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Pritish Nandy

The Young and the Restless

For years I have heard the same lament: Why can't India be like Britain or the United States? Why can't our politics polarise? Why don't we have a two party system such that voters can make a clear choice instead of fragmenting their verdict and creating so much political mayhem? Why can't we have two distinct, civilised options instead of so many fringe positions that confuse and mislead our voters?

The argument never ends. Why can't we, say, choose between Labour and Tory, Democrat and Republican? Why must India, an adult nation, lurch from one crisis to another? At this rate, we will break up -- say the prophets of doom -- into independent states, each propounding their own ideology, their own political distinctiveness. At the cost of India.

The last elections have wrought a miracle. They achieved exactly what we all prayed for. Simply, by halving Parliament into two distinct formations. Both almost identical in numbers. But entirely disparate within. Each is, therefore, forced to seek its own survival by learning the art of tolerance and compromise.

This means we now have a two party system in place. If not exactly two parties, two coalitions. With each coalition representing a clutch of parties led by one major national party. You have the BJP-led coalition of 21 parties in power. In the Opposition, you have the Congress and the United Front, from which 3 parties have already flown the coop. Telugu Desam, National Conference, Asom Gana Parishad. At last count, the Opposition had 11 or 12 parties in its fold but, by the time this column appears, it could be well less. For our MPs have this curious habit of rushing towards power. Like moths towards the lamplight.

In other words, we are exactly where we wanted to be. In a political system where the choice is limited to two coalitions. Voters round the country know that the local choice they make will now influence the destiny of these national coalitions. And, when regional parties migrate from one coalition to another, it will only be to strengthen their reach and influence. Which is exactly as it should be in federal politics.

This polarisation has driven out the radicals. Fringe parties have become marginal and the major formations are no longer taking extremist positions. On any issue. Take the BJP. Gone is their obsession with Ayodhya and the Ram temple. They are as secular or as communal -- depending on how you look at it -- as the Congress or the UF. They have diluted their stand on Ayodhya and Kashi, Kashmir and Article 370. They no more speak of a Common Civil Code.

The language of Fascism is dead. They no longer propagate the ideal of a strong, centrally-ruled Hindu rashtra that will bludgeon into silence all dreams of regional autonomy as fissiparious and dangerously seditious. In fact, they have meekly joined hands with the Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab, the Asom Gana Parishad in Assam and the National Conference in Kashmir. Parties they considered anti-national till just the other day.

In fact, the way they are going, I will not be surprised fi they are soon ready to befriend the Naxalities, make peace with the Bodos, give autonomy to the Jharkhandis, bring the Nagas back into the fold, kiss and make up with the Tamil Eelam. Conciliation is their key to survival. Even the word Hindu is political incorrect. The BJP knows -- exactly as the Congress-UF do -- that it is no longer possible to form a stable government at the Centre unless the minorities and the backwards are with you. The numbers cannot work. So the upper caste bias of the BJP is changing. The Muslims and the backwards are being wooed. The scheduled castes and the neo-Buddhists will be the next target of their affection and, even if Kanshi Ram does not succumb, the Republican Party of India might.

Even the new speaker of the Lok Sabha is flaunting the fact that he is a Dalit. The Hindu rate of growth has also been jettisoned. Last week, Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha described a 7.5 per cent rate of growth in GDP as his immediate target and promised that India will cross the 8 per cent growth threshold in the first year of the new millenium. This can only happen if we shed all our inhibitions and go for a new economic order full throttle. And there is no way such a target can be met unless we are ready to dismantle our existing economic system and put in place wide scale reforms. State interference must be replaced with growth incentives and investment opportunities to lure big time foreign capital. To grow infrastructure, modernise industry, copy with the challenges of globalisation.

And this cannot happen as long as the government chants swadeshi. In other words, the BJP must chuck overboard the entire baggage of its past. The dream of a Hindu rashtra. Ayodhya. Swadeshi. Economic nationalism. Kashi and Mathura. Nuclear adventurism. Teaching Pakistan a lesson. Scrapping Article 370. Enforcing a Common Civil Code. Redesigning reforms. Keeping foreign investors out of consumer industries. Sucking up to the RSS.

If this happens, the Congress and the UF will lose the raison d'etre for their existence. Secularism will be on everyone's agenda. Socialism will have no takers in either formation. Economic reforms and the need for a punishing rate of growth will compel future governments to practise greater caution before announcing profligate schemes to woo their votebanks. Nationalism will no longer sound sexy in the era of globalisation.

We will then, hopefully, return to the real issues. Issues which have vanished from our political lexicon in the past five years. Jobs. Homelessness. Rations for the poor. Fighting inflation. Reducing taxes. Human rights. Making healthcare affordable. Particularly for the old and the poor. Education. Gender equality. Combating corruption. Making justice available. Debureaucratising India. Making the law enforces accountable. Creating a safety net for those below the poverty line.

This is where the two coalitions can offer alternative policy initiatives. Instead of their usual rhetoric. Fifty years is a long time for any nation to wait for a sensible polity to emerge. This is an opportunity for both sides to focus, to rediscover the real priorities before India and offer specific strategies to set things right. Let the voters decide whose strategy they find more convincing.

If this means goodbye to secularism, socialism, swadeshi, so be it.

The young in India are no longer enamoured with cliches. They are restless. They want jobs. Opportunities. They want careers where they can pitch themselves against the best in the world and win. Any government that puts their future on the agenda will win the next round. Where it's the BJP or the Congress, no one reality gives a damn.

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Pritish Nandy