Reinventing the BJP
N Vittal asks in the Mumbai Mirror: “Can the BJP do what the New Labour did in the UK under the leadership of Tony Blair and what Obama did for the Democratic Party in the United States?”
The BJP must re-brand itself as the party of the youth and the future. It must focus on the issues that concern the youth – productive employment and projecting a positive message of hope.
Good governance with a focus on (a) the rule of law (b) zero tolerance to corruption (c) encouraging productivity in every sector and (d) providing opportunity to every citizen and to realise that his full potential must be the leitmotif of all the policies pursued by the party.
Reinventing a party takes time but a systematic effort initiated now may help BJP emerge as India’s version of the New Labour or Obama’s Democratic Party.
On Education: System, not Exams, Causes Stress
by Swapan Dasgupta
An understandable desire to make a quick mark in the fiercely competitive world of politics may have prompted Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal’s radical proposals to overhaul India’s schooling system. However, in shedding tears for the examination trauma suffered by lakhs of school children, not to mention their parents, Sibal forgot to ask a simple question: Why have the public examinations held at the conclusion of classes 10 and 12 become a cause of so much anguish?
In most developed countries, the debate over schooling centres on declining standards. Many educationists have expressed concern that the examinations are no longer an adequate test of a student’s actual worth. In Britain, for example, the GCSE for 16-year-olds are seen to be less demanding than the old O-levels. Likewise, many university authorities feel that the A-level examinations for 18-year-olds are inferior compared to the International Baccalaureate.
Developing countries such as India have a different set of problems. There is, of course, the question of standards. But this is balanced by two additional concerns. First, there was a need to ensure access to education for all but particularly those children whose parents and grandparents had suffered from either illiteracy or, at best, managed ‘class 8 pass’. Second, there was the more complex question of tailoring education to meet the requirements of the economy.
When S Nurul Hasan presided over the abolition of the 11-year schooling system and introduced the 10+2 system in the mid-1970s, he was guided by the firm conviction that the primary purpose of schooling was not to steer a maximum number of students into India’s over-stretched university system. Hasan believed, maybe even sincerely, that the public examinations at the end of class 10 would be the last occasion a majority of school children read text books. A majority of 16-year-olds, he believed, would either join the labour market or undertake some job-oriented vocational training. The remainder would go on to a more scholastic education and only the top layer of the 18-year-olds would enter universities.
Needless to say, it hasn’t quite worked out the way Hasan imagined. To cope with the problem of supply exceeding demand, employers simply raised the entry-level requirements. Today, for example, a class 12 pass is the minimum requirement for a police constable and a bus driver. Hasan imagined it would be class 10 pass. The result is that the schooling system has to cope with two very different sets of demands. There are those who just want a certificate that will make them eligible for menial jobs and there are those who want schools to prepare them for university. Balancing the two is at the best of times difficult but they have been made doubly complicated by political pressure. To prevent the established middle classes from being the natural beneficiaries of a scholastic system where the quality of schools and teachers play a major part, Governments were forced to establish a system of equivalence. In plain language this involved the creation of an examination system where the advantages of social origin would be nullified and the students of a cash-strapped Government school would not feel disadvantaged.
In practice this meant that students would no longer be tested for their critical faculties, their ability to handle knowledge and their creative acumen. These, it was believed, would place students from better-off backgrounds at an advantage. Instead, it was felt that rote-learning and increased weightage on modularisation would be the great leveller because it lessened the subjective element in evaluation. To lessen the disparity in English language skills, for example, the thrust was no longer on the use of idiomatic language but on the ability to regurgitate a defined pattern of usage. Indeed, those students who have an easy command over English and are in the habit of reading books have often been marked down against those who know their text books inside out.
The trauma suffered by children preparing for board examinations is not on account of the hard work they have to put in. The disorientation is caused by the sheer mindlessness of the learning process and the equivalence process inherent in the evaluation.
In an ideal world, the authorities should have approached the problem by trying to secure better schools, better trained teachers, innovative pedagogy and more opportunities for bright kids from deprived social backgrounds. Rajiv Gandhi had the right idea when he started the Navodaya Vidyalayas in district towns. Sibal should have focussed his attention on a mushrooming of such schools of excellence throughout the land, particularly in the poorer regions. Instead, he has taken an easy way out by proposing to make the class 10 board exam voluntary. This is not going to solve the problem. Instead, the proposal to make school education uniform and regulated by one authority is certain to add to mindlessness. With one board, the challenges of diversity are going to be compounded by the problems of volume-a recipe for even more modularisation.
