The two-party syndrome: Conservative versus liberal?

There is a palpable sigh of relief in some quarters under the impression th at India is finally moving towards a virtual two-party system organised aro und certain conservative and liberal co-ordinates, But does India need that sort Of a regime? In thoughts as well as in actions, the reign of this par ticular liberal consensus for about half a century has exacerbated social f ragmentation, religious intolerance, and economic underdevelopment. There i s no sign of change for the better in this consensus. The conservative cons ensus differs little from its rival. It invokes Hindu epics, which, in fact , glorify civil wars that had divided the people. The epic age of Indian sp iritualism is marked by great diversity of thoughts which cannot possibly b e contained within any one culture. And the other beliefs that emerged subs equently deserve no less respect. The conservative agenda is thus incoheren t. Communalism and casteism are the two main threats today. The basic probl em has two dimensions: inter-religion, and intra-religion. This paper suggests a: possibility of resolution, inspired by two universal truths, namely, human sanctity, and human rights; the former justifies the domain, while the latter enumerates the content. The first one is ape anci ent revelation in all religions; the second one is of recent origin. The ba sic ideals of India include secularism and equality in the civil society, f ull employment and growth in the economy, and democracy in polity. This pap er tests the prevailing conservative and liberal consensus in the light of such standards, And, above all, it explores a possible path towards these i deals.