SPEAKING FREELY The politics of expediency and growth in India
By Sunil Kumar
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times Online feature that allows guest writers to have their say. Please click hereif you are interested in contributing.
Not long back, the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government of India was viewed as lacking spine on crucial matters of national and international importance. If events of the past few months are anything to go by, the government is slowly shifting gears in policy planning and changing tack in diplomacy.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asserted himself over making
Italian marines answerable to the Indian legal system, simultaneously government has sought to quell rising discontent among people on the issue of the crumbling law and order situation by rushing through parliament the Ordinance and Criminal Law Amendment Bill, 2012, to combat sexual offences. Political pundits have already attributed this earnest stance to the fact that general elections in 2014.
While the principal opposition party bides time and adds fuel to the prevailing feeling of discontent among the public by focusing on rising prices, corruption, increasing lawlessness and other issues of vital concern, political realities could well be very different from what meets the eye.
Political expediency and social welfare
Kautilya in his classic work Arthashastra warns the king to be always on alert to his enemies as they operate on the sly. He suggests that the king should sometimes dress like a commoner and visit market places to gauge his popularity. He also suggests that it is better to make allies of seemingly powerful opponents. Well, political expediency certainly dominates the political activity at present. Welfare policies only arrive piecemeal in the days of coalition politics. Often, the government is seen spending more time appeasing its allies than independently pursuing its declared welfare agenda.
A vision of the future
It becomes clear to us that welfare may often become the sacrificial goat at the altar of political expedience in near future as well. What is the impact of this era of brinkmanship? This new culture of politics has given rise to a new breed of middlemen and political brokers who seek their 15 minutes of fame. In this phase of political life, any individual worth their salt can try their luck.
Dreams are being sold in the marketplace of desires. Everyone is seeking a share in the proverbial pie, not so much for welfare but for personal gain and popularity. A subculture of narcissism is greasing the wheels of this giant vehicle of power. Beware! Genuine efforts at social emancipation and welfare may go totally unnoticed. The irony of our times is that without publicity, even a cock will not roost.
As a politician, until a band of public relation professionals pushes your profile up the popularity meter you may be termed as simply another madman rooting for the welfare of people. This subculture of new-age politics, it seems, is here to stay.
The real challenge
Expectations are definitely immense from India. The challenge of democracy is not so much in attaining prosperity or minimum living standards of a comparable level with the developed world or eradicating diseases, but in sustaining the hope generated by its democratic ethos at the world stage.
Tenuous issues of caste and communalism haunts the Indian polity time and again. The much celebrated theory of youth power also is full of holes. Will India be able to generate adequate employment commensurate with the educational qualifications of the burgeoning young population? Is the nation geared to deal with a huge mass of aged population thirty years hence? With endemic culture of sycophancy plaguing educational institutions, research avenues are becoming constricted and do not offer much hope especially, in the field of liberal arts.
However, if the moral fiber the society is to remain strong then it is important that liberal arts and research receive adequate infrastructural support. Also, glory is not in passing legislation like the Right to Education Act of 2009 or in giving out few scholarships but it is in making noble intentions work. The constitution of India was adopted with the grand hope of ushering in an era of democracy in the year 1950. Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar had then warned that India was going to enter a phase of social and economic inequalities. How true his vision has turned out.
While we have political equality where every adult is given the right to vote, we struggle to achieve social and economic equality. The immediate challenge however, is to make basic amenities available to the teeming millions of India. Also, the challenge is to secure a safe and healthy childhood for every child of India. One step a time will not do any good. Efforts should be launched at multiple fronts to meet the myriad challenges of Indian democracy.
Sunil Kumar is a Research Fellow with the India Institute, an independent not-for-profit public policy research and advocacy organization based in New Delhi. He may be reached at skreative@rediffmail.com. He tweets @kumardiaries.
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times Online feature that allows guest writers to have their say. Please click here if 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.
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