The paradox of India is its great unevenness. The education system tries to balance the brilliant, the plodder, the mediocre and the sub-standard under one roof. The result is an inevitable levelling down process. It is time politicians recognise that different levels of attainment cannot be accommodated under one roof. To be meaningful, to cater to the requirements of a dynamic, modern and increasingly globalised economy, and to satisfy the growing aspirations of an ambitious population, the one-size-fits-all approach has to be junked.
India is in need of a binary system which has to be sufficiently open-ended to accommodate social diversity. The country needs skills, but it also needs the ability to transform information into knowledge. If higher education has been defined by its centres of excellence, school education must have its share of the same.
(This article was first published in The Pioneer on June 28, 2009.)
Fresh Challenges for BJP
by Sudipto Das
As days pass by the challenges for BJP to strike back are getting tougher. Fresh challenges are cropping up as the UPA government is taking newer steps in desirable direction. But that’s indeed a healthy scenario because now the opposition has a higher goal in front of them. Like it’s always more challenging, and satisfying too, to become the first boy in a class of all bright students, it can be a really cherishing coming back to power for the BJP because of the competition from a rejuvenated Congress after the decisive victory in 2009 elections.
Coming to power in the 1990s for BJP against a decaying Congress and coming back to power now against a fresh Congress are not the same thing. Nevertheless, it’s indeed a positive sign. At the end of it the country would be benefitted with a better and stronger opposition and alternative in future. It’s same as that of a fiercely competitive market where the consumer is finally benefitted by the constant improvement of the quality of the products from competing companies.
In the 1990s both the bottom and the middle of the pyramid of Indian population were equally frustrated with the complacence, misgovernance and corruption of successive Congress governments. The emergency, the anti Sikh riots and the Bofors scam were still not things of distant past. The constant and brazen appeasement of the minority community for years by the Congress had also alienated them from the majority class, who by no way were communal. At that point of time BJP came up with fresh hopes for everything better not only for the educated people, but also for the ‘Aam Aadmi’.
Very ironically this very section of the voters turned their back to BJP in the recent election. But the reason is little different. Over the decade the aspirations of the people have changed.
People had already tasted prosperity since the days of NDA rule. Buoyed by the strong wind of the global economic boom the subsequent UPA government had limited chances to stop India’s growth. One had to be really dumb to stop the natural growth and prosperity that India was enjoying out if inertia of the high-speed global economy.
It’s no longer a mystery how Lalu Prasad Yadav turned around the fortunes of Indian Railways. Driven by the initial ground work done by Nitish Kumar, the previous Railway Minister, and the buoyant economy, anyone else also might have turned the Indian Railways around.
The perception of the UPA government being in favour of ‘Aam Aadmi’ was also created without much of effort. The ‘Aam Aadmi’ saw prosperity not because of the fact that the UPA government did something extra ordinary. The natural growth of Indian GDP, in lines with the flourishing world economy, bore the fruits of development for the ‘Aam Aadmi’ too. On top of that a few further gimmicks like loan waiving and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme added more to the perception. Hence, surprisingly, the anti incumbency wave was quite low against the ruling government.
All this itself had made the task for BJP to come back quite challenging. To add more to the challenge, UPA has started taking some steps that can’t be ruled out as just gimmicks.
The recent induction of Nandan Nilekani into the cabinet as the overall boss of the National ID project is one such act. It’s a very well thought plan.
The UPA government could have inducted any one of the Ambanis, or a Godrej or the Tata or someone else for the same job and still it would have worked out quite well. But no one else, than Nandan Nilekani, is looked upon as an ideal by anyone who is educated and hails from the middle class and who is young - someone who represents, or would be representing, India in the very near future. In Nandan Nilekani’s own words, India’s best asset at this point of time is her ‘demographic dividend’ coming from this huge chunk of educated, urbanized, middle class people. A few years back also this ‘dividend’ was not considered that big a thing either in business of politics.
Nandan Nilekani’s story, along with that of Narayan Murthy’s, is something that anyone with limited means but unlimited vision and ambition and passion can associate with. He comes from a middle class family without any golden connection as is the case with majority of Indians. He achieved everything in life by his sheer credibility and the favourable economic conditions of India - something that majority of Indians would also aspire of. His is an inspiring story that can raise hopes among the majority of Indians - but not the stories of the Tata or an Ambani or a Godrej.
Narayan Murthy has described this event as important as Sam Pitrada’s telecom revolution and Swaminathan’s Green Revolution. Inducting someone like Nandan Nilekani into the cabinet is a master stroke that can endear the UPA government to the majority of educated, urban, middle-class Indians, who are going to be the main driving force of our country over the next few decades.
