Politics of Fault lines

(Although this post has been preempted by Rohit's post, with which I agree, that is no reason not to write, right! Well it is Monday)

Desecration of Ambedkar's statue and its aftermath traces the political landscape with which Indians are too familiar, for our own discomfort.

But a digression, the insinuations that the flare up had to do with earlier massacre of Khairlanji where members of a dalit family were brutally lynched by a mob,

seems a typical case of spinning creative interpretation, the violent aftermath has all the hallmarks of well co-ordinated plan for political one up man ship ,

Second, to suggest that present incident was related to free markets or disparity out of economic growth would have been hilarious if not for the fact that people including a child have died. Of course it is still curious why violence by Shiv Sena is not explained in terms of Marathi marginalization (real or imagined).

Coming back to the main point, the frequent outbursts of violence resulting in destruction of property (public as well as private) as well as loss of human lives arise from three main factors.

First, the fact that Indian society is far from being homogeneous, whether on basis of caste or religion or language, there exists various identities, and diverse affiliations.

What is more, this diversity is not a result of recent migration, but deep rooted in the history and organic in nature. Also the fact that despite the presence of Constitution, power and even appeal for justice is decided more often than not by the hierarchy in the society. Therefore potential for fissures and conflict, however minuscule already exists.

Second, To expand on the point of inherent inequality in Indian society, the fact that it is the power and more important its unambiguous demonstration which dictates the position and even ensuring inviolability of dignity, there is natural inclination to assert the power by aggressive and violent acts. In a nutshell, India, even the urban one, is still haunted by feudalism.

But even these are not the final cause, for historically speaking Indian society has been relatively peaceful and stable. Further since Independence Indian polity has revolved around the slogan of "Social Justice" in its various avatars, whether "socialism" & "central planning" ,or "garibi hatao", so there is a case that social tensions should have shown a decrease after 6 decades.

But the factor which really tips the balance is competitive politics. To garner support across a broad segment requires either a coherence of purpose backed by ideas which can actually achieve it, or personal charisma.

On the other hand, it is much more easier to win the backing of a self-identified group, by appealing to this identity. This is further exacerbated by playing up on (real or imagined) grievances.

This is what happened in case of India, since Independence while Indians had lofty goals, they were neither backed by workable ideas or institutions. Even then as long as there was a central authority in presence of Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, there was a semblance of coherence. However with the unfulfilled promises and a reduced charisma, the vacuum is being fulfilled by fractious politics.

While it may gratify some misguided who labour under the (incorrect) impression that present trend is a harbinger of federalism, or a parity between different regions, or a voice to voiceless , the bitter truth is that undermining of central authority and pandering to narrow interest has not only left a void in foreign or security policy, it is also muddling the already muddled road to reform, allowing subversion of not only constitution, but also law and order enforcement, and instead of making society egalitarian, just giving birth to a new set of tyrants. This may satisfy some one's thirst for revenge, but for the society is nothing but bad news.

There is a solution (even if tentative) against this, this is for middle class, which has less to gain and more to lose from the vendetta politics of narrow parochial interests, to adopt a policy of zero tolerance against such acts wherever in urban areas, where it has control. By acting as a bulwark against such pandering and also injecting a sense of purpose in polity the tide can be turned, but who will bell the cat is the question. (Apologies for committing the great crime of mixing the metaphors)