Political scientists have been unable to reach a consensus on the definition of a political party because different political scientists have provided various conceptions of a political party. Benjamin Constant referred to a political party as a group of people who shared the same political viewpoints in the early nineteenth century. A political party, according to Gilchrist, is an established group of citizens who share the same political beliefs and seek to control the government as a political organization. A political party, according to Neumann, is the most significant tool for transforming social force into political power. A political party, according to Maurice Duverger, is an organization with a defined structure, but Avery Leiserson defines it as a private and indirect representation of social groups and socioeconomic class. Marxian theorists, on the other hand, have defined the political party from an entirely different perspective. A political party, according to Lenin, is the most deliberate, thorough, and definite political tool of every class’s political struggle.
1) Indian National Congress (INC)
The Indian National Congress, which was created in 1885 by the initiative of the retired civil servant in the British Government, Allan Octavian Hume, to reflect the interests of India’s rising urban middle class, is the country’s one of the major political parties. A “big tent” political party, Congress with its platform, is widely seen as lying in the centre to center-left of Indian politics.
The Indian National Congress, since its inception, was leading the Indian movement for independence from British rule. Since independence, it has constituted the majority of India’s governments and has a prominent representation in many state governments.
2) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
Along with the Indian National Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party is one of India’s two major political parties. Since 2014, it has been India’s leading political party, led by PM Narendra Modi. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is a Hindu nationalist right-wing political party with a long history of Hindu nationalist policies. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is philosophically and structurally related to it.
The Bharatiya Jana Sangh is the BJP’s precursor, formed in 1951 by Shyama Prasad Mukherjee. The Jana Sangh combined with numerous other organizations to establish the Janata Party when the State of Emergency was declared in 1977.
3) Trinamool Congress (TMC)
The All-India Trinamool Congress informally called the Trinamool Congress is a political party based in West Bengal. Under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee, the present Chief Minister of West Bengal, TMC has been in power in the state for the last 11 years. It has 22 seats in the Lok Sabha making it the fifth-largest party in the Lok Sabha, and the fourth-largest in terms of MLAs. TMC was officially designated political party by the Election Commission in 2016.
In 1998, Mamata Banerjee founded Trinamool Congress after being a member of the Indian National Congress for more than 26 years. The party’s symbol is the ‘Jora Ghas Phul,’ which is a three-petaled flower with the Indian flag tricolour of green, white, and orange. The TMC’s slogan ‘Ma, Mati, and Manush’ became immensely popular during the 2011 West Bengal Legislative election, which means ‘Mother, Motherland, and People.’