The changing guard
Photo credit: Balaji Shankar
Universal appeal is a tricky thing. India’s central governments, up until the late 1970s, had one thing they shared (besides of course, the fact that they were all Congress Party governments): they viewed themselves as a father and mother figure rolled into one, the mai-baap, and also as an authority that didn’t discriminate or favour any one group of citizens over another.
Since the 1980s, as regional parties have gained power, governments have become far more focused on their particular ethnic identities and groups, and this has sometimes come with open hostility to groups that they don’t represent. So we saw Mayawati in UP call the Brahmin and Bania castes ‘chor’ in her early campaigns, and the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra throw vitriol at non-Marathi residents in the state. And let’s not forget Gujarat’s Chief Minister Narendra Modi - the BJP since the NDA government has been a much more moderate religious force compared to its past, but its most promising young leader is by no means a uniter. (Here is an excellent piece on Modi in the Atlantic Monthly).
These leaders arouse high emotion, both among their followers and their dissenters. They do not feel accessible outside the caste/religious groups they represent. I find their lack of broader appeal worrying. Political leaders with limited reach, and those who inspire fear in some citizens and passion in others cannot effectively lead a country as diverse as India.
And while we have so far managed reasonably well with coalition governments that cobble together a variety of religious and regional views, the Prime Ministers that headed them were always determinedly moderate figures. If this changes in the coming years, it will mean an unfortunate turn in our politics.
Tags: India elections, regional politics
March 15th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
Hello Mr Nilekani !
Have you read the ‘IT Vision’ of BJP ?
What would you think of it (no, not just the comments but the paradigm that political parties now mention IT Vision in their manifesto) ? I will understand that your comments are your own and not necessarily endorsed by your employer.
Link : http://www.bjp.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2794&Itemid=394
March 15th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
Nandan,
Read the article about Narendra Modi in The Atlantic. Being a young IT professional (and I am a Gujarati), I have utmost respect for you but I beg to differ with you on this point. I know one can keep on arguing about his role in 2002 riots, the fact of the matter is that it will still be just that - an argument.
The best thing to do will be to look in the future and I believe that with the kind of media presence it is going to be next to imposible for any politician to brazenly neglect a part of indian society be it majority or minority. At the same time it is going to be very crucial to have an able, non-corrupt administrator at the top to reap the benefits of “Demographic Dividend”.
My two cents please.
March 15th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
In the final run a leader is the one who leads all.Modi may be a great administrator but if he really believes in divisive politics then it will not work in long run. One can take a tough stand against Islamic fundamentalism but one cannot defeat one fundamentalism with another kind of fundamentalism.
We need a liberal great administrator which will
be Modi- Communalism.
Vishal
March 16th, 2009 at 3:05 am
People vote MPs also on regional issues. It is difficult for national parties like BJP and Congress to take a stand on certain controversial regional issues. This puts them at a clear disadvantage against regional parties which thrive on stoking up regional sentiments. Unfortunately our system provides parties the flexibility to use their currency(seats) and negotiate their way to the PM post. National strategy or qualifications be damned.
March 16th, 2009 at 11:26 am
Nandan:
As the first comment on this post mentions the BJP IT document, I too wonder what you think of it.
Frankly I think that it is not a credible policy as the cost of implementing it is prohibitive (which I conservatively estimate at Rs 400,000 crores or around US$ 80 Billion). It can be reasonably argued that even if the resources were available, implementing this kind of policy will yield precious little in terms of growth and even less in terms of development. The fatal flaw is in getting the sequencing wrong.
IT, at very low levels of economic development and growth, is a consequence of growth and not a cause. Beyond a certain threshold of development, IT becomes a major cause. I believe that much of rural India has yet to achieve that threshold where IT will become relevant. For now, all efforts should be to build human capacity among the rural population — which could involve the use of IT of course but which does not translate into giving everyone a smart card or giving below the poverty line (BPL) families smart phones (as the BJP policy states.)
March 16th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
I think we will also see the results of the test which economic environment is putting to the world very soon. Nation and societies forget about their ill doing when going is well.
The questions to ask is when the bubble has blown up all over the world how will societies react.
Which way will China go ? Will Chinese think now that one can trade prosperity over freedom.
The same test Modi and all our group based leaders would also need to go.In tough times you require a liberal person to be at the helm of affairs. The problem is India all the leaders are same. Modi, Mayawati, Advani all can never rise beyond their groups.
March 16th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
this is a debatable topic for sure but who is to say that the economic improvement in gujarat aided by modi’s capitalistic policies will bring a sea change in relationships between modern hindus and modern muslims? He is definitely better than the people here in TN who blatantly corrupt and all i am able to do is cast the 0 vote
March 17th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
[...] : Nandan Nilekani What : The Changing guard Tangy : The election fever is catching on and we have Mr Nandan Nilekani give his views on the [...]
