Political Culture and Leadership in India (A Study of West Bengal)

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The study of political leadership in the developing countries has, in recent times, attracted the attention of the social scientists. In a new society, the underlying political culture is characterised by slow but steady politicization of the individual and the groups. The ethos and idioms of micro and macro politics in such societies are remarkably different from those of other developed human communities. In the new societies, as the politics of modernization bring about changes in political culture, the leadership-style, too undergoes subtle changes. For a proper understanding of the processes of social change, scientific study of the emerging pattern of leadership in the developing societies assumes critical importance. This realization has enthused the present author to study the political leadership pattern in a sub-system of the Indian political system-West Bengal-a State of singular importance within the Indian federal structure that truly illustrates certain aspect of 'multiple polarization' characterising Indian politics.

There are very few studies on West Bengal political leader- ship. The studies that are available were mostly undertaken a few decades ago and these are essentially time-bound. So, there is a significant time-gap in the study of political leadership in West Bengal. Leaders, themselves, are human beings and they play their roles by regulating and directing the behaviour of those who possess a 'psyche'. Hence, an enquiry into the psychical aspect of leadership is of supreme importance. None of the existing studies has focused on the psychological dimension of political leadership- pattern in West Bengal.

There is, thus, a conceptual gap in the proper understanding of the nature of political leadership as it prevails in present-day West Bengal. The present work is a detailed empirical study of a select group of political leaders (Communists as well as non-Communists) in West Bengal. The survey covers the period between the Sixth General Elections (1977) and the Seventh (late 1979 and early 1980). An attempt has been made to analyse the leadership-style as offered by the four big political parties that played the most dominant role in West Bengal politics during the period of survey representing the prevalent political-leadership-pattern of the state. They are CPI(M), Congress (1), Congress (S) and Janata. This study aims to analyse the "man" inside the political leader. Hence, in- stead of enumerating various contributory factors, situations and processes that are instrumental in the development of political leadership, the present work takes into consideration a few care- fully chosen independent and dependent variables. The linkages between these variables seem to reveal the essential attitude-complexes of the two sets of leaders and the basic psychological factors affecting and controlling their attitudes.

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