Mriganka M Bhowmick
With every passing year India evolves to a new collective consciousness of its people and it moves from strength to strength. It’s a process of evolution where the collective consciousness of people abandons the bad and gradually adopts the good with focus for better future. In last seven decades after independence, India has experienced this movement of betterment. It has moved from riots to peaceful co-existence, from license raj to free economy, from all pervasive poor country to economic power, from corrupt to non-corrupt practices and many others. So it is not prudent enough to think that people choose its Government in casual manner and intellectuals can only bell the cat.
Have peace. India is moving with its collective mind. So 2019 Election is not a matter of binary choice between Modi and Mahagatbandhan or Modi Vesus Who. It is going to be a choice of All Inclusive Plural India with Economic Development or Exclusive Majoritarian India. Let’s not mistake that the well-beings of people is the common denominator. Needless to say, the political parties are going to create all sorts of narratives and to make promises, just to figure out to understand the preference of India’s Collective Mind. Till now it is groping-in-the-dark for the players.
India secured independence through a bloodbath of partition and it had gradually healed its wounds by embracing pluralism and inclusiveness of all castes, creeds and religions as a Government policy to develop a new India. The journey from Post colonial regime to self-determination was largely influenced with the policy to promote plural society with a focus to uplift peasants and workers of India. Evidently that was a country under leadership of Nehru along with Sardar Patel and B R Ambedhkar establishing block of institutions and economy. The country took the shape as per the collective conciseness of those great leaders.
India moved from that phase and today India is world’s largest democracy and sixth largest economy of the world. India’s collective mind of its people gave directions to this monumental change and country’s politics shaped accordingly as the situation demanded. It was not an aberration rather was the requirement of the plural society with huge social & economic inequalities amongst masses that the politics of the nation had to embrace the rise of regional parties; caste based political expressions and finally evolution of alliance from bi-partisan model of Government.
The rise and fall of political parties and multiple mass movements surely tell a tale that a single thought process or principle failed to dictate the soul of India and so it embraced all view points. It is unlikely for a diverse country like India, the development of institutions, science, technology and 2.8 trillion dollar economy happen through a hegemonic principle of dominance, either social or economic.
From Nehruvian model of socialism with post colonial thoughts, India moved to the era of economic liberalization in 1991 and finally it has landed into Modi’s New India regime. Prime Minister Modi promised a New India which is free from poverty, corruption, terrorism, communalism, casteism and uncleanliness and unite the entire country by adopting good governance and using technology. But there was a shift in the narrative from the political front. BJP did not want to make its majoritarian political view as hush-hush affair rather it has been expressed vehemently from multiple forums and voices are heard which are contrary to the decades long practice of secularism influenced by Nehru’s India. It is a new sound for India’s collective mind. It will be curious to see whether India will accept it in totality or make a course correction.
One may remember that Modi coined a popular slogan in 2014 “Sabke Sath Sabka Vikas” which emphatically means “All Inclusive Economic Development through All Inclusive Plural Society”. As NDA Government ushered “Modi’s New India”, this slogan seemed in perfect sync with the existing plural socio-economic canvas of India. Though Government under Modi had taken multiple social welfare schemes for its people, but somehow the “Development for All” narratives get subdued due to overzealous Hindutva narrative of BJP and fringe elements for consolidation of Hindu vote bank. This has left the minorities & Dalits disenchanted with Modi’s effort to bring New India which is a defined shift from Nehruvian model of socio-economic development.
Swachh Bharat, Jan Dhan Yojana, Skill India, Make in India, Ayushman India, etc, all the Government schemes were rolled out pan India. Surely, the state did not discriminate to its people to extend these benefits. Few of the schemes may not reap benefits as expected but the outcomes were for everybody. The missed narrative of plural India has alienated the major portion of its beneficiaries who are minorities and dalits for whom these schemes are actually meant for. Many of these schemes would have helped effectively the minorities and dalits of the country to uplift there economic and social conditions. But when public discourses and media narratives revolve around Ram Mandir or Triple Talak who cares for Atal Pension Yojana?
It is noteworthy to mention that all the social welfare schemes are without any religious colour but the promulgation of those welfare schemes from the saffron drenched voice of BJP failed to reach to the minorities. A clear cut inclination to woo the majority vote bank by BJP created hindrance for the minorities to embrace Government’s welfare schemes in open heart. As the difference between party’s political agenda and Government has become blurred, gradually and slowly BJP’s political narrative has overshadowed the Government’s development narrative. A defined approach thus made by Mr Modi towards a new economic policy has lost in the midway.
If Government’s push towards economic development looks lackluster today, this is only because of the fact that public welfare for plural society voiced by a party with majoritarian vote bank policy is a great contradiction. If India’s collective mind is utterly confused with this contradiction, only time will tell. However, Collective Mind has kept the political parties in tenterhook as the last state election results depict. At this juncture, it seems risky to play a gamble on majoritarian politics with Modi’s New India vision. (IPA)
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