance level PM PM & LL % LL LL & DL % DL DL & PM % When the means of SES for the three parties are juxtaposed (all levels) it is noticed that the difference between means of the Congress and TDP on the one hand and the CPM on the other is significant (Table 4.16). Table 4.16 Mean Differences in SES of Respondents by Party Level N Mean S.D. Calculated t values Significance level Congress t Congress & TDP TDP TDP & CPM % CPM CPM & Congress %

13 i The SES of the members and leaders of the CPM, on the whole, is low compared to those of Congress and TDP. The inference is obvious that the proportion of respondents with low SES is more in CPM than other parties. It does not mean that CPM membership is more homogeneous. In fact, the information for the whole district shows that there is a considerable number of respondents with rich peasant and business backgrounds and even some are from landlords.1 Patterns of Enrollment and Leadership Position How and why individuals become members and activists in political parties is an important question. Only a fraction of citizens become party members. While it is accidental for some, it is a conscious decision for others. Whatever the route they are inducted into the party they provide the main input for the maintenance and sustenance of political parties. The way in which an individual becomes a member of a party organisation depends upon several external and intrinsic factors such as the social context, the nature of political socialisation, family environment, peer group influences, the capacity of political leaders; and internal factors like the urge to become a member of a formal group, ideological motivation, need for self-esteem and status or other less salient motivators. When the respondents are asked to specify the influences that facilitated their induction into political activity, one major response was political leaders, relatives and friends. Data on the item is presented in the following table (Table 4.17). Relatives include parents, grand parents, brothers, paternal and maternal uncles, etc. As the family ties in India are very strong, they extend into the political realm. In fact, some families have generational affiliation to a political party so that a person brought up in that family. becomes a member of the same party. In party circles they are called as party families. In Communist circles sometimes they are humorously referred to as genetic Marxists. The largest number of respondents, comprising 36 persons, were inspired or initiated into party activity by political leaders. There were periods when political leaders, through their speeches and public activity, used to be a source of initiation into the party. There is also another category, Fans Association. Fans Associations of popular film stars are very strong in the district. N.T. Rama Rao, the founder leader of the Telugu Desam Party, 86

14 Table Sources of Influence behind Political Induction (Response categories in DL percentages) LL PM Total Source Political CONG TDP CPM CONG TDP CPM CONG TDP CPM All parties^ leaders Relatives Friends Mass Organizations 13 _ 27 4 _ 32 _ 6 8 One s own initiative Fans Associations N = levels was a celebrated film hero in several box-office hits and had a very good network of his Fans Associations before he took a sudden decision to plunge into politics. Some of the TDP members joined the Party because they were already the members of NTR Fans Association. Since their hero started a new political party they simply followed him into the political arena. In CPM a good number of district and local leaders joined the Party through their association with the Party's mass organisations. CPM enrolls members in large numbers into the mass organisations by collecting a nominal fee and for this it often conducts mass membership drives. Those who are found to be loyal to the leadership of the Party are then recruited into the Party. What is interesting to note is that about one-fifth of the persons mentioned friends as a source of initial involvement. In several cases the partymen have started their political life as members or sympathisers of some party other than the one they were associated with at the time of the study. About one-third of the respondents had prior association with some party other than the present one. More than two-thirds of the TDP members at all levels put together had association with some. other party before joining the present one. They were drawn mostly from

15 non-congress political parties. As they were very weak the TDP attracted all those who were looking for an energetic leadership and a real alternative to the Congress. Data relating to inter-party mobility shows that the TDP also attracted from the Congress several leading figures, who were dissatisfied, or disgruntled with the Congress, into its fold. Of the 15 district leaders in the sample, 11 erased into the Party from other parties, some of which were then defunct. Of the 11 four were from Congress, three from Janata Party and 4 from Lok Dal (the erstwhile Swatantra). Eleven of its active members were earlier members of the Congress. What is interesting is that 10 of its members were earlier members of the left parties (4 from CPI, 2 from GPM and 4 from CPI-ML). There are a few leaders and members who had previous association with more than one party. The length of period of previous association among the 15 TDP district leaders five have between 1-4 years of association with other parties; two each have between 5 years and years; one each has between years and more than 20 years association with some other party. Nearly three-fourths of the district leaders, about two-thirds of the local leaders as well as primary members in the TDP have previous association with one or more political parties. Details are provided in Table Table 4.18 Number of I parties Number of Leaders and Members with Prior Association with Other Parties (other than the present one) DL LL PM Total CONG TDP CPM CONG TDP CPM CONG TDP CPM CONG TDP CPM One party Two parties Three or more parties Total no. Respondents ** 2 " " Out of the total no.of Percentage

