What’s Puzzling Indians — Part 2?
[Read this in conjunction with What’s Puzzling Indians — Part 1? https://aruneshchoubey.medium.com/whats-puzzling-indians-part-1-b79f61f91645 ]
From the article last week, let’s look at India’s most difficult social puzzles.
Anti-CAA, Farm Law Protests & Handling of Social Media…
It was puzzling for many Indians why the government didn’t attempt to break up the anti-CAA and farm law protests using force. Both the protests were unethical, illogical and irrational. Also, they were well-funded, carefully planned and executed with an intention to weaken the government. The anti-CAA protests had an Islamic favour while the anti-farm law protests had a Sikh and Khalistani flavour. A devious attempt was made to fracture India by using its fault lines. The government understood this and that is what drove its “kid gloves” approach towards the protestors. Why to use a gun, when a pin can deflate a balloon.
In 2014, the Modi led NDA came to power with the blessings of the “secular” Hindu. The “secular” Hindu is a voter whose path is charted by drinking a cocktail of “jugaad”, debate, “holier than thou” and “me first” policies. Burdened and dejected by the Congress led UPA’s corrupt practices, the “secular” Hindu eventually gave a chance to the BJP. In 2019, though this support seemed shaky, it continued. The BJP realises that the “secular” Hindu” is an unreliable but important partner. It also knows that unless the “secular” Hindu is converted into a “Hindu Indian”, it cannot completely take quick actions to reform the country at a social, economic and political level.
The Congress though in the doldrums is also aware of this. So, it has tried hard since 2014 to appeal to the “secular” Hindu. First this was done through Media (remember the attempts to polarise the ministers within the NDA government: Rajnath, Gadkari and Sushma against Modi) and then through the intolerance debate, the actions of the award wapsi gang, OROP (One Rank One Pension — implemented after decades) protests and, then by falsely claiming deaths during Demonetisation, the manufactured Rafale “scam”, “Chowkidar Chor hai” tactics, the attempts to delegitimize the Uri and Balakot strikes and attempts to muddle benefits of removing articles 370 and 35A and implementation of GST, the central vista construction and the Ram Temple to name a few. The anti-CAA and farm law protests are just an extension of this strategy.
The BJP/NDA understands that until the “Secular” Hindu is de-secularised, he will raise eyebrows if the BJP dealt with the protestors harshly. The secular Hindu is easily influenced by social media and mainstream western media and can swiftly change sides to make himself look “progressive”, “liberal”, “moralistic” and “ethical”. The BJP doesn’t want to lose this big voter base and thus, it has dealt with the protestors in a very sanguine manner. On the other hand, it has freely used social media to influence the “secular” Hindu and polarise his thinking and vote. The polarisation project is far from over and may take another 10 years. Perhaps, Polarisation is probably not the right word. De-secularisation is! This explains why Twitter, FB, What’s App, You Tube and others have been given a long leash, though at the time of writing this, the government is finally flexing its muscles. Perhaps, it realises that its own strategy is now being copied by other political parties. So finally, it’s time to cage social media in a “safari” like jungle.
Corruption cases, why no action?
Let’s face it, without corruption life cannot exist. Even the China originated virus is a corruption. As it is a corruption of health, we don’t give it as much importance in general life as we accord to corruption at a political level. And that is simply because we believe that corruption which involves unethical and immoral exchange of money can be prevented and that too by honesty. Honesty is an anathema for politicians. And, Indian politicians are no different. Without corruption, there will be no friction and without friction there will be no growth. So, in a way corruption is a necessity when used for the right intentions. Problem is, who decides what is right?
In seven years of Modi rule, there has been no corruption case which has besmirched the reputation of the Prime Minister or the government or the party or the alliance that he leads. This is no mean feat! Most states where the BJP/NDA has won government; low key, unmarried politicians have been given the Chief Ministership. This includes, Yogi (U.P), Khattar (Haryana), Sonowal (ex- Assam CM), and Nitish Kumar (Bihar). Several other CM’s are from minority communities (Fadnavis, Raghubar Das, Rupani, Parsekar)in their states or low key functionaries who are loyal to the party and RSS. This ensures that the politicians don’t work for their families or come up with ideas of forming a casteist support base to harm the national party and its goals.
Now coming to the point: Why are corruption cases not moving as fast as Indians want?
Many corruption cases have been going on for lengthy periods. Some cases are legit while others are just allegations used for political mileage. Most politicians even if they are jailed, eventually get bail and that is usually the end of the matter. Latest to join the bandwagon is Lalu Prasad Yadav. Why is it so hard to prove corruption cases in India? If you remember Saurabh Shukla as Judge Tripathi in the movie Jolly LLB, he sums it well, “I know from the first day who is guilty but cannot pronounce so as I have to wait for evidence.” And that is the difficulty in most cases. Evidence is hard to get as most of the corruption is legal corruption- a form of corruption that is morally unethical but in a court of law, it is virtually impossible to prove. Example: If a party is in government and it sells one of its benefactors a land worth $1 million for $10,000 because they have the authority, then what can you prove in a court of law. Even if a case can be made on the basis of valuations, it will just be a rap on the knuckles for the deviant parties.
Secondly, BJP has copied the Congress tactics in using court cases to rake up controversies to keep its competitors in check. There is definitely a push to speed up cases at times of elections and then slow down at other times. Question is: why not get done with it, why not just resolve the case and pass judgements. For the BJP, this is an option but as evidence is hard to get and with the bureaucracy of judiciary and government itself filled with “secular” Hindus, the job is difficult. Further on, it is much easier to slowly burn the opposition than to slay them at one go. Sometimes, one political party completely losing the plot and being delegitimised can be dangerous and may lead to rise of another power centre. Example of this is the slump in the vote of the Congress in Delhi and West Bengal, which didn’t augment well for the BJP.
Perhaps, the RSS-BJP-Modi combine fully understands what Aesop had said, “We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office”. Thus, the BJP has to first remove the great thieves and then prove them to be petty thieves, until then the games will go on (as Didi says, “Khela Hobe”, I would say “Khela Hocche”) and Indians will hope that the BJP itself doesn’t ape the great thieves who were once in office.
Read Part -3 of the same article next week to find out more.
