Indians look at the two-party system of America with the ache of longing. Indian national elections, which are due in 2014, unless the government lead by the Indian National Congress falls before its time, is a festive circus of dozens of parties, most of which are actually family businesses which will be transferred by the elders to their children.
There is probably not a single political journalist in the country who can name, without looking at reference material, all the political parties that contest in the national elections.
But there are some similarities between the American system and the two major political rivals of India. The Indian National Congress has overt and covert socialist tendencies. It is willing to help the poor at the expense of the middleclass. The party is, in theory, liberal. In fact, it has interpreted secularism to mean equal opportunity for thugs from all religions.
The other major party, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, is largely a conservative, capitalist, middle-class force that is often baffled over why it is so hard for people to accept that India is fundamentally a Hindu country.
There must be something about human nature that divides the species into Democrats and Republicans
http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/22/opinion/delhi-postcard/index.html?hpt=hp_c3
