SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA
ARCHIVES

Why does the Middle-Class despise politics?

When the Indian National Congress was first formed in 1885, it comprised the elite of India, mainly from the Presidency states of Bengal, Bombay and Madras. The leading lights of the INC then were highly educated, upper middle class, upper caste, and urban. They were, with notable exceptions of course, more British than Indian!

Though these men first raised demands for legislative representation, and nurtured a nascent idea for an independent India, their organisation was no match for the might of the British. Their own support base was extremely limited to be an effective opposition to the British.

Mahatma Gandhi changed all that, by making the movement a mass-based one, involving the workers in the factories and people in the villages. His ability to rouse the people led to the mass-based Freedom Struggle, capturing the imagination of Indians and forcing the British to leave.

Yet, while he certainly made the movement more broad based it was still controlled by the privileged sections of Indian society -- upper castes, urban, upper class. The masses followed their leaders as the goal of Independence transcended all other aspirations. The privileged sections entrenched themselves within the Congress, and even in the other leading parties, which explains why aristocrats often led even the Communist and middle class the right-wing movements. These leaders belonged to different political parties, yet had more in common with each other than with the men they led.

Yet today, no longer are political parties led by the kind of men who controlled India's destiny right up to the 1990s. Politics at the state level is in the hands of the rural dominant groups, and they are slowly but surely inching up to control the Centre.

The Indian middle class, descendants of the earlier privileged class, feels left out and ignored. This may explain their disenchantment with present-day politics, their unwillingness to enter the rough and tough world of elections. If at all middle class members give in to the temptation of power and enter politics, rarely have the joined as grassroot party workers and risen to the top. The role model for the middle class is a Manmohan Singh: bureaucrat-turned-finance minister. But then, Dr Singh is an outstanding individual who represents the exception: a brilliant former RBI governor, a man of exemplary honesty. Few can match his achievements.

Strangely, in the game of numbers, the middle class has grown. Today, various estimates put the middle class at around 200 million, over one fifth of India, and growing. This would translate in 110 seats in Parliament. The very rise of the BJP can be in some measure be attributed to the growth of the middle class, or at least to middle class consciousness. So, there is a large constituency of middle class voters.

Yet, if today's middle class is turned off by the goings on in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, by Sonia's entry as India's bahu and criminals with records longer than the Mahabharat they have no one else to blame but themselves.

Politics is not a game for the week kneed; it is world of ups and downs that would make the Sensex look steady. Right from their days in school, middle class children dream of various careers, but no one wants to be a politician. This goes right up to college, often the area where politicians are first born. India's most brilliant students (a majority of them are middle class) go into professional courses such as medicine, engineering, management, and so on.

Then there are the students who opt for the streams of science and arts, more often because they have less marks rather than exercising a choice. Again, the best among them work towards the various career examinations with the singular hope of landing a stable, steady job. While in the 1960s and 1970s, the preference is for government jobs, after the 1980s, the trend has been post-graduate courses such as management, chartered accountancy, computer applications, etc. Others seek employment and a decent career growth (which means no politics!).

Many of us might have had the experience in college of often seeing our most rowdy classmates get into student politics (very often to legitimise missing classes!). This phenomenon exits throughout India. The students entering politics are usually seen as not interested in a career, who often fail in their examinations, and are always ready to force classes to shut down and hold rallies abusing all and sundry. It is a most disillusioning experience, something that just turns others off. The existence of muscle power in the university elections only makes matters worse.

Thus it is that India's best students, and very often the middle class people, shun politics, leaving it open for the self-seekers and the opportunists. These college-level politicians then aspire for a greater role, their own limitations and inability forcing them to compromise on their principles to seek political success. Worse, having ignored their studies while pursuing the budding political careers, they find few job opportunities in the real world, their low marks and records go against them (a prospective employer will see an aspiring politician as a trouble maker). This in turn forces them deeper into politics, and desperate for success at any price.

Then there is the case of the rising case of increased representation from people whom the middle class find difficult to associate with: the rural belt; the Yadavs and Paswans; a lower middle class Mamata Bannerjee as against a bhadralok Jyoti Basu. No wonder the middle class raved about Rajiv Gandhi until Bofors spoilt the party?

The fault is not in the system, but in the people, in us, especially the middle-class. There is no reason why middle-class people with convictions and honesty should shy away. Unfortunately, like the very persons the middle class condemns, it also wants to rule rather than to serve, and is unprepared for the long grind of a career in politics. Brilliant students rather take up a career wherein a future is guaranteed than gamble on political success. So they end up discussing politics, cursing corrupt and criminal politicians, abhoring dynasties, but doing precious little to change the situation. They pontificate and curse, but simply refuse to dirty their hands correcting it (and I do not hold myself above this charge).

The middle class has also come to detest the new breed of politicians, who are rustic and uncouth. What the middle class forgets is that such a person in many ways represents a larger population than he does. With democracy depending upon numbers, naturally the one who commands greater numbers calls the shots. Also, the rural areas often see their best students take to politics (unfortunately, often from the entrenched and dominant castes), quite the opposite of their urban brethren.

The fault of the urban middle class has been that it has cut itself off from its own roots, and relates less and less with the people they seek to represent. In many ways, the fall of the Congress, for years the middle-class's bastion, is because its middle class leaders were simply out of touch to the changes in the rural areas, and among the backward classes and the scheduled castes and tribes. These sections have found a voice; they now want their own leaders; they want to lead rather than be led.

For instance, N D Tiwari, known to be close to Sonia Gandhi led the Congress in Uttar Pradesh, but who also represents the ancient regime. Result: the Congress did not win even a single seat in UP. Poll surveys, usually held in urban middle class homes, claimed that respondents preferred Vajpayee for the next PM, followed by Sonia Gandhi. The middle class simply did not see beyond their kind of persons! The BJP today represents the middle class, yet it was forced to spread out into rural areas and backward classes, which explains why the UP chief minister is Kalyan Singh and not an urban, upper caste person!

The middle class too has its faults, and many of India's failures can be attributed to the mistakes committed by their ilk over the past 50 years. But if today, the urban middle class wishes to play a more active role, it must come to terms with the new rural leaders, the rising aspirations of the poor and lower classes and castes. It must also realise that it no longer has a divine right to lead or rule, and if anyone wants to be the next prime minister of India, s/he will have to slog it out in the rough world of politics. Otherwise, the urban middle class will have no choice but to seek career options in the US or in management, and then lament at the fate of India.

How Readers reacted to Amberish Diwanji's last column

Amberish K Diwanji