16 Party life started at a rather early age for most of the respondents. Nearly half of the respondents joined the party between 20 and 29 years of their age. There are very few respondents whose age is below 20 and above 60 years. Normally one can expect to graduate into a district leader only if he starts his party career early. Those who change parties also become leaders at respective levels, eventhough they do not have much seniority within that particular party. Only few people joined a political party, especially in case of CPM, at a late age. Table 4.19 Table Showing the Age of Joining Political Party Age CONG TDP CPM Total DL LL PM Below 20 years years years years years and above Data on inter-party mobility further shows that a good number of members and leaders left the CPI in 1964 to join the newly formed CPM. When some CPM members and leaders said that they had previous association with other party or parties, they mentioned either the undivided Communist Party or the left extremist parties. One district leader of CPM was once member of the left extremist party (CPl-ML), and afterwards rejoined CPM. However, previous association of CPM members with the CPI is not regarded as party change, because CPM claims that it is the real Communist Party in India and a continuation of the undivided CPI. As such, there are no leaders in CPM who defected from other parties. However, at the level of party members there are 3 persons having previous association with Congress and one with Lok Dal. Usually the tendency among the CPM activists and leaders is to become inactive rather than join some rightist party. While there are no shifts from CPM to TDP and Congress at the leadership level, a few members of the CPM who worked in the mass organisations joined the Congress (one) and TDP (Two). When inter-party shifts of a leader takes place the position one tends to occupy in the current party organisation will be usually, at least imme- 89

17 diately, corresponds to the position he held in the previous party. Thus when: the local leader of party switches over to a new party, he ensures that he is accommodated at a similar level, or if possible at a higher level. Many a time, the positions are negotiated by them with the top leaders of the prospective party. A district leader will not normally leave his party to become just an ordinary member or a local leader of another party. But the reverse process took place in several instances. The case of TDP is slightly different. It was a party started in May 1982, without any prior organisational structure. It came into power within a period of nine months after it was founded. During this period, when the leaders and activists of other major and minor parties sensed the prospects of winning, they moved in large numbers into the TDP. The fact that it was completely a new party and that there were no personnel to man the party, made it easy for the TDP to place them in positions appropriate to thier previous political stature. It also became possible for ordinary members and local leaders of some parties, to get into higher levels of leadership straightaway in the TDP. Thus among the 11 TDP district leaders who had previous association with some other party two were ordinary members, one each was an activist and a local leader. Out of 22 such local leaders in TDP, 16 were ordinary members in some other party. Thus party loyalties tend to be flippant, depending upon the positions and prospects available for a person in the prospective party. Many of those who have a long-standing stint in a party would quit it when better positions in another party with bright electoral prospects are in the offing. The shifts to and out of CPM are relatively few. Apart from the strict rules of recruitment and ideology, the fact that it is no contender for power and has no prospects of capturing or sharing power, makes it less attractive to defect to this party. Only those with local trade union rivalry, dissidents from other left parties, etc., join the CPM. Party loyalties among the Congress and CPM appear to be stronger than in the TDP. Large segments of social groups like the Scheduled Castes, Reddis, Vaisyas and Brahmins have provided the main social base for the Congress Party. The legacy of freedom struggle, its ability to accommodate diverse intersts and social groups and to balance various pulls and pressures within and outside the party enabled the Congress to consolidate its strength. One Congressman makes a typical statement: I am born as a Congress person. I am brought up as a Congress person, and I will die as a Congress 90

18 person. There is no rational explanation involved. In fact, Congress supplied personnel in large numbers to almost all parties, including the Communist Party in the pre-independence period and to the TDP in the 1980s. There are innumerable instances involving several of its leaders and activists leaving the party becoming critical or even hostile, joining or forming some other party, but eventually returning to the Congress fold after some time. One top leader of the Congress Party and Chairman, Zilla Parishad, said: Membership is not a serious question. What matters is whether you are with the Congress. The DCC president likened his party to a train. People keep getting in and getting out. There is no bar if one who alights at one station boards the train at some other point." In TDP the attachment to Party leader is more than to the Party itself. In the CPM loyalty to the Party is almost elevated to the level of a dogma. Epithets such as loyal soldier to the party, loyal to party line till his death etc., are used to eulogise persons and inspire party activists. Party defections are rare in CPM. Defections from one party to another has been a prominent characteristic feature of most Indian political parties. It should, therefore, be of interest to know the reasons as to why individuals leave a party and join another. Most of the CPM members, who broke away from the CPI in 1964, cited policy or ideological differences as the main reason. Most of the TDP members, at all levels, mentioned that they left the previous party or parties because it/they did not have any prospects to become a political force and that new opportunities were available to them in joining the newly formed TDP. Some of the Congress members at all levels, defected to the TDP following the latter s spectacular electoral victory against the Congress, in Dissatisfaction with leadership styles is another reason advanced by party functionaries for leaving the previous party. Differences based on clash of personalities or factional interests tend to push out a few members/leaders to another party. One such situation would be the denial of opportunities for participation in decision-making by ignoring a functionary or by denying nomination to him in party structures such as Committees with an intent to marginalise him. Some others admit candidly that they left the previous party due to non-fulfilment of their interests. 91

