VIEWPOINT
AMITABH SHUKLA
I am, sometimes, surprised at the
way a crime story involving a high-profile individual dominates national
discourse at a time when elections are barely a few weeks away. But it did. The
Tarun Tejpal story folded and unfolded all over the media ever since it broke
out.
The arrest of Tejpal, his
custodial interrogation and later judicial custody would obviously not be the
end of the chapter. A lot has to be written about it and shown on television in
the days and weeks to come and unless some another drastic and dramatic
incident takes place, it will continue to hog the limelight for a while.
Was it a Peepli [Live] in front
of us? Of course, it was. The way electronic channels went about the story was
in a way deciding on your own what the viewers of news want. The print medium
behaved more responsibly. A newspaper has 50 stories in a day and 2-4 were
related to Tejpal and the victim. You could still get 45 other stories of your
choice as well. But for the electronic channels, Tejpal was the most happening
story. Even if you switched the channels, it was the same everywhere. Soon, you
would see a movie being made on the subject. Please spare us from Tejpal now
and do not threaten to inflict more of it on us.
The cacophony would perhaps be drowned
by next Sunday when results of all the five States — Delhi ,
Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram would be out. The first
four would determine the course of national discourse in the run-up to the Lok
Sabha elections in April next year. Those who are not bothered about the fate
of Tejpal and whether he did or did not do what he is accused of and what
Rajesh and Nupur Talwar are doing in Dasna Jail of Ghaziabad district, are
obviously talking about the polls and what kind of mandate would it be.
I travelled to a few places in
the last two weeks, talked to people on the streets, eating joints, people in
courts and banks, villages and the train and found that in the politically
conscious Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, it is the score-line
for the Assembly polls, which is being talked about. The “saffron
fundamentalists” see it as a 4-0 wave in favour of BJP, while the “secular
fundamentalists” see the score-line as 2-0, giving Delhi
and Chhattisgarh to Congress. They also argue that with a little effort, even
Rajasthan would be in Congress bag the way the State has taken a “pro-poverty”
line and implemented a host of welfare schemes.
There is nothing to add to the
debate at this juncture as most of the people have already taken a call and
they would not get influenced at this point of time. But the results would
definitely point out whether the country wants a policy based on glorifying
poverty or one based on aspirations and economic ideas which can propel the
States going to polls and the country forward.
There is a lot of common between
Congress and BJP in at least two States where both of them are ruling —
Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. You will be surprised at this but the fact is that
in both the States, both Congress and BJP are into glorifying and celebrating
poverty.
In Chhattisgarh, BJP Government
is banking heavily on its reform and systemic changes in providing food to the
poor for coming back to power for the third time while in Rajasthan, Congress
Government has given all it could to the have-nots from the finances of the
State in an apparent attempt to come back to power again. In both States, the
policies of the two parties have not touched the aspirational sections — those
who do not need merely food, 100 days of employment, free healthcare in the
ramshackle primary health centre and free education in schools where the
teachers just mark their attendance for taking salary and not for teaching.
In both Rajasthan and
Chhattisgarh, those who have just made it to the middle class after hard work
have nothing for them from the Government. Also, those who have just graduated
in the lower middle class segment and are just above the official definition
and categorisation of poverty line, have nowhere to go. Why only Rajasthan and
Chhattisgarh? Most of the States have similar policies on food and development
making it difficult to distinguish one from the other on the basis of policies
and programmes.
I think this is where BJP’s prime
ministerial candidate Narendra Modi offers hope to the aspiring sections of the
population and those who want to graduate from a lower one socio-economic
categorisation to a higher one. The so-called Gujarat
model of development can never be replicated in rest of the country nor is it
desirable, but catering to the needs, aspirations and desire of the people to
move a step ahead in the social and economic ladder would surely do. Modi is
targeting this section, which has got tired of the political establishment
celebrating poverty and developing a permanent interest in keeping a section
always below the poverty line.
Competitive politics of populism
has forced both BJP and Congress besides the regional parties to celebrate poverty.
I wonder what would they do a decade or two down the line when the numbers of
those below poverty line is abysmally low and they would no longer remain a
captive votebank for food and welfare politics. Why do they abhor those who
want English education, better employment in new industries, migration to
cities for opportunities, want to work at call centres in cities or in the
sunrise industries, want a smartphone and access to computers? Why not act as
facilitators rather than putting obstacles in front of them?
Left out by the Nitish Kumars,
Akhilesh Yadavs, Ashok Gehlots and Raman Singhs, this section is perhaps
rooting for Modi who may or may not act the way he is sounding in the election
campaign. But at least there is hope for them that things could be better and
different. In hope lies the dynamics of change. (December 2, 2013)
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