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A class war coalition gains momentum – Winners and Losers?
The economy is in the dumps, many may end up in detention centers, and youth unemployment is at all-time high. Distractions such as cricket and Bollywood and soon mandir building, will keep the youth/country busy on one side while self-destructive distractions such as youth mobs of Hindutva and existential threats such as NRC/CAA keep some others busy.
The big bang distractions such as surgical strikes on Pakistan are strictly reserved for national elections. For state elections, we may just see garden variety hate crimes X 10 that we saw during Delhi elections. For one, the 200+ media channels will be busy. Zuckerberg will also extract his pound of flesh of advertising revenue from the hatred/death and destruction that will follow “the new democracy” in India.
The overwhelming losers in this drama however, will be the economically and socially back ward at the bottom of the pyramid. But here is where an insidious revolution is taking place.
The malignant right, the right of center, left of center, and left have made their claims for this space in their own ways. If you examine the Delhi elections, the ‘very to moderately’ underprivileged voted in favor of the development agenda, as they need it most. The privileged can afford to live comfortably in any bijli/paani/hospital/ bus situation. AAP snatched most of the underprivileged voters who were so far the vote bank of the Congress, and the Congress strategically sitting it out in Delhi has helped AAP. Interesting observation is that 75 % of the Muslims in India are Dalits who would also be part of this under privileged class.
The class divide centric messaging was obvious when BJP targeted “freebies” which was meant to drive a wedge between the upper middle class voters of BJP vs the lower middle class, who really needed to freebies to survive. The challenge with the upper class vote bank is in numbers, they are overwhelmingly outnumbered by the under privileged.
Parties rooted in religion have been trying attract this class of voters by providing them tidbits of power/recognition ( Ram Nath Kovind the president, Kameshwar Chaupal, a Dalit BJP leader, to the Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra) or using religion to scare or even intimidate to bring them under the umbrella of religions be it the mullacracy or the Sangh.
“How can you vote for AAP and betray Hinduism for Rs 200 of electricity?” asked the suited BJP workers to the voters on their way to polling booths. That is where the right of center position of Kejriwal wielding the Hanuman chalisa came to the rescue of this Hindu voter caught between faith and AAP. No that voter who desperately needs the freebies can also be guilt-free; he is not anti-Hindu, he is voting for a Hanuman Bhakt.
While the malignant right terrorized voters with gun violence the broader audience of the message (in addition to the Muslim youth), was directed at Hindus too, the ones who supported the CAA agitation and/or Kejriwal.
The current crop of political leaders who claim to represent the interest of the underprivileged have failed this class of voters miserably, have not empowered them enough, or even get them to a decent standard of living.
Enter Social Media (especially videos and local languages posts) which is rapidly disrupting various paradigms - now you don’t even have to be literate to learn about the world and the lifestyle of the rich and famous, or politics.
While the privileged youth are migrating in record numbers overseas, a sense of urgency has set in among the underprivileged youth who aspire for a better life in India. While a certain section of society gloats over the Ambani wedding excesses, there are a lot more youth who are realizing that their life has not improved an iota nor do see a way forward!!!
There is a movement gathering momentum, a coalition of sorts that is not extreme left like the Moaist movements but borrowing some of the ideas of the left; while being rooted in pragmatic existentialism and social justice, organizing and protesting in a peaceful manner (for now).
The anti CAA movements has given this movement wings, and is building leaders of their own, with guidance from a whole lot of supporters, but mostly Yogendra Yadav, a psephologist by trade, who must have seen what the evolution of this revolution can bring in the future.
This group of youth leaders, Kanhaiyya, Chandrasekhar Azad, Umar Khalid etc will change the dynamics of Indian politics in the next 10 years. Hence the urgency to get them behind bars!!!
WATCH this space!!!
