Opinion UP in search of real change

The people themselves express the main election issues far better than political leaders do. I had gone to address a small campaign meeting in Lucknow. Instead of giving a speech,I asked the audience to ask me questions. There was no response for the first four-five minutes. After much prodding,a young chap asked,“Your leaders criticise other parties for their failures. But has the BJP done any honest introspection for its own shortcomings?” Then came a flurry of questions and comments. Most people were agitated about the lack of electricity,education,employment and,of course,about the all-pervasive corruption. Many questions were directly related to what the BJP and other parties have said about these issues in their manifestos. Yes,contrary to the media-created perception among the “vocal classes”,the “voting classes” take the promises made in election manifestos very seriously. After all,unlike TV anchors and political leaders,the aam aadmi is directly affected by the collapse of the education system in government-run schools,rampant commercialism in private schools,lack of focus on employability in our education system,the broken public healthcare system,frequent power cuts and the indignity of having to pay bribes for every small or big work in government offices.

The people of UP want change,genuine change. Without genuine transformation of this state,which accounts for one-sixth of India’s population,our country cannot achieve faster and equitable development,free of the unacceptable social and regional disparities. But this is possible only if the state gets rid of the perversion of the plank of social justice,which has dominated its politics for the past two decades. Social justice is a noble concept. It started gaining currency in UP (also in Bihar) in the late 1980s because of the new and welcome political awakening among those deprived sections of society which have not received their fair share in power and socio-economic development. This new awakening,coupled with the failure of the dynastic leadership of the Congress to encourage and empower strong state-level leaders,led to the party’s collapse in the state,which was once its fortress.

The collapse of the Congress gave a tremendous opportunity for the other national party,BJP,to become a dominant force in UP. However,after reaching spectacular heights in the 1990s,the BJP lost the plot. Although it rightly championed the issue of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya,it failed to credibly project a modern and practical vision of Rama Rajya. As Mahatma Gandhi used to repeatedly stress,no other idiom in the Indian context better embodies the ideal of ethics-based governance than Rama Rajya. Its top leaders in the state failed to follow the footsteps of King Rama,who forever remains a role model for selflessness,integrity and people-oriented governance.

The decline of the Congress and BJP enabled two regional parties—Samajwadi Party and BSP—to rise to power based on the slogan of social justice. However,both have distorted this lofty ideal beyond belief,cynically exploiting it for their leaders’ narrow family and caste interests. The Samajwadi Party’s reign saw unprecedented criminalisation of politics. The popular anger against SP’s misrule resulted in the people giving a decisive mandate to the BSP in 2007. Sadly,the BSP ran the most corrupt and scam-ridden government in UP’s history. The stories of chief minister Mayawati’s self-enrichment and self-aggrandisement are mind-boggling. She alleges that her opponents are samantwadi (feudal),but the way she treats her own party’s MLAs,workers and common dalits is highly feudal and autocratic. She has also shown scant concern for ‘Sarvajan’,the slogan which she opportunistically exploited in 2007 to ride to power.

The main lesson from the casteist,communal,corrupt,family-centred and crime-promoting politics in UP is simply this—the state is searching for that ethical and integrationist model of politics which can harmonise the ideals of good governance,social justice and development of all sections of society. The state’s,and India’s,development must be guided by the principle of antyodaya—priority for the last person in the race for progress,without discrimination on the basis of caste or religion. This model of development should be less money-centric and more values-centric. Money-centric politics and development are today destroying our society. Values-centric politics and development alone will regenerate our society. If we get our values right,everything else will fall in its proper place—from the quality of education in government-run schools to the functioning of all government agencies. The state has shown the way to the rest of India in the past. It should do so again by following the path of real change.