Why the BJP doesn’t care about job losses and unemployment.

5 years and 2 months into the reign of the BJP Govt and the only stark observation that has hit an avid observer is how the criticisms of jobs and arrested to declining development of the economy is simply water off the duck’s back to the BJP. After nearly half a decade of what seems to the normal observer as failures at Economics, one must wonder whether it is not a failure but actually a solid ideology at work here.

One need only look at our northern neighbour, China, here. What was once described as an Economy on a revisionist and doomed track has clearly demonstrated itself as being anything but an economy that is doomed to failure. This criticism from the Left, almost 20-30 years ago is now slowly being modified to make it appear that the very clearly Capitalist mode of production that is practiced in China is, Capitalism being used to further Socialism – this is up for debate and knowing the Chinese, one will never really know the truth; however, we do see the results and that appears to ratify the theory of Capitalism used to further Socialism. Of course, why the Global Left isn’t comfortable calling China, “Capitalism with a Human face” is intriguing. But, if we can free ourselves of nomenclature and ideological burdens, then we see economics for what it is. The takeaway from China in all that has been said is that there is a method to what might, at times, seems like madness.

In the Indian context, there have been three phases, thus far, of economic ideology: the planned market economy, the neoliberal model, and now the Post-Neoliberal Indian model. Clearly, the only good period for the economy has been the neoliberal period with its massive growth spurt and couple this with the fact that there was some form of a social security net, there was some trickle down that lifted the masses but almost permanently disabled a Revolutionary Left movement from ever being a viable alternative. That side project being completed, of eliminating the biggest threat to the Bourgeois democracy, the subsequent years of development could now focus on ensuring the accumulation of wealth to the Bourgeoisie. It was toward the end of 2014, that this project started crumbling and inevitably, with a stagnation of incomes and opportunities. The post-2014 scenario was when the new paradigm shift began. What was this shift? The shift clearly is to seemingly modernise existing industry to shift away from Production to Services, from Agriculture to Industry, and finally to transform Labour into a Service sector scavenger rather than a value producer.  

This would tie in very well with the 5-year long slump in Job creation for the Nation and the Government not really giving a damn about it. The ideological bent of the economists in govt here is to change the Indian worker from one that works in a factory to one that is either working in a start-up industry, tech, or in the so-called Gig economy. The government clearly also realises that such a transition is one that takes decades to implement and will inevitably run into a phase of high unemployment in the interim; as jobs in the new economy, firstly, don’t really exist and secondly, the industry itself is not big enough or aligned to high employment. This is of course a problem of Neoliberal economic ideology, where the reality and material conditions of the world are ignored, and the focus is more on a Utopian end objective. It is even further incompetence on the part of a Govt to continue to follow a Neoliberal model that has already been proven to be a failed economic system world over.

In some other innocuous ways, we also see the policy of the destruction of the Indian Baniya Class or the Petty Bourgeois class along with the Hindu Middle Class. This would seem counterintuitive as these are the sponsors and core support bases of the Hindu fascist right; however, both these sections of society are also those who have stopped India from achieving any form of progress. The Petty Bourgeois in India were supremely powerful in influencing policy and trade decisions in India. Ironically, this proved to be a certain barrier against the worst effects of Globalised American Imperialism. This is a problem for the Corporations and the highest echelons of the Bourgeoisie. Thus, with the BJP as a party that is now run almost exclusively by corporate funds and not petty bourgeoisie funds, has thus trained its guns on its erstwhile baniya support base. Retail FDI was one danger that was taken too lightly by everyone and today, it is no mystery that the likes of Amazon and Walmart have a good ability to end Baniya hegemony of Indian business in a decade.

