The Congress party has a lot to answer for
I had circulated Dr. Pratap Bhanu Mehta’s (Dr. PBM) piece in ‘Indian Express’ (April 15, 2009) titled ‘Politics of hurt’. It elicited quite a good response from my mailing list. Some proceeded to focus on Dr. PBM’s non-existent but rumoured Congress connections. Some found his remarks connecting BJP with Kandhamal and Mangalore a non sequitur.
Unfortunately, that is not quite so. Met with a bunch of friends from Bangalore yesterday – long-time residents. Some of them voted for BJP. They are disillusioned with the State government. They also felt that BJP hardly distinguished itself in dissociating itself from or in dealing with the incidents in Mangalore.
That digression apart let us focus on some of the key messages from Dr. PBM’s article.
Two of his key arguments against the BJP are as follows:
(1)Its promise of tapping into an Indian intellectual tradition was not entirely off the mark. But its concrete articulation was laughable in its results. It produced virtually nothing of lasting intellectual interest, and was deeply embarrassing to the tradition in whose name it claimed to speak.
(2)There is of course the hope that the BJP will settle into a right of centre party in broadly economic terms. But there is no evidence of this. Even if we grant Modi substantial credit for Gujarat’s economic success, it is not a nationally replicable model. Its core is not an ideology but an efficient authoritarianism.
I think on the economic management of Gujarat, it will be useful to argue on the basis of some facts. Opinions have been based on emotions and hence polarized. I will be useful to know what exactly Mr. Narendra Modi’s (NM) government has done to improve governance, lessen corruption.
It will also be useful to know how much of it is due to institutional reforms and how much of it is driven by his personality with concentration of decision-making authority. If it is the latter, then some one else coming after him can exploit it for further personal and narrow interests, even if the concentration of power in his hands or in the CM’s office was for altruistic reasons and ends.
Nonetheless, it is fair to ask the question whether Dr. PBM has given sufficient substantiation to label CM NM’s governance ‘efficient authoritarianism’ rather than reflection of ideology. More generally, both NM’s detractors and his admirers talk as though he is a case of ‘No proof required’. That is not helping the cause of informed discussion.
That apart, I personally agree with those two observations against the BJP.
Where I disagree with him is on the wide berth he gives to the Congress party:
“The Congress has a lot to answer for. Often those sympathetic to it feel the most let down and betrayed by its hypocrisies, ineptitude and weakness. But most of those who pillory the Congress do so with the sense that the Congress does not live up to its own best ideals. They attack the Congress in the name of an idea of what the Congress should be. It is the ideal of the Congress that makes its realities look sordid. But the same cannot be said of the BJP.”
Hypocrisy, ineptitude and weakness are serious charges and yet, he says that the exasperation is to do with the fact that the party does not stand up to its own best ideals? What are those? When were they held dear to the party? When did it practise them and when did it abandon them?
I realise that my questions are rhetorical - they are meant to be and contain self-evident answers.
It is too soon to forget the abject genuflection and shameless sycophancy that were on display in the halls of Parliament in May 2004. Nor is it easy to forget frequent tampering with constitutional norms in dealing with State governments (remember midnight wake-up call for President Kalam in Moscow?) ruled by other parties.
The Congress party has been in office at the Centre for 52 of the sixty-two years since independence. Out of those fifty-two years, one family has ruled the country for forty-seven years. It is doubtful if any gloss can be put over dynastic ambitions by referring to largely elusive ideals.
Congress’ longevity - an achievement or problem?
It would have been good to know why the sheer longevity of the Congress alone suggested that it had something that was worth salvaging. Longevity in Indian politics is more the norm than the exception and most who lasted long had nothing much to show for it. Second, given the dynamics of Indian power-politics, longevity can also be self-fulfilling.
Also, as good friend Nitin points out (http://acorn.nationalinterest.in) points out, longevity also precludes change since it would be seen as repudiating their own past. That makes those who are around for too long extra-resistant to change.
In fact, hypocrisy is a serious crime. Those who practise hypocrisy are less trustworthy. Where there is no trust, there is dealing between individuals, between individuals and institutions and between institutions.
Shaky foundations of the Indian State
Indians should reflect upon the concluding message in the article by Razeen Sally in today’s Financial Times, even if they choose to disregard the more topical message of the article itself:
The Indian state, led by a venal political-bureaucratic elite, remains unreformed. State institutions – the political class, political parties, parliaments, the bureaucracy, the judiciary – have got worse at both national and state levels. Since the late 1980s, “stealth” reforms have taken place outside the state. But India cannot be expected to grow fast with such shaky foundations. The upshot is that much-needed market reforms cannot continue to skirt round the reform of the state itself. Politically, that is the hardest nut to crack.
It is true that neither the Congress nor the BJP have produced a plan to strengthen the shaky foundations of the State. But, the party with the ‘best ideals’ or with ‘longevity’ has to be blamed more than the rest for allowing things to reach this pass, for contributing to it, for failing to recognise it and consequently, for failing to address it. But, it is being let off with a mere slap on the wrist.
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