Case for a two-party system in India

India is the largest democracy in the world and a strange one at that. The party with the least seats has the maximum power; yes least seats. Regional parties play on the emotions of the downtrodden locals, incite them against the central government, and motivate them using religion or other regressive issues like eliminating the use of computers and capture the vote bank. With several Indian states having such dominant regional parties what results is a very fractured parliament. Let alone a single party majority, even alliances struggle to put together the magic number of seats to form the government. This results in frenzied horsetrading after the elections and crores of rupees changing hands behind close doors...or should I say being transfered from one Swiss bank account to another. Thus, a regional party with a handful of seats can make big demands like cabinet positions and control of critical ministries like Railways to support the formation of a coalition government. Laloo Prasad Yadav, who may be the candidate of choice in a section of Bihar, finds himself heading a multi-billion dollar operation! That's not the mandate of the majority, is it? After the commotion settles we deal with over twenty parties forming the government, as was the case under Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Twenty parties having to agree on issues of governance - that's ridiculous. I don't think twenty adults can even agree on a cuisine for dinner. If India has to progress economically and socially, I believe we need a two-party political system like the United States. The more popular of the two is voted to power and has clear authority on making decisions without the lag of conflicting ideologies. I also think that such a system will shift the focus on selecting the right candidate by giving people a say in who they want as their leader, rather than letting that be a decision made by an individual like Sonia Gandhi . I would love to see primaries and caucuses, and rigorous debates that allow the people to make informed decisions. Hoping for change!