SPEAKING FREELY Time for India's right to look within
By Tridivesh Singh Maini and Arko Dasgupta
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times Online feature that allows guest writers to have their say. Please click hereif you are interested in contributing.
As the 2014 general elections appear on the Indian horizon, a section of the right-wing news media - who often feel orphaned by supposed Nehruvian domination - and the corporate sector are saying that India has been ruined by left-wing economics practiced for the better part of six decades as an independent nation. They also argue that left-oriented thinkers have an
invidious monopoly in virtually all research and academic institutions.
While populist economics may have, for a large part, damaged the Indian economy, it is all too easy to blame populism without looking at the larger picture - that is, the effect it has had on the polity. Both the Indian National Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are to be blamed for this. The Congress's obsession with populism and the failure of the Indian right, principally represented by the BJP, to come up with a solid roadmap in opposition are both responsible for all the cacophony in Indian political circles today.
The BJP has often been accused of not being able to set itself up as the definitive party of the Indian right. On the contrary, it has emerged as more of a Hindu party than one espousing other aspects of conservatism (granted that support for organized religion has always been an integral part of political parties with a right-wing ideology). Also, if one were to expunge Hindutva or cultural nationalism from the BJP's raison d'etre, there would be nothing really separating the two principal political parties.
Even in their economic policies today, there are more similarities than differences between the two parties. There will be those who would counter this assertion and maintain that the two parties are fundamentally dissimilar. To drive home this they may, for example, point out that the six years of BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) rule under the command of Atal Bihari Vajpayee as prime minister were the best the country had seen in many years. Moreover, unlike the Congress, the BJP can never be charged with the brazen promotion of dynasty politics in the world's largest democracy.
Yet, it is important to bear in mind a few facts. Firstly, one of the major reasons for the NDA's fairly successful tenure was Vajpayee's leadership and more or less firm stand on many issues (some of which were at times at variance with the Sangh Parivar's views). While the stock of likely prime ministerial candidate and current Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi may have risen among sections of the middle class – frustrated with the UPA’s abysmal performance – he still remains a polarizing figure unlike Vajpayee who was perhaps the closest we got to having a pan-India leader after Pandit Nehru.
Secondly, the BJP might claim they are a party with a center-right ideology but when it comes to economic issues and foreign policy, there is a lack of clarity on where they precisely stand. Of course, a party’s position on such policies may at times deviate from its ideology owing to electoral considerations. In fact, on numerous issues the right has converged with the left.
This was there for all to see during the Indo-US civil nuclear agreement episode as well as in the decision to allow foreign direct investment in the retail sector. Thirdly, there is very little space for individuals who may not be comfortable with the Parivar's ideology in the BJP. Certain exceptions like Jaswant Singh - a seasoned politician who fought an election on a Swatantra Party ticket in 1967 before the BJP in its current avatar was conceived - do find space in the party. However, Singh's views on Muhammad Ali Jinnah (as laid down in his book Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence published in 2009) led to his expulsion from the party. The book was banned in Modi's Gujarat. Singh was rehabilitated a year later and he now finds himself back in the ranks of the BJP.
Ever since its formation the BJP (formerly the Bharatiya Jana Sangh) has taken it upon itself to be representative of India's political right. However, it has not been very successful in that India still largely remains a one-party dominant system with the Congress having been in power for most of independent India's history. The BJP does however have the potential to challenge the Congress in the 2014 elections.
For this, first the party needs to get its house in order. It is also important that they look beyond their core base, and not dismiss reaching out to minorities as ‘vote bank politics’ . A genuine democracy is not complete without political parties representative of both ends of the political spectrum (as also those with center-right/ center-left leanings although to be fair it is sometimes very hard to distinguish between center-right and center-left outfits) voicing their opinions and fighting it out amongst themselves for a chance to lead the country election after election. For the sake of Indian democracy we must hope that a genuine Indian right – akin to the Swatantra Party – bereft of rabble rousing and incessant whining emerges.
Tridivesh Singh Maini is a New Delhi-based columnist. Arko Dasgupta is a postgraduate student at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times Online feature that allows guest writers to have their say.Please click hereif you are interested in contributing. Articles submitted for this section allow our readers to express their opinions and do not necessarily meet the same editorial standards of Asia Times Online's regular contributors.
(Copyright 2013 Tridivesh Singh Maini and Arko Dasgupta.)
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