Testing time for Young Turks
It is important to probe into the way power is possessed, disseminated and exercised, and reflect on the way the prevalent politics reveals the nature of the socio-cultural landscape we inhabit. Hence, as young leaders like Kanhaiya Kumar and Jignesh Mevani join the Indian National Congress, it arouses our interest. Well, it is for the professional political commentators to decide whether Rahul Gandhi is trying to change the character of the Congress and inject new life energy into it by inviting young/leftist minds in the party, or whether the Communist Party of India, because of its centralised bureaucracy, has failed to tap the creative energy of a youngster like Kanhaiya Kumar, or whether even these young minds are ‘smelling’ the taste of power, and becoming ‘ambitious’. However, what is really important is to enquire whether the spirit of the young is capable of making a qualitative change in the character of the prevalent political culture.
The task of emancipatory politics is to liberate the people from toxic consciousness of caste hierarchies.
To begin with, let us remind ourselves of its discontents. First, many of us find ourselves living in the age of cynicism. What else can you expect when you see the praxis of mainstream politics (I mean the electoral politics of big parties) devoid of the slightest trace of ethics? When the goal is neurotically instrumental — chronic egotistic ambition, craving for power, and winning the elections at any cost, everything is possible: say, the trace of a new ‘friendship’ between Capt Amarinder Singh and Amit Shah, the billboards advertising Yogi Adityanath’s ‘achievements’ in Uttar Pradesh, or Mayawati projecting herself as a saviour of the ‘Brahmin-Dalit alliance’. It is like normalising opportunism and above all, the doctrine of lies. Are we taken for granted? Or is it that the politics of this kind also reveals the way we are? Is it that in our everyday social life, you and I too have become crudely ‘pragmatic,’ opportunistic and utilitarian? Is it that we too want to become like these politicians — visibly ‘powerful’, protected by security guards and pampered by sycophants?
Second, a distinctive feature of the prevalent mainstream politics — particularly the politics of the ruling establishment — is the cult of narcissism. It sustains itself through the gigantic propaganda machinery, the never-ending dissemination of the images of the supreme leader’s dramaturgical performances, and above all, the popularisation of the belief that the leader, far from being your and my representative, is essentially a messiah who cannot be questioned. The cult of narcissism, the obsession with militant nationalism, and the neoliberal doctrine of advertising and even selling politics as a consumable product have created a culture that clouds our vision. Amid the poisonous psychology of Hindu-Muslim binary, we fail to see how the unholy alliance of neoliberal corporate capitalism and militant nationalism disempowers us, intensifies socio-economic inequality, and reduces development into the glitz of techno-corporate spectacles, be it the Central Vista project, or the Delhi- Mumbai Expressway.
Third, we seem to have become incapable of redefining ourselves, and seeing beyond limiting identities like caste and religion. We continue to see ourselves as well as our politicians through the prism of caste — Dalit, Yadav, Jat, Brahmin, Muslim, Sikh and so on and so forth. The prevalent politics does not want us to see beyond these identity markers and redefine ourselves through the ecology of shared human concerns like equity, fraternity, justice, honesty and cosmopolitanism. Hence, a militant Ambedkarite would continue to see Kanhaiya Kumar as nothing but a ‘forward caste Bhumihar’; in Charanjit Singh Channi, we would be asked to see only a ‘Dalit’ Chief Minister; and there are even intellectuals amongst us who see only Mahatma Gandhi’s ‘caste’— not his experiments with truth. Well, caste hierarchies do exist; but then, the task of emancipatory politics is not to promote or reproduce it further, but to liberate people from this toxic consciousness. When do we realise that caste hierarchies cannot be fought and overcome through the logic of caste?
I have no hesitation in saying that in recent times, some of our youngsters — university educated, well-versed in political philosophies and filled with spirited idealism — have demonstrated extraordinary courage. They have struggled, raised their dissenting voice, and fought against the politics that divides, arouses hatred amongst people, communalises consciousness and distorts the idea of India. The non-dialogic character of the mighty state, the epidemic of sedition charges, and all sorts of threats have not yet succeeded in diminishing their striving for a counter-hegemonic politics. In a way, the likes of Kanhaiya Kumar and Jignesh Mevani have emerged out of this politico-cultural quest. Their intellectual clarity and their ability to connect with the subaltern make them refreshingly different from the kind of politicians we are otherwise used to see. In a way, they radiate the spirit of the young — the dream of visualising a new world free from caste/class/gender hierarchies. It is possible that a mix of diverse ideals — Gandhi, Ambedkar, Marx and Bhagat Singh — might have influenced their ways of seeing the world.
Yet, it is equally important to be aware of two temptations these young politicians ought to resist. First, at a time when the all-pervading presence of the media simulations can transform one into a ‘star’ or a ‘celebrity’, they ought to continually renew the spirit of working in silence and with humility, and abandon the psychology of instantaneous stardom and success. Second, it is not easy to be free from the trap of hyper-ambitious impulses; and, as history has shown, it can seduce and divert even the saints and revolutionaries. It has to be seen whether these young radicals can pass this crucial examination.