I see this as a fresh challenge to the opposition. BJP has to come up with strategies that will align with the future class that would yield ‘demographic dividend’ to our country. This class no longer would be ‘Aam Aami’ staying in the hinterland of India waiting for a ‘White Tiger’ to become a ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. This class, again in Nandan Nilekani’s own words, would be the one that would change the way politics is looked at and the way our country has been functioning. This class can’t be ignored or crushed. The system has to change as per their aspirations. Anyone who is not aligned with this new system would perish and anyone who goes with them will cherish the fruits of ‘demographic dividends’. So it’s high time that BJP gets aligned with this new ‘White Tiger’.
Sudipto blogs at http://sudiptounplugged.blogspot.com
On Education
Pratap Bhanu Mehta writes about Kapil Sibal’s proposed education system revamp in Indian Express:
The HRD ministry’s 100-day plan has provoked the academic community out of its stupor. Many of the proposals — on connectivity, infrastructure, upgrading curriculum, independent regulation, etc — are unexceptionable. But the frenzy of proposals raises questions about the clarity over what is being proposed. The revolutionary fervour on display is indeed admirable. But more needs to be done to assure us that this is a revolution that understands the conditions under which it can be successful. Otherwise the revolution may turn more into a slash and burn exercise.
…Many of Sibal’s proposals seem to be working at cross purposes. The logic of autonomy, diversity, experimentation and differentiation is very different from the logic of centralisation, standardisation, excessive curricularcoordination and a single national system. The difficulty is that we seem to want the former outcomes with instruments designed for the latter system. The success of the revolution will not be the bold pronouncement; it will depend on who takes it forward with care, clarity and consistency.
What do you think?
What is Centre-Right?
There has been a lot of discussion between BJP following a centre-right path. But what exactly does that mean? An editorial in the Financial Express recently (June 16) tried to address this issue:
The traditional Western notion—a centre-right party shows more faith in markets, prefers small government, dislikes welfarism and is comfortable with business—will need modifications, given political realities. For one, the government’s minimal role in a country like India is considerably bigger than that in advanced industrial economies. Second, the articulation of that role is being done reasonably effectively by the Congress, leaving the BJP not enough room for product differentiation. Theoretically, the BJP can critique wasteful government. But India’s political economy will reward suppliers of somewhat effective government more than it will punish polished critiques of big government. The same problem applies in taking the classical centre-right position on welfarism in India. Indeed, and to give credit where it’s due, the BJP sort of understands this, which is why its election manifesto differed from the Congress’s only in details, not in broad political economic approach.
What Next (after the National Executive)
Kanchan Gupta offers some thoughts on the way forward:
This whole differentiation of ‘moderate’, ’soft’ and ‘hard’ Hindutva makes little sense. Hindtuva needs to be seen as a concept, an idea, the core of the party’s belief and the base of its political positioning. The moment it begins to label Hindutva, it suggests a certain discomfort with everything that this idea stands for.
There are some in the party who believe that to be one with ‘Young India’ they must ape the worst trait that manifests itself in urban India among those who feel embarrassed about being an Indian and describe themselves as ‘global citizens’, which is no more than an imaginary identity as opposed to an identity rooted in the soil of your motherland. Hence, the effort to disown and distance yourself from Hindutva.
Young India, we must note, lives not only in cities but in villages and district towns. That Young India is not yet a deracinated lot.
The ‘aspirations’ that are often referred to in connection with issues the BJP should address to widen its support base cannot exclude Hindu aspirations, especially the aspiration to be treated with honour and dignity in Hindu majority India. This is not about crude majoritarianism but the majority’s right not to be treated shabbily and with contempt.
Similarly, the BJP should get rid of its diffidence for being seen as a ‘Right-wing party’. Or else it should either disband of fashion itself as a clone of the Congress, a ‘B’ team, so to say. There is no halfway house on this front. To be ‘Right’ does not mean to be wrong. Nor is conservative or ‘Right-wing’ politics ‘unenlightened’.
BJP Needs to be Reinvented
From an editorial in Mint:
Bereft of a coherent set of ideas, the BJP today can only rely on “anti-incumbency” and other electoral displeasures against the ruling coalition for success.
Rejuvenating the BJP
Ashok Malik writes in Hindustan Times:
For the BJP, there is no quick route out of the mess. A start can be made by insisting on a rigorous, transparent internal election to choose the next president. Let candidates tour the country, canvass among MPs and state units and sell their visions of the BJP. This will throw up a president who will, at the very least, have legitimacy and the moral authority to discipline, streamline and shape the party.
