The importance of the Gujarat polls

The importance of the Gujarat polls

By Jawhar Sircar

(Published in ‘The Telegraph’ on 13.12.2017)

December 18 will surely be an interesting day. Millions in India and abroad would love to know how Gujarat actually voted after displaying the first signs of dissonance in over one-and-a-half decades. The Bharatiya Janata Party and its well-rewarded journalists have started taunting liberals and secular forces - they have been branded 'sickular', a phrase that itself is rather sick - to 'wait for the results'. The liberals, on the other hand, are busy praying, or circulating videos of empty chairs at Narendra Modi's election rallies as evidence that his days are numbered. But except dreamers, few really expect the well-oiled and allegedly State-supported machinery of winning elections to capitulate easily. The Opposition does not even have a name for the possible chief minister. But then, Gujarat means a lot more than just a jackpot on the first hit.

When the ruling party took the unprecedented step of postponing the winter session of Parliament for the first time in our memory so that the prime minister and his cabinet colleagues could fight just one state election with all their might, it hinted at panic. The leader, who has gloated after each victory and has never displayed the magnanimity that keeps the Westminster system ticking, is worried. This in itself is a major victory. When cracks appear on the invincibility that is flaunted by absolutist regimes that thrive within the democratic process, they signify that democracy is finally retaliating. The very fact that Gujarat 2017 has managed to galvanize so many demoralized liberals after three-and-a-half long years is an achievement by itself. They had lost interest in the elections post-2014. Even the last one in Uttar Pradesh had been left to the press and poll pundits to titillate us with fanciful analyses. But since Modi swept the polls in UP by convincing the poor that he had crushed the corrupt rich with his swashbuckling demonetization, some very significant developments have shaken India. The first is the bombshell by the Reserve Bank of India that demonetization had, in effect, failed after much theatricality and avoidable pain. Then the growth figures nosedived for the first time in years. This was followed by the terrible mess that the goods and services tax created in which everyone was affected. Besides, there was no sign of employment on a mass scale that the messiah had promised.

In September, the spell of mesmerizing demagoguery was broken and India found its lost voice back after three years. Suddenly, large territories in the social media that had been captured by trolls and delirious hero-worshippers were liberated. Even the loyal mainstream media started making interesting noises. Gujarat is critical as it is the first poll after these multiple disappointments have become public.

Surprisingly, Gujarat also succeeded in shaking off the Congress's inertia. It fought tooth and nail to ensure Ahmed Patel's Rajya Sabha seat. Then Rahul Gandhi jumped into the elections with unusual gusto. He appears to be getting his act together - finally - and has taken Gujarat seriously to legitimize his political elevation. The party's seriousness is evident in its new social engineering with Patidars and the backward classes, however obnoxious such electoral strategies may be.

None disputes the BJP's or anyone else's claim to power and democrats actually celebrate changes in regimes that take place through bona fide processes. Incidentally, Atal Bihari Vajpayee remains one of India's favourite prime ministers. He upheld some of the highest traditions of plurality and tolerance even at the cost of annoying his own partymen. And so did Jawaharlal Nehru during India's formative years. The once outlawed Left never tampered with the basic framework of the Constitution when it came to power.

But the electoral victory in 2014 brought in unprecedented threats to the constitutionally sanctioned principles of secularism and plurality for the first time in the history of independent India. Hatred is now sanctified by the mainstream and has become so respectable that one fears that even serious chemotherapy in the future may not be able to control its devastating spread. Since it is inconceivable that those who constitute the chief minority community in the country can ever be bludgeoned into submission, provoking them is bound to lead to counter-attacks. This is a strategy for inviting an endless subterranean civil war of the middle-eastern variety. Ceaseless strife suits killers and fanatics on both sides.

Lastly, Gujarat is important also because it is the crucible of the 'Hindus-only' model. Someday or the other, the battle would have to be fought there. After Babri Masjid and its aftermath had almost settled down and India began reconciling itself to the Dawood Ibrahims that had been created, Godhra broke a new dam of hatred. The scalding heat that long years of stoking generated - from L.K. Advani's provocative rath yatra to the demolition of the Babri Masjid and the 1992-93 riots - found its volcano in Godhra and its murderous trail. But to harness the whole into votes required the genius of one Machiavelli. To enter his den, rip apart his much-touted 'Gujarat model', which produces favourable numbers by facilitating the enrichment of big capital, and to get him to worry so much is a great victory in itself. This had been unimaginable in the last few years. Liberals and democrats can celebrate whatever gains the EVMs bestow for the struggle to restore India is just beginning.

(PleaseClick Here to read article on ‘The Telegraph’ website)

Bengal Tops In Trafficking & Domestic Violence

Bengal Tops In Trafficking & Domestic Violence

By Jawhar Sircar

                   (English version of article  published in Ananda Bazar Patrika, 9.12.2017 )

         The recent report of the National Crime Records Bureau that Kolkata is the safest among all major cites of India is indeed very welcome news. Technically, Coimbatore is the safest, but it is hardly a major city. But what is more noteworthy is that the rate of crime here is less than one eighth of Delhi’s, in spite of the fact that more money, manpower and resources are heaped on the nation’s capital. Kolkata's crime rate is one fourth of that of Bengaluru which is a much desired destination and when compared to Mumbai, this city is far better off. The next part of the report, however, takes away the satisfaction and congratulatory mood because it says the State of West Bengal is first in both cruelty by husbands and in trafficking of women. It also tops in acid attacks. This is really a sharp drop because in the fifties, sixties and seventies this same state was known for the highest respect it gave to women. We remember how women never though twice about  returning home walking from cinema halls after midnight without any escort. These current statistics and others from national level bodies reveal that the land of Durga and Kali has indeed changed a lot.

