Indian Elections 2019: Hows the Josh?
India is ready to elect its first government in the post-truth era. Trust has been eroded in public institutions and profit driven media, and everyone is ready to believe their own version of truth. For the first time, the onus is on the individual to decide who to vote for. Maybe its a good thing too.
Make it Happen
Hows the Josh (Are you feeling the energy)? is the new catch phrase in Indian politics that has captured the imagination of the people.
The BJP government led by Narendra Modi has brought fresh energy into government and politics. Probably the first time since Indian Independence, has a leader been able to invoke national pride and responsibility like Modi. Modi has inspired many Indians to shake off their sorry attitude and get real about doing something for the nation. He has urged them to clean up cities and villages, pay taxes and give up subsidies. Millions of Indians are truly inspired by Modi’s call for a better nation. An engaged and motivated citizen is a huge asset to any society, and this is probably Modi’s biggest achievement this term.
Modi has also been seen to shake up the Indian bureaucracy. For far too long, government officials in cohort with politicians, have swindled public money resulting in poor delivery of services. After becoming prime minister, bureaucrats have begun to show urgency and many government services have become a lot better. The best example of this is the recent infrastructure push. A brand new metro is being laid out in Mumbai at a pace that has not been seen before.
Proudly Hindu
The other big push of the government is that they have been able tap into the historic dissatisfaction of Hindus in India. Here take a look at how the narrative is being cast:
Once a classical civilization in its own right, Hindus have been only sporadic rulers of the country since the entry of Central Asian Mongols (Mughals) into the country. A by and large pacifist, and occasionally refined society, they were first subjugated by the Mughals and then the British. It was after more than 500 years, that the were Hindus finally allowed to regain political control under Nehru and Gandhi.
But both the non practicing Hindu Brahmin (priestly caste) Nehru, and devout Hindu Baniya (mercantile caste) Gandhi, where not Hindu enough. Being exposed to the liberal (and liberating) ideals of the European Enlightenment, they were almost apologetic of their own religious identity. While Nehru was thoroughly modern, Gandhi, in a true Hindu tradition, was a pacifist. Both of them understood both that core human values super-seeded religion, and the religion must be relegated to be a personal matter, not a matter of state, society, justice or commerce.
The success of pacifist Gandhi and modernist Nehru, only ended up fueling resentment in both conservative Hindus and Muslims. Conservative Muslims fought for their own separate piece of India and demanded partition, which they got. Conservative Hindus were also angry, but they made a massive blunder. They assassinated Gandhi.
Gandhi’s murder, shocked the entire nation. Gandhi was not only considered a saint (a mahatma) but was also a devout Hindu, whose last words, “He Ram”, were an invocation of the Hindu deity Ram. Gandhi’s assassination provided millions of Hindus with a glimpse of where hate ends, and they vowed to crush out Hindu fundamentalism from the country. The decades post independence ended up as the foundational years for a liberal, secular and democratic Indian republic. The murder of the saint was not wasted.
Fast forward to 2019, and Nehru’s Congress Party, that ruled for most of post independence India has been decayed and filled with corrupt leaders. Government delivery of services has been sporadic and completely lacking compared to the soaring populace. The scars of Gandhi’s assassination have been forgotten. The cultural blitz unleashed by globalization and internet are threatening to devour local traditions. The pent up conservative Hindu hurt of the ages has risen.
This has led to the BJP having a total control of Indian politics, primarily on the basis of the Hindu hurt. The decadence of the Congress Party has provided them with the perfect alibi. After seizing power, the BJP has been busy rewriting historical narratives, subverting scholarship and destroying liberal bastions like the Jawaharlal Nehru University.
They have released Hindu criminals convicted in hate crimes and terrorist attacks, by weakening the case against them and have done nothing to protect innocent Muslims attacked by mobs. In many cases they have ended up celebrating those who have incited such violence. Rationalists and scientifically tempered people who call the conservative’s bluff, are threatened or murdered. The Hindu hurt is also showing its ugliness in the form of increased marginalization of its own oppressed classes, the Dalits, who are also angry and hurt, with much more reason.
Medieval justice, it seems, must be gained by medieval methods.
Decay of Liberalism
In the post truth world, liberal institutions and power structures have been corrupted by wealth and capitalism-gone-bad. The liberal Congress Party has been guilty of the same hypocrisy. Under its rule, local governments, party officials and cronies have made money, while ordinary Indians have suffered and died. Poverty too is a form of violence.
Islamophobia has been on the rise, mostly due to its own refusal to reform itself in a modern world. Saudi fueled oil money has been used to fund a hyper conservative version of Islam, for the autocrats of the Arab world to keep extending their power. Women and minorities keep getting oppressed in Islamic societies that feeds resentment in other places. This has led to a massive decline of the Islamic community and culture, and unless the oil money dries up, there is no real modernizing force in view. The BJP has made full use of this opportunity to paint the community as medieval and barbaric.
The Congress Party of today, filled with children of older leaders, still feels unwilling to reform itself and make it ready to take on the onslaught of the rising Hindu hurt. The BJP on the other hand seems hungry to extend its iron-like grip on Indian politics and win another major election.
Hate vs Decay
“Things are the way they are, because the world is the way it is.” — Anne Leckie
The pessimist view of this election that it is about Hate vs Decay. I don’t think that is true. Pushed to its edge, the Congress Party has come up with innovative policy proposals like Minimum Income Guarantee and stronger city governments, while the BJP being in power, has been forced to temper its hate.
The decaying Congress is liberal at its heart, so there is a chance of redemption. By passing laws like the Right to Information Act (2004) and a Unique ID, it has shown that slowly but steadily it has been pushing the Indian society forward. By selecting a Sikh (minority) Prime Minister in Dr Singh and apologizing for its past mistakes, the Congress still holds a fighting, though losing hand.
There is no excuse for hate. The BJP, while cranking up the josh is pushing Indian society slowly but surely towards conflict. Acceptance, even though an indifferent acceptance, of the other, is a hallmark of the Hindu society, and millions of minorities and oppressed classes feeling unsafe and unwanted in India is un-Hindu.
By the turn of fate, Hindus are moving towards an enlightened, liberal society. A just, prosperous, vibrant, cultural and liberal India is the ultimate pinnacle of Hindu pride and civilization. Unfortunately the BJP is hell bent on destroying it.
The Congress must do a lot more to bring fresh and young energy in its rank and file, while the BJP must show acceptance and generosity towards the millions of deprived Dalits and Muslims. If we can achieve that, then who ever wins or loses, democracy would have won.
