Indian Politics of Defection: An Uninteresting Variant Of Dissidence
Defections from various political parties and the resulting deviation from norms such as "loyalty is not sellable," "pluralism is to be considered worthy of respect," and "politics that endorses improvement in the spheres of non-coercion or increasing but reasonable degrees of freedom" have recently led to the melancholy expression, "we were wrong in supporting, promoting, and protecting these defectors." Congress MPs in Madhya Pradesh (MP) and Karnataka as well as the Shiv Sena in Goa and, more lately, Maharashtra are heard using these kinds of rhetoric. Is the act of defection becoming the new standard for doing politics in India? This raises the most basic problems. What is the reason for the violations of the above-mentioned norms? And who is responsible for this? The act of def...
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