19 92 Table 4.20 Reasons for Leaving the Previous Party (in percentages) Reason DL LL PM Total Personality/group differences (15) (13) (3) (9) Poiicy/Programmatic differences (8) (20) (11) (14) Leadership styles Opening up of new (23) (37) (24) (29) opportunities elsewhere (54) (17) (38) (32) Non-fulfilment of interests (13) (24) (16) The data indicate that in the dynamic political milieu, political activists are highly pragmatic and alive to opportunities. When they sense a setback to their interests they do not hesitate to defect to some other party which offers better prospects. The tendency of defections, described by the Indianism, Aya Ram - Gaya Ram, is somewhat unique to the Indian political context. While it reflects the need for a democratic relationship between leaders and followers it also puts at centre stage the political interests of the leader, and places at discount his representational responsibilities to his constituency or supporters. The longevity of party life tends to be greater for those who occupy higher positions in the party. However, it does not mean that such longevity - is a1 passport for upward mobility within the party. On the contrary, longer association with a party is not a necessary condition to become a leader at the district level. Data presented in Table 4.21 vindicate this. Since the TDP is a new party all of its members and leaders have less than 10 years of association with the party. As against this, there are very few leaders at the district level in the Congress and CPM with less than 10 years of tenure with the respective parties. Party seniority generally is the norm for consideration to the party posts. In the CPM, while the

20 Table Length of period Number of Years in the Party by Level CONG TDP CPM Total DL LL PM 1-5 years years years years years and above Total junior ones can aspire to become leaders at division level it is said that the rule is that besides seniority those who are tested in the fire of class struggles become eligible for leadership positions at the district level. Turnover in the leadership positions also is an important aspect in any political party. TDP is a new party and' hence, most of the leaders have very short stint in party positions. In the CPM, there appears to be limited circulation of party elites and as such the tendency for self-perpetuation of le'aders at the top level is preponderant. Data on this item is presented in Table i Table 4.22 Table Showing the Length of Period of Party Elites in the Present Position Duration CONG TDP CPM Total DL LL Less than 2 years years years years and above Total It is interesting to note that though the Congress Party is a centuryold one, the turnover in party positions is very high. There is only one leader with more than 11 years in the present position. The CPM offers a startling contrast. In the CPM we find largest number of such persons who perpetuated themselves in higher party positions for longer periods. The

21 limited circulation of party elites in the CPM, it is suggested, contributes to the prevalence of oligarchic tendencies. Mobility Status i A look at the positions held by party leaders in representative bodies makes it clear that leaders at higher level tend to occupy important positions in representatives bodies too. Thus, elective offices such as Members of the State Legislative Assembly, Chairpersons of corporations, Municipalities and heads of district level public bodies/institutions such as Zilla Parishad, District Library, District Cooperative Society and District Cooperative Bank belong to the realm of district level party positions. However, all members of District Committees do not hold such positions in the elective/representative bodies. The distribution of those holding positions in elective representative bodies party-wise and level-wise are noted in Table Table 4.23 Distribution of Respondents in Elective/Representative Bodies Position CONG TDP CPM Total DL LL Gram Panchayat Member Sarpanch (President) of Gram Panchayat President of Mandal Mandal Panchayat 3 «3 1 2 Chairperson of Corporation/ Municipality, President, Cooperative society/bank Members of Slate Legislative Assembly (MLAs) _ District Level institutions/ public bodies(elected or nominated) 1 1 _ 2 2 _ Total An index of intra-party mobility status, on a 7 point scale was developed for local and district levels, taking into account the positions presently held in the party at local, district, state and natioanl levels and in the various representative bodies. Some members hold concurrent positions in the party, government and semi-government bodies. Thus an M.P. or M.L.A., who is a District Committee Member and also a member of the PCC/AICC is 94

