The curse of the apologetic liberal

By M H Ahssan

Every time one of us (liberal, secular types) objects to some doings of the Hindutva religious right wing, several non-secular voices rise in outrage. What, you criticised the BJP but what about the terrible doings of the Congress. So, faced with this loud angry barrage, the liberal seculars are forced to become apologists for the Congress and its misdoings.

And yet, this us versus them, black versus white, one party against the other is only a manifestation of the fascist mind. It is possible, in fact, to disapprove of both the BJP and the Congress. It's just that that disapproval is a matter of degrees.

For instance, the divisive, hate-filled, "other"-bashing character of the BJP is particularly offensive to some of us. The fact that they might build roads or bridges does not ameliorate their incipient fascism. On the other side of this right-wing hard line, you have the left wing hard line. As we saw in Nandigram and Singrur, the left did not cover itself with glory in the way it dealt either with industrialists, farmers' pleas or workers' rights. But lefties -- though not commies -- do show considerably more concern for the common man or woman and for human rights. Liberal policies to do with social causes have been pursued more vigorously by lefties than anyone else.

The Congress remains as a god-knows-what party, all things to all people. It had the opportunity to build upon what it started with after Independence but it got distracted along the way. In essence it remains an umbrella body, where the parts are at variance with the sum.

After this, we are left with a veritable rash of other political positions. Actually, they are not positions as much as lobbying groups, each clamouring to draw attention to their particular caste or creed or region or language and so on. They have no larger picture in mind.

All this leaves the liberal secular who is clearly not religious right wing or left wing, is suspicious of the middle and does not gain from belonging to a particular caste, creed, region or language, with a peculiar dilemma. She or he cannot find someone who is interested in a vibrant, strong, dynamic country which has the space for all points of view, which is not full of hate for particular communities, where society is equitable and fair and not based on a tissue of lies and half-promises and which does not have an economic policy which will take us back at least one century. And, dare I say it, someone who is interested in development for all including or especially the forgotten and downtrodden.

It sounds naïve, I know. It sounds out of sync with the reality of India, where hatred, divisiveness, parochialism, casteism and orthodoxy have more potential political virtue over boring stuff. Yet it seems to me that election after election in India, the people want the boring stuff. They want to be able to get on with their lives and the government to let them do that with some measure of comfort. The reason, the world over, why the right wing tends to better off than the rest of society is that most of them have reached a certain level of comfort, the level that gives them the time and space to look around suspiciously at everyone else, cut taxes for the rich and indulge in cronyism.

Liberals, unfortunately, being full of the milk of human kindness for everyone, end up being wishy-washy and not emphatic enough. They too are fairly well-off, but for some strange reason do not feel full of hatred for others. The right wing of course sees this as a weakness.

The fact that between numbers varying from 60 to 40 per cent across the country did not vote is, I think, a sign of progress. The non-voters could well have been people who are not hate-filled right-wingers or adamant left-wingers who don't like the middle options because of historical wrongs and are not bothered by caste, language and regional affiliations. Maybe they're just liberals looking for representation?