By Ananya S Guha
Politics is now only about electoral politics. After the voting is over and the results are out, no one bothers as to what is going to happen. No one sees change as something tangible that might happen, change for the better, change in livelihood, change in life style of the poor. No one pines for better heath care or education. But who is this ‘ no one’? They are the upper middle classes who do not foresee any change, because their lifestyles continue, because their increments and dearness allowances come regularly. And, once in a while the pay revision! They celebrate India’s victory in cricket, but murmur a few words when people are killed or when people die in floods or are hit by a cyclone.
Change never happens in India, because no one believes in it. Of course they can very well see the changes in their personal lives, for the better or the worse. Change is a mono construct in our lives, because we never believe that it can take place. What can take place are miracles. A beggar driving a Mercedes! If that happens that is not change, that is or will be a miracle. Like the government promising houses for the poor or insurance schemes, or pensions or free gas cylinders, or waiving farmers’ loans, or providing free education for ALL, on the eve of elections in a particular state in North East India. Change is getting a political party out. Then, development will spiral.
For three decades a lady fought for change in the Narmada Valley, is still fighting for it. The change she has brought about in the lives of the poor has gone unnoticed. Damn the dams they say. They are our wealth. But the wealth after constructing the dams, have not brought about any change. Have the lives of those living around the dams improved?
So change is nothing cataclysmic. If at all it happens in governmental policies, to create more positions, to smuggle in people through the back door. And of course there is lot of change in cash, exchange. The question is what are we heading for? Education is in the back seat, so is overall development. The claim that we are among the fastest growing economies sounds hollow when more than half the population cannot get full meals?
And then there are other developments such as child abuse and rape. Womanhood which is a part of ancient mythology in India is damned. Now we have the instance of baby Nirbhaya. Families after families have been traumatized by such bizarre happenings. We talk of education for the girl child. There are voices of protest, but they are muzzled by death threats and killings. Writers have even taken to the streets. So have teachers and the entire country after Junaid’s killing.
However the saving grace in this year’s budget has been the enhancement in allocation for education and heath which are key issues for overall development.
Our politicians should not be content with vote banks only. The Indian electorate if dissatisfied, can change overnight. They don’t like communal politics and divisiveness. The majority of them may be Hindus but they respect history and age old traditions. The poor are poor whether Hindus, Muslims or Dalits. Caste has come into the Indian polity in a sharp way to drive wedges, imbalance the society and create societal warring. The issue of the Dalits have led to uprising and created new political leaders who are vehemently against the right wing groups.
If housing has got mention in this year’s budget it is good augury. But there must be careful planning, so that benefits accrue to all in every part of the country. True, things cannot be achieved overnight. For the time being we must be emphatic about removing poverty, achieving a level of living conditions with a planned methodology. Side by side education and health care must go on with sustainability. Smart cities can come later. We need to remove slums and hovels and have smart villages first.
Much has been discussed on demonetization and GST. While the benefits of the former are not clear, the latter seems to have fallen more on middle class entrepreneurs. Of course political capital is made out of it. That is the issue, the politics of everything from love to economics. Recently there was much ado about a film which turned out to be nothing- controversial, dishonourable or blasphemous. The point is that religion and ‘ culture’ is inextricable from our present day scenario. And, the media always finds this a vantage point to trigger boisterous discussions. So what will be a non-event is converted into a national news, with threats and vandalism. The Karni Sena for example, if it is again and again a ‘ fringe ‘ group, then why give it such importance, why are they invited to television studios for discussion? The media and politics have both an unholy and uneasy alliance. Subversion of this with a dispassionate media is needed. Will anybody listen? Added to this is the concoction of social media, imbued with threat calls and what are called hate mails.
It is the perversity of hate which is dominating the society today. Politicians viciously snipe at each other, love is a ‘ jihad ‘, the Muslim invaders were rapists ( like Tipu Sultan), what we have now is only entrapping the present with a vicious, ignoble and malevolent past. That is of course post tenth century onward!