Although Arun Jaitley has not
been in the pink of health, he is still an indefatigable blogger for the BJP.
With the use of catchy phrases such as
“manufactured dissent” for those who returned their awards, to the “lies,
short-lived lies and now further lies” of critics of the Rafale deal, to the
CBI’s “investigative adventurism” for a probe of which he did not approve, the
Union finance minister, who could not present this year’s budget because of
indisposition, has been on an overdrive with the expression of views on nearly
all important topics.
His latest is on the National
Statistical Commission’s leaked report on joblessness. Jaitley doesn’t give any
credence to it because such a situation, according to him, would have led to
considerable social unrest. His opinion is obviously based on the belief that
distress and deprivation would automatically lead to an upheaval of the kind
that was seen in Russia and China in the last century.
The social and political scene
in India is different, however, from what it was in those countries in 1917 or
1949. First and foremost, Indian democracy gives the discontented the chance to
change their rulers through the ballot box, which wasn’t possible in Russia or
China.
Secondly, the Indian state is
militarily too strong to be overthrown easily as the insurgents in the
north-east and elsewhere have found out despite the assistance which they may
have received from foreign powers.
And, thirdly, these changes –
the possibility of dethroning would-be dictators by pressing a button on the
voting machines and the government’s military prowess – have made even those
parties which were ideologically committed to a violent upheaval change their
line to a more moderate, parliamentary one. Only the Maoists continue to chase
the chimera of replicating Mao Zedong’s peasant revolution, but with little
success.
It is fatuous to believe, therefore,
that all is quiet because there is no distress. The quietness is due to the
fact that the people are waiting for their next visit to the polling stations.
Besides, since elections at various levels – local bodies, by-polls,
assemblies, even student unions – are taking place almost round the clock, they
give an indication of the mood of hoi polloi, whether they are showing their
unease with the existing dispensation or are satisfied.
It is these straws in the wind
which play a part in assuring those who are politically restive that they may
not have to wait for long before the change desired by them can be brought
about peacefully.
At the same time, it will be
wrong to believe that there hasn’t been any show of discontent. The recent
farmers’ marches in Maharashtra and Delhi, and earlier the violence which took
place in Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh where the farmers were agitating, showed
that anger may be simmering under the surface. There is little doubt that some
of this anger found expression in the BJP’s defeat in the Madhya Pradesh
elections.
The attempts, therefore, by
Jaitley and others in the government to pooh-pooh the statistical commission’s
report about the level of unemployment being the highest in the last four
decades are an unwise endeavour to push inconvenient facts under the carpet.
Even worse, even laughable, is
the assertion by the prime minister’s economic adviser that new official
figures will be put out which will show an increase in employment. What is
evident behind the claim is the Orwellian mindset where a decrease in the price
of a commodity in George Orwell’s futuristic fiction, 1984, changed to an
increase within a day in Big Brother’s regime.
The government’s penchant for
fiddling with the figures has been evident for quite some time as when
Subramanian Swamy, BJP M.P., said that the Central Statistical Organization’s
claim that there was no impact of demonetization on GDP was “bogus”. Not surprisingly,
the agriculture ministry was directed to change for the better its report of an
adverse impact of demonetization on the rural economy.
What Jaitley’s claims in his
writings and the government’s attempt to play hide and seek with the truth
underline is the BJP’s desire to live in a make-believe world where everything
is hunky-dory. The wish is probably motivated by an eagerness to return to the
glory days of the 2014 general election when everything was going swimmingly
for the party.
But now that the underwater
rocks and shoals in the political waters have begun to hamper its journey, the
BJP is quite patently trying to pull the wool over the public’s eyes so that
they do not see what the party does not want them to see.
It is not a tactic, however,
which can stand it in good stead. Very little can be kept under the wraps in an
open society and a federal polity. Since the truth is bound to emerge sooner or
later, it can not only embarrass the prevaricator, but also fatally diminish
his or her stature, especially if the person is in politics or, indeed, in any
other profession. (IPA Service)
The post Arun Jaitley Has Erred On Why There’s No Social Unrest appeared first on Newspack by India Press Agency.
