Towards Neo—Statism by Pramod Kumar GOOD Governance Is Unpopular, This Spoke Mr
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Comment/Perspective The Tribune, 27th December, 1993 Towards neo—statism by Pramod Kumar GOOD governance is unpopular, this spoke Mr. When these measures were resisted by the 12,000 Brahmins. It was the Rajput-Choudhary L.K. Advani. Does good governance mean people, the government used to repressive state alliance that contributed to Mr. Shanta Kumar’s mobilising resources for the state without giving apparatus. The resistance was natural. During the defeat. adequate emphasis on issues relating to past four decades a large section of the people has The rejection of the Mandal Commission unemployment social justice, etc.? The sole aim of been alienated from the state, and the notion that report by the BJP government provided the this resource mobilisation is to come out of the debt common people must make sacrifices to enrich the Congress an opportunity to use this as a strategy in trap. This is a vicious circle. The real purpose of state is detested. This is logical because the rulers, coopt a sizable section of the OBC’s. This became governance gets defeated – to provide social including the BJP politicians, have failed to present easier in the absence of the Janata Dal from the justice to the people. This kind of politics enriches an austere way of living and, on the contrary, scene. The Congress’s election campaign the state and makes people poorer. That is why the people perceive them as the misappropriators or emphasised that it would reverse the policies of the President of Brazil, in response to a question on even looters of the state. BJP. This was more a negative campaign and the how his state was doing, said his state was doing Then the resistance to the harsh economic issues relating to social justice found articulation in very well but people were not. measures was countered by using force. For an indirect manner. This, in a limited way, provided The then BJP government in Himachal instance, the movement launched against the expression to the populist rhetoric of the pre-1966 Pradesh religiously followed the dictates of the new withdrawal of the support price for apples was phase. economic policy, which even Mr. Manmohan Singh suppressed by using force and, consequently, Both the BJP and the Congress reinforced is constrained to follow in totality. It is this approach three persons were killed and many injured. the Himachali identity. The emphasis of the BJP to politics which had a bearing on the recent Similarly, when the employees resorted to campaign was not on issues relating to social elections along with the other factors like the strike, first it was repressed by using all kinds of justice, but on “self-reliant Himachal Pradesh” and increasing dominance of the organised interest methods, and later they were made to suffer under Hindutva. Even sants and sadhus were pushed into groups on electoral politics, autocratic functioning the pseudo-moralist stance of “no work, no pay”. the election campaign, of course without much of a leader, caste polarisation, etc. In other words, This is so because the question of work ethics and success. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad mobilised the hope that the Ram Mandir slogan and ethos is a larger one, relating to distortions like sants and sadhus to hold congregations at about premature dismissal of the government would be corruption to which the BJP government’s 800 places. Moving away from people’s politics able to neutralise the caste differentiation, the performance matched with that of the Congress. inevitably pushed the BJP into the lap of Hindutva autocratic functioning of a leader and the harsh Further, it was a pseudo-moralist stance because it and regional chauvinism. economic measures initiated, was belied. was confined only to the strike period. TO deny The politics of religious revivalism was The 1993 election results have shown that people the right to protest in a peaceful manner brought to the level of gimmickry to garner votes of the legitimacy of the government in power declines and punish them for the same has the following women. In Himachal Pradesh, the number of faster due to the mismatch between the electoral implications: women voters is higher than that of men voters. promises and the stark realities of the new (a) It encourages authoritarian forms of There are 1,29,855 women voters and 1,15,458 economic policies. In the 1990 poll the BJP politics. To physically suppress strikes is to negate men voters. In around 26 constituencies women secured 44 seats with 41.2 per cent of the votes the democratic forms of grievance redressal. It is voters could have played a decisive role. It is in this and the Congress eight seats with 37.01 per cent of possible that people resorting to strike may or context that even the observance of fast for the the votes polled in Himachal Pradesh. The total many not have genuine demands, but it is within longevity of their husbands by women (Karva votes polled were 67.62 per cent. In the 1993 their democratic right to resort to such measures. Chauth) was made an election issue. elections the BJP got eight seats and there was a That is why it is accepted that democracy is the Advertisements congratulating women on Karva swing of 6.78 per cent votes against it. Besides this costliest form of government. Chauth were issued by Mr. Shanta Kumar. The the decline in the percentage of votes polled in the (b) These aggressive initiatives in the name women were asked to protest against the ban on constituencies the BJP contested in 1990 was of “good governance” provide impetus to violent the people for visiting The Ridge on the fasting day around 18. The decline in legitimacy is forms of protest. to see the moon. symptomatic of the discourse initiated by the new The election results have resolved the BJP’s The politics of neo-statism and the autocratic economic policy and electoral promises made by paradox between the denial of democratic rights functioning of a leader reinforced each other. the competing political parties. and seeking a democratic mandate for the same. Interestingly, even many of the beneficiaries of the With the changes in the global economy and The populist or status-quoist thrust of politics Antyodaya scheme initiated by the BJP voted the shift in the national priorities, a new role is represented by Congress could sweep the against the party. This was made mainly due to the being attributed to the state. In the recent elections elections. This thrust occupied a large space in the excessive reliance on the bureaucracy rather on this was witnessed as a competition between the political campaign of the Congress. It promised the party or non-governmental organisations to forces of neo-statism represented by the BJP, the people to make Himachal the “fruit bowl of India implement welfare programmes. The beneficiaries status-quoism or populism articulated by the and Switzerland of the Himalayas…” All those daily identified themselves with the bureaucracy rather Congress and transformational politics going by wage employees/casual labourers retrenched by than with the party. The government employees default. The logic of the new economic policy will the BJP government would be re-employed. The were unhappy with the BJP and so were these make the political party in power more vulnerable to rights of employees as per trade union practices beneficiaries. pressures of new-statism and compel it away from and the Industrial Disputes Act should be The Himachal elections have shown that populism and negate the forces of transformational protected… The dismissed employees who there is a visible absence of those forces which do politics. This is what happened in Himachal became victims of the BJP apathy and not subscribe to neo-statism and status-quoism or Pradesh. discrimination would be reinstated immediately.” populism. This, in fact is a serious pointer and even Neo-statism became a dominant form of These promises provided continuity to the a challenge to all those who are committed to political functioning in Himachal Pradesh, which is politics of populism but with a difference. Until the social justice, equality and, above all, to a genuine being seen and described as “good governance” eighties slogans like “Garibi Hatao”, “Land to the and vibrant democracy to nurture and shape and, therefore, “unpopular”. The inevitable logic of tillers” and “Social justice for all” had been raised alternative political and social forces to transform neo-statism is (a) aggrandisement of the state and from time to time. All these slogans, along with the the people’s conditions. pauperisation of the people, and (b) excessive promise of building up a socialist society remained reliance on the bureaucratic apparatus rather than the hallmark of Indian politics. on the party cadres and non-government However, after mid-eighties the slogan of organisations to launch welfare programmes like “Justice for all” was replaced by “Justice for the Antyodaya or Water for Each Household. backward castes”. In the Himachal elections, this The shift from the earlier form of statism – in acquired an interesting dimension. The rejection of which the emphasis used to be on nationalisation, the Mandal commission report by the BJP the administering of prices, the control of wages, government strengthened its politics of neo-statism etc. – to neo-statism with a veneer of the liberal and alienated a large section of the population. non-regulatory state had a bearing on the elections. Lower Himachal having a 20 to 40 per cent OBC The BJP government in Himachal became an population has been the traditional stronghold of aggressive articulator of neo-statism.