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27 February 2005
Memes in Indian politics
The just concluded assembly elections in Haryana, Bihar and Jharkhand offer interesting studies in the shape and current trends of Indian politics. Ever since the Babri Masjid demolition, the Bharatiya Janata Party has boxed itself into a corner -- namely the party of communal politics. Its open embracing of Hindutva 12 years ago was perhaps in strategic terms its single biggest misstep and no measure of regret or corrective actions will ever be enough to redeem it of that folly. Names and labels stick in politics as we have much too often found both in Indian as well as American politics. In the Hindi belt though, this black-and-white taxonomy of parties is raised to an entirely new level and this is made apparent at the conclusion of any election. For instance, in Bihar going by current results yet another hung assembly is in sight with the BJP and Janata Dal (U) winning a combined 94 seats, 28 seats shy of a simple majority in a legislature 243 seats strong. Laloo Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal won 66 seats, Congress 10 seats, the Communist parties just above 10 seats and the independents accounted for a small but significant portion of the remainder. Interestingly though, Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janashakti Party won 31 seats and is needless to say in a position to influence the formation of the next government. This is where it gets interesting.Mr. Paswan has in the past had serious issues with Mr. Yadav principally arising from their differing origins of caste, most recently with the latter being considered for the Railway ministry portfolio over the former. While his dislike for the RJD can be put down to this, his reluctance to enter into an alliance with BJP is more in keeping with the divide between "secular" and "communal" parties. While all concerned including the CPI-M, RJD and Congress have crowed aloud about the victory of "secular" forces over "communal" forces, the fact of the matter is that none is in any better shape than the BJD-JD(U) combine is to take the reins of government. The Left is trying to force Mr. Paswan to forget conveniently his personal animosity for Mr. Yadav and support his government but this is easier said than done -- perhaps ironically Mr. Paswan possibly may have no personal issues whatsoever in supporting BJP except that doing so would mean crossing the hardened "ideological" divide that he has gloated about in the past. It hardly needs mentioning though that there is no such thing as an ideology that is more hallow than being in power and it will be interesting to see when push comes to shove, which will survive -- the "communal"/"secular" meme or the casteist meme.
Finally though, this brings to the forefront once more the perils of coalition politics as it is now open season for fierce dealmaking and lobbying and while in the United States this would mean compromising on issues and principles, in Bihar it automatically translates to money and influence. Which of the two is a lesser evil is a question that shall continue to taunt us forever and on.
