http://www.dailypioneer.com/243363/Identity-politics-alone-won%E2%80%99t-do.htmlSaturday, March 20, 2010 New Delhi Today's Issue
Identity politics alone won't do
Ashok Malik
In the past few days, Ms Mayawati's "garland of currency notes" and
police inquiry into an alleged bee attack on a BSP public meeting in
Lucknow have brought the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister into the centre
of a fascinating debate on attitudes.
Her adherents and sections of 'progressive' intellectuals have
contended Ms Mayawati's ostentation has to be seen in the context of
the oppression of Dalits for thousands of years. When the ordinary
Dalit observes Ms Mayawati's grand statues, lavish birthday parties
and currency-note indulgences, he apparently experiences a sense of
pride. He feels, so the argument goes, the equal of upper caste folk
whose political leaders have been behaving thus for years.
Such analysis is not new. It has been with us for over a decade and is
wheeled out each time Ms Mayawati's public persona is discussed. A
degree of political correctness and squeamishness takes over and many
observers tend to be lenient with the BSP's garishness and display of
wealth in a manner they simply wouldn't be if it came to another
party.
It is true aesthetic subjectivities cannot and should not come in the
way of cold political assessment. Ms Mayawati's shiny salwar kameez
may not appeal to somebody who prefers south Delhi chic but it still
may represent aspirational taste in a more humble, hinterland setting.
Likewise, the massive BSP construction projects in Uttar Pradesh —
Lucknow probably matches Pyongyang in the number of statues of an
incumbent head of Government — can be reckoned to be only a more
visible, in-your-face perpetuation of cultism. An alternative,
subliminal system, perfected by the Congress, would be to name every
programme, organisation, building, memorial and institution after
members of the Nehru-Gandhi family.
Having said that, the defence of Ms Mayawati's excesses only on the
basis of past precedents (of other parties) or past injustice done to
Dalits is beginning to look a little tired and ragged. It was fine in
her earlier terms and when she became Chief Minister in 1995 or again
in 1997. Yet, after her decisive victory in the 2007 Assembly
election, surely the frame of reference has changed?
All effective politics is a combination of bread and circus. Ms
Mayawati's continued emphasis on the circus aspect even after winning
a majority in the 2007 election does indicate an inability to make a
critical evolution in her politics. She has been the unquestioned boss
of Uttar Pradesh for three years now, unencumbered by difficult
alliance partners and free from political blackmail by independent
MLAs. Yet, she has not made good governance or an alternative
development paradigm her calling card.
This is certainly a failing and it would be dishonest to not recognise
it — or to confuse criticism of it with upper caste/urban hostility to
the BSP. Indeed Ms Mayawati won so handsomely in 2007 precisely
because a game-changing mass of upper caste (primarily Brahmin) voters
across Uttar Pradesh turned to her. She won not just because of her
strong Dalit constituency but thanks to the formidable rainbow
coalition she put together.
Identity politics makes for great theatre. It absorbs political
observers and journalists and becomes a self-contained universe of its
own. Yet, in the broader community, beyond merely the politically
obsessive, identity politics can only occasionally be an end in
itself.
There are essentially two templates for Ms Mayawati to choose from.
She can turn to Gujarat and Bihar. In their own ways, both Mr Narendra
Modi and Mr Nitish Kumar have made the transformation from identity
politics to good governance.
This doesn't mean they have completely given up on identity. Mr Kumar
is still very much a Kurmi leader and sees himself as part of the
OBC/social justice movement. Mr Modi self-identifies as a confident
Hindu and a pillar of Gujarati pride. Yet, with good governance, they
have added value to their individual brand. The mix has given their
politics a greater robustness, one that stressing on identity alone
would not have achieved.
The other model is that of Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav. He premised his
entire politics on identity. When it ran its course, when those
energies were expended, he had no back-up plan, nothing else to offer
the voter. As such, the RJD's collapse in Bihar has been precipitous.
Today, Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav is a desperate man, working fervently to
reignite the Muslim-Yadav alliance using the women's reservation
issue, trying to stay in the running in the Bihar Assembly election
later this year. He realises if he loses this round as well his career
is more or less over. In one decade, he has gone from being
invulnerable to completely vulnerable. That is the huge gamble of an
identity-only political platform.
What message does this hold for Ms Mayawati? If she wins the Assembly
election of 2012 — or even if the BSP finishes as the single largest
party, well ahead of others in a hung House — would it mean her statue
symbolism, the corruption allegations against her, the sudden and
dramatic acquisition of property, doesn't matter to the voter? Would
it imply the (Dalit) voter is happy enough with circus to not bother
about bread?
That would be a cynical and extremely superficial assumption. If Ms
Mayawati is still a force to reckon with in Uttar Pradesh, it is for
two reasons. First, the social coalition she shaped before the 2007
election is still largely intact. There is a movement of Muslims
towards the Congress. Brahmins and the urban middle classes have also
turned in that direction. Even so, the shift hasn't been complete and
absolute. Rather, it has created a situation where State politics has
devolved into a two-horse race.
Second, the Mayawati Government's biggest plus point is simply that it
is not the Mulayam Singh Yadav Government. Memories of Mulayam raj are
still strong across towns of Uttar Pradesh and they are not pleasant
ones. Large parts of the State remain lawless; corruption, with
accusations right to the top, remains a concern. Yet, the perception
that the Government itself is hand-in-glove with criminal syndicates
and mafia dons, and the ruling party is a mechanism for crony
capitalism — charges that dogged the Mulayam Singh Yadav Government —
are not quite as strong today. As Chief Minister, Ms Mayawati is not
so much good as simply less bad.
As can be imagined, this is very different from an endorsement of her
identity politics, much less of her astonishing income tax returns.
-- malikashok@gmail.com
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