March 18th, 2009 at 3:30 am
I do not know why no south political parties are not mentioned here - particularly from Tamilnadu. The whole agenda of DMK, AIDMK is anti-Hindi. They have prohibited every form of communication other than Tamil and partially English. But, they will just support anyone - Lalu, Mulayam, Mayawati anybody to have tv channles, more corruption based investment etc.
Or Nandan, is it becausse, you being a South Indian has also closed your eyes towards it.
I am from Orissa. But the kind of hatred I have seen based on lingustic identity is very much in South. I do not mind if you do not publish it here.
Above all, we the educated Indians do no bother. I will leave IT and do farming or do something else if 90% of my south indians colleagues can tell the complete name of Gandhi or where he was born. But, if I ask about some film stars, it will be reels of statistics.
And south india has a definite more literacy rate than other parts of India. So when half of India is asleep on its birth, freedom, politics - I do not see any change happening at all.
May be Lalu is the next prime minister of India. Mayawati will be a better choice though. Support of course will come from various langguage based regional parties.
March 18th, 2009 at 3:36 am
And I must add. I have stayed here for over 9 years now.
Every other day, there is hatred based on language. How many will you speak in India??? There are over 20 languages and which will you learn.
Even this Sunday, I was on my way to Raja Rajeshwari Temple and Bangalore is famous for its infrasture and I lost my route. I asked a policeman and first question was - are you Kannagia and then are you south india. After that - podda (go away). I do not know Tamil.
So why blame politicians? It is we the people.
March 18th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
It is fascinating to see the fragmentation of the Indian polity occurring plainly before our very eyes. The Naxalites, the Tamils, the Bodos, the Dalits, the fundamentalist hindus and muslims, the sikhs and so on are all acting out their parts as rent seekers. Since we left India there are any number of new states - Uttarkhand, Jharkhand and god alone knows what else. And all of this caused by those that manufacture dissent. How long do you think this might last without some bits deciding to form a Khali or a Tamil or a Bodo stan?
March 19th, 2009 at 9:37 am
ನಾಗೇಶ್ , Atanu: Vision statements and IT goals released by political parties are great, but for us in India implementation has always been the weak link. I think Atanu, that your worry about the state doing more than necessary will at least, not come to pass!
More seriously - from my experience with the eGovernment Foundation, I don’t think the cost of even such broad-based systems would be prohibitive. IT systems scale very well at a reasonable cost - and if the government partners effectively with private players for broadening Internet access and IT-enabling its departments, the returns will be substantial - in saved corruption costs, paring back of subsidy programs (replacing it with direct payments)and a more open market environment.
March 20th, 2009 at 2:52 am
Mr. Nilekani,
I saw you on The Daily Show with John Stewart. Sir, I respect what you have done for India, you are a secular progressive voice of India.
I hope people of your temperament are on the rise in India.
March 20th, 2009 at 9:46 am
Regional politics is definitely a huge threat looming large on our country. Previously communally peaceful places such as South Canara district in Karnataka has seen such blatant display of hatred towards minority communities, that I wonder if this is a prelude to a bigger disaster!
The article on Modi made a good read. Induces mixed feelings for him in the reader.
March 20th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
i would like to know your opinions about mr modi as a PM ( I think you dont want to change this blog into a political dissent forum)
March 20th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
continued.. when ambani, tata all embrace him for his capitalistic ideas i think we would all like to know your oinion
March 21st, 2009 at 11:51 am
Sir, not that any one asked, but personally I think, governments (or, perhaps even IT companies) are missing the point by talking of computer based revolution. Why ?
Because, even amongst the lower strata of the society, mobile phones have become vital - which is covered in your book somewhere. But, do such persons have access to computer ? If yes, access to connectivity ? If yes, is it operable in ‘native’ language ? If yes, is it easy to do monetary transactions with them ? And, mother of all, enough electricity to power them ?
OTOH, operating a mobile phone requires much less learning curve. The handset itself is already widely available amongst masses (lower or whatever the altitude of strata). Thus, (not that I am political enough to support BJP or otherwise completely) I like BJP’s idea about smart-phone. Although, not the “giving out” part; as that reeks of populism.
Having said that, I don’t see why urban (or, better off) folks would not benefit out of such an infrastructure. For example, why not dispense railway tickets from the BMTC bus conductors as well ? Would it not save time of queuing up at the station ? Or, would it not bring in people without bank accounts into digital better-half ? Extrapolating, maybe people will give up their wallets for mobile phones to do transactions !
The only catch is, this idea will never pick up if it is not based on SMS. It will fall on its face even before ‘GPRS’ is half-uttered. SMS is, of course cheaper than GPRS.
