Everything is Politics

Politics begins to contaminate everything like an epidemic when ideology dies. Death of ideology is the most glaring fault line on the rock of present Indian democracy.

Before the present regime took charge of the country, political parties were driven by certain underlying ideologies though corruption was on the rise from Indira Gandhi’s time onwards. Mahatma Gandhi’s ideology was rooted in nonviolence. Nothing could shake the Mahatma’s faith in that ideal. Nehru was a staunch secularist who longed to make India a nation of rational people who will reap the abundant benefits proffered by science and technology. Even the violent left parties had the ideal of socialism to guide them. The most heartless political theory of globalisation was driven by the ideology of wealth-creation for all.

When there is no ideology whatever, politics of the foulest kind begins to corrode the very soul of the nation. And that is precisely what is happening to present India. Everything is politics here now.

Everything will be vicious politics in a country where there is no connection whatever between the word and the deed of the king. The king may be able to speak the language of Gandharvas and make fantasy look like reality. India is projected now as one of the largest economies in the world. But the various global indices tell a different story altogether. India is at a miserable 111^th position on the Global Poverty Index 2023. Out of 125 countries, 110 are doing better than India. Even countries which were seen as extremely poor are now occupying higher positions than India on that Index.

The Global Hunger Index 2023 tells a similar story. 94^th place out of 107 countries. The Prime Minister himself recently declared, rather boastfully, that his government is giving free food to 80 crore people in the country. The total population of India is 140 crores. More than half of the citizens have to queue up for free food and the king is claiming in bombastic speeches that his country is the third largest economy in the world!

GDP is another kind of politics which the ordinary person standing in the queue for his daily bread won’t understand. There is an increase in that mysterious thing called GDP and that increase decides the place of the country on the ladder of global economies. Where lies all that great wealth of India if more than half of the country’s population have to subsist on free rations given by an apparently benign government? 

The crony capitalists of the country are getting richer minute by minute. Their wealth has grown from 5% of the country’s GDP to 8% in the last ten years. India’s wealth is being handed over to a few people who are close to the Prime Minister.

When Modi became India’s Prime Minister, the number of multibillionaires in the country was 56. Now, ten years later, that figure is 169. Good. We’re indeed becoming a rich nation. But at whose expense?

Gautam Adani’s assets amounted to Rs2952 crore in 2013. Now it is Rs748,800 crore. This leap is achieved not because of some miraculous powers of the man but because of the magnanimity of Modi’s government which gave the entrepreneur the country’s wealth on golden platters. Chhattisgarh’s coal mines, Maharashtra’s electric power stations, 6 major airports, 13 seaports… and huge projects abroad. That’s what Adani got from Modi during the last ten years.

Why? Because Adani helped Modi to come to power by financing all his Kautilyan moves against senior leaders like Vajpayee, Adani, Murli Manohar Joshi, and so on, more than a decade back.  

Adani is not the only one to gain, of course. A lot of assets of the country have been sold or are being sold to others as well. 400 railway stations, 90 passenger trains, 265 goods trains, 25 airports, and the huge public sector establishments such as NTPC, BPCL, IOC, and LIC are already in the hands – or will soon be there – of a few wealthy individuals of India. 

What about the poor people of the country? Their poverty will be concealed behind facades when foreign dignitaries visit. Like what happened in Mumbai during the last G-20 meet.

The poor can go to hell for all that their government cares. Follow the example of the 112,000 farmers who killed themselves in the last ten years. Or that of the 312,214 daily wage labourers who took the same escape route from Rama Rajya.

30% of the medium and 40% of the small enterprises in the country shut shops in the last few years. Unable to understand the kind of politics that is at play. Yes, it has become a game now. A game without any rules. The only referee is a dictator. He blows the whistle against all his critics. When the whistle is blown, all law enforcement agencies such as CBI, ED, Income Tax department, the law courts and the police will march out to headhunt the projected enemies of the nation.

A whopping 20 crore people of the country are projected as enemies of the nation by none other than the Prime Minister in his election campaign speeches these days. The Muslims of India are infiltrators and child breeders, according to Modi’s latest speeches.

Anyone can be a traitor in this country now. Because politics here is a game whose rules are determined by one person’s whims.

In that game, medicines will be taxed at the rate of 18% while the GST on diamonds is a meagre 1.5%. On luxury cars, it is only 4%. You have to pay 12-18% taxes on certain food items!

A report in The Hindu dated 1 May 2024 says that the cost of food items in India rose by 71% in the last 5 years while the salaries rose only by 37%. The middle class will dwindle into that class of ration-beggars sooner or later. We may soon see posters and other ads claiming that Modi is giving free food to a hundred crore people. 

Another report in The Hindu of 30 April 2024 informs us that from 2014-15 to 2023-24 the personal income tax rose steadily and has now crossed the corporate taxes. The ordinary citizens of India pay more taxes than the extraordinarily affluent corporate superstars.

In this game, you may elect a leader belonging to a political party of your choice but the next day the ruling party will buy him up with your tax money.

The BJP has ways of collecting funds other than taxes too. Like electoral bonds. An MP is allowed to spend less than one crore rupees for campaigning. The BJP collected more than Rs6000 crore by way of electoral bonds. Even if there is a BJP candidate in every constituency, only about Rs530 crore can be used. What about the remaining Rs5470 crore? Just vanished into thin air. Modi’s politics is magical. Black magic?

Yes, black magic that can get the government agencies to steal your personal info from your laptop and mobile phone. Pegasus will come from Israel for assistance.

Even God is politicised. The nation witnessed the post-truth divine comedy that was played out in Ayodhya recently. The ruler is the High Priest. Soon the ruler will be God. And the Ganga, on which thousands of crores of rupees have been spent for purification, will lament: Rama, tera desh maila! Rama and the Ganga have not been spared from the political games.

Be cautious. Play a safe game if you don’t want to die in a dungeon as Rev Stan Swamy did. As Sanjiv Bhatt IPS seems to be destined to do. As Arvind Kejriwal may too, who knows? Remember: EVERYTHING IS POLITICS. Without ethics of any sort.

PS. This post is a part of ‘Everything is Politics Blog Hop’ hosted by Manali Desai and Sukaina Majeed.