India’s social structure is one of the most elaborate. Naturally, in a country where there are so many communities, the power balance is likely to keep shifting from one section to another. Traditionally, political and administrative power was in the hands of the kshatriyas or the warrior caste, influenced significantly by the Brahmins. Now the picture is different. The phrase “vote bank” describes this situation best. However, what is most notable is that there is a thrust towards decentralization. Winning an election with clear majority has become something of a Herculean labor. Should it be surprising that a woman accomplished it in the UP-assembly elections?
The question however is still not a very easy one to answer. The credit to the tumultuous victory of the BSP in the Uttar Pradesh elections is given largely to the Brahmin vote. So it seems now that the Vote Bank has a new account holder, the Brahmins. As I said earlier, the thrust is very clearly towards decentralization.
One may argue that India’s political morass is a vicious cycle. The class of our country is an unappealing lot, with scandals trailing them like flies on over-ripe fruit. Corruption, which is often said to be the result of depravation in the first place, corrodes the credibility of any political institution and corruption has spread its feelers to other kinds of institutions as well. While it is obvious that the government shall have to play an active role in education and employment generation for quite some time even now, this necessity has been misused by those in power. The level of political influence in every field is hopelessly obstructive. As a direct consequence of this, the better educated individuals shy away from participating in the political process. The vicious cycle’s first circular undercurrent is clear.
The true reason behind the dismal performance of India’s youth so far as the political process is concerned, is the lack of positive motivation. The spirit of patriotism in the country has begun waning. Those who claim to be patriotic are hopeless nationalists. Their ideology is of no constructive use, simply because we owe our economic success to globalization. Conservative nationalism, which manifests periodically in embarrassing and often violent clashes against experimenters and the so-called “moral police”, comes in the way of globalization. Although the matter is ridden with several very deep-rooted issues, isn’t it clearly obvious that creating huge obstacles for heavy industry giants like Posco works to no particular advantage to our economy? (We may discount ourselves from debates on whether art and literature need censorship—that is not such a pressing issue on the macroeconomic scale).
So it seems, as we reach the conclusive paragraph of Part One, that the true ruler of India is political opportunism. Everything is a game to buy popular support. Then even if it means blocking the development of SEZ’s and consequently depriving India of much needed export growth, or obstructing the construction of irrigation and hydroelectric projects, the political class will still continue to feed and/or release viruses akin to the NBA to carve some niche for the upcoming elections. It seems therefore that we are destined to a condition where progress is just an accident while what is really happening is the preparation for the next democratic exercise. (Continued in Part II, coming shortly, on the Rajya Sabha…)