So, if the Airtels and BSNLs start providing SMS based credits/debits into one’s pre-paid accounts, I think we will have a revolution !
March 21st, 2009 at 12:04 pm
oh, in advance -
ಯುಗಾದಿ ಹಬ್ಬದ ಶುಭಾಶಯಗಳು !
March 22nd, 2009 at 3:10 am
Regionalism should be viewed as an expression of local nationalism and space should be provided for it in the public domain. Unfortunately, regionalism has always been viewed with contempt and suspicion in the Indian mainstream English speaking media as well as by their associated intelligentsia. Regionalism is always disparagingly equated with terms like ‘chauvinism’ or ‘communalism’.
Nationalism is an expression of group consciousness with symbols like language, culture, music and a sense of a common past as its associated markers. Hence, all our states are inherently expressions of this nationalism by that definition. Granted, there is an element of ugliness in some of its manifestations such as the speeches and acts of the Shiv Sena, but ignoring the underlying Marathi nationalism would be like throwing the baby with the bathwater. Similarly, Modi sought to express Gujarati nationalism through the slogan of ‘Gujarat Gaurav’. It should be realized that the rise to prominence of these regional forces has been due to the limited ability of the secular nationalists to satisfy the aspirations of these groups and provide the space that should be rightly theirs. Instead of promoting genuine federalism and local empowerment, the elite have sought to control the economic and cultural landscape through overbearing ideologies of socialism and secularism respectively. This also serves to explain the limited appeal of secular nationalism as a socio-cultural force that binds the entire nation together
March 22nd, 2009 at 4:30 am
Dear Sir,
First, thank you for pointing out a useful article from Robert D. Kaplan on Narendra Modi. Kaplan has also written a useful article on the Indian Ocean at http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/64832/robert-d-kaplan/center-stage-for-the-21st-century. Kaplan is clearly a man of insight, like you.
I think Modi’s strategy is two-part.
1) Put a substantial price on acts of terror in order to deter further acts.
In this regard, Modi has been like the Israelis who inflict a disproportionately high toll on acts of terror by Hamas. However, there is a crucial difference, which I shall detail later.
The alternative strategy (attributable to Congress) of “absorb, appease, absorb, appease and hope the problem goes away” has led to more attacks and more unrest, and culminated in Mumbai and India being the worst affected nation by terrorism, after Iraq. It has also split the polity through vote-bank politics. What’s worse, is that this strategy has led to great unaddressed ‘majority’ grievances, and which will, if unchecked, eventually explode into uncontrolled reprisals and further threaten the political unity of this country. In other countries, political pseudo-secularism (though none do selective-secularism as well as India) is countered with community communalism. For precisely the same reasons, Muslims are unwelcome in most parts of the West. In the West, debates on multi-culturalism are being replaced with debates on assimilation. And they do not have a 155 million strong Muslim population, making up 15% of the population, and growing 3x faster than the average. These Western nations have these concerns even when Muslims are 1-2% of the population.
I am speculating here but I think Modi wanted to give vent to the rage of a community in ONE controlled, cathartic release. It is an ugly option. But if the alternative is MANY violent uncontrolled reprisals of a wounded community, it would have been far, far worse. At times, one is faced with such ugly options and one has to choose the less ugly among them.
2) Follow-up with development that enhances everyone’s rights to prevent further violence
Unlike Israel, Modi has gone about enhancing everyone’s (including Muslim) rights by focusing on expanding the economic pie, giving 24/7 access to water, electricity, good roads, schools and universities, plus jobs. Much inter-community strife occurs because of a fight over the allocation of scarce resources. By enlarging the pie, there is enough for people’s need (though not greed) there will be a commensurate reduction in strife. “If my needs are met, I have no incentive to disturb the status quo.”
The (pseudo)-secular party strategy of appeasement without development only creates more tension. By not enlarging the pie through development, the minority communities that these parties profess to protect, remain disadvantaged, unemployed, poor, and angry. “..my needs are not met, I have an incentive to disturb the status quo.”
Pratap Bhanu Mehta, ex-National Knowledge Commission member has written of this in today’s Indian Express.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/bengal-blues-left-woes/437375/
Moreover, as Kaplan notes, Muslims are voting with their feet to move to Gujarat – that is testament to Modi’s (and BJP’s) development focus.
The bottomline: We may not like Modi’s methods, but they appear to be working.
March 24th, 2009 at 1:27 am
ನಾಗೇಶ್: I agree that mobile phones will be instrumental in connecting a broader class - with new features adding on rapidly, I think they will likely surpass efforts to create ‘laptops for the poor’.
Akhand: I don’t think meeting violence with violence is good policy. Nor can you target an entire community for the acts of a few.
