Political parties’ ‘Appeasement of Minorities’ will be taught in Schools

NCERT’s new book on Political Science for Class XI

Lesson on ‘Vote Bank Politics’ included

New Delhi – National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) Class XI revised Edition of the Political Science textbook contains a Chapter on India’s ‘Vote Bank politics’. This lesson is about the appeasement of Minorities by political parties for votes, which happens at the cost of equal rights for all citizens.

Vote Bank politics distorts politics of Elections

“Can you think of such examples ? In theory, there may not be anything wrong with Vote Bank politics, but only when it leads to the mobilisation of a social group to vote en masse for a particular candidate or political party, it distorts Electoral politics. Here, the important feature is that the whole group works as a monolithic unit during voting. Despite the diversity within the unit, the party or leader pursuing such Vote Bank politics tries to artificially construct a belief that the interest of the group is one. In effect, by doing this, the political parties’ prioritise short-term electoral gains over the long-term development and governance needs of society.”

Political parties give importance to the interests of Minorities

“In India it has been observed that political parties neglecting substantive issues have often focused on emotive issues for electoral gains, neglecting genuine problems faced by the community. Competitive Vote Bank politics has the potential to exacerbate social division by portraying different groups as rivals vying for limited resources. In India, it is also associated with minority appeasement. This means that the political parties disregard the principles of equality of all citizens and give priority to the interests of a minority group. Ironically, this has led to their further alienation and marginalization. As Vote Bank politics fails to acknowledge diversity within the minority group, taking up issues of social reform within these groups has also proved difficult.”