Parties are formed for different purposes in different countries and ages. They may be formed on the basis of religion, economics, form of government, nationality, class interests or other general questions of vital interest to the State or people. Religious basis creates communal or religious parties which are usually reactionary, conservative and fevivalist or fundamentalist.
They are for example, the Hindu Mahasbha, the Akali Dul Party, etc., in India, the Jamaat-e-Islami, the Ahrar, and the JUI or JUP in Pakistan or the various Catholic and other Christian parties in several European countries. But religious basis is not a sound principle for political parties. It,arouses hatred, divides the nation, obscures political issues and prevents a rational solution of political, social and economic problems of a nation.
It is opposed to progress and development of human life and society Racial and national differences also create various parties, especially where racial and national minority groups exist. In the 19th century, parties existed to advocate different forms of government, such as the monarchist and the republican parties, one favouring a monarchical and the other a republican form of government. Class parties also sometimes exist, such as the party of the landlords or of the industrialists or of the workers. In present times, however, parties are usually organised on the basis of political and economic programmes and policies.