The alternative is to let a small cabal dictate a negotiated choice. As the experience of the past three years has shown, this is a recipe for intrigue and private sponsorship, not for rejuvenation.
Political Resolution passed by BJP
This is the full-text of the political resolution passed by the BJP at the party’s National Executive meet on June 20-21.
The results in the recently concluded Lok Sabha election has not been as per our expectations. We accept the people’s verdict with humility. The BJP went before the people of the country on the issues of good and effective governance, development and security. In many States of the country whether ruled by the BJP by itself or in alliance with other Political Parties, the results were indeed commendable while in some States it was satisfactory. Karnataka, Chhatisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh gave us assurance that the people therein trusted the BJP in a convincing manner. There are States where the performance was poor while in many States the Party could not win even a single seat. Obviously, there has been shortcomings, which the Party needs to address. We have to acknowledge, identify and rectify these with a very open mind. We have seen many ups & downs in our political journey and with its inherent inner strength the BJP will certainly overcome it once again.
Victory and defeat are part of the electoral process, yet the Indian democracy has emerged as the clear winner. The BJP conveys its gratitude to the people of the country for the support they have given to the Party in different parts of the country. The Party would earnestly and sincerely perform the role of a constructive and effective main Opposition Party in the Parliament which has been assigned to it. The people have through their verdict favoured stability and also expressed an unmistakable desire that the National Parties need to become stronger. The country has significantly moved towards a bipolar polity. We do not subscribe to the view that regional Parties have no place in National politics or, they are obstacle to growth as Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh once observed. Yet, the people have rejected clearly the self serving ideas of a third front.
However, it is important to emphasise that a victory arising out of primarily the need for stability ought not to be misconstrued. The newly elected Government must now deliver and address the pressing problems of price rise, economic and agricultural slow-down, unemployment, national security and others. Wherever, the Government would be seen as protecting the interest of the nation and advancing the interest of common people, the BJP would extend full and constructive support, wherever, it is found to be remiss the Party would caution the Government and wherever, it is found to be deviating and indifferent, the BJP would criticise and oppose. Let the Government do its duty and the BJP will do its own. By performing our respective duties it is time to rededicate ourselves to the consolidation of Indian democracy and enhance the power and prestige of India.
The BJP is a Party with a distinct nationalist ideology and its whole approach in politics has been governed primarily by the lofty idea that India becomes a powerful, prosperous and secure nation. We need to draw inspiration from our profound civilisational, cultural and spiritual heritage, address the issues of the present with transparent commitment and good governance and lay the foundation of a very strong and resurgent future. Such a guiding political philosophy has been handed down to us by Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukarjee and Pt. Deen Dayal Upadhyay. We are indeed proud of this legacy. Theocracy or, any form of bigotry is alien to our ethos. Hinduism or, Hindutva is not to be understood or, construed narrowly confined only to religious practices or expressed in extreme forms. It is indeed related to the culture and ethos of the people of the India, depicting the way of life of the Indian people. It is therefore, inclusive representing the finest imprints of our cultural and civilisational ideas. This profound concept is the real inspiration for a resurgent India with which the BJP is proud to be associated with. Giving equal treatment to all regardless of their personal faith is integral to this idea. This distinguishing feature apart from its extraordinary record of governance sets the BJP apart from Congress and other Political Parties. The BJP reiterates its commitments to these ideas.
Issue of national security continue to cause serious concern. The comment of the Prime Minister of Pakistan that “Kashmir is a root cause of continuing terrorism” is a chilling response to the consistent claim of the Government that its diplomatic initiative has brought Pakistan on track. If what is happening outside our borders gets carried inside then India will never be secure. Taliban in Pakistan Huji in Bangladesh, Maoist in Nepal and the developments in Sri Lanka complete the disturbing circle of our neighbourhood. Their agents and cells continue with their terrorist design in our country. The Government must translate its declaration of zero tolerance against terrorism into meaningful, effective and purposive action. The way in which the Gujarat Law against organised crime has been returned again by the Central Government is not the right way to fight terror. Such a law is permissible in a Congress ruled State like Maharashtra but a nearly similar provision for the State of Gujarat is not to be allowed; only shows the double standards. The BJP demands that the trial of all those involved in the Mumbai terror attack must be expeditious and time bound and the guilty must be punished. Many shortcomings in the conduct of the Police and the Administration during the attack has been pointed out by the Pradhan Committee. The BJP demands that the same be made public. The BJP condemns the continuing attack on Indian students in Australia. It is high time the Government must take stringent diplomatic measures in this regard and ensure the safety of Indians in Australia. China is again raising its claim over Arunachal Pradesh in various international forums. The BJP demands that this be treated with utmost seriousness. Arunachal Pradesh is and would continue to remain an integral part of India. There are fresh reports of Chinese incursions on the border areas near Laddakh. The BJP demands that the Government must take the nation into confidence about the real situation. The renewed attack by naxalites in different parts of the country immediately after the new Government has taken only highlights once again that it is an All India problem. Now we hear reports that terrorist and Maoist are also having some coordination. Lalgarh in West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Orissa Jharkhand are facing renewed threat from naxalites. There has to be a unified and coordinated response both by the Centre and different States. The Union Government must take prompt steps in this regard. In Assam in the NC Hills many villages have been burnt an people killed. The Assam Government has shown a callous indifference in protecting the people. The Government must come with adequate response in controlling extremism in the North-East.
