The Hope for a Liberal Political Alternative

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fWgfaSvlyM Duration: 558.8s

Jayaprakash Narayan (00:05): It’s a great question, Yazad. I keep getting it every day, and the people who would like to see something like Lok Satta, they sometimes are angry with me out of love and affection, but still angry because they believe that they have taken away the option for them in parts of India where we could make that impact. But while I understand their angst, we must understand the reality. Politics is about people’s voice. Vox populi, vox Dei. It’s about the people’s willingness to vote on the day that matters. It’s not what you say in between alone. It’s not your pious proclamations. It’s about political choices. It’s not for any fault of the people of the country, but for a variety of reasons, we created conditions where the people cannot really work in their best interest. When we founded a political party, it was with great reluctance because I’m not a — by now, you would have realized over the past twenty years that I’m not a combative person who tries and fights and isolates and separates people and polarizes them and converts them into war. My temptation, my proclivity, my basic inclination always is to unite people, bring them together, to build harmony, and to see how best we can come together rather than how to exaggerate the differences. Therefore, politics in a normal sense, in a party political sense, partisan sense is not my cup of tea. But after a great deal of internal debate and very public discussion, we have decided to found a political formation because we felt two things. One, that the path for fundamental reform in India is going to be somewhat more difficult without a political formation. While Lok Satta is very lucky, singularly fortunate perhaps in the country and perhaps even in the world in achieving significant outcomes — three constitutional amendments, seven or eight major laws, four or five major policy changes in the country, including some judicial pronouncements and so on and so forth — very few organizations in the world can have that privilege of being able to significantly change at least certain sectors and certain legal frameworks without formal political power. But we could see that there is a limit. The parties in office or out of office, willing to go up to a point but not beyond. The fundamentals of Indian politics and governance, they’re less likely to change because there’s too much of resistance, too much of status quoism and inertia. So we felt that if the political parties, the major parties, see a significant proportion of vote — let us say about 10% of vote — you may not get the seats, and it’s not important. But it could be helpful because we are in the first past the post system. 10% vote will not give you any seats really in most cases, but doesn’t matter. But if 10% vote is consistently available, then the parties are smart enough to recognize that they have to embrace that. And when it’s also good for the country, there’s a perfect synergy. What is good for the country, what’s good for you as a political party. So we wanted to demonstrate that. But the second is, we made an assessment that given India’s partial liberalization by that time and therefore embracing the market principle and the urban middle classes, rising income, some optimism in the country, perhaps 10% vote is there in the country. But our experience taught us that politics at the grassroots level in most parts of India, particularly rural India, is extremely harsh. We all know the problems of money power, freebies, fostering divisions in society for political gain. The three things which are an enigma for any civilized person, an enigma for Lok Satta. I have never ever, even in a most indirect manner, supported these three. I consistently and vociferously opposed and resisted these. And we took a stand that we will never compromise on these for the sake of short term political gain because it’ll then become part of the problem. Some people criticize me for being too rigid and principled. I plead guilty. Future will decide whether my approach is right or wrong. It is too short of duration to be able to say that. What is right? What is wrong? But what we found is that urban India, we are getting 10% vote, metropolitan India in particular. Rural India, we were getting 2% vote, not because people did not know. If you ask about the trust and credibility in the two states of Telugu speaking region — Andhra Pradesh and Telangana — even today, I probably stand tall. Even today, my word is respected as more or less the last word on any issue, on any fundamental issue beyond party politics. The moment there is a crisis and people want to know what is right, what is wrong, when I open my mouth, in general, that is more or less the last word. So it’s not about the credibility or trust. It’s about the political process. The first past the post system, where unless you are seen to be a potential winner, a vote for you is seen as wasted. And second, the immense money power. People take money from both the parties and vote for whomever they like, but without money being transferred to them, the party is not in contention in most cases. Once in a while, an occasional candidate may get a chance. Unless by a miracle you become a second party. A third party disappears for whatever reason. And, of course, the dependence on the political parties and the political machine for the delivery of even the simplest services in rural India in particular. So we realized that we don’t have conditions for reformist forces to become politically powerful. But it happens in urban India where — Delhi, for instance. The reason why Delhi, there could be some beginning of change, whether you like the change fully or not, liberal — illiberal — but it’s definitely an attempt to try and transform politics, an attempt in the right direction, an attempt to gather votes without money power, and focusing on education, health care, and service delivery free from corruption. I think we should welcome that. And it could happen because there is a powerful local government by Indian standards there because of historical accident. Delhi’s chief minister is India’s most empowered mayor, less empowered than mayors of any other city in all the civilized countries in the world, but more empowered than any mayor of India. Though the power is limited, it is definite. It’s real. People could see that there is a link between the vote they give and the consequences to their lives, not some Bharat Mata. And therefore, the impulse for change could be translated into vote. And any liberal who wants change through political vote must recognize that. To me, there are three things we should focus on if you’re serious about this pursuit. One, how to completely democratize the political parties? Because you can’t always form a new political party and make it viable. Believe me, it’s an incredibly hard thing, and it’s very unlikely to work in most parts of the world most of the time. Very occasionally, because of unique set of circumstances, it may work. But in general, it is not possible to found a political party and make it work anywhere in the world. Therefore, changing the existing dominant political parties is the key. Internal democracy in the parties, in the choice of candidates and the choice of leadership, in particular, these two things. That’s critical — fight for that. Then all the party workers, they’re a vast majority. They’re the palanquin bearers. They are the people who have the flag. They are the workers of the party. Without them, there’s no party. They all become your allies. They’re not your enemies. So fight for them. It may take some time. The second is fight for local government. At least some degree of empowerment like in Delhi, at least in urban India, at least in cities, if not elsewhere. Because rural India, even if you have local empowerment, the scale and the flight of talent and the lack of resources and the complete dependence and poverty — in all those conditions, to make democracy much more mature overnight is harder. But urban India must lead the way. And the third is fight for the electoral system which will make it easier. It should not be so hard and so painstaking to fight for the right things for the constitutional values and the same electoral system. And once you fight for these things and fight on specific issues, there’ll be opportunities opening up in cities, in some of the important cities, and seize them. Let’s see how it goes. But don’t have illusions that there’s going to be a dramatic political change in a sense of the party coming to power overnight in many parts of the country given the existing systemic rigidities.