April 6th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
i feel, that you have attempted to be politically correct by bashing every one of the politicians..
particularly your criticism of Modi, and your quotes on the atlantic.. The extreme sensationalising sound bytes of media during gujarat elections, is a perfect example, how we ordinary people are hoodwinked by powerful media.. In such angle, i question the veracity of an article by a foreign magazine, which is based on indian english media, which had proved itself to be extremely biased..
DO you feel, in such climate, the opinion on modi (including yours) would be honest and factful?
Personally i had gone beyond these media sound bytes, and understood the ground reality.. To say, that Modi did not have universal appeal is entirely wrong.. the fact is that many vested interests do not want him to have universal appeal..
As some one pointed out, all his developmental efforts in gujarat are secular.. both hindus and muslims received the fruits equally..
If modi is to be accused of riots, then the media is to be accused of sensationalising it, and of the so called secular brigades to exploit for political reasons..
Its true that political parties use emotions.. but its equally true that educated people are also using emotions to hate those politicians and those who dont subscribe to their ideals (as can be evident from many of the comments here)..
where is the common ground? Everyone has to change..
Only in india, the educated people are always in hostility with the politicians and have so much contempt for them.. If we cared to engage them constructively through proper mass movement, the situation would have been different..
April 6th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
Regarding regionalism, and casteism, we need to recognize them and fit them within the larger framework of the nationhood.. we see everything through “isms”.. but we dont see the ground reality..
please refer http://www.dharampal.net to find out the reality of caste system.. in his book “The beautiful tree” available there, he has for the first time exposed, that most of the BC and OBC’s in india were the rulers of india before britishers..
Also, he had proved with statistics, that almost all castes had been given education, and that the entire madras presidency alone contained more than 1 lakh schools, during 1830’s..
I wish, we start to understand india in our own perspective rather than through western prisms..
April 6th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
Regarding the IT vision of BJP, i want atleast one things to be done at any cost… that the broadband connection (with atleast 2MBPS) be available in each and every village of india..
If that alone happens, i feel, india will see a giant leap forward.. when all the villages are connected, the potential of our people become unmatched and unpredictable..
The IT companies need not sit only in bangalore or chennai.. and the IT professionals need not travel to far away lands to work in IT companies..
Every capable person can sit in his own village (or atleast nearby town) and work..
When such things happen, it will distribute the enormous talent and knowledge of IT professionals to the unreached masses.. Their professionalism, and the problem solving skills will be used locally to solve the people’s problem..
also when the connectivity is available, all other infrastructure will slowly emerge.. like ATM’s, Internet Kiosks, associated business.. people will not feel alone, and hence more people will migrate to villages, for variety of reasons, like low cost of living etc..
April 25th, 2009 at 4:46 am
Dear Sir,
I agree - meeting violence with violence and punishing the many for the crimes of the few is not a desirable policy. However, there are occasions when the “tragic choice” of less, controlled violence or more, uncontrolled violence needs to be made. Do you punish or put to death the convicted and tried killer-rapist or allow him to perpetrate further crimes?
This tragic choice arises because the Indian court system is unable or unwilling to prosecute crimes by perpetrators out of fear of upsetting the members of a particular religion. Where justice is linked to politics, the result can never be right or accepted.
In India today, justice delayed is justice denied.
The kith and kin of the many victims of the Godhra train massacre would never see justice in their lifetimes. Just like the Kashmiri Pandits. Just like the Sikhs who perished in the wake of Indira’s assasination. Mohammad Afzal, who attacked our parliament, has had his death sentence stayed for political reasons. And there is talk of Kasab being tried as a juvenile, for which the maximum term is 3 years - that despite killing scores of innocent people and days worth of television footage showing him killing and smiling.
The grievances of victims of any community cannot be ignored. Where it is the grievances of the majority community, this will lead to instability and a polarisation of the polity. In South Africa, the rights of the majority community were ignored and supressed and it was called apartheid. If PM Manmohan Singh is to believed, being non-Muslim in India is a disadvantage just as being black in apartheid South Africa was.
PM Manmohan Singh is on record as saying:
“Minorities have special rights on all resources available in this country - particularly the muslim community.”
In contrast, Modi is on record as saying: “When i introduce a new water scheme in Gujarat, I always think, how many gujaratis will derive benefit from this scheme. I never care about how many hindus are going to get benefit or how many muslims will avail benefit or never do calculations like the ratio of quantity of water available to hindus and muslims.”
What is needed is the development of opportunity and institutions and the preservation and enhancement of their integrity. Modi’s role in developing Gujarat is a model for others. Why do we in India love to tarnish a success story?
The communalist argues for special rights.
The secularist argues for equal rights.
Let all Indians have equal rights, equal opportunities, and leaders like Modi that enlarge the pie for all, as opposed to leaders who divide an ever dwindling pie on the basis of religion, and caste.