              We need to think seriously why this has happened. The first culprit was the dreaded Naxalite period and the political violence between the Congress and the Left parties that followed. These 7-8 years are a gash upon West Bengal whose internal scars can hardly ever heal. It put an end to many things, from vibrant night life in Park Street-Chowringhee to the late night fun in paras. The old relaxed, culture of Bengal that was symbolised by the slow but gentle tram was replaced by reckless mini buses and rude and rash private buses that personified the new age of pipe guns of the lumpen bourgeoise. Over the next three decades, the unbridled competitive radicalism of left trade unions (that were joined by others as well) led to endless gheraos as power was unleashed by the angry lower middle class. While these state-sponsored anti-capitalist agitations were glorified on ideological grounds and romanticised through IPTA plays, Gana-sangeet and progressive films by Ritwik Ghatak and Mrinal Sen, the state’s industrial base was destroyed beyond repair. In contrast, the sincerity with which Operation Barga and distribution of pattas was done by the same Left Front ensured considerable economic benefits in the rural areas. But this too reached a saturation by the late eighties and instead of coming up with the next lot of reforms through farm-based services and agro industries, with the same passion as for the Barga movement, the regime revelled in self satisfaction with verbose politicaljargons and mindless expansion of its mass base. The “have nots” were soon outnumbered by the “must haves” who shattered all cultural myths and moral values. Globalisation and “bourgeois vices” were blamed but Subhas Chakraborty’s “Hope 86” legitimised the end of “Jalsa Ghar”. Those who began their journey into muscle raj by forcing builders to procure bricks, sand and gravel from them blossomed later into the powerful syndicates that can wreak havoc with political support.

            Panchayat leaders under the Left regime degenerated into a new class of rich desperadoes who roamed the countryside on motorbikes or government jeeps and Ambassadors, terrorising and pulverising opponents, with novel tactics like “boycott”. Thus, the huge amounts of money that the state and central governments pumped into the villages, roads and irrigation bandhs gave birth to a “contracracy”, to use Benoy Choudhury’s phrase. The small benefits that accrued could hardly match the ever-growing population. We have to understand that West Bengal has finally caught up with Bihar as both have the highest density of population in India. This is around 1100 persons per square kilometre as compared to the all-India average of 382. Like Bihar, its agriculture sector and low industrial base just cannot absorb so many people and over the last twenty years, Bengali labourers and womenfolk have been migrating to far off states in north and western India for seasonal farm work or permanent jobs in the cities. In Delhi, where I spent the last eleven years, my hosts would invariably tell me that their maid servants, cooks or servants were from Bengal and introduce me to them. Menial jobs are what most Bengalis get in other towns where they compete against migrants from Bihar, Jharkhand, eastern U.P. and the ubiquitous Bangladeshis. So before we blow our chests and quiver with emotion about Bengal’s superiority, let us remember these cruel truths.

                It is easy for Gujarat or Andhra to give large chunks of land to new industries as their population density is far less than even the Indian average. Our population density is three times theirs and land is an emotional issue as it is much more fertile. Land acquisition is viewed emotionally as it snatches away the existing means of livelihood and gives uneconomic compensation. Besides, there is no assurance of  employment in the low-manpower, semi-automated industries that may come up, if at all. But without land, no big or medium industries are possible and without these, the state’s economy cannot grow big enough to gainfully employ the bottom of the pyramid. This is the “Catch 22” situation that the chief ministers have been trying to break in the last 15 years, but getting industries back is a Herculean task. The image of the aggressive Bengali labour who is over conscious about his rights and not about his duties is quite deeply imbedded in the minds of industrialists all over India. After all, these anti-owner attitudes were drilled into the masses for over three decades. The present CM stands a better chance, as unlike her predecessor, her party and the trade unions are under her control. But while the Left matured in its last phase and presented industrialists with one ‘union leader’ to satisfy, the present regime has too many quarrelling leaders in each area, which leads to open conflicts that makes life difficult for industry.

[OPTIONAL: A one industry-one union approach could help in bringing entrepreneurs back. My eleven years in the Commerce and Industries departments of the State and Central governments taught me that industrialists value delivery at the field level much more that meetings in 5-star hotels, whether in Hyderabad or in Kolkata.]

               With the breakdown of values, it is not a wonder why this state has the poorest record in trafficking of women and in maltreatment of wives.Does illiteracy lead to these evils? No, as West Bengal is placed above the all India average and is among the middle high performers in literacy and where school drop-outs are concerned. The Ministry of Women and Child Welfare itself reports that Bangladeshi and Nepali women are trafficked through West Bengal which adds to the figure, but that is no excuse. From March this year, the state has declared ‘zero tolerance’ and since the numbers involved run into just three thousand for a state where the female population is 4.5 crores, it can surely be tackled. Where child trafficking is concerned, the two major rackets that were busted this year in Jalpaiguri and North 24 Parganas reveal that if local authorities are vigilant, much of this crime can be curbed. Cruelty to wives needs more in depth study, and may be the increased consciousness here leads to more complaints than in those Indian states where tortured wives cannot even complain. But, it is time to wake up and realise that this Bengal is quite a different state, where society needs to cure, not endure.