GMAT Essays (AWA)

Dear Members,

Please review my essay on an issue and provide your review comments. Thanking you in advance.

Issue:

"People's loyalty to political parties and political leaders significantly hinders their ability to form their own opinions about an issue."

Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion stated above. Support your views with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.


Essay:

One of the most important thing which provides a view of the success of a political party is the ability to work towards a common goal irrespective of the differences in opinion on various issues among its members. A political party's position on an issue may not have the support of all its members and members within the party may have views which might be exactly opposite to the party's position on an issue. There are numerous examples of the same in real world. There are some who believe that loyalty to a party hinders the ability of the members to form their own opinion and there are others who believe that loyalty does not influence the member's ability to form their own opinion. In my view, and as shown in the examples below, I don't agree that a person's loyalty to political parties and political leaders significantly hinders their ability to form an opinion.

One example which I would like to quote here, to showcase my position, is the case of the naxalities problem in India. The political party Congress, which heads the Goverment of India, viewed the naxalite problem as a law and order problem. The Congress party was of the view that the Naxalite problem be treated as a law and order problem. This position had the support of the majority of the members of the party and of the president of the party. However, there were senior leaders within Congress who did not agree with this position.

Digvijay Singh, a senior leader and a former Chief Minister, from Congress openly opposed this position and did not share the views of the Congress party on this issue. Digvijay Singh said that the naxalities problem should be viewed in the light of the people's economic condition and not from a point of view of law and order.

Another example where a member and his political party did not share a common view was on the conduct of the Common Wealth Games 2010 in New Delhi,India. Mani Shanker Iyer, former Sports Minister of India and a member of Congress party, shared a view that India should not be investing the tax payer's money on conducting the Common Wealth Games.
His view was that the money is well spent on improving the sports infrastructure in schools and colleges. In fact he wished that the Common Wealth Games fail. However, the Congress party,of which Mani Shanker Iyer is a member, wanted a successful Common Wealth Games and the parties position was that the conduct of Common Wealth Games would showcase India's organisation abilities to the world and would pave the way for India's bid to stage Olympics. This is another example where the party and its member did not share a common view.

There could be some truth to the statement that loyalty to the party and political leaders could affect the thinking of a member but it will not be so drastic as such that the members are unable to form their own opinion. In sum, I do not agree with the statement of the issue and firmly believe that members of a political party will be able to form their own opinion, irrespective of the loyalties, and the express the same freely.