As I opened myself into the all encompassing world of media
frenzy, amidst all the speculations of MODI’s cabinet and the resolutions of
the congress working committee which reminded me of Sreenivasan’s epic scene in
‘Chinthavishtayaaya Shyaamala” , what caught my attention was a resignation
charade which actually ended in ..a RESIGNATION .. that of ex Bihar CM Nitish
Kumar. But as he steps down from the post he has nominated his successor too
JITAN MANJHI, SC/ST welfare minister in his cabinet to the pivotal post, in
what might turn out to be a political coup of epic proportions or literally the
beginning of the END.
This move is interesting and engaging due to a multitude of
reasons from the choice of the CM designate to the timing of the same when read
with the national mandate to again the impending assembly elections in 2015.
India is a country where the “unity in diversity” card has
been misused and literally made a mockery of itself in the decades since
independence. From Shivsena playing the regional card to the Naga people’s
front to Shiromani Akali Dal and likewise to the RSS, IUML,AIMM and so
on playing the religious tunes .. BSP
and all of them formed as a part of
safeguarding the interest of the weakened classes, these have actually torn
apart the farce of the unity and diversity card and it is indeed a marvel and
credit to the Indian people that we soldier on.
Out of all these the most misused one is the caste card and
historically also the changing leaderships has played the caste tunes to help
further their aims. And Nitish has not deviated in this path as his choice is
from the MAHADALIT community which according to many is as backward you can go
in the caste hierarchy that too in a state where the caste system has not
broken down completely or the emancipation of the lower caste have not happened
fully. Through this many pundits believe Nitish would like to cash on this
trend and gather support among them especially in the light of having had to
fight the parliament elections on its own and suffering a dismal defeat.
There are many who also believes this move is a political
coup because it will give Nitish control as well as cash in on the minority
votes. But only time will tell if this is because when you analyse 2014 general
elections results you do find some notes of difference which may prove a peril
for him.
2014 elections will always be remembered for the
swashbuckling way in which Narendra Modi captured the imagination of the masses
that propelled the alliance he led to a victory beyond their wildest
imaginations except for Amit Shah who predicted a seat share of above 300. But
this election also has seen a paradigm shift in the electoral nature of the
Indian middle class as well as the lower classes. The one disturbing fact which
Nitish would do well to keep in mind is that all the parties like BSP which
used to thrive on the caste card have been decimated in the mandate. The common
man has shown that if given a choice between a regionally strong party which
supposedly takes care of them and a strong national party with a very well
oiled machinery which can definitely come good on their promises if they want
to, they would take the latter. The same has happened to some regional players
like the MNS ,RLD and RJD, the exception being AIADMK.
The move by Nitish can be seen as a political gamble keeping
in mind the impending state elections as a way of recuperating losses now but
this might even backfire in the most disastrous ways.
At the end of the day all this caste polarisation might turn
out to be a one time wonder and the nation would go back to the tried and
tested ways next time around but something tells me the new generation of
voters are looking not for a blast from the past and archaic concepts but a
strong central ideology and not caste
based one focussing on development and prosperity and the title I have given to
this monograph will have to be tweaked to “The CAST(E) is D(ying)IE??????? ”