The BJP is very clear that the interest of Indian farmers and farm produce be properly safeguarded in the World Trade Negotiations. Though, inflation has come in the negative yet the food inflation remains very high. The suffering of the common man must be stopped. The BJP also demands that the Jharkhand Assembly be dissolved forthwith and election be held at the earliest.
The BJP is a Party with a mission and the mission is to make India a great country realising its full potential in various fields - an India that draws inspirations from its heritage and yet is modern in its thinking tuned to the needs of changing times. The BJP wishes to work with the people of India with renewed vigour for the gigantic task of re-energising and repositioning India consistent with the mission and destiny of India as a nation. The Party appeals to its workers to rededicate themselves in this large mission.
Elections 2009: Read the Fine Print
by GVL Narasimha Rao
Media analysis of the 15th Lok Sabha election results has largely been aimed at forcing certain perceptions that have no empirical evidence. There have been analyses on how the surge in the Congress’s tally heralds a nationwide revival of the party. The Congress’s national vote share has gone up only marginally from 26.5 per cent in 2004 to 28.6 per cent in 2009. Curiously, the vote share of 28.6 per cent secured by the Congress in 2009 is almost the same as what it got in 1999 (28.3 per cent) when it got its lowest-ever tally of 114 seats in the general elections.
How could one say that the Congress has revived nationally when its national vote share has only increased marginally? Further, even as the party has gained in terms of votes in seven states — Punjab, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Uttarakhand — it has lost votes by more than 3 percentage points in a number of them (such as Orissa. Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh). UP is the only state where the Congress has shown real signs of revival with the party’s vote share going up by an impressive 6 per cent.
The other myth doing the rounds is that the Congress has an enhanced appeal among metropolitan voters due to its forward-looking policies, as well as the appeal of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh among the educated middle classes, and the ‘youth appeal’ of Rahul Gandhi among the young voters. This has no electoral proof. The Congress’s vote share in metropolitan constituencies has virtually remained the same, 30.7 per cent in 2004 and 30.4 per cent in 2009. Therefore, the premise that the new generation of urban voters with increased prosperity and greater opportunities finds the Congress more attractive and in sync with their aspirations has no basis.
This notion is coloured by the electoral performance of the party in the cities of Delhi and Mumbai. While the Congress did creditably well in Delhi, its victory in Mumbai has less to do with the imaginary enhanced appeal of the party and more to do with the emergence of Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) as a spoiler for the BJP-Shiv Sena combine.
If the Congress’s revival is not the reason for its stupendous success in the polls, what factors have contributed to its victory? The party benefited primarily from the decline and division in the vote share of its opponents. The fall in the vote of the BJP in a number of states; huge negative swings against regional parties like the Telugu Desam Party (8 per cent), the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (7 per cent) and the Samajwadi Party (4 per cent); the emergence of new parties like the Prajarajyam Party in Andhra Pradesh; the rise of the MNS in Maharashtra and the break-up of the BJP-Biju Janata Dal alliance in Orissa have all contributed to the Congress’s gains even as it suffered vote losses. In UP, it secured 21 of the 80 seats, even though it polled only 18 per cent of the popular vote. What helped the Congress in UP was the favourable distribution of votes — concentrated in a few pockets — that helped the party to translate its fewer votes into seats.
It is a given that the Congress has won this election comprehensively. The scale of the Congress’s success has astounded everyone, including party bigwigs. The ‘wave’ in favour of the Congress, however, was invisible — because there wasn’t any.
It is the failure of the BJP and other parties to hold their own that caused the BJP’s defeat; not because of a serious challenge from the Congress. This should be the message for parties like the BJP.
G.V.L. Narasimha Rao is a BJP political analyst.
(This article was first published in Hindustan Times on June 23, 2009.)