Democracy, Secularisms or Socialism: The Future Agenda for Progressive Politics in South Asian Region. The landslide electoral victory of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in India demonstrate a total failure of the progressives and socialists including the Secular Democrats and the Liberals to grasp the power of the cultural and religious mythology, history, and rituals deployed by Modi wrapped in the narrative of Gujarat Model of development and modernity. There is no denying that the dismal record of rampant corruption by the Congress led Coalition (UPA) government had created a mass dissatisfaction and alienation in the masses. The two consecutive terms of opportunities to empower citizens by providing them with better health, education, housing, sanitation and employment were squandered away. There was also a desire amongst the masses for a change. BJP responded to this collective desire with skillful strategic brilliance. Projecting Modi (an unrepentant religious nationalist and a trained Preacher in RSS school, a semi fascist organization), as a strong man of action (as opposed to a meek and meagre PM of Congress led UPA government) and a saviour of the Motherland Bharat; a Modi wave was created by the middle class-led media clamour, and the corporate India bankrolled the project Modi. The Modi model of development is an extreme form of crony capitalism with patronage to corporate section with neo-liberal market driven investment, at the cost of sheer exploitation of worker with employers imposing stringent conditions on employment contracts without protection of the basic rights to their wage, salary and pensions. Development and Progress are two different value concerns in economic investment strategies of given governments. A progress led development aims at improving the life conditions and overall well-being of citizens. It is intended to fair distribution of the national wealth. Modi model of development has not improved the well-being of all sections of Gujarati population. The gap between poor and rich has not been reduced. It rather favored a small privileged class. There are still social and economic ghettos in Gujarat. It also has not outshined the performances of other states in the Indian Union. A glance on comparison with other states in Indian Union, in the light of the UN indicators of human development, can clarify the situation. Only in education and Health alone, Gujarat has not done any better than the others, as shown in the figure below. (Source: India Today). Moreover, there is not much difference between the Congress led Coalition in the Centre and the BJP led government in Gujarat state. Both have adopted the neo-liberal agenda on economic front. Democracy and socialism are two banks across a river with secularism as a bridge adjoining them together. It is not an extra-terrestrial readymade entity dropped on humanity from the sky, as a finished product. It rather arose out of earthly material conditions from the sweat and blood of a host of different sections of people cutting across social formation. It also came in dribs and drabs over a long period of time in many forms: liberal, social and socialist one; travelling through various stages (using peaceful as well as violent means) encompassing civil, political and economic rights. In essence, it has been borne out of struggles between the people defined as haves and have-nots. Democracy is a value and not a means towards an end. It is an end itself embodied in a highest form of social formation: Socialism. Moreover, different models of democracy, ranging from Direct to Representative, have been conceived and practiced in human societies in different periods. The former form practiced in the Ancient Greek cities of Athens and Sparta. A somewhat different form of independent Italian city-states of Florence, Genoa and Venice emerged during the middle-ages 11th and 12th AD). In both these historical period the participation was not inclusive; it rather was restricted to socially and economically privileged sections excluding women, lower strata and slaves. Similar parallels can be made of democratic forms of governance in South Asia through Panchayati Raj institutions. The representative democracy, on the other hand is the advent of the post 18/19th centuries AD breakup of the European empires with the birth of the nation- states. It underwent an evolutionary process ranging from Liberal, social and Socialist ones. Liberal democracy is founded on the principle of freedom for individuals in political sphere with equal rights in the law. The government’s role is seen as providing the rules of the engagement for all citizens with minimum intervention. The economy is regarded as a sacred cow controlled by the market forces without any interference from the government. The neo-liberalism is the most violent form protecting interests of the market forces and sheer exploitation of the poor. Social Democracy believes in state intervention in economy with some regulatory mechanism to ensure the provision of basic needs to the citizens in health, education, housing and employment through establishment of a welfare state. Although it tries to reduce poverty through the mechanism of equal opportunities, the elimination of poverty is not a goal set by the social democracy. In other words it manages capitalism with human face. It is only under Socialist Democracy that equality of outcome in all spheres of life for all is ensured by rendering economy in the service of the citizenry as a whole. The Indian democracy started with a limited form of social democratic model under Congress leadership since independence in 1947. It won the national consensus by using secularism as a medium for keeping religion separated from the state, at one level; and providing equal opportunities to all religious, ethnic and cultural minorities. Secularism is also a form of pluralism providing social cohesion amongst the diverse communities by respecting the difference. With passage of time, the Congress lost its value base of secularism and social democracy. It became impregnated with corruption, opportunism and hypocrisy. It also became authoritarian with the absence of inner party democracy; a trait shared by all political parties (in the whole South Asia) with exception of the Communist Parties of India. The Communist parties in India did make some inroads in the two states (West Bengal and Kerala) which they governed most of the time since 1947. They too failed to fully achieve the socialist goals for variety of reasons, the main being the constraint imposed on the state governance under the Federal system. Secondly, they failed to transform the existing state institution, which they inherited from the colonial administration. They also failed (in particular, in Bengal) to protect the rights of peasants and workers affected by development projects under capitalist model. In the light of these observations, what conclusion can be drawn? After the honeymoon period, the Modi administration is going to hit the problems. For majority of the states in the union are still controlled by the opposition parties. There is also going to start a process of realignment of the left and radical forces, which might materialize the hopes of linkage between various left groups/parties and the secular nationalists in the region. There is a dire need for a genuine socialist movement to emerge in the region, which could address the question of national self-determination for the various national movements including the one in Kashmir. The common agenda has to start with the defense of democratic rights of the people and protecting the poor from the ravages of the aggressive capitalism. The state visit of the Prime Minister of Pakistan, on invitation of PM Modi is a positive sign for normalization of relations between the two neighbors. A peaceful co-existence between the two is in the interests of the billions of peoples of the South Asian region including the 16 million Kashmiris, under the occupation of the two biggies, at least for the opening up of opportunities for interaction between the divided people in the two parts. The progressive and left forces in Pakistan and Pakistan occupied parts of Jammu Kashmir have a mammoth task to overcome many hurdles. The state and society in Pakistan is under siege by the extreme religious elements (verging on fascism) bent to destroy even the minimum construction of democracy. Even the very concept of democracy is considered by the religious right parties as an alien intrusion in the Islamic Republic they want to construct in the image of Khalafat. The entire establishment is guilty of creating this Frankenstein. The left and progressive forces have to oppose this fascistic force by challenging its discourse through articulation of the appropriate narratives to get the message of democracy to the masses. Nazir Naazish. May 2014. Wales, UK.
Posted on: Tue, 22 Jul 2014 16:21:36 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015