SHANKAR GOPALAKRISHNAN - The Politics of Fear and Hate Hidden in Demonetisation
By now, the
government’s post demonetisation plans seem quite clear. Next year, the
government will launch a new welfare scheme by extracting a higher
dividend from the RBI and/or collecting revenue through new tax
provisions. This could be as simple as putting money in Jan
Dhan accounts. Most believe that this will ‘work’ – that is, it will win
the BJP votes. But
the demonetisation is not just about elections. It is also in line with
the kind of politics that the Sangh parivar and this government have always
promoted. In this sense, the note ban is already ‘working’ at three levels.
A sacrifice that
isn’t a sacrifice: The first level is the
rhetoric of ‘sacrifice’ regarding demonetisation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi
has asked people to bear these “temporary inconveniences” and assured them that
their “sacrifices” will not go in vain. The move’s
supporters have also appealed to the public, saying that if people can stand in
queues for sales, surely they can do so at an ATM.
But how exactly does
dealing with demonetisation constitute a sacrifice? By definition, a sacrifice
is not a sacrifice if it is not done out of choice. Living with the effects of
demonetisation is not a matter of choice. No one suffering as a result of the
move actually chose to do so, and those who chose to impose it are not the
ones suffering. Whether you are willing to stand in a queue for a sale or not,
you still have to do so now. So where’s the ‘sacrifice’?
But there is one
choice that everyone does have to make – and that is, how we react to what we
are forced to do. This is precisely the choice that supporters are referring
to. The sacrifice they cite is not a choice about demonetisation as such, but
the decision to accept or even celebrate the resulting losses. The thing being
sacrificed is the public’s capacity to dissent. In this view of the world, only
those who choose to cheerfully obey have put the nation’s interest above their
own.
This confusion over which
sacrifice is being demanded of the people leads us to the second level of
politics. The language of sacrifice is a language of dignity and honour. That
language is very valuable in a context like India’s. Observing the seemingly
widespread support for the move, several commentators have referred to the anger that the poor feel against the rich.
But this is only part of the picture. For the majority of Indians, the most
destructive fact of life is not poverty as such but the deeply unpredictable,
insecure and unsafe lives they have to lead. Whether it is migrant and daily
wage workers who have no idea what kind of work they will find, farmers unsure
of rains and prices or households fearing the loss of their life savings to a
medical emergency – there is a constant threat of instability. This leads one
to be dependent on the goodwill of others, such as netas, police, government
staff or shopkeepers in order to survive. Thus this insecurity is experienced
as a fundamental lack of dignity, of being a lesser human being.
For decades, we have
all been told that black money and its cousin, corruption, are India’s biggest
problems and that those guilty of corruption are precisely these people – the
face of a callous state and a brutal exploiting class. Now, demonetisation
makes many feel that their sacrifice somehow makes them part of a larger
crusade that hits out at the very people who keep brutalising them. Ironically,
the more powerless a person is, the higher the initial attraction.
The third level at
which the policy is ‘working’ is precisely the widespread economic damage being
created by demonetisation. This is not about lines. The massive cash
crunch means lost wages, possible distress sales, the closing of
businesses and so on. Those seriously ill or short on food are, quite simply,
dying. However, to most people, these losses look very much like the insecurity
that was already present in their lives. The vast majority of those hit by the
policy cannot necessarily draw a straight line connecting the government’s
decision to demonetise to their suffering. Demonetisation is making things much
worse for the majority. But for each of these individuals, the BJP is hoping
that it can continue to claim that black money is the ultimate cause of poverty
and insecurity, rather than the scheme itself.
Once the BJP delivers
its new welfare scheme, the logic comes full circle. From this ‘national
endeavour’, many people will receive a direct benefit. The benefit and those
responsible for delivering it will be obvious, while the much larger losses
will be scattered and invisible. Thus it will be ‘proven’ that those who did
not make the ‘sacrifice’, who chose to not be loyal, are at best selfish
busybodies and at worst traitors.
