:: Jayanthi Natrajan

Stop playing race card in politics

Jayanthi Natarajan

May.11 : Recently Newsweek carried a story that called Mayawati "India’s anti-Obama". Also, the Economist carried a story about Indian elections. As various stories go, it must be conceded that Newsweek has done a decent analysis of Mayawati’s quite unusual and high-profile political career.

The story did make an attempt to compare Mr Obama and his amazing feat in having mobilised the thinking of a vast section of the American public to vote for him.

Despite Mr Obama’s repeated assertions and campaign to rise above the issue of race, no one can deny the fact that the most-talked-about issue around Mr Obama’s run-up to the presidency was the fact that a person of colour was able to transcend the barriers of both race and colour. Some would say that Mr Obama’s true victory lies in his determination to rise above the issue of his race.

In many ways, and with all due respect to the analysts of Newsweek and elsewhere, it is somewhat of an oxymoron to compare Ms Mayawati with Mr Obama, for the obvious reason that while the latter seeks to transcend a barrier, the former draws her strength from it.

The Mayawati example is illustrative of any attempt to compare Indian elections with elections anywhere else in the world.

With an electorate of over 714 crore and a landmass which covers densely populated plains to tiny booths in remote mountainous regions, which sometimes have been set up to accommodate one or two voters, the scale of our elections, by itself, is rather intimidating. The constant refrain that occurs in my mind is the sheer size of our landmass and electorate. It is a tremendous achievement for our polity that we have kept our democracy alive and well through all these years and through much travail and even despite states that often fail to maintain a democratic tradition.

The short-sighted divisive attempts to polarise votes along the lines of religion and repeated endeavours to communalise politics and politicise religion is itself a multi-layered phenomenon which the average foreigner will find impossible to comprehend.

Even many young urban Indian voters will find it impossible to understand how some vested interests play upon the passions of the admittedly emotional Indian psyche, and try to channelise those passions into a perceived feeling of persecution and injustice aimed not at setting right the perceived injustice but at garnering votes for the self-proclaimed champion of that particular religion.

After several elections have been fought on the basis of these issues, it has become crystal clear that the Indian voter will not get carried away by attempts to whip up passions on narrow communal lines. They have understood that truly religious leaders are not political and do not seek to politicise religion and no true religion will ever preach the language of division.

Witness, therefore, Narendra Modi, who has been the worst offender this country has ever seen in order to promote religious polarisation and violence for electoral gain. He now travels all over the country speaking the language of development. Whether the tiger has changed its stripes or merely using the camouflage of another tactic to win more remains to be seen, and the people will judge.

However, thinking citizens can easily see that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Mr Modi can, and will, never change. If Mr Modi has become the new Prime Minister in waiting, it only shows that the BJP will never change. It prefers to project a Godhra-tainted Modi, rather than any other performing chief minister or leader who has no such carnage to blot his record.

It has often been said that in India people don’t cast their vote, they vote their caste. This phenomenon too has been an unfortunate reality of Indian politics. It is undoubtedly true that this caste-based politics has helped some backward castes find their voice, assert their power and, thereby, a share in education, development and power.

However, when the consolidation and assertion of identity crosses the goals of development and becomes merely an electoral weapon, a time comes for voters to think how far voting for caste is going to help them. Young voters in many states have begun to send out unmistakable messages that their vote should not be taken for granted on the basis of their caste alone. They are posing questions about their future, education, jobs and development of their state. This trend is a welcome development and is bound to continue.

Where there were once appeals to linguistic identities during elections, today the demand has become stronger for regional identities and smaller states. Take a look at the demands for Telangana or Gorkhaland. The unusual aspect of this demand is that it appears to override all other considerations, as is evident from the latest decision of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) to go with any party that supports their demand for a separate Telangana.

Thus, whether secular or communal, liberal or socialist, right or left, the TRS is willing to go all that way to support any party that will deliver Telangana to them. Can this alone be an issue on the mind of the voters? Will development, law and order, secularism or communal politics, economy, or other basic issues, not impact their vote?

Time alone will tell.

For a developing country, the use or misuse of money and muscle power, the mind-boggling amounts spent on election campaigns, unprecedented violence which breaks out between political parties, use of bombs, threat of terrorists or Naxalite violence, or even poll boycotts announced, for example in Jammu and Kashmir, are all gut-level issues that remain a challenge to our electoral system. The saddest challenge of all, apparent in these elections, is the low voter turnout and apathy resulting in low voting percentages.

Yet, despite all challenges, our hope and our determination will triumph. As always our spirit of democracy will rise to face the challenge. Our country will emerge from this and all future elections will make us emerge a strong, proud and vibrant democracy — our continuing achievement.

Jayanthi Natarajan is a Congress MP in the Rajya Sabha and AICC spokesperson.

The views expressed in this column are her own.