The People’s Mandate and After

After the instability of the 1990s at the Central level, the present decade has brought about stability. However, the era of coalition politics has continued undisturbed since 1996. The two processes of kamandalisation, that is Hindutva, and Mandalisation or social justice, assert themselves off and on. While social justice has come theoretically to be accepted by all political parties, one of its prominent parts, that is, gender justice, has not been achieved at the level of Union and State legislatures. But, the forces of social justice, have got badly divided, what with the estrangement between Yadavs, Kurmis, Koeris and other backward castes on the one hand, and the clear separation of the Dalits from all these castes. It should still be a cherished dream of all those who value social equity that these divisions are removed and gender justice is accepted as its integral part. The present unity of the Samajwadi Party, the RJD and the LJP is to be welcomed though no one knows for how long it will persist. Yet, the cleavage between them and the JD(U) as also the BSP strongly emphasises that power equations are deciding these developments. Sensitisation of the youth of the forward castes to the degradation suffered by low castes has also suffered because of these divisions. It appears that unless a genuine cultural movement of the broadest possible sweep spreads, a real unification of these elements will not come about, nor would the broader society be won over to the ideal of social justice. The movement towards this ideal had strengthened the secular ethos of our society and, therefore, the religious minority communities supported the Samajwadi Party in UP and the RJD in Bihar for two decades.

It may also be noted that the proponents of social justice—Phule, Gandhi, Periar, Ambedkar and Lohia—had always advocated economic equity as part of social justice. Phule’s monograph Ghulami, Gandhi’s insistence on banishment of economic disparities, Ambedkar’s and Lohia’s plea of socialism combined the twin aspects of justice and equity. Even the Mandal Commission for Backward Classes selected not only caste based criteria but included education, state of residence, availability of potable water etc. in the criteria for determining backwardness. Unfortunately, when the socialist-minded backward caste leaders acquired political power, they forgot this important aspect of the socialist and social justice movements. They appeared either to be status quoists or followers of the same economic policies which the Congress party and BJP were pursuing. Therefore, the fourth grouping of the SP, RJD and LJP should be able to draw upon the teachings of the great socialist teachers in evolving their economic perspective. Land reforms in Bihar, for example, are still necessary as about 11 per cent of all cultivators own 43 per cent of the cultivable land, while the rest 89 per cent own 57.5 per cent. The number of agricultural workers has been increasing and would be about one-third of all cultivators.

On the issue of employment generation, Dr Lohia had advocated the use of small unit machines. My personal experience with the Bihar Government in 1997 was that it showed no interest in the schemes or the money allotment of the KVIC so that twice that allotment lapsed. What was galling was that in no other State, it ever happened. This is another area which requires the attention of Mulayam Singh Yadav, Laloo Prasad and Ramvilas Paswan. Sharad Yadav and Nitish Kumar ought also to pay heed to it. For, this presents an alternate paradigm to the present model of economic development. It can be placed before the public by these friends only, because the parties of the Third Front, including the Left and regional parties, have shown no real appreciation of dealing with the vast employment potential that our country has. Large sophisticated modern industry is utterly incapable of generating such massive employment. A simple example of this is the story of the Tata Steel which increased its production five-fold between 2001 and 2005 but reduced the number of employees from 84,000 to 45,000.

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While the Left parties are on a firm ground in opposing the opening of the economy to the MNCs and can be given the credit of stalling several disastrous steps which the UPA Government was keen to adopt, they have to recognise the above situation. Even if the Tata Steel is brought under public ownership, its employment potential would undergo a very slight improvement, if at all. A coalition government with the Congress party or the BJP or a Third Front Government supported by the Congress party will have to resolve the problem of unemployment, the issue of equitable distribution of land and the unviability of the occupation of agriculture. The last of these concerns is extremely important in view of suicides and large scale migration of farmers from their fields and homes. Not only the augmentation of irrigation, the construction of the rural infrastructure and the greening of the environment are to be undertaken for it, the equitable balance between the prices of agricultural and industrial goods has also to be found. Moreover, the debate between the needs of industry and those of agriculture initiated by the Special Economic Zones and the developments in Nandigram has to be amicably settled.

It would require the scrapping of the Special Economic Zones which have occupied much more land than was necessary and have displaced any more cultivators, too. It would also necessitate an urgent legislation to reframe the law concerning acquisition of land, and addition of the requirements of compensation and rehabilitation to it. This is a vital issue, for large numbers of the evacuees of dams, mines and sanctuaries have not been settled as yet. This has happened because the human aspects of our development planning are quite weak. I remember having represented the Tehri dam affected persons to the then Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, my old friend N.D. Tewari, who told me that the brief given to him by the Centre was to ensure the production of so much electricity. But, then, who would be responsible for the rehabilitation of the evacuees? He directed me and my colleagues, the leaders of the oustees, to see the Union Minister, Suresh Prabhu. Such things could not happen if there were a good piece of legislation about these issues.

If, however, the requirement of electricity is cut down drastically, which will happen in the event of adopting the industrial policy advocated by Dr Lohia as mentioned above, the displacement or the evacuation of the people from their habitat would not be severe at all. Nor would the physical environment have to be damaged as at present. Moreover, small industry would not yield unthinkable high profits and cannot be so exploitative as large scale industry. Thus, whether it is employment generation, reduction of displacement, safety of the environment or the dispersal of wealth and incomes, this policy will take care of all these issues.

The socialists must consider these policy alternatives seriously. Although we were not economic determinists, it must still be pointed out that much of the success of the appeal of Hindutva arises from the frustration which the common people feel in their day-to-day lives, whether in finding employment or affordable housing, securing admission for their children in good schools or facing rising prices. It is necessary, though, to work for a cultural upsurge which will ensure social justice, and it is important to note that it will also sweep away religious prejudices. Old savants like Kabir and Nanank, Shankar Dev and Tukaram or Basaweshwar had drowned both kinds of injustices through their teachings.

The author is a distinguished socialist ideologue.