Will 2014 elections be an Inflection Point in Indian Democracy?

This has been an eventful week so far, physically tiring, specially with the long travel, yet a very satisfying one. That's also one of the privileges of having your office at the India Habitat Centre, the hub of many a cultural and intellectual events in the national capital.

The week before on March 14th, there was an enchanting Bharatnatyam performance by the vivacious danseuse Alarmel Valli titled 'Is There Some Way I Can Reach You?'

This week there were two symposium accompanied by book launches that centred around Indian democracy and the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. The first was 'The Fiction of Fact-Finding' by Manoj Mitta on Modi and Godhra on the 19th of March . 

Why cannot we tackle menace without reforms? Who's responsibility is to deal with the problems? Are we governed by political parties that lack courage? Is reform for criminal judiciary a solution? These were few concerns discussed by the panelist: Prakash Singh, Shiv Vishvanathan, Siddharth Varadarajan, Vrinda Grover and Dilip Simeon at the launch of the book.

Vrinda Grover, human-rights lawyer and advocate for women’s rights and one of Times' 100 most influential people in the world in 2013, shared the politicking around the formation of the SIT itself that looked into the Gujarat riots evidence. She recounted how Satyapal Singh then with Mumbai police called her to recuse himself from heading the panel on frivolous grounds.

The other outstanding speaker who nailed the truth emphatically on this dark chapter in our recent history was Shiv Viswanathan, noted anthropologist and Human Rights researcher. Incidentally, as he shared, he was there in Gujarat to do an investigative story on Bt Cotton. It was when R.B. Sreekumar, former Gujarat State Director-General of Police, approached him for help and he said two things, why he wanted to uncover the truth that he got involved. Narendra Modi, as he told Shiv, was against both Hinduism and the Indian Constitution, that he revered most. The book seemed to be well-timed with ongoing elections and BJP's popular Prime Ministerial  candidate. The house was overwhelmingly in support of the truth and that it must win.

Shiv Viswanathan's exemplary work has explored the question of alternatives as a dialogue between the West and India. Closely linked to his current work is the attempt to demystify the modern science and social knowledge as legitimising categories of organised violence and exploitation. His writings have explored the psychological, cultural and political relations of science; the growing control of society by technology; and linkages between scientific establishment and authoritarian structures of state.

Yesterday, on the 22nd March and as we get even closer to the Indian elections 2014, there was the The Big Democracy Debate - This House Believes Poll 2014 is an Inflection Point in Indian Democracy - to launch Hindol Sengupta's new book 100 Things To Know And Debate Before You Vote (HarperCollins India). Speakers on the panel were Sudheendra Kulkarni, Chairman of the Observer Research Foundation, Economist, author, Labour Party peer Lord Meghnad Desai, , AAP founding member Rahul Mehra, Nav Bharat Party founder and TOI's Lead India winner a good few years baack R K Mishra, food and agriculture activist Devinder Sharma and Hindol Sengupta, author and Senior Editor, Fortune India. The discussion was moderated by Shweta Punj, Associate Editor, Business Today.

Listening to the speakers, I had an interesting take on the height from which they were sharing their view and in what condition.

Sudheendra Kulkarni, who is also former BJP ideologue, gave a well-grounded on the surface level perspective of the election scenario as it is still unfolding. He shared that this has unforetunately become a heavily personality-centric election atmosphere, where not even 10 out of the 100 things that Hindol wants the voters to know are being discussed. He shared his forlorn wish that we need a change not just in government, but in governance itself. He forewarned that unlike the much bandied expectations raised by the Modi wave, the problems won't vanish even if he were to become the Prime Minister. He urged the BJP to think harder on the kind of governance it was geared up to provide.

Devinder Sharma, noted food and agriculture analyst, and one of the most affable people I have met, took a 60,000 feet bird's eye view of the election scenario, from where he could look further and before in time and space. He shared his experiences with farmers in Uttar Pradesh on who they would vote for. Most shared their haplessness with previous regimes and said that they were waiting for Modi to come. A lady among them was more forthright. She said they had seen Kalyan Singh, Mayawati and Mulayaam now and nothing has changed. There was a sense of surrender in her voice to the fait accompli.

He rued how the real issues regarding farming distress were completely off the radar. He however cautioned political parties about the euphoria around GDP growth and winning elections from experiences of a neighboring country. Mahboob-ul-Haq, Minister of Finance, Pakistan (1982-1988), shared how his party which was gung-ho about winning elections with above 7% GDP growth in successive years, but was nearly wiped out at the hustings.

