Table of Contents
The Political spectrum
Origins of the terms
• From French revolution- seating arrangement of ‘Estates General’
• Those who were pro-change/ prorevolution sat on the left
• Those who were pro monarchy and pro king sat on the right Individual liberty and Power of Government
Who are the Left?
• Liberals
• Socialists
• Democrats
• Communist Pro Change and Liberal
What are their policies?
• Equality in society
• Separation of religion and state
• Central planning
• Govt intervention in economy (Keynes)
• Welfare state
• Protectionism – Anti free trade
• Progressive views in matters like same sex marriages, abortion, immigration
• Against death penalty
Examples of Left
• Indian National congress – Centre left
• AAP – further left of centre (more than INC)
• Communist parties: CPI,CPI(M) – Far left
• USA – Democratic party (Hillary Clinton)
• UK – Labour party (Jeremy Corbyn)
Who are the Right?
• Conservatives
• Nationalists
• Republicans Social conservatism and Economic liberalism
What are their policies?
• Limited role of government in people’s life and economy
• Nationalism
• Personal freedom of people
• Religious conservatism + tradition
• Equality for all – no special protection to minorities
• Support for Religion
• Less regulation of economy – private sector promoted fo Examples of Right
• BJP – Right of centre • Shiv sena/MNS – Far right
• USA – Republican party (TRUMP)
• UK – Conservative party (Theresa May)
• Germany – CDU (Angela Merkel)
• UK – UKIP – Far right (Nigel Farage)
• France – National Front – Far right (Marine Le Pen)
Centre
• Middle ground
• Compromise between left and right wing views
• Moderates
• Issue based view- left or right Example- Liberal Democrat party of UK
Unique Politics of INDIA
• Congress brought in LPG reforms of 1991 – Right wing??
• BJP continued with all socialist policies – Left wing??
• RSS – Anti FDI, Anti Capitalist, Pro Labour rights
• Parties espousing socialism – BSP,SP, JD(U),RJD – not liberal/Left in all aspects
• Coalitions! Ex – JDU & BJP in Bihar till 2013
• Indian politics is too diverse to label the parties
The Nature of Left & Right
• Changes with Time
• Relative to other political party’s ideology and policies
• How they define themselves
• To suit present day trends of politics
Indian History | Free PDF
By Dr. Mahipal Singh Rathore
Facebook Id-> facebook.com/mahipalsinghrathore