Prof. M. K. Bhat
Identity politics is detrimental for smooth functioning of any democracy yet the hard fact is that it is an essential component of every democracy in one or the other way. In USA ethnic race was the main electoral issue, in European countries religion, refugees, ethnicity of migrant workers from other countries were galvanizing points for electoral victory. In India, we see it in the form of religion, caste, secularism and even economic profession. It has proved a winning strategy in many democratic set ups and to weed it out suddenly from politics seems next to impossible. However to restrict it from developing acrimonious feelings among the subjects of a state can be a big contribution in itself by any institution of governance. Sectarian feelings developed by identity politics are not only bad for the growth of any democracy, but at times lead to a feeling of alienation among others.
The identity politics only divides people on majority and minority lines, one becomes the custodian of patriotism and the other feels victimized on every issue. Any move to shrink the gap is either termed as majoritarianism or an appeasement to woo the voters. Religious people are dubbed as communalists despite the fact that the pluralistic nature of India has been alive mainly due to the religious fervor of its people. People from different races, religions found an easy acceptance in the Indian ethos and to take away dharma from it will be taking its soul away from the country.
There are rare examples of communal riots in pre independent India while as such instances have grown in abundance in the post independent era. Radicalization has taken place and imaginary threats to the stability of a group are flouted to grab attention. In such cases sympathisers crop up for their own vested interests, cultural policing is resorted to galvanise the people support for the interest groups, self styled political leaders get their acceptance in the group of their faith, newspapers and other media channels get good headlines, their TRP increases, the majority side blames Government for its appeasement policy and the minority terms Government as biased, fact finding committees come into existence , some denounce the facts others project them as true and in all this melee the victim turns out to be a common man. This sometimes leads to a deep sense of alienation and makes the weaker section to fall a prey to radicals/ anti national agents/ foreign agencies but People in election fray term it as social engineering and refrain from accepting their guilt of pushing the society to the brink.
The Supreme Court ruling on Monday 2nd Jan 2017 in this behalf needs an introspection as the outgoing Chief Justice T.S. Thakur came out with a land mark decision regarding peoples representation act. The seven bench court held with majority vote that seeking votes in the name of religion, caste, race, community or language by a candidate, his agent or anyone with his consent; would be a corrupt electoral practice, rendering the person open for disqualification even if an appeal is made by any religious leader in his favor. This judgment seems only an overreaction and hardly based on ground realities. In a country, where decision takes years together, a disqualification turns meaningless in a time consuming judicial set up.
It may be pointed out that identity politics is not resorted on religious or caste criteria alone but it is nowadays also resorted on the grounds of being secular or non secular. The Supreme Court ruling may be an attempt to restrict those who directly demand vote by exploiting the religious/caste identity of the voter but it has no impact on those who name others as non secular, create a threat in minorities, project themselves as their saviors, become pious cows and get the vote by creating threat. This is a sizeable class today who did little for minorities in last seventy years but kept them under perpetual threat from others for their own use through a malicious campaign against their detractor.
In India, certain political parties bear the name of religion they may not directly convey about their identity but it is implicit in the name itself. Will they be told to change their name after the decision of the honorable Supreme Court of India? Besides this, there are small ethnic groups who have constitutional right to protect their identity. Will this dilute their constitutional right? The decision makes one to rethink whether identity politics is really bad and the people who use it are all wrong? Instead of overstretching, it would have been prudent on the part of honorable court to define secularism first then its ruling could have catered to the requirements of the country.
The political parties have no doubt welcomed this move because they know ample tricks to be away from its net. Judges may come out with their rulings but this subject needs public understanding. In no democracy of the world identity has been totally abolished from voting through courts then why our Supreme Court has overreacted is in itself a big question? The Supreme Court has not gone into interpreting its earlier ruling of three judge bench decision regarding Hindutva (1995) in the context of electoral appeals. It should have revisited the earlier judgment for clarification of things for general public.
The constitution of India through fundamental rights very well guarantees the propagation of identity of any ethnic, racial, linguistic or religious group. The problem today is in the corrupt election system rather than in the identity appeal to people for votes. People of less integrity enter into the election fray, get tickets on the bases of the economic clout and use politics as lucrative career option for making easy money. Can’t we come out with any minimum criteria for entering into legislatures rather than wasting much of our time on keeping religion in or out of politics?
Certain things which can lead to better electoral representation can be the development of scientific temper among people. Education will play a dominant role in this sphere .The universalisation of education can be a big deterrent against exploiters of voters rather than laws which remain confined to law books alone. Current education system needs to be improvised to educate people about their right to vote and its value for their lives.
India bears a history of cultural pluralism and its decay is because of poverty, unequal distribution of income, low population control and other wrong economic policies. Anyone can fall a prey to these things, if the economic issues are not addressed. Economic development can only provide a befitting answer to stop the propagation of identity politics in real terms.
In short, being requires things of comfort, intellect requires good knowledge and soul requires spiritualism. If all the three requirements put together are not addressed properly, discrepancy is bound to occur in one or the other way and the representatives of people being smart will be campaigning through their holier than thou slogan.
(The author is Director (M.A.I.M.S) Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, New Delhi)
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