In India, there seems to be no social gathering in North Indian states, which might dent the narrative pushed by PM Modi

Prime Minster Narendra Modi, proper, greets Nitish Kumar, left throughout a marketing campaign forward of Bihar state Meeting elections. in Patna (AP)

Each election can have a winner and a loser, however each election might go away a nation extra divided than it was earlier than. That appears to be the lesson thrown up by the presidential election in the US in addition to the state Meeting elections in Bihar.

By-elections are a special matter. There was a time when a number of by-elections in a state had been a take a look at of the incumbent authorities’s efficiency and acceptability. Now not. In by-elections immediately, the ruling social gathering begins with an enormous benefit as a result of it instructions each energy and cash. The voters in a by-election appear to suppose ‘What the heck, let’s vote for the ruling social gathering, at the least we might get our work carried out’. Work right here might stand for a hand pump or a highway or a sarkari job for one’s kin. The asking and giving of a vote are purely transactional.

North-South Distinction

Normal elections are a greater take a look at. Kerala has settled on a sample. The folks of Kerala assist two fronts — the LDF and UDF — and elect them in alternate elections. It has been so since 1980. In Tamil Nadu, it was so since 1989, till the AIADMK below Jayalalithaa broke the sample in 2016 in opposition to the DMK, below an ailing M Karunanidhi. Punjab had a sample just like Kerala till it was damaged in 2012.

Within the states of North India, from Gujarat to Bihar, the BJP has displaced the Congress because the dominant social gathering. Within the Southern states (Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, and the UT of Puducherry), the regional events maintain sway aside from Karnataka. The Congress, CPI(M) and CPI in Kerala behave, and are regarded extra, as Kerala-specific regional events than the state models of nationwide events.

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Ethno-nationalism

Let me come again to the ‘divided nation’ phenomenon. The driving power behind the deepening division is ethno-nationalism. Within the US, ethno-nationalism hides base instincts like white supremacy, racial and gender prejudice, and an entrenched suspicion of globalisation. President Donald Trump may get away with outrageous choices like repudiation of NAFTA, strolling out of the Paris Accord, denying US financial contributions to the United Nations, WHO and WTO, denigrating NATO and many others. Sober reflection will reveal that every a kind of choices was dangerous to the US’s pursuits; nonetheless ethno-nationalism prevailed.

In India, ethno-nationalism hides intolerant instincts like Hindu supremacy, higher caste dominance, animosity in the direction of minorities, Dalits and Pakistan, and protectionism. No nation can change into a developed nation — and definitely not a wealthy nation — by preserving one-half or extra of its inhabitants poor, discriminated in opposition to and disadvantaged. No nation can dedicate enough sources for growth whether it is in a state of hostility with its neighbours. No nation can change into a developed nation if it erects protectionist partitions. No nation might be talent-driven if it pulls the shutters down on any sort of immigration in addition to inner migration. Rabindranath Tagore put it succinctly within the following strains of his celebrated poem Gitanjali 35:

“The place the world has not been damaged up into fragments/ By slender home partitions…….

The place the clear stream of cause has not misplaced its method/ Into the dreary desert sand of useless behavior…….. ”

Mr Trump polled 72.three million votes (47.four per cent) and misplaced the election. Regardless of world leaders acknowledging Mr Joe Biden because the President-elect, neither Mr Trump nor his most ardent supporters are in a temper, on the time of this writing, to concede defeat to Mr Biden. In India, regardless of his repeated success in elections, Mr Narendra Modi has not reached out to minorities (particularly Muslims) or Dalits. His relationship with the poor is transactional: vote for me and I offers you electrical energy, bogs, free vaccine in opposition to coronavirus, and many others. There is no such thing as a try and re-imagine India the place each little one can have a world-class training, each household can have work/job that can elevate them properly above the poverty line, and not one of the elements like faith or caste or language will probably be related for governance or participation in governance. There is no such thing as a try and re-imagine India as a contemporary, science & technology-driven, secular, various and open society.

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Counter Narrative Absent

Within the US, an understated Mr Biden was in a position to put throughout, pretty efficiently, his message of ‘therapeutic the divisions, cooperation vs confrontation, a caring State vs laissez faire, and gender and racial equality vs discrimination’. In India, there seems to be no social gathering on the scene, significantly in North Indian states, which might put throughout an alternate message that may dent the narrative pushed by Mr Modi and the BJP/RSS.

My conclusion is that the divisions will proceed and should even deepen within the US in addition to in India. The US will probably be harm, positively socially, however the economic system should still flourish, appeal to funding, create jobs and supply a cushion for the poor. India will probably be badly harm, the society will probably be divided, the economic system will register detached and tepid progress, the poor will stay poor, and financial inequality will enhance.

Within the US, the changers prevailed. In Bihar, the no-changers prevailed by a whisker (37.26 per cent vs 37.23 per cent). Mr Modi has been in energy since 2014 and Mr Nitish Kumar since 2005. Bihar is the poorest state of the nation. If the folks of Bihar have voted for ‘no change’, we should settle for that call, and transfer on.

Editorial | Bihar authorities wants to guard positive aspects of the social justice agenda, deal with problem of financial justice for all

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