New
Delhi
The
exploding tribe of the middle class in India has been a deciding factor in the
2014 election, commandeering the fortunes and swings at the hustings in a way
that is unprecedented in the history of the country post-Independence. The writ
of the middle class in India works in cue of the 21st century global
game changers like the Arab Spring, the Latin American protests and the
Tiananmen uprising - beginning with Hitler’s resurgent Germany – all of which
were set in motion by the discontented middle orders craving for change .
This
segment of economically hyperactive population – which is projected to touch
the 300 million mark in another decade (in a country that host 1.2 billion
people) – was the talk of the election rooms in May 2014 across the ideological
and political divides with party managers and politicians losing sleep on how
to translate their numbers into ballots to ride the wave.
Diplomat-turned-politician, writer and social
commentator Pavan K. Varma in a new book has tried to understand the reasons
behind this powering phenomenon of the India middle class that has been the
driver of the country’s socio-economic growth for the last decade – to find out
its bearing on India’s democratic polity.
The
book, “The New Indian Middle Class: The Challenge of 2014 and Beyond”, which
was released by politician-writer Shashi Tharoor in April in the national
capital, uses the ongoing transformation of the middle class in India to
analyse how this social segment can be engaged in discourses about vital
political and democratic concerns to steer India to change – from an
essentially electoral political milieu to one of effective delivery.
Varma
says the year 2014 should “be the watershed for the middle class to make the
transition from being a relatively marginalized political participant to being
a factor of importance in charting the fortunes of India — for this to happen,
it must develop alternative vision of India that should include ideas for better
and inclusive governance.
“The
middle class is not entirely unaware of its new-found importance. But it is
also aware of what has changed and in what manner, and has it decided whether
it will merely be diffused cannon fodder for manipulative political forces or a
definitive game-changer in its own right. This is the historical choice before
all middle-class Indians,” Varma says in his book.
The
author brings out seven reasons for the rise of the middle class as a potential
political player. The middle class for the first time has reached a numerical
size that constitutes a significant critical mass of the electoral arithmetic
of the nation. They have the numbers to make or break political destinies. The
composition of the middle class has changed since the British rule, Varma said.
During
the run-up years to Independence in 1947 and the years immediately following
it, the middle class was an elite club created by interactions with the
British. It grew gradually in the decades that followed to include millions of
shop-keepers, small-time entrepreneurs, semi-skilled industrial and service
workers, lower-level salaried households with small disposable incomes.
‘Among
the new entrants were the bullock capitalists from the countryside, who
husbanded their resources carefully and benefitted both from the state
subsidies for agriculture and the implementation of the Mandal Commission
Report in 1990 on reservations in government jobs”. But the most powerful
catalyst for the quantum of the growth of the middle class were the 1991
economic reforms and the bigger economic matrix, it heralded.
Secondly,
this growth in numbers has reinforced the “incipient homogeneity of this class
to such a point that the middle class has
acquired a distinct identity which defies caste loyalties”.
Thirdly,
this socially pervasive class – on the strength of its numbers- has created a
footprint that is more pan-Indian than provincial - helping it form an identifiable
power bloc across the country . Fourthly, this class has never been younger
with the bulk of its members averaging around 25 years of age. Fifthly, the
class is empowered by its access of new age communication and information
brought on by deep penetration of mobile telephony, the social media networks
and the 24X7 news channels on the television.
Sixthly,
the middle class is no longer insular. It has emerged from its cocoon of
complacency to suggest that it is for the first time willing to participate in
issues that are beyond its ken of immediate interest. Finally, the class is
emoting. It has never been angrier at the “failure of governance, mismanagement
of economy, corruption, cynicism, lack of idealism and the moral bankruptcy of
the political class and those who are in collusion with it.”
“This
book was written because it was the first time in the elections that in war
rooms of political parties there was a sizeable amount of energy spent on how
to deal with the middle class which has been an articulate player in Indian
politics,” Varma said, explaining the need for writing the book.
In
an interview to this writer, he said, “the idea was to sensitise the middle
class to both its strength and weaknesses so that it can’t become an
inadvertent adversary to what may not be in the best interest of India”.
“The
book has a simple and straight-forward message. The middle class must apply its
mind to develop an alternative version of the nation. If it does not do so, it
becomes cannon fodder for any political demagogue. This has had parallels in
history where the middle class, impatient for change and not pausing to
dispassionately examine issues or asking questions or interrogating claims,
have become puppets in the hands of unscrupulous political forces,” Varma said.
The
writer said he wanted to make the middle class aware that it could be an agent
for “constructive change”.
The
political importance of the middle class lay in its size, Varma pointed
out. “In 1996, by the international
standards, the size of the middle class was 26 million. It stands at 200
million now and is slated to 300 million in the next few years,” Varma said
He
observed that the middle class “has recently shown that unlike in the past it
was willing to involve itself with larger issues, which go beyond its immediate
area of interest like the Jessica Lal murder case – in which it rallied for
justice – and the Anna Hazare crusade against corruption”. “Therefore, this
class has become the unseen animal in the war rooms of all political parties,”
Varma said.
The
middle class, notwithstanding its new stridence, is still susceptible to two
syndromes – the magic wand mindset and transient anger. The former is crippling
because the middle class in India looks for a magic wand to set things right.
The second takes the wind out of its sails – leaving the issues under spotlight
unresolved.
“The
middle class has this strange proclivity to wait for a messiah so that it can
outsource its struggle to his sacrifice. You are used, made dependant and then
discarded. In short, anger without a willingness to engage with issues will be
subtracted, derailed, subsumed or forgotten,” Varma said. This class has the potential to do much more
only if it assumes its role as a player.
“I
make no mechanical comparisons of India with Germany or Hitler or with any
other country because each society is different (Varma draws as examples the
social and political changes in Brazil, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and China). I go
back to the history of the middle class in India and to the examples of the
behavior of the class in other countries to draw certain inferences. The
Emergency of 1975 is a classic example- the middle class fell for it because it
mistook the authoritarian regime for law and order – when it was meant to
curtail democratic freedom,” Varma explained.
“The
only reason, I cite Hitler’s Germany as an example is because of the
enthusiastic support of the middle class to Hitler, who came to power in a
democratic manner. But the middle class in Germany failed to realize that what
they were supporting was a façade- and what they did not bother to question
when they could have,” the author said, in response to a query about the
comparison between Nazi Germany and the Indian middle class.
Yes
and No…The middle class in India has learnt from emergency, but it still has a
proclivity to support authoritarian leadership, which promises growth at any
cost- and “this whole pre-occupation with the ‘danda (stick)’”. The leadership from the middle class will come
when it engages with issues.
“The
middle class in India to my view must become the spokesperson for a prosperous,
progressive, modern, democratic and secular India,” Varma
pointed out . It should not fail its tryst with destiny.
The
book is a progression of Varma’s previous study of the country’s fastest
growing demographic segment, “The Great Indian Middle Class”. Varma has
authored more a dozen books on Indian society, mythology, politics, history,
literature and culture.
-Madhusree
Chatterjee
(The book has been published by Harper Collins)
No comments:
Post a Comment