When I was an undergraduate student
in the mid-2000s, politics was never a popular topic among my classmates.
Political matters were hardly discussed, and even if they were, it happened without
any great passion. When I moved to Bangalore for masters’ degree, I came in
contact with students from all over the country. However, I didn’t see any
noticeable change in attitude towards politics. Indeed, some people from older
generations would often express dissatisfaction that the current generation
does not care for the society or country, and are becoming hedonists addicted
to TV, internet, cricket, fast food and sex.
All these changed quickly over
the next couple of years. It was perhaps triggered by the Anna Hazare movement
in April 2011. Although some political intellectuals derided it, there can be
no doubt that it created a huge stir among urban youth- people of my generation
or those a few years younger. Very quickly, people became aware of politics,
politicians and the various scams they were indulging in. Some of the ministers in the central government had recently been
implicated in major financial scams like CWG scam, 2G spectrum scam and coal
scam, and this made the ruling party unpopular. The innumerable terrorist
attacks and bomb blasts that had taken place in the 2005-08 period, as well as
the Maoist strikes in April-May 2010 had created outrage among people-
especially the middle class, and the ruling government was now seen as weak
and ineffective. RaGa became a butt of ridicule. Much of this outrage was
channelized through the internet, and it quite quickly made an impression on
our internet-addicted generation. And the main opposition party- the IPP-
quickly managed to seize control of the outrage. They offered a panacea called
NaMo- an all-powerful leader who would
cure all the maladies of the ruling government. The internet generation is
too young to remember NaMo’s shady past, and they readily fell for it. The
result: a resounding victory for NaMo-led IPP in the 2014 general elections,
along with the decimation of ruling party.
The young generation,
specifically the 20-29 age groups today is a lot more politically aware than it
was earlier. They are also angry and outraged. I understand their outrage, but
not their anger. Most of them are very intolerant of opposing ideas, and look
upon proponents of opposing ideas as traitors or enemies. Not all of them have
the same set of ideas- maximum are broadly rightists, but leftists and
centrists are also not negligible in number. But whatever the beliefs, these
“politically-aware” people generally have very polarized 1-dimensional,
black-and-white views. They quickly take sides on most issues. But the problems
of the country are multi-dimensional, and there no side is black or white- rather
there are different shades of grey. If people do not appreciate this fact, they
can never hope to solve any problem. What has happened is a strange
polarization in this young generation, along with a never-ending vitriolic,
polemical rhetoric all over social media. All sides- from left to right- are
guilty of such polemic, though right now the IPP followers are far ahead of
everyone else in this regard. The top IPP leaders, as already mentioned, have
cleverly outsourced the rhetoric to these people, through a few specialist
rabble-rousing icons whom the internet generation can easily connect to- like
the (in)famous Susu-Swamy. Anyone who feel that India should not be rapidly
industrialized, anyone who don’t agree that Hindus are threatened in India,
anyone who oppose harsh police activities in Kashmir, Manipur or in the red
corridor are quickly labelled as traitors and anti-India. The other political
parties have already been painted as anti-India, with
varying degrees of success. This reminds me
of a breed of “politically aware” people who abounded Kolkata in the eighties
and nineties- who attributed everything wrong around them as “capitalist
conspiracy”, “American conspiracy” or “Center’s negligence of our state”. Such
people have dwindled in number now, but they still exist in isolated pockets.
They are no less polemic than the right-wingers, only that their voices are not
all-pervasive across the social media. If you somehow chance upon their “discussions”,
on social media or elsewhere, you will realize that the anger, arrogance and
intolerance is not limited to any party or ideology.
And the intellectuals- scholars
from various institutes, social workers, film-makers, non-mainstream journalists
have not been able to stem the tide because they have not spoken a language
which people can understand. They have espoused seemingly unpopular causes-
farmer suicides, displacement due to industrialization, migration,
environmental degradation, custodial deaths and disappearances- issues which
those in power do not want to hear of. Their intentions are obviously noble, but
they have not tried to understand the popular outrage, much less connect to the
outraged and explain their causes. Nor have they offered plausible solutions to
any problem. This has caused these people to be ridiculed and hated by most (though
worshipped by a few, who in turn may hate the outraged majority!) Some of these
intellectuals suffer from a syndrome called “blinded by ideology”- they may be
so unreasonable that even those who could have sympathized with their causes,
can be repelled away!
Yet another case worth examining
is the role of NRIs. They are among the richest, most successful and visible
people associated with India. They are also the most aggressively nationalist,
and very keen to let the world know that they are so. They want the country to
industrialize fast, and build a powerful military force necessarily with
nuclear capability- so that the country is counted as among the most powerful
ones in the world- alongside USA, China, Russia, Germany etc. They are
particularly keen to overtake China. Such desires may stem from an inferiority
complex they feel in the first-world countries, or due to real or perceived
discrimination and arrogance they may face from the people there. On the other
hand, they also feel a sense of guilt-they may be seen as people who have put
self-interest above country’s interest and caused brain-drain, while their
parents and grandparents may feel that they have abandoned their “traditions”.
Out of such guilt, they often aggressively display their attachment to the
roots- that they are very proud of their country and their religion. They are
keen to have a leader who will try and make India important in the eyes of the
first world, but will also stand for traditional Indian culture and traditions.
NaMo is almost designed to fit these desires, and no wonder they are
over-the-top in cheering him. They are mostly unaware of the poverty and
inequality in India. In their eyes, anyone opposing rapid industrialization or
pointing out the maladies in any Indian tradition is an enemy, and they will do
their utmost to humiliate and isolate him. During the 2014 elections, many NRIs
actually quit their jobs and came over to India to help the election campaigns
of NaMo and IPP. Admittedly, some NRIs have quite different political views-
some are more interested in ridding India of corruption and other problems
rather than showing off to the world. On the other hand, those NRIs who are not
much into politics and are more interested in enjoying the normal pleasures of
life, are often derided or made fun of by these “politically aroused” NRIs,
especially the nationalist right-wingers. They try to show off to their countrymen
that they are standing up for their country, religion, tradition and culture,
while others have forgotten these and enjoying the ugly American culture!
The current batches of
twenty-somethings have gone through massive changes over the last few years. It
is true that many have shed their apathy and hedonism, and are more interested
in making a difference for their country. But they are outraged and angry, and
intolerant of opposition. They have become strongly polarized. They do not have
the patience or the broadness of mind to examine and understand various aspects
of the complex problems of the country, but want to jump forward. Their main
medium is the internet, and they are overzealous in making their presence felt
there. The question arises- how are these changes going to affect our country
and society in the near future? Will there actually be any improvements, or
will there only be increased polarization and intolerance? Will the next batch
of twenty-somethings be even more angry and polarized, or will they learn to
see things more holistically? Or will they just give up, and go back to
hedonist enjoyment? And is that really such a bad thing after all?
