Abstract
A historical review of the populist leadership across the globe helps one identify some characteristic markers that cut across caste, class, race and region. The book under review tries to decode and demystify politics of populism, particularly of one political party in India, namely, Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), and its political ramifications in a mature democracy like India’s. The book, thus, turns ignorant of the wider spectrum of the politics of populism and becomes a populist narration of populism by a desperately ambitious author, as it were.
The book seeks to look into the reasons for the rise of populism after the election of Narendra Modi as the prime minister of India. The book is divided into three sections, each following a different theme. The book begins by looking at the popularity of ‘strong-man’ phenomenon in Indian politics and reasons why the majority population was attracted to the larger-than-life image of Modi. The author explains the creation of a new discourse in the Indian politics which focusses on symbols and hyper-nationalism. The book takes note of various critical issues of the government in the past four years, from the lynching of minority to the declaration of Jawaharlal Nehru University as anti-national. The author also sees populism as providing a platform for the upper-caste people to vent out their insecurities. The BJP’s promise of ushering in a new era of neoliberal economy is not in tandem with their extreme right populism. For a liberal free market economy, a sustainable democracy is an essential condition. The one-man show of BJP is more inclined to authoritarianism, which has deterred foreign investments.
The second section focuses on the state assembly elections that happened after the general election of 2014. The author describes the reason for the loss of BJP and other regional parties in the election in Delhi. The chapters mention the disillusionment with the politics of BJP in general and Modi in particular as the reason for them losing the elections. This section also mentions the strategy that the opposition can employ in the upcoming general election. The author also mentions the ever-relevant issue of Kashmir and the exodus of Kashmiri pandit as being old but a useful bait to be used in the election. Amid all such prophecies, which reads easy and hence incredibly flawed, the author has gotten the name of human rights activist Khuram Parvez wrong (p. 115). The author seems to be competing with professional psephologists without adequate tools and techniques at his disposal. Merely doom saying does not make a good psephology. Moreover, the author is somewhat silent on the interface of populist politics and people in this section, as well as in the rest of the book.
The third section explores the Dalit-Bahujan politics and the possibility of forming a new Dalit-Muslim alliance as a new pressure group in politics. This section also looks at the interactions between left politics and Dalit-Bahujan groups. It draws parallels between the discourses of students’ political groups such as Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad and Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students Association. However, the parallel seems too laboured to be true, given that the author seems to be in a mysterious haste.
Besides, the authenticity of Indian history is also a matter of concern for the political right. The problems arise because the ancient literature is filled with connotations of caste. The effort to revive the history of ‘a glorious India’ is being done to unite the past with the present and creating a united ‘Hindu brotherhood’. True, but this is a truism now. The author does not lead us beyond truism on the politics of authentic history.
The final section of the book looks at the future of Indian politics. The BJP and Modi have, as evident, left no stone unturned in delegitimising Jawaharlal Nehru and his brand of politics and in turn the Congress party. They have done so by providing a counter-narrative, which puts Sardar Patel as the hero. Unfortunately, even this political saga is not new to many who know an iota of history of Indian politics. One wonders, if the author can deal with the complexity of ridiculing Nehru while reinventing Gandhi and Sardar Patel. Also, the discussion falls flat in taking note of the ‘extra-political social media’ running the politics of demeaning Nehru.
Moreover, the author suggests, in his incoherent list of suggestions, that the rise of youth leaders marks a turning point in Indian politics; indeed, it does, but it may have its own pitfalls that a political scientist of adequate training shall acknowledge. There is, in the same vein, an opinion that women as a separate constituency will be a force to reckon in the politics of the country. As elsewhere, the book does not lend much nuanced velocity to these important but unaddressed opinions.
In the end, it ought to be noted that the book does a significant job by compiling the ‘popular rhetoric’ that is present in the public discourse, with a multitude of references to media coverage, both in print and electronic. The author’s style of writing is rather lucid and his use of terminology very basic, obviously due to the open-editorial style of newspaper essays. Also, as it is, the essays do not sufficiently answer pertinent questions related to the themes. Simplicity of style turns out to be awkwardly an over-simplistic understanding. This book could have easily been written in a cafe with an internet connection.