Why no open revolt in India ?

The middle class is fickle. It falls in love quickly, but falls out of love faster. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh must be feeling this, as in his first term in office he had the middle class eating out of his hands. He is India’s first Prime Minister to have won over the middle class (not quite true) his aides would crow but in just a few months now he finds himself alone, almost isolated.

Singh probably does not know what happened but it is a combination of corruption and spiralling prices. The middle class had bought his dream of economic reforms, growth

and prosperity but the UPA’s second term in office shattered this completely. The scams have shocked even the normally stretchable limits of middle class tolerance, and the growth story has been overtaken by inflation.

The sense of drift that was apparent to the poor even earlier, has not stirred the consciousness of the middle class that finds the humility of the good doctor a synonym for weakness that is leading to this mass desertion. The Congress party is contributing to it at every step, more so because of the complete silence from 10 Janpath on all crucial issues. It is almost as if the party is leaderless as there is almost no effort to give it a direction on issues of concern.

There is also a deficit of trust, that seems to be growing as no one in government and the Congress are willing or able to address it. The common man has stopped believing in government promises with even the assurances that the scams will be looked into, and action taken, finding few takers. Instead the consensus seems to be that all the politicians responsible for the mess will get away, and the officials and other small fry will be made the solitary scapegoats.

There are two reasons why Egypt might not be repeated in India. One, is the size of this country that allows it to absorb calamities, both natural and man made with some levels of equanimity. These days there are large scale protests all over the country that go unreported in the national media, but still represent considerable anger and unrest.

Just two days ago, lakhs and lakhs of trade union workers marched in Delhi to register their protests but this found negligible space in the English newspapers.

The protestors coming together more and more often on land acquisition and neglect issues, stay longer on the streets, face the tear gas and lathi charges, and make it clear that they are not enamoured of those in power. But the size of India is such that the protests remain distant, in that the connection between one and the other is rarely established.

The second reason is that India still is a democracy, and people are able to give vent to their anger and frustration in local, state level and national elections.

This works as a pressure valve that has been helping governments to get along without doing anything of significance for the people of the country. Of course there is some realisation now that the institutions of democracy are being weakened and compromised, but even so this is not enough to unite the citizens into a nationwide stir against governments.

However, this does not take away from the fact that more and more people are getting together to make their displeasure felt. Agitators stalling big development projects that eat into India’s environment and the security for the poor have managed to make their anger felt and thereby compel the governments to take at least some remedial action.

Land acquisition has become a major issue in rural India, as has rising prices in the urban cities and towns.

Prime Minister Singh has obviously decided to follow the line of least resistance while in the hot seat. He is not confronting the various ministers, at least not directly, and allows them to hold sway at cabinet meetings. Policy decisions are also not questioned by Singh beyond a point, as the 2G scam or the late and very delayed intervention in the case of the CWG games indicates. He rarely speaks on domestic politics that is the Congress president’s domain. But sadly she too has little to say on matters of domestic concern.

The Congress has little talent left, with the sycophancy not allowing intellects to flourish. The young MPs are losing their lustre, are barely active in Parliament and have little to say on any issue of import. The youth wing, the mahila wing, the sewa dal... all the outfits that were to be revived are lying dormant with Rahul Gandhis professed interest in these being amazingly shortlived. In fact after Bihar, his interest in politics itself seems to have dimmed a little but then perhaps Congress members are right in pointing out that Parliament these days is keeping him grounded.

There is little debate or discourse within the Congress party where everyone watches his or her words lest he get a frown from Sonia Gandhi. After all even senior Minister Kapil Sibal was publicly shut up by the Congress president when he sought to take on the BJP and Sushma Swaraj over the 2G probe.

He not only apologised for his words, but cut short his speech and sat down. Allies, on the other hand, are allowed free play with the Congress reluctant to check their ministers or legislators. Prime Minister Singh is the first among equals under the Constitution of India, but seems to forget this often. A prod here, a nudge there helps but then these days the good doctor seems to be requiring a sharper reminder.