Daily Times

The Indian polls of 2019 were most eyed on political happening all over the world that shows the geo strategic importance of the Indian politics. Now, the results of the polls are on the board and BJP won with the thumping majority. The people in Pakistan also followed the elections, like the rest of the world, and our national press has contributed many a good analysis on the out come of 2019 elections of India. Most of the contributors were concerned about the fall of the secular Congress. And the consensus, reached in Pakistan, is that trumpetof Indian nationalism helped Modi and BJP to splash the color of saffron on the Indian map. True. But, most of them ignored the rise of the middle class in the Indian society and it is the major parameter to measure and to come up with the analysis of the recent polls in India.

After the partition, the Indian National Congress remained a dominant political party in the country. The Indian National Congress, since its foundation at the beginning of the 20th century, was held in high esteem among masses for being a radicaland freedom fighter. In 1905 Indian political history witnessed a divide between the moderates led by Gokhale and the extremists led by Bal Gangadhar Tilak, who mobilized Hindu political identity which was highly displayed in the annual Ganapati festivals. Bal Gangadhar Tilak inaugurated the festivals in western India. Moreover, Gandhi’s was questioned by many a Congress leader including Rabindranath Tagore for his endorsement of Khilafat. “The only unfortunate residue of this was perhaps the feelings of entitlement for the minorities.” (Iyer, 2018). Iyer is of the opinion that Nehruvian secularism was inspired by Gandhi’s idea of “how to treat the minorities.” But he took secularism to the new horizon in the 50′.

The proposal to include the word “secularism” in the Preamble of the Constitution of India was dropped on the persuasions of Nehru and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar that “secularism” was enshrined in the spirit of the constitution

The first general election in India, after independence, was held in 1951-52, and, the Congress fought the election with promises to bring a ‘uniform Hindu code.’ (Iyer,2018). Nehrudivided the bill in four subsequent bills to protect the rights of the Indian minorities. Muslims enjoyed the rules of Aurangzeb’s reign in the subsequent bills. Shyama Prasad Mookerjee objected in the parliament that “Nehru would not dare to touch the Muslim community.” The proposal to include the word “secularism” in the Preamble of the Constitution of India was dropped on the persuasions of Nehru and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar that “secularism” was enshrined in the spirit of the constitution. Later, it was Indra Gandhi who got added the word “secularism” in the Preamble with the 42nd amendment after the imposition of the Emergency. The above discussion proposes that the Indian middle class since the foundation of the Indian National Congress was struggling to embrace the Hindu national identity.

The Nehru economic model emphasized an end to poverty, diseases and inequality of opportunities. Nehru was tasked to formulate the “blue print for the economic development much before the country got independence.” (Singh Kuldip, 2012). So, under him the National Planning Committee was formed in 1938. The economic model of the Soviet Union was a great source of inspiration for a “broad spectrum of socialists in many parts of the globe, including colonial India.” The objective of the Soviet economy was a rapid industrialization and “full employment.” Though Nehru never followed the Soviet model like a sedulous ape but his emphasis was on the development in the shortest time. He followed the model of the mixed economy meaning a simultaneous participation of private and public sector. The model manifested his ambition for rapid economic growth of the country. Nehru also strongly believed that country could not sustain on the borrowed money. “His socialist commitment notwithstanding, he didn’t want waste the limited resources of the country for nationalizing existing industries.” (Singh, 2012). Hence, the utmost attention was given to the rapid growth. In 1990s’ India weaned itself from Nehruvian economic model.

Many scholars of the Indian economy are of the view that 1990s’ economic reforms caused glaring inequalities and the statistics also testify the above drawn conclusion.

But the big contribution of 1990s’ reforms couldn’t be ignored. The liberalization of the economy boosted foreign investment in the country and many multinational corporations set up their branch offices in India resulting job opportunities for the skilled labor particularly it brought a boom for the new age wizards of IT/ computer programmers. A new middle class emerged on the scene of the Indian economy.

The Oxford Research Encyclopedia doesn’t define middle class in conclusive definition or boundaries. It is a cultural construct and “therefore, a contingent one that varies over time and context.”

The middle class in colonial India was “a cultural and political project.” The early Indian middle class emulated the progressive middle class in Britain. (DrorWahrman, 1995). The then middle class thought of it as harbinger of modernity and were keen to blend western trends with indigenous thoughts.

Arya Samaj movement was popular among the colonial Indian middle class. The Samaj objective was to create a singular “Arya Dharma” and in today’s vocabulary it can be summed up as popular Hinduism. Vedas were claimed the “foundational text of this revamped Hinduism.” (Kenneth W.Jones, 1976).

The Hindu nationalism, hence, has been the aspiration of the Indian middle class since ages. Benedict Anderson is of the view that nationalist imaginations is a combined “modernity of nation-states with a subjective antiquity.”

In 20th century the Government of India Act of 1909, in fact, strengthened middle class of India to become a decision making bodied. Even some scholars are of the view that non-violent movement of Gandhi is of the middle class which believed in the controlled politics.

In today’s India the considerable middle class is presented in ruralareas. The recent study of Maryam Aslany of King’s College, London uses all inclusive indicators to define the neo Indian middle class which includes skills and credentials, social network and income. Maryam claims that 28% of India’s population is middle class. In urban areas a large segment of the middle class are salaried employees. “More than 32% of the comfortable middle class and more than 23% of the upper middle class are located in rural India.” The indicator for the rural middle class is “the housingaspect” indicator which is based on house ownership and sanitation facilities.

During the Nehruvian economic model the protagonist of the economy was the proletariat of the urban India and farmer was the hero of the rural India for rapid economic growth.You must have watched Manooj Kumar’s chanting of the proletariats in the 70s’ Indian cinema. But now the middle class is the protagonist of India and has decided for Modi to achieve what it aspires since 19th century.

The writer is Professor at English Language Center, Taif University, KSA