The Hindu Middle Class is much more complicated. This class has traditionally been very opinionated, are getting larger in number and are not supine enough to allow being ridden roughshod over. Thus, the attack… on the middle class incomes, employment, welfare, and infrastructure began. Labour unions and worker collectivisation is almost a crime in many states in India thus ensuring that the Middle Class cannot be heard when they scream. This was not done in 2014 but rather way before when liberalization began. The entire ideology of the middle class thus changed to pander to an alienated, class-unconscious, numbed population. 2014’s fascist turn of the Hindu Middle Class was an exercise in the shift from Class consciousness to Reactionary, Ethno-Religious Nationalism. De-jargonised, this basically meant that the urban, Hindu Middle class was now chugging on the opium of bigotry, casteism, bloodlust, to ensure that no matter how much they were economically whipped to death, they stood by the very govt that was whipping them. This movement will continue and it will achieve a critical velocity after which it cannot slow down. The middle class will then start to eat into its own and fracture and fragment, become sectarian to the point where they weed out the infidels among them.

The big question is where does all this end? If one was to sketch out a picture it will  be one of where the Lower Classes in agriculture have all migrated to the cities for sustenance thus forming an army of the Unemployed to ensure that wages are perpetually low, agriculture will be corporatized, industrial might will not only be in the hands of the few but it will also be in the hands of foreign capital, unemployment will mostly remain at the levels you observe today because 10 years of any aberrant phenomena become a material reality in India, and eventually the so called Indian growth story will eventually die off like it has for nearly every developing country. The misery of today will stagnate where we have the growth of an African sub-Saharan nation or a member of east European nations, but without the labour mobility.

Are Non-Hindutva voices living in an Information Bubble?

As the data streams in about voting patterns across the states that tell us how the 2019 Indian elections for the Centre went, there appears to be some glaring indications of intelligence failures in the opposition camp – and this is the case at the partisan and public levels. While the Opposition Party intelligence failures are actually quite common, what is stark is the level to which the voices Opposed to Hindu Terrorist ideology – Hindutva misjudged things. This intelligence failure is an indictment of the Class and Caste nature of most of those who are from the Opposition, non-party camps as well as the Media that the Liberals and Leftist voices have been consuming.

The Caste and Class divide.

It is no act of brilliance to label the Opposition voices, those of the Urban, Upper Caste elites, the Highly Educated Bahujan voices, the Upper Class subaltern voices, and in general, the English speaking folks – whether as a first or second language. The nature of human engagement is such that in a political environment of engagement and battle, humans seek solace and an emotional recharge amongst their own. This is especially true for those who are Political because of their ideological convictions.

Ideology, being an inexact science and previously mostly the purview of academics, is something that the common masses need social affirmation about. For a very common example, an affirmation of the tactical and strategic lines of a party are usually never ratified by the supporters in any kind of empirical canvas but rather as a group therapy session of “you’re on the right path” rhetoric, or on some historical events of similar magnitude or genre.

This means that in the 5 years of Modi’s rule. There was little effort that was put into gathering intelligence on the moods, wishes and aspirations of the large mass of the population. What was passed off as intelligence was mostly a theoretical and academic understanding of the rural mindset, the Bahujan mindsets, the economic and national aspirations of millennials, etc. Thus, the Dalit was always assumed to be someone who lived in a slum, was insulted and beaten by Savarnas 15 times a day, and went home to read Ambedkar at bedtime. Also, a great assumption was that all Dalits are in a state of readiness for revolution. This of course is the popular stereotype of the Dalit that has been fed to us by our peers or our “senior” peers in our respective social bubbles. But it is a stereotype, nevertheless. It ignores the material conditions of Dalits in general, it assumes that Dalits have transitioned into having revolutionary potential and ignores that 70 years of Capitalism have mostly subsumed Revolutionary Consciousness under Alienation and the Liberal false consciousness.

Thus, when the 2019 UP Bahujan alliance fell apart at the polls people are left wondering how it could have all gone wrong? The popular thought that pervades the subconscious being one of “treachery” by the Dalits. Again, the obvious Brahminical mindset comes forth assuming that Dalits must follow this path and not choose their own – their own path if ideologically different, being treachery. What has not been understood is the material conditions of the Dalits. Yes, they are oppressed and they know it but they are not willing to attack power to achieve it OR that they still believe that the crumbs from the oppressor are a better gamble than a future con from the rebels. There is also the very real aspect of the outreach to Dalits by the Hindu Terrorist rightwing foot soldiers. There is of course, finally, the tactical blunders made, when in a bourgeois democracy, of vote cutting, etc. And while the allegations of “Caste is dead” is bandied about by the Right Wing, it would seem a ridiculous charge but what if it has even a slight element of accuracy? If that is the case then a new understanding is required and not caricatures anymore!

