http://www.dailypioneer.com/243363/Identity-politics-alone-won%E2%80%99t-do.html
Saturday, March 20, 2010 New Delhi Today's Issue Identity politics alone won’t do Ashok Malik In the past few days, Ms Mayawati’s “garland of currency notes” and police inquiry into an alleged bee attack on a BSP public meeting in Lucknow have brought the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister into the centre of a fascinating debate on attitudes. Her adherents and sections of ‘progressive’ intellectuals have contended Ms Mayawati’s ostentation has to be seen in the context of the oppression of Dalits for thousands of years. When the ordinary Dalit observes Ms Mayawati’s grand statues, lavish birthday parties and currency-note indulgences, he apparently experiences a sense of pride. He feels, so the argument goes, the equal of upper caste folk whose political leaders have been behaving thus for years. Such analysis is not new. It has been with us for over a decade and is wheeled out each time Ms Mayawati’s public persona is discussed. A degree of political correctness and squeamishness takes over and many observers tend to be lenient with the BSP’s garishness and display of wealth in a manner they simply wouldn’t be if it came to another party. It is true aesthetic subjectivities cannot and should not come in the way of cold political assessment. Ms Mayawati’s shiny salwar kameez may not appeal to somebody who prefers south Delhi chic but it still may represent aspirational taste in a more humble, hinterland setting. Likewise, the massive BSP construction projects in Uttar Pradesh — Lucknow probably matches Pyongyang in the number of statues of an incumbent head of Government — can be reckoned to be only a more visible, in-your-face perpetuation of cultism. An alternative, subliminal system, perfected by the Congress, would be to name every programme, organisation, building, memorial and institution after members of the Nehru-Gandhi family. Having said that, the defence of Ms Mayawati’s excesses only on the basis of past precedents (of other parties) or past injustice done to Dalits is beginning to look a little tired and ragged. It was fine in her earlier terms and when she became Chief Minister in 1995 or again in 1997. Yet, after her decisive victory in the 2007 Assembly election, surely the frame of reference has changed? All effective politics is a combination of bread and circus. Ms Mayawati’s continued emphasis on the circus aspect even after winning a majority in the 2007 election does indicate an inability to make a critical evolution in her politics. She has been the unquestioned boss of Uttar Pradesh for three years now, unencumbered by difficult alliance partners and free from political blackmail by independent MLAs. Yet, she has not made good governance or an alternative development paradigm her calling card. This is certainly a failing and it would be dishonest to not recognise it — or to confuse criticism of it with upper caste/urban hostility to the BSP. Indeed Ms Mayawati won so handsomely in 2007 precisely because a game-changing mass of upper caste (primarily Brahmin) voters across Uttar Pradesh turned to her. She won not just because of her strong Dalit constituency but thanks to the formidable rainbow coalition she put together. Identity politics makes for great theatre. It absorbs political observers and journalists and becomes a self-contained universe of its own. Yet, in the broader community, beyond merely the politically obsessive, identity politics can only occasionally be an end in itself. There are essentially two templates for Ms Mayawati to choose from. She can turn to Gujarat and Bihar. In their own ways, both Mr Narendra Modi and Mr Nitish Kumar have made the transformation from identity politics to good governance. This doesn’t mean they have completely given up on identity. Mr Kumar is still very much a Kurmi leader and sees himself as part of the OBC/social justice movement. Mr Modi self-identifies as a confident Hindu and a pillar of Gujarati pride. Yet, with good governance, they have added value to their individual brand. The mix has given their politics a greater robustness, one that stressing on identity alone would not have achieved. The other model is that of Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav. He premised his entire politics on identity. When it ran its course, when those energies were expended, he had no back-up plan, nothing else to offer the voter. As such, the RJD’s collapse in Bihar has been precipitous. Today, Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav is a desperate man, working fervently to reignite the Muslim-Yadav alliance using the women’s reservation issue, trying to stay in the running in the Bihar Assembly election later this year. He realises if he loses this round as well his career is more or less over. In one decade, he has gone from being invulnerable to completely vulnerable. That is the huge gamble of an identity-only political platform. What message does this hold for Ms Mayawati? If she wins the Assembly election of 2012 — or even if the BSP finishes as the single largest party, well ahead of others in a hung House — would it mean her statue symbolism, the corruption allegations against her, the sudden and dramatic acquisition of property, doesn’t matter to the voter? Would it imply the (Dalit) voter is happy enough with circus to not bother about bread? That would be a cynical and extremely superficial assumption. If Ms Mayawati is still a force to reckon with in Uttar Pradesh, it is for two reasons. First, the social coalition she shaped before the 2007 election is still largely intact. There is a movement of Muslims towards the Congress. Brahmins and the urban middle classes have also turned in that direction. Even so, the shift hasn’t been complete and absolute. Rather, it has created a situation where State politics has devolved into a two-horse race. Second, the Mayawati Government’s biggest plus point is simply that it is not the Mulayam Singh Yadav Government. Memories of Mulayam raj are still strong across towns of Uttar Pradesh and they are not pleasant ones. Large parts of the State remain lawless; corruption, with accusations right to the top, remains a concern. Yet, the perception that the Government itself is hand-in-glove with criminal syndicates and mafia dons, and the ruling party is a mechanism for crony capitalism — charges that dogged the Mulayam Singh Yadav Government — are not quite as strong today. As Chief Minister, Ms Mayawati is not so much good as simply less bad. As can be imagined, this is very different from an endorsement of her identity politics, much less of her astonishing income tax returns. -- [email protected] ------------------------------------ ---- INFORMATION OVERLOAD? 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