Lacking in idealism, Indian politics in throes of a transition

Successive election results analyses, by employing sophisticated tools, fall woefully short of understanding and addressing a critical transition which has been incrementally, but unfailingly, taking place in the nature of Indian democracy. All such analyses use conventional lens and perspectives to deconstruct the mind of voters and the reasons for an emerging polarisation. For instance, before and after Gujarat elections, the core issues of discourse have been the emerging roles of Patidars, farmers, tribal and minorities. 

It is often assumed that community-voting plays the most role in forging alignments in the political landscape. It is a truism that more we go to the bottom of the social pyramid, reflected in the grassroots institutions like the panchayats, micro-identities assume an exaggerated role. However, at the macro level of national elections, consolidated identities of caste, community, professional interests amalgamate and align with the political parties. But the 2014 Lok Sabha election has repudiated such empiricism when voters acted as self-opinionated political actors and instantaneously decided to support Narendra Modi. 

The voting pattern during the Delhi assembly election was also stunning when a new political formulation, AAP, secured a big victory. How much voters have changed and how far identities influence their aspirational politics are two intertwined questions needing a revisit.

Politics in India has been considered an extension of social service and leaders enjoyed highest respect and command of their supporters, not merely due to their potential to have ‘authoritative allocation of resources’, but more due to their moral capital which inspires citizens. Interestingly, due to this reason, the term monarch, which is considered pejorative in the Western democratic parlance, isn’t imbued with a derogatory meaning in Indian democracy. The Raja (King) is used as a value-loaded term for someone who is an emblem of virtues and service and, therefore, the word can be employed as an instrument for comparative evaluation of modern rulers. The reason is not difficult to understand. During ancient and even medieval period, Indians celebrated their kings who considered their subjects as their own sons and daughters and exhibited highest morality, judiciousness and also renouncement. 

This political narrative remained an undisturbed element in the collective subconsciousness of the Indian people.  It was more obvious when Mahatma Gandhi emerged as the greatest hero of the Indian people and acted as an uncrowned king. This phenomenon can be seen everywhere in the Indian society from a micro social unit to political and social organisations. The man with vision and values command the highest respect. Can anyone put Sardar Patel or Mahatma Gandhi in the caste framework? 

The biggest mistake the Congress committed after independence was leaving this vast treasure of these leaders unutilised. It preferred professional politicians. The formation of the  Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), inspired by the RSS, was based on two cardinal principles: One, politics is an extension of social and cultural concern, and, second, renouncers, not professionals, should constitute the core leadership. These two values gave the party a unique place on the political horizon and it emerged as an anti-thesis to the Congress culture.

However, competitive party politics and battle for hegemony brought many transformations in the realm of the party system and there are reasons for the increasing incoherence between new voters and parties vying for hegemony. Three new dynamics have been increasingly effecting the nature of democracy in India. Firstly, the missing idealism in public life, which is a conglomeration of politics, bureaucracy, media and top corporate, and that is creating a sense of rebellion among younger people. People are on a quest for idealists and whenever anyone convinces them, they instantaneously and blindly extend their support. This could be seen during the Anna Hazare movement when Arvind Kejriwal’s pseudo-idealism gave him a larger-than-life image. Such rebellious trait has given birth to a class of political atheists who reject existing values and structures. They lack faith in political class. It is this class which becomes venerable whenever political and economic crises take place. 

The second important transformation is effected by economic factors. Post-1991, India has witnessed the emergence of industrial class, corporate houses and the mushrooming of millionaires and billionaires. In fact, a kind of class consciousness has been simultaneously taking its space but it is not ready to be a prisoner of Marxian ideology. The redundancy of the Indian Communist can be understood from their borrowed wisdom. When in the 50s and 60s caste had primacy, the Communists preached class struggle; in contemporary India, when class emerged out of capitalist developments, they increasingly showed integration with caste-based politics. 

The new classes are collaborative in thought and action and believe that nothing is beyond democratic negotiations. Political parties have failed to tap into this consciousness. The new, young, educated class with handsome earnings is in the quest for idealistic politics and egalitarianism. And, the third reason effecting transition is disequilibrium between the political class, intellectuals and masses. Their convergence gives stability to a political system and that is absent in India.

The author is founding Honorary Director of India Policy Foundation, a Delhi-based think tank. Views expressed are personal.