A decade of patronage-driven capitalism has generated institutional paralysis on a sweeping scale.
Rahul Gandhi, for perhaps the first time, has struck at the core of the issue: Prime Minister Narendra Modi no longer appears capable of effectively governing the nation. In his usual awkward and meandering style, however, the Leader of Opposition muddles his own argument by claiming this is because the prime minister is “compromised”. The real issue is not the nature of any alleged ‘compromise’, if such exists; instead, the matter concerns straightforward competence. Put plainly, the heart of the issue lies in the ruling party’s fixation with Hindutva which, ipso facto, has evolved into a cover for inefficiency and is incapable of delivering effective governance.
For more than ten years now, many reflective Indians as well as a large section of the Hindutva base have persuaded themselves that if the Narendra Modi administration continues receiving electoral ‘mandate’ after ‘mandate’, the Indian state’s governance crisis would be handled efficiently and professionally.
The overwhelming majority of Indians have been encouraged to believe that we have transformed into a ‘hard power’, a ‘muscular nation’, and a ‘developed’ country possessing the third or fourth – after all, what difference does one position make among friends and flatterers – largest economy in the world. And those who choose to remain sceptical are instructed to observe how our leaders are being welcomed and pursued on the international stage. We have been confidently informed that we are now recognised gurus to the Vishwa (world.)
This carefully-crafted Potemkin rangoli was abruptly dismantled by Prime Minister Modi himself when he advised citizens to practise austerity and caution in their travel and spending habits. Although his officials moved rapidly to suppress any discussion of rationing, we have nevertheless been shaken from our collective sense of complacency.
The prime minister has unexpectedly introduced a feeling of uncertainty – pushing editorial commentators and other cheerleaders into a frenzy, emphasising the need for additional ‘reforms’ and tougher decisions, without anyone clarifying what has stopped the regime from carrying out what clearly ought to have been done.
Modi and his ministers should be reminded that they cannot hold the ‘West Asia conflict’ responsible for our present troubles. Anyone can steer an automatic vehicle on an open highway; the true examination of a driver’s skill, temperament and psychological steadiness comes when avoiding an oncoming car travelling from the wrong direction or while navigating the disorderly traffic of Paharganj in Delhi. After ten years, Hindutva’s gleaming Mercedes now stands visibly battered for all to witness.
Rahul Gandhi misses the point by concentrating his primary attack on a ‘compromised’ prime minister. Instead, the essential issue concerns incompetence – and not merely that of a single individual or leader.
The explanation for the incompetence surrounding us is not especially difficult to understand. A decade of political supremacy has now legitimised group-think, call it Modi-itis: the belief that we are 24-carat deshbakhts who place the nation above the party, and the party above self or family. We are guardians of the Hindus because the Nagpur-shaped theology of us versus them is viewed as the only legitimate understanding of Indian society.
We possess noble intentions; we are honest, we are sincere, and therefore we deserve deference, respect, conformity and obedience – never mind the constitution and its guarantees of fundamental rights. And we supposedly carry the duty to silence anyone questioning our intentions and practices. Authoritarianism, you ask? Oh please, be realistic.
This collective mentality has now solidified into a governing mantra. No requirement for wisdom or ideas from ‘Harvard’ when ‘hard work’ alone will do. Our leader is supposedly pitching the perfect game – to borrow a baseball analogy describing when the pitcher retires 27 batters in nine innings without allowing anyone to reach base. Since we are blessed with the most capable master of every trade, the nation is already basking in the rewards of amrit kaal.
So why do we increasingly sense that Naya Bharat has stalled? Why are there repeated appeals for financial restraint and austerity? Why this encouragement for work from home? Why is the official rhetoric failing to produce outcomes?
Why are citizens and consumers being forced to shoulder the burden of organised incompetence? And above all, why is no one acknowledging that a decade of ‘vikas’ has produced uncontrolled and unrestricted crony capitalism? That the crooked corporate chickens are finally returning home to roost?
We frequently overlook that crony capitalism does not flourish in isolation. A decade of crony capitalism under Prime Minister Modi’s leadership has weakened all our institutions and their effectiveness. It is inherent in the nature of crony capitalism that it corrodes all centres of legality and compromises every forum of organised competence.
A decade of crony capitalism has produced institutional dysfunctionality on a massive scale. We now have a crony media presenting fiction as fact on nightly broadcasts and operating at peak creativity in manufacturing hostility across social media. We have crony judges who reprimand environmentalists for supposedly obstructing development and infrastructure projects. We have crony statisticians manipulating figures and data and crony Niti-Aayogers generating expert research papers aligned with the Leader’s declarations and claims.
We have crony bureaucrats who discover laws, rules, regulations and precedents enabling crooked ‘entrepreneurs’ to avoid repaying taxpayers’ money. And then we have the Enforcement Directorate, the income-tax inspector and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) fabricating cases against the crony capitalists’ business competitors and other so-called ‘obstructionists’.