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         article-type="Research Paper"
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  <front>
    <journal-meta>
      <journal-title-group>
        <journal-title>Indian Journal of Social Enquiry</journal-title>
        <abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">IJSE</abbrev-journal-title>
      </journal-title-group>
      <issn pub-type="epub">applied</issn>
      <issn pub-type="ppub">0974-9012</issn>
      <publisher>
        <publisher-name>Prof Gitanjali Chawla</publisher-name>
      </publisher>
    </journal-meta>
    <article-meta>
      <article-id pub-id-type="publisher-id">IJSE390003</article-id>
      <title-group>
        <article-title>Pt. DeenDayal Upadhyaya: Democracy and Role of Political Parties</article-title>
      </title-group>
      <contrib-group>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <name>
            <surname>Agrawal</surname>
            <given-names>Sanjay Kumar</given-names>
          </name>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1"/>
        </contrib>
        <contrib contrib-type="author">
          <name>
            <surname>Mishra</surname>
            <given-names>Akshay</given-names>
          </name>
          <xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1"/>
        </contrib>
      </contrib-group>
      <aff id="aff1">Maharaja Agrasen College, University of Delhi</aff>
      <pub-date pub-type="epub" iso-8601-date="2026-09-02">
        <month>09</month>
        <day>02</day>
        <year>2026</year>
      </pub-date>
      <volume>9</volume>
      <issue>3</issue>
      <fpage>39</fpage>
      <lpage>47</lpage>
      <abstract>
        <p>Democracy is a theory of society and not a theory of governance. A democratic
government is the product of democratic society and not vice-versa. We may
define democracy as the organization of society for liberty and equality, through
the spirit of fellowship or fraternity, as well as the right to participate in political
decision making. Participation and control of governance by people is the
essence of democracy which is a constantly moving dynamic force and which
impels us towards a social organisation in which every individual member shall
have equal opportunity to develop holistically.
Pt. DeenDayalUpadhaya&apos;s views on democracy and the role of political party is
relevant in contemporary India as it was in past. He wanted to decolonise
Indian political thought which was largely as he said, “A western political
picture in the Indian background”. He strongly argued against the left-right
division as being detrimental to the growth of the constructive, transformative
pro-people democracy which is the part of his “Swayambhu philosophy” which
contains the celebrated Integral Humanism. He argued that this left-right
categorisation does not give a correct idea of politics in India because many
programmes of these political parties defy any classification on this orthodox
basis. He wanted to wash out this distinction from political parties which
hamper the transformation of India into New India in a more democratic
fashion. According to him, politics must be controlled by the masses and not by
the wealthy. Neo liberalism has challenged democracies to ensure they do not
become beholden to corporate interest. DeenDayal cautioned that “if steps are
not taken to mend them, powerful lobbies will emerge in the country&apos;s legislature and political decision will hardly be taken in an objective manner”.
Taking into consideration the welfare of people and promotion of national
interest, this paper will focus on the feasibility of practising the concept of
Integral Humanism in a democracy, highlighting the importance of it in
contemporary issues of policy making and implementation through a more
democratic, accountable and participative manner.</p>
      </abstract>
      <kwd-group kwd-group-type="author">
        <kwd>Democracy</kwd>
        <kwd>Integral Humanism</kwd>
        <kwd>Policy making</kwd>
        <kwd>Governance</kwd>
      </kwd-group>
    </article-meta>
  </front>
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