Blending Coercion And consent October 17, 2014
A general view of
Narendra Modi’s governance style is that it is an impressive more of working:
he appears brick, decisive, engaged and demanding. After Manmohan Singh, this
is a huge relief to many Indians. The Prime Minister could deeply these
qualities to govern effectively; on the other hand, there are other features of
his style that could deeply damage India.
First and foremost,
Modi is a centralizer. Nothing in the government moves without his assent and
nod, and no detail is too small. To centralize decision-making in his person,
he has taken almost complete control of his party, marginalizing his elders
(Advani, Joshi, Jaswant) and rivals (Sushma and Shivraj Chauhan, who have
disappeared politically).Going back to his Gujarat days, he is famous for
picking weak cabinets, largely ignoring ministers and paying little heed to the
legislature; so too in Delhi. A second feature of Modi’s style is co-opting the
senior bureaucracy and police. Essentially, he both scares and empowers high
officials, making them his primary instrument of decision-making. Hegemonic
command depends on a blend of coercion and consent. Modi engenders fear in his
senior commanders. By promising to back them against interfering politicians,
he also gives them a sense of empowerment. The result is extraordinary
cooperation and loyalty.
Another element of
Modi’s governance method is his ambiguous stance on social polarization,
especially between Hindus and minorities. Hindus in Gujarat have little doubt
where he stands in relation to them. He is the greater Protector. On the other
hand, minorities hear him. It is hard to pin anything on him. He promises
development and equal treatment for all; yet the worst communal riots occurred
under his rule in Gujarat, which Modi astonishingly claims he could not stop.
Amit Shah, made was by all accounts flagrantly communal, Sanjeev Baliyan, the
BJP leader accused of fomenting the western UP riots, was subsequently made a
minister of state. Few doubt the riots helped the party gain massively in UP
and reach the magical 282-seats figure in the general elections.
Modi has remained
stubbornly silent on communalism, except for his August 15 plea for a 10 year
“moratorium” on caste and communal violence. Modi’s is playing the media
beautifully-and they still don’t know it! Finally, Modi’s governance approach
is based on a cosy relationship with business. He has learned enough economics,
finance, and management to impress businessmen, and he has done enough for them
in Gujarat to suggest that he is pro-business. They fund him and laud him, and
he eases the constraints on them. Will this approach work? It did in Gujarat.
But centralization can eventually cause the humiliated to rebel. The best laid
plans in Delhi could quickly become mere edicts outside the capital. Allowing
communities to be turned against each other could produce a corroding extremism
that explodes uncontrollably and tears India’s fabric. Governing well is more
than clever speeches and punctual officials in North Block. It is about respect
and dignity for those you lead. The PM should remember that.
PRACHARAK MODI TRUE TO HIS MASK
Read the text of his
Independence Day speech carefully. It is inclusive, conciliatory, forward
looking and modern. But it is also pure RSS. Modi spoke as an RSS Pracharak
would have, stressing family values, morality, cleanliness, discipline and
patriotism. Modi’s method is likely to be more in the nature of very soft
hindutva but very pronounced nationalism. He will not allow his government to
be distracted by Ram temple, article 370 and so on. Modi believes in employing
his political capital to further his ideology but will do it very cautiously.
It’s early Days yet, but he could be refining an innovative ideology of the
right.
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