The RSS and its
‘politics of obedience’: Demonetisation may be
an unprecedented move in the realm of economic policy, but there is nothing
novel about this kind of politics. This is what the Sangh parivar practices in
every situation. The entire cadre base of the RSS is built upon this kind of bargain. There are two sides to it. On the
one hand, give up your autonomy and your right to ask questions of the powerful
and instead target ‘enemies’ (Muslims, anti-nationals, terrorists) since they
are responsible for all problems. On the other hand, in exchange, receive
benefits for yourself from those same powerful classes or castes – but only if
you obey. This is particularly true of the Sangh parivar’s organising among
marginalised sections. Thus Adivasis get access to Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram
clinics and schools if they quietly accept that they are ‘backward Hindus’;
Dalits get access to temples and public life in exchange for accepting the
Brahminical RSS and its deep casteism; women get access to political activity
and public leadership in exchange for extolling ‘motherhood’ and the very
patriarchal values that excluded them in the first place.
In this
sense, demonetisation is the most successful Sangh parivar campaign so
far. It has hit literally every household in the country simultaneously.
Moreover, the enemies it claims to be fighting are completely invisible. The
government gets to decide who is labelled an enemy. Thus gigantic corporate tax
evasion, such as the 2014 Vodafone tax case, is not
described as black money. But every town in India is now full of rumours about
the guy down the street caught with Rs 6 crores or 29 lakhs or whatever. Just
like all other Sangh parivar campaigns, the real structure of tax evasion is
not being confronted (leave alone the structures responsible for poverty).
Instead, individuals are being asked to loyally obey the ruling party, while it
attacks other individuals, who are seen as the enemy.
The result is a
climate of fear more intense than ever before. Supporters proudly march and
shout while critics, especially those who don’t belong to the elite, whisper
their criticisms in corners. Many people feel obliged to say, after narrating
their struggles or losses, that it’s all worth it for the sake of the country.
Demonetisation is a hate-mongers’ dream. Incidentally, we can also expect to
see Sangh outfits build on this. Cash could be the new beef, with private,
official and joint official-private raids becoming the norm. Opposition
parties, in particular, will be easy targets.
The Sangh’s basic
problem: Of course, in the long
run, the RSS faces a much deeper problem, to which it has no answer – its
entire politics is built on a lie. Obedience to it produces more instability,
not less; so it has to keep generating new enemies for it to ‘save’ people
from. It never fulfils its ultimate promise of prosperity and security, because
it strengthens the structures that create injustice and insecurity.
Several commentators
have pointed out that this leads to a cycle of escalation, where
something bigger is constantly required to detract attention from the previous
stunt. And it is not merely bigger and bigger stunts that are necessary. All of
them will be of this obedience versus dissent, enemies versus society type.
This is what makes them far more devastating than merely dictatorial moves.
This is also what leads so many people to draw parallels between the Sanghis
and the Nazis, for this was the distinguishing feature of fascism: the mass
mobilisation of people against “enemies” while strengthening the already
powerful.
What
the demonetisation has also shown is that both the BJP and the Modi
government – confident in the Sangh parivar’s massive support base and the
backing of big corporates – are quite capable of sudden drastic moves beyond
the constraints that bind normal politics. In this sense, the sky is the limit.
We do not know what they will do next and we do not know how many people will
pay for it.
But this is not a counsel for despair. By
its very nature, a politics built around constant insecurity is not a long term
form of politics. It reduces its own supporters’ lives to ever-growing
chaos and propels never-ending searches for the ‘real leaders’ who can deliver
the safety these supporters seek. Moreover, this kind of pseudo-empowerment is
no match for a genuine liberatory politics. Indeed, it creates the conditions
for such a politics to emerge, as anyone who can tie the threads together can
expose the whole enterprise as a sham. At the local level, wherever the RSS has
confronted a genuinely strong progressive force, it has lost. The problem is
for the latter to emerge at the national level – and the price that will be
paid as long as it does not. Both, the most terrifying and hopeful
lesson of demonetisation, is that politics as usual no longer works in Modi’s
India.
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