Sunday 21 August 2011

The Revolution

I recently attended a consumer meet at Nashik for our company's customers who use Tata Tiscon rebars. It was an informal event where the focus was to build relationships and talk beyond steel and construction. There, I met a civil engineer called Mr. J Datta who said he was a communist when he was in his teens back when he lived in Calcutta. He did not lean towards communism now but related an interesting insight of Karl Marx to us.

Karl Marx was a communist and communism mainly believes that in order to end exploitation of the working class by the rich or the bourgeoisie, there has to be a major revolution - an anarchy which may be violent but extremely needed. Once the bloodshed ends and the bourgeoisie are defeated, whoever assumes power will form the government and ensure an equitable distribution of resources.

Karl Marx derisively used the term petite bourgeoisie to describe the middle class. He said the working class are not strong enough to fight the bourgeoisie but the middle class are! Unfortunately, it is this class of people who believes purely in consumption and learns to adjust with the exploitations and corruption of the rich and powerful. It is only when the petite bourgeoisie have their backs to the wall and are removed from their comfort zone, they will fight back.

That struck a chord with me. This can't be more truer in India! The intellect of the country lies within the middle class. Unfortunately, the middle class adjusts and finds a way out of the obstacles the government places in its path. The middle class does not vote. Children belonging to middle class families want to educate themselves here and then migrate to other countries.

Even politicians do not focus on the middle class as they get their votes from the working class and the money from the bourgeoisie, ie. rich and powerful. Even though it is neglected by leaps and bounds, the middle class selfishly soldiers on and remains the highest consumer by volume for most of the goods and services available in the country.

I am not a communist and neither am I advocating a revolution but the recent support shown to Anna Hazare's anti-corruption and Lokpal campaign does indicate that the middle class back has finally reached the wall.

The youth who haven't seen or do not remember India pre-liberalization are getting impatient. They aren't seeing India progress even half as fast as it has the potential to. There is a clamour for seats at prestigious institutions which is leaving many aspirations unfulfilled. There is an awareness of how the lives of their contemporaries in developed countries are better as far as comfort is concerned.

I'm not a fan of satyagraha. I also know that Anna Hazare's mentality, knowingly or unknowingly, is anarchic. I also have faith that there are certain people in the government, especially the Prime Minister are not delaying the passing of the bill on purpose but want a healthy deliberation which Mr. Hazare is not too keen on. I also cringe at the thought of protesting with banners and holding candlelight vigils. Lastly and importantly, the country is still dealing with issues more dastardly and more rampant than corruption - female foeticide/infanticide, dowry death, caste segregation, honour killings, child marriages, etc. I am not 'caught on' to the movement as much as my contemporaries are!

Even then, the volume of people supporting his cause is heartwarming as it is only this volume that will make the UPA and Congress higher-ups who have been taking the nation for granted, a bit rattled. As one of my friends on facebook put - "Dear govt I hope you realize that people are not WITH anybody but AGAINST you". You don't have to be a Hazare supporter to be against corruption, you just need to be against corruption.

I don't see a revolution happening in India like the one recently happened in Egypt to overthrow Mubarak. India is too large and diverse a country for a sustained revolution. But one thing is for certain - people's backs have touched the wall and the government would be a fool to take the consumer class for granted.

No comments:

Post a Comment