By Benjamin Lyngdoh
A narrative is a storyline that depicts and defines oneself in the eyes of others. It comprises of facts and ideas that distinguishes one from the competitors. In politics, a narrative is what portrays a political party in the eyes of the electorate. A political narrative shapes the image of a party in the minds (and if you like, hearts) of the electorate while assessing developmental issues like education, health, employment, business, religion, pluralism, etc. For example, when it comes to pluralism many tend to agree that the Congress is more accommodating and encompassing as compared to the BJP. This is an outcome of a political narrative percept that the electorate have in their minds (whether consciously or subconsciously). As Meghalaya draws nearer towards its legislative assembly election of 2023, it makes sense to try and look at the political narratives that we find from the parties at play. In an optimum situation, this is mostly the factor that decides how the people would vote. However, it must be noted that a political narrative is not an election manifesto. That is a different subject-matter altogether and not the brief of this column.
On 24th January 2022, political strategist Prashant Kishor gave an interview to NDTV where amongst many other things he talked about the political narrative of the BJP. This particular interview is significant as Meghalaya (along with Goa and Tripura) was mentioned a number of times. These are small legislative assemblies which at the moment are taken by AITC as a case study with regards to their aspirations for national dominance in 2024. Tripura is considered as generic approach whereby AITC is trying to build from the bottom up, Goa is a chaotic approach of party building just few months into elections; but, Meghalaya is an interesting case of becoming a major political party overnight without having an electoral base. The AITC is using these three states as experiments for framing a nationwide political narrative. However, according to him the most formidable political narrative in India at the moment is that of the BJP whereby it has been able to capture the attention of the country on the plank of Hindutva, hyper-nationalism and public welfare. On such planks, beating the BJP is going to be a herculean task especially in parliamentary elections. In addition, this writer assesses that the BJP is also very good at image marketing and managing the perception of the masses as far as its acceptability is concerned. For example, take Meghalaya and its demand for ILP; no matter what the BJP says, it is said in such a manner that the people still have a sense of hope.
In Meghalaya, the talk of political narratives is in essence ‘fuzzy’. This is because we hardly find political parties having any narratives while reaching out to the electorate. In one way, the people are also to be blamed for this. In truth, we do not seek a political narrative from the parties when they approach us. What is their story? How would they benefit the masses? On which planks do they stand? How do they distinguish themselves as compared to others? None of us bothers to analyse this. As a result, it comes down to the very common saying in Meghalaya that ‘we vote for a person and not a party’. Well, it is time to change this. A person is nothing without a party when it comes to development of a constituency/state. But, when a party in government has a political narrative; the narrative acts as a benchmark with regards to its accountability to the people. Using the Congress again as an example, it banks on the pluralism narrative. If the people are appealed by it, then they would vote it into power and this pluralism becomes the yardstick by which it is evaluated. This is how political narratives work. Sadly in Meghalaya, money plays a leading role in elections. This happens right under our noses and all parties do it. This is combined with the populist measures of distributing utensils, chairs, blankets, etc. All these petty and deceptive tactics by the candidates defeats the very need for a narrative by a political party. So, we all move with the flow. Now, in such a scenario how can we expect good governance?
Although ‘fuzzy’, it would be good to look at some of the recent narratives of the parties in brief. The NPP uses the story of being a ‘problem solver’ by highlighting the border settlement initiatives with Assam, shifting of people from Them Metor, economic help for the poor during the covid-19 pandemic, etc. The Congress is more oriented towards ‘pluralism’ and involvement of all sections of society. The AITC is pushing as being the only alternative against the BJP added with ‘inclusiveness of the poor’. VPP uses the story of ‘alternative politics’ and clean/transparent governance as compared to the current flock of parties. The UDP/PDF/HSPDP, etc portray themselves as the only parties that ‘understand the aspirations’ of the Khasi-Jaintia community and their welfare. But, the real question is which of the above is the most effective narrative to which the people can relate to? The answer is none of the above. The reason being, as long as the pillars that form a political narrative portrays a dismal picture in the form of poor education and health indices, corruption and nepotism in governance systems, inability to create employment opportunities, inability to create conducive business environment for entrepreneurship, the resurgence of militancy and insecurity, poor law and order, etc nothing will in truth appeal to the people. Hence, it would be best for all the political parties to revisit and brainstorm on their political narratives before extensively reaching out to the people in late 2022/early 2023. On the other side of the same coin, the electorate may exercise wisdom in choosing the right party/parties to govern.
In the end, the party which comes out with a political narrative which tackles the problems of education, health, unemployment, poverty, inequality, etc., head-on will be the most acceptable. This is because the real questions are – What will you do with the feeling of tribalism if you do not have a job/education and a livelihood? What will you do with income from coal mining if it destroys the environment? What will you do with income doubling from palm oil cultivation if it is unsuitable and unsustainable? Just squabbling about the benefits without assessing the costs does not make any sense. It is time to have a ‘precise’ political narrative as against just going by pluralism, inclusiveness, tribal aspirations, etc. Hit the nail where it matters. As such, the party which will do well is one which can come up with a common man centric political narrative that touches upon their everyday struggles. If that does happen, then election 2023 will not be a straight-fight between a few parties as people at large are made to believe. This is the lull before the storm!
(The writer teaches at NEHU. Email: [email protected])