22 ranked high in the Congress party in terms of mobility status. 95 In any party all functionaries at any given level do not possess or exhibit equal capacity to wield and exercise power to the same extent within the party and outside. Some leaders at the district level are not merely leaders of the district party; often they have considerable political clout by virtue of their high socio-economic status. They also play an important role in the organisational and political affairs at the state and, some times, even at higher levels. Some of them may be Members of the Legislative Assembly or Members of Parliament. The leaders at higher level rely upon them, keep in constant touch and give weight to their opinions. Some district and local level leaders are satisfied with what they are. Some of them who have their primary occupation elsewhere may not be necessarily interested in building up a full-time political career in the immediate future. A few others may occupy a middle position between these two categories. Such persons tend to be continuously active in party politics in their pursuit of carving out a political niche for themselves. Based on the mobility index mentioned above the following distribution of the mobility status of leaders (Table 4.24) emerges from the data. Table 4.24 Mobility Status of the District and Local Leaders Mobility Status CONG TDP CPM Total Highly mobile (score 6-7) 11(26) 17(35) 10(23) 38(29) Potential mobiles (4-5) 15(36) 18(38) 23(54) 56(42) Non-careerists (1-3) 16(38) 13(27) 10(23) 39(29) Total The above table shows that the proportion of high mobiles is quite large in the TDP which could be related to the fact that it was a new party with abundant opportunities and that it was the ruling party in the state. But the Congress was not very far behind as 26 per cent of the leaders in the sample are highly mobile. This also could be related to the fact that the Congress, even while in opposition controlled Zilla Parishad, almost all the municipalities and a large number of Mandal Praja Parishads in the district. ' One important area of investigation of interest to social scientists is

23 the nature of relationship between socio-economic status and political mobility. We find from the data that political activists with high socio-economic status also have high status mobility in the political realm, at least in relation to the party hierarchy. The finding (see Table 4.25) is significant at one per cent level for all district and local leaders. Table 4.25 Results of Regression Analysis on Mobility Status Variable Regression Standard t Level of Coefficient Error Calculated significance Interccpt(a) SES % Degrees of freedom: 131 Decomposition of the data for each party and level brings out variations. For the TDP the relationship between SES and mobility status is positive and fairly strong (significant at 1% level) followed by the Congress (significant at 5% level); While for CPM there is no significant relationship between the two and in fact there is a weak negative relationship (see Table 4.26). Table 4.26 Correlation Matrix Mobility Status with Age, Education, Caste, Occupation, Income and SES. Congress TDP CPM All All local All leaders leaders leaders district leaders district leaders 96 and local leaders 1 n=42 n=48 n=43 n=133 Age Education Caste Occupation Income SES Again for both the Congress and TDP high mobility status is positively associated with high levels of income, occupation and education (ail significant at 1 % level). But there is not any notable relationship between mobility n c \n I c OC OC

24 97 status and other independent variables. The mobility status of district party leaders of all parties is positively correlated with socio-economic status, income and occupation. While correlation between these variables is significant at 1 per cent level for district level leaders of all parties, it is significant only at 5 per cent level for local leaders of all parties. It implies that there is a clustering of political leaders with high incomes and with professional, business and farming occupations in the high mobile category. However, mobility status in the political arena has no significant association with caste. Data analysis also reveals that correlation coefficients between mobility status on the one hand and interaction (0.6815), information (0.2480) and motivation (0.2415) on the other are found significant at 1% level. That shows that those who are more mobile also tend to interact more with other party men and leaders, receive and communicate more information and are more motivated. Summary I The data analysis presented in the foregoing pages indicates that all parties are pluralistic and heterogeneous, with regard to their members and leaders. As the district is predominantly rural, much of its local level leadership and party membership is drawn from villages and small towns. However, the district leaders are mostly urban based. The differences in occupation and income between the TDP and Congress on the one hand and the CPM on the other are found to be significant. The CPM has more members and party functionaries with low occupatiions and incomes as compared to that of Congress and TDP. TDP and CPM have younger activists than that of the Congress. However, in terms of caste composition there is no notable difference among the three parties. The levels of education, income and occupation differ significantly among primary members, local leaders and district functionaries. Political parties in India are mass parties and open to all those seeking entry. Of course, the recruitment into CPM is subject to more regulation and control. Political leaders, relatives and friends are found to be important sources, in that order, for initiation into party activities. Defections from one party to another do take place quite freely. And more so when new political opportunities are on the anvil. Good number of party activists are found to have previous association with one or more parties other than the

25 one with which they are presently associated. Inter-party mobility is extremely low in the case of CPM activists; this can be attributed to their ideological adherence, indoctrination and the Party s rigid rules for enrollment and elevation to higher positions. : Finally, it is also seen that leaders,, at a given level differ in terms of their mobility status in the party. Some are obviously more mobile than others. The differences in mobility status are found to be closely related to the differences in the socio-economic status. Political activists with a higher SES also score high on mobility status. Notes and References Report of CPM State Committee for the year 1988 gives the class composition of the Party in various districts. Out of the 1650 members in CPM in Guntur district in 1988 the class background of members was as follows: i) Agricultural labourers - 406; ii) Poor peasants - 308; iii) Artisans - 215; iv) Workers - 214; v) Middle peasants - 178; vi) Employees - 158; vii) Rich peasants - 73; viii) Businessmen - 85; and ix) Landlords -13. CPM, State Committee, Political and Organisational Report, 16th Conference, Vijayawada, November 1988, appendix-3.