*Economies of change* *Chandrabhan Prasad*
It was May 2008 when was I travelling by a Bihar-bound train from Delhi to Lucknow. Disobeying the law, I was smoking and hence stood at the gate. A Bihar-born immigrant family was trying to catch the train. The train had begun moving, and the second class coach had passed. The family — proletariat by all standards, was trying to board the AC II coach in which I was traveling. The family — husband, wife, and three kids could some how manage to catch the train. I along with my co-smoker helped them enter the coach. We consoled the proletariat family, and assured that we will help them transfer to the second class coach. I was going to the Uttar Pradesh countryside for a study — “Food habits, occupation and lifestyle changes amongst Dalits.” I found a ready subject in that family. I asked them questions relating to the goods the family was carrying. Among many things, the family was carrying a pressure cooker, a cheap cell phone set, and clothing for other family members back home. As the family revealed, the pressure cooker was for their family, and the cell phone was a gift meant for a relative whose daughter was getting married the next week. This April, I visited few Kolam villages in the district of Yavatmal, Maharashtra. Kolam is a primitive Tribe, and many Kolam boys and girls are using shampoo to wash their hair. Shampoo pouches are available for 50 paisa. In the apartment I live in Delhi, almost all desert coolers have been replaced by air-conditioners. The family that had window ACs are now switching over to split AC sets. Many families in the apartment I live in are replacing their old TV sets by LCD TVs. A couple of weeks back, a relative of mine got married. I could not attend his marriage because of General Election. The groom side was upset because the bride side didn’t serve cold drinks to the wedding party guests. There are funnier sides to things happening in this country. I am told of an interesting story. An ex-landlord’s family has turned poor. The family sold off most of the land they once had to maintain the lifestyle they were used to. That ex-landlord’s family couldn’t afford to buy a TV set, but have a large house built decades back. The household head bought an antenna and installed on his roof top. In public perception, the family has a TV set. The thinking India has missed some thing strange happening inside the society. All of a sudden, material markers are gaining grounds over social markers. Economics has come to lead the politics and that’s what seems to have caused Congress’ stunning victory. If the rich in the urban India are replacing small cars with bigger ones, the poor in the countryside are aspiring for bicycles. Rich or the poor, most Indians are now swayed by material goods. Not that all poor have come to possess bicycles or TV sets, not that all the rich families have bought luxury cars, but they at least aspiring for these worldly goods. Contrary to the new mood of the society, losing political players sold something else in these elections. Expected to do well this time BJP sold the slogan of “Strong Leader, Decisive Government”. Voters seem to have shot back- “What is this”? The Left came with the politically correct slogan — “A non-BJP, non-Congress Secular Government?” The voters seem to have responded by saying “Get Lost”? The BSP sold the slogan of “Dalit ki beti as PM.” Voters seem to have asked — “Why not a Bharat ki Beti as PM”? With few notable exceptions, regional warlords too have been denied their ‘State’ nationalism. The Congress on the other hand, invariably talked of nuclear deal, economic growth and the youth power. Of the billion plus Indians, 75 per cent are aged below 45 years. In other words, Congress could connect to the majority of Indians who in search of shampoo pouches, pressure cookers, cell phones, bicycles, large cars and split AC sets. The Congress triumphed and brutalised both the opponents and poll pundits. What the thinking India seems to be missing is that howsoever socially diverse India may be, with diverse and multiple identities, at one point of time there can only be one particular identity presiding over the of rest the sub-identities. In this election, economics led the politics. -- Ranjit --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
