Change – Obama in US, Who in India?

"It is time for Change". "Experience required for bringing about that change". These are some of the captivating slogans from the words wash of the ongoing American presidential race. For an Indian following that electrifying campaign it is hard not to clash head on sometime during his/her darshan before the television with the inevitability of comparing it with our own politics.

Our general elections are round the corner and the question arising in our minds is why aren't we clamouring for Change? Is there anyone in the political spectrum that is willing to stand up for change?

Both the United States and we are products of independence struggles against colonialism, both are democracies, both have had the good fortune of having visionaries for founding fathers, and both have constitutions which have stood the test of times. Good mutually gratifying company by any standards, one might say, without wronging anybody's perception of either country.

It is these similarities that make the dissimilarities between us all the more glaring. While we are democratic like the super power, our politics is far from any semblance of democratic behavior yet. Barack Obama has sensed a general shift away from race considerations, albeit not racism per se, in his country and it is this feeling which spurs him to go the whole hog as a hopeful for the Democrats' nomination. His victory in Iowa where the voters were almost all white justified that confidence and heralded a new realization that race as an issue in America indeed does not gel as much as it once did.

This is a watershed beginning of a new era in that nation's politics because it has let it be known to one and all involved in the business of politics there that they better talk about more immediate issues like taxes, savings, retirement benefits, insurance cover, education, and health care and stick to them if they want to make a mark on the people's minds. In short America's political market has shown there is no buyer for race issues anymore.

I am not referring to the ordinary change from an incumbent party to another party. What I am referring to is change in our thoughts when we go to the booths, like embrace of Cosmopolitanism; the shedding of traditional ideas of weak federalism represented by the Congress and fascist cultural nationalism represented by the BJP? In short, real change would mean the separation of the State and Nation, a state which will not view itself as representing this culture or that.

Are we ready to bang the stamp on the ballot as Indians or will we once again look for the candidate's caste, religion, culture, language, muscle power, his/her weight in gold, and other similar considerations. Like they say, Change does not come easy. It has to be earned.

Change was almost at the threshold waiting to be ushered in, when Emergency caused the Congress to slip for the first time after Independence, but it was soon reduced to just a major event and nothing more. It was not allowed to percolate to the grassroots of our political thought or process; instead casteism became entrenched as the fulcrum on which would rock India's seesaw politics. Real Change that the people had hoped for and voted for failed to take hold.

Jana Sanghis, who were untouchables in the grand alliance against Congress, devised a strategy to capture power by alienating and demeaning Indian Muslims as outside of national culture. This would mean rallying around some religious issue to raise Hindu emotions to such a pitch that common Hindus will begin to view Muslims as indeed outsiders. The Jana Sanghis hoped to, and indeed succeeded, in polarizing the Indian polity, at least in the Hindi belt, between those who were for Hindutva and those who were Muslims. Men like Advani played a very negative role in this process when he took his Rath Yatra for a non-cause such as the Babri Masjid/Ram Mandir.

All this meant that Indian politics was marred by silly issues like Muslim bogey, Casteism, Ram Mandir and the odd social issues arising from the Muslim Personal Law.

It meant core issues of bread and butter, employment, social spring, etc were in danger of getting sidelined. Even today if it was not for the people of this country who saw through the Parivar's dangerous ploys, the nation would have been engulfed in a communal frenzy like we witnessed in Gujarat under Modi. The growth we are today experiencing would not have happened.

However, we cannot rest complacent that such forces have been defeated, which is why real change in the political psyche of the nation has to be brought about. The focus should be on further consolidation of our economic achievements, reducing poverty, raising education standards, bringing clean drinking water to all citizens of the country, sanitation, and overall prosperity.

If we want to harness today's achievements as propulsion fuel for more rapid growth and prosperity in the future and catch up with our many rivals in the fast expanding universe of growing economies, then we have to be ready to bring about this drastic Change.

We will be deceiving ourselves if we think our political class will bell the cat, because it is not in its interest to see that it happens. On the other hand Intellectuals, students, technocrats, bloggers, and one and all have a role to play in this.

The forthcoming elections should be fought for a Real Paradigm Shift Change as the nation prepares to take off from its new found status of a rising economic power house and a big player in international affairs.

Khwaja Massoud