 
Media

What media the Liberals and the Left consume have for the past 5 years in the most obscene act of Capitalism, pandered to the consumer wants instead of the consumer needs. The Wire, Scroll, Newsclick and smattering of individual celebrity opposition journalists have been telling the opposition that the Hindu Right was on the wane, change was nigh. That was of course not true. Why? Simple…. This very media that gives us ideological sustenance to fight, has been a McDonalds that has fed us the junk and fast food of quick narratives and convenient “ground reports.” It has clearly not given us the complete picture in any measure and has thus just existed to feed what is convenient.

Here, we the masses are also to blame for replicating the wrongs of the Right wing by subscribing to knowledge and media that further accentuates the information bubble. Where are the critics and naysayers? Where are those who challenge the narratives our own media put out? Ultimately… What is the real truth?

This now remains unanswered but we must find the answers.

Why I voted NOTA….

This has been a tumultuous 5 years, especially for those opposed to the Hindu Terrorist ideology of the incumbent Govt. There are enough reasons given by those of my ilk to vote for the strongest candidate against this Govt and many of those reasons are extremely good as well. The problem however is that it is largely pointless because if the next five years of another government are going to be one which just lays out the red carpet for the same nonsense 5 more years down the line, then what is required is a change of the system itself – not just the Govt.

To my ilk I would say that they have got it ass backwards wrong if they believe first of all that exhorting platitudes on social media counts for anything in reality. I would also go as far as saying that many of my social media ilk didn’t have to face even the smallest problem to their lives under this govt so why are they voting against this govt or voting at all, really? Clearly my ilk are the elite, savarna, English speakers. Nothing changes for them at all except for minor inconveniences… nothing as earth shattering as the midnight knock or anything like that.

This is in fact the time that many of us should be asking if the Opposition or any anti-Hindutva party will actually do what it really takes to ensure the Hindu Terrorist party never comes to power again. And the conclusion to that is why I voted NOTA. No party has put forward my manifesto. I have to choose between their manifestos.

So I ask…

• Which party promises that any Savarna that attacks a Dalit as part of his religious duty to the fake Hindu Religion will be arrested under UAPA, placed in solitary confinement and then forced labour till death? None.

• Which party promises that any attempt by the Savarna administration officer to block the rise of a dalit in the ranks or in education institutions will be punished by the seizure of his or her wealth and the wealth of his or her family? None.

• Which party promises that if a repeat of Asifa takes place that the execution of a Hindu Terrorist will take place in the place of said Hindu Terrorists domicile in Public, in full view of anyone inspired to undertake a similar misadventure? None

• Which party promises a UBI to anyone outside of a Tier 1 and 2 city in India who does not own land? None

• Which party promises to ensure a referendum before major infrastructure projects like Metros are undertaken in cities? None.

• Which party promises a full financial clampdown and investigation into the Hindu Terrorist RSS? None.

• Which party will make it a criminal offense for any Indian to call another Indian seditious? None.

• Which party promises to burn the Manusmriti from Red fort every year and spit on the statue of Manu? None.

• Which party promises to hold a program for a National implementation of the Kudumbashree program? None

• Which party has the balls to overturn the beef ban? None

• Which party will make it a criminal offense to protest against the Supreme Court judgements like it did in Sabarimala? None.

• Which party is willing to pass a law that Police officers who are incompetent are dismissed from service and not transferred. That if their motivation or incompetence results in the death or wrongful imprisonment of an individual, that Officer will face the same imprisonment two fold? None.

• Which party will hold a right to recall referendum every year? None.

• Which party is willing to call Israel a terrorist State and sever all ties with them? None

• Which party has a concrete program to rejuvenate BRICS and make it the one massive power block in the world with the expressive objective of demoting US to 5^th place as a world economy? None

• Which party will ensure universal healthcare, free education to all levels, free housing and a right to employment? None.

If these measures that I deem basic are not on the radars of any party, what the hell is the point?

Fuck the Hindu Upper Caste Democracy. Let it burn!