Arvind Singhal: Aam aadmi and Bharat

What started a few years ago as a counter-point to the NDA government’s “India Shining” proclamations is now turning into a crescendo. Indeed, the “Aam Aadmi” and “Bharat” terminology has now moved beyond the realm of political posturing, and is now well-entrenched in the lingua franca of the different chambers of commerce and the leadership of corporate India. Almost overnight, we have ended up further dividing India into more fragments than it already is in, as if our division on account of religion, caste, community, gender and ethnicity was not enough!

Left unchecked, the current obsession with “Aam Aadmi” versus (undefined) other “Indians”, and “Bharat” versus (also undefined) “India” has the potential to push India into creating even more dangerous schisms that it is currently faced with. While India has faced many internal conflicts on account of religion, caste and community, so far it has not faced violent clashes between the “haves” and the “have-nots”. Indeed, so far, there is an uneasy but peaceful coexistence between the ultra-rich and the ultra-poor. One just has to drive or walk through Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata or Ahmedabad to see shanties and pavement dwellers living in the shadows of billionaires’ sprawling residences, and high-end BMWs and Mercedeses honking their way through swathes of pedestrians, bicyclists and hand-cart pushers.

 

There is absolutely no doubt in anyone’s mind that no country can be ever considered great by only the number of ultra-rich appearing in lists published by Forbes and others. Indeed, a country can only grow and prosper if the growth is “inclusive” and in India’s case, those who have to be included far outnumber any other nation on this planet. There is also absolutely no doubt that it is the constitutional duty of our elected leaders and the moral obligation of those who have been blessed with good fortune to make a serious attempt to provide opportunity and the means to earn a basic minimum standard of quality of life to those who are less privileged. However, giving out dole through social schemes and then talking about the allocation of this largesse via pink dailies and the electronic media is not enough. Indeed, if the post-Budget plethora of analysis and expert comments from all and sundry are any indication, the loudest voices sounded the most condescending and patronising towards the really poor and genuinely underprivileged. Their expressed satisfaction on the increased outlay on social sector spending almost felt like a moral relief some may derive after giving away alms to charity.

The irony could not have been starker, given that the current Lok Sabha has the largest ever number of self-declared millionaires, that one of the MLAs in Karnataka gifted a Rs 45-crore diamond crown to a temple out of gratitude at becoming a minister, that many past and current members (and their progeny) in Parliament continue to manoeuvre their way into sprawling bungalows in Delhi’s Lutyen’s zone, and that some — after making rabble-rousing communally divisive and despicable speeches — hanker for the upgradation of their already overbearing personal security all funded by the same aam aadmi. The irony is complete when successive ministers of civil aviation continue to vow to keep Air India a public sector entity so that they and a few privileged others can continue to pay for their (and their families’) free or upgraded travel, and in the process, let Air India rake up losses of over Rs 5,000 crore in a single year (current fiscal). This, when Air India remains the only major national carrier to not have a low-cost, budget arm to reach out to the aam aadmi!

The nation has already seen the disastrous and divisive outcome of the flawed interpretation and actions on the challenge of social engineering by the late VP Singh. The cause was an absolutely fair national imperative but the politicisation of the issue did little for affirmative action and only laid the foundation of highly dysfunctional caste-based vote bank politics that India continues to suffer from today. Let the aam aadmi and Bharat not become another vote bank to milk from. India needs visionary socio-economic policies that foster all-round economic growth which, in turn, will lead to the generation of appropriate quantum of resources India needs to pull its hundreds of millions out of poverty. Hopefully, forward-looking and reform-oriented agendas will not be sacrificed at the altar of this newly discovered vote bank.

arvind.singhal@technopak.com