He asked a few elementary questions about why subsidies given to poor was such a bad word, but subsidies given to the rich is called incentive, and when it gets much worse, as economic stimulus. He said that economic system had degenerated into a state of privatization of profits and socialization of costs. He raised the issue why when poor default they go to jail, and many commit suicide out of fear or shame, where as when the rich default, it's called as Non Performing Assets. He cited how this kind of skewed and distorted logic led to 180 million farmers quitting agriculture between 2005-09, even as the GDP, professedly grew at 9.3%. He shared how we had become programmed and conditioned to believe GDP growth as a panacea.

He questioned the flawed and even fraudulent logic of quantitative easing or tapering as nothing but printing more money without any basis. He disclosed Oxfam's findings about how the wealthy got wealthier by USD 240 billion a few years back that could have wiped out poverty on earth by 4 times over. In India, he brought out the 31lakh crores of tax concession would have wiped out poverty for next 62 years. Though some of these assertions seem over-simplified the point is well taken that we the new government must declare an assault on poverty itself.

RK Mishra, founder and National President of Nav Bharat Democratic Party was quite a revelation and had a very insightful perspective to share. Even as I have known him for nearly 8 years now, many of these ideas came across as freshly minted with a matter-of-fact approach from a new political party. His view was from firmly footed in the ground at 10 feet below the surface level, where he shared water can be found in the bountiful Ghaghra basin region in Sitapur, from where he is also the Lok Sabha candidate of his party. In the foreseeable future, the NVDP is a party to watch out for. It's fielding candidates in 100 constituencies in this Lok Sabha elections.

He was unequivocal that his biggest advantage for the voters in Sitapur, where he expects to win, is his education. Next, surprisingly, is the fact that he is a Brahmin in the caste equations of the constituency. Setting aside "progressive" perceptions that voting according to caste lines as casteist, he said that it's likely and happens around the world. A black he shared was more likely to have voted for Obama. He says that it would be casteist if after winning the seat, he were to work only for the Brahmins.

It's an advantage, next in the voter's mind is that he is not from one of the established parties. What he will do, is least of the priority, for the average voter, as he says. He shared about other candidates in the fray. Samajwadi Party changed the ticket from an OBC to a Brahmin to counter his caste advantage. There were 9 BJP candidates vying for the ticket, which was finally won by an ex-BSP candidate who paid a good few crores. He countered that even the AAP gave ticket for money to Shefali Misra, a former “international civil servant” at UN, human rights activist and writer.

He shared the dynamics of how Bangalore creates jobs and Uttar Pradesh provides people. There are 5 flights daily from Lucknow to Bangalore, for more evidence. Youth are working voluntarily for him with a promise that he shares of creating 100,000 jobs in the constituency over next 5 years. The other local issue in Sitapur was to get right price at right time to sugarcane farmers.

Similarly, for the Bangalore candidate of NVDP, local issues predominate. There the focus is on pot-holed roads. He doesn't believe that national issue-based politics will happen even in foreseeable future and local issues will prevail. Most interesting is his party slogan: "Kursi nahin, mej (table) chuno. Neta nahin Karta chuno. Accordingly, his party symbol is a table.

Lord Meghnad Desai, who spoke next shared a view from wherever the Malaysian Airlines MH370 is. I simply couldn't trace where it was coming from. He doesn't believe that elections anywhere are fought on issues. In the present system he says, an individual MP is impotent due to the 9th and 10th Schedules. The party Chief Whip has all the powers. That's how the Telangana bill was passed in just 20 minutes. He shared some mumbo-jumbo on Centre-State relations, the unthinkable breaking up of USSR and the concept of India as a nation. What he emphatically sees happening is that the Congress Party will disappear. He foresees old demons such as Gujarat riots come back to haunt. Overall, he sees the 2014 as more central in changing Indian politics than the one in 1977.

Rahul Mehra of AAP was simply out of depth. His view seemed so blurred just like seeing through the Delhi smog. He asked what good was it if you can't guarantee basic amenities after 65 years of independence. For all the passionate rhetoric and potshots at every other political party, he offered no alternative. When cornered on why AAP unceremoniously quit the government in Delhi, he meekly accepted that it was a mistake only to further mince words on how AAP had no other choice when the motion on discussion on Lokpal bill was defeated. He was asked what was the guarantee that AAP wouldn't be a quitter, even if it was voted in the Centre, on some frivolous grounds.

The week ended with a stirring performances by Nishant Natya Manch on Bhagat Singh's life, a song performance by Arvind Gaud's group and talks by Ashok Arora and Aseem Trivedi on the occasion of Shaheedi Diwas at IIT Delhi today on 23rd March. It was organised by Atul Bal and his team. There was also a highly defensive Somnath Bharti, ex-Law Minister in the short-lived AAP government in Delhi, going to length to defend AAP which came under strident attack from vaious speakers and it's former youth volunteers in the audience.