India, the largest democracy on earth, is in grip of election fever. As the country passes through the crucial pre-general election phase, political leaders are busy exposing each other’s fault-line to woo the electorate. While citizens compulsively tolerate an entertaining package of political theatrics based on half-truths and whole lies, politicians seems to care very little about the plight of the masses.
For the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), spending a whopping $300 million of taxpayers’ money on statue construction is more profitable than addressing poverty, education, sanitation and health care concerns.
The Congress-led UPA government is also suffering from a tenure-end sloth — the reason why they have faltered in dealing with critical issues like runaway inflation. Things have come to such a pass that any debate on radical social legislations enacted by the UPA is drowned out by BJP’s political antics. Indeed, far reaching schemes like employment guarantee for the poor; right to education, information and food; rationalized land acquisition law and providing ownership rights to tribal population over forest resources find little mention in the political discourse.
A lethargic Congress surely needs a booster dose to stand up to BJP’s propaganda blitzkrieg that effectively reduces the electoral process into a commercial venture where marketing plays a key role in achieving competitive advantage. However, nothing better is expected from the BJP, which continues to carry the “party of merchants” tag. But what should trouble every sensible Indian is the unwillingness of the educated class to appreciate the criticality of social issues and legislations involving them.
Perhaps, today’s India is becoming more self-centered and the BJP wants to take advantage of this aberration. Hence, Narendra Modi’s orations deliberately sidestep social concerns as he goes about harnessing the greed hidden in every human being. BJP’s prime ministerial candidate only talks about creating wealth and how an individual, especially the youth, can benefit from it. Though, there is nothing wrong in instilling materialism in society, Modi would have certainly talked of character building if he had been a true statesman. Alas, his vision is confined to a limited sphere and it is an open secret that a vast majority lives beyond its periphery.
That irrationality is the forte of Modi and can also be ascertained from his vicious effort to politicize the contribution of stalwarts like Sardar Vallabbhai Patel in the Indian freedom movement. It certainly does not make sense for a prime ministerial aspirant to highlight the difference of opinion that existed in the Indian National Congress over the structure and trajectory of the freedom struggle after so many springs and convert it into an election issue.
Clash of egos between titans is nothing new in politics as one can find within the BJP many such instances. Amid this mudslinging, one cannot help but wonder what prevents Modi from exploiting the positives of Indian independence movement. Let us not fool ourselves by thinking that merely erecting statues of public figures or naming schemes after them will help us carry forward the legacy instead of absorbing their ideas.
However, the BJP’s folly does not become an alibi for the nation to absolve the Congress party of its failure to cushion the impact of economic crisis on vulnerable masses. The government was caught napping when food inflation soared to 18 percent in August. True, coalition compulsion has restricted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s flexibility as influential allies are reportedly linked to cartels. Interestingly, traders have traditionally formed the core constituency of the BJP and rumors about artificial stifling of supply to produce appropriate conditions for an “Indian Spring” in election season are floating around. The Indian version of “Arab Spring,” some believe, will pull down the UPA government or at least make sure that it does not return after 2014 polls.
Despite the conspiracies, there is no denying that the Congress leadership failed to visualize the impending crisis even though a leading economist of Manmohan Singh’s stature is at the helm. Since average Indians spend heavily on food items, nobody is expected to live happily with abnormally inflated consumer and wholesale price index. True, UPA government’s policy initiatives have incentivized lavish consumer spending, resulting in pressure on prices due to excessive demand. But why on earth did the administration failed to take ad-hoc measures to bring down the inflation rate remains a mystery. For instance, offloading part of the huge stock of cereals in domestic market at pragmatic rates, after provisioning for the guaranteed food security requirements, would have neutralized the ill effect of runaway food inflation. Additionally, rationalyzing the agriculture produce marketing regulation law that prevents producers from selling their products directly to consumers would have done wonders. Perhaps it is time that the government starts working on an early warning system and establishes a specialized unit for continuously scanning the market to detect any unusual movement. Enforcement mechanism should be simultaneously tightened to fetter hoarders with assistance from provincial administrations. Moreover, a common trend of street vendors and shopkeepers being forced to pay monthly “assurance-money” to small-time political leaders and police at the local level needs to be stopped as the burden is inevitably passed on to the consumers. Besides, the government must act proactively to build cross-country value chains that effectively link the farming community to processors and organized retailers. It is only then this recurring price spikes can be arrested, which in turn will give the beleaguered citizens a much-needed respite.
• Seema Sengupta is a Kolkata-based journalist and columnist.
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