Indians bored with politics of ideology. Populism speaksfrom Modi to Kejriwal – ThePrint

Vichardhara kya hai tumhari(What is your ideology?)I had askedto a group of 18-year-old boysthatI met at Jaunpur during my recent election travel. Theyreplied,woh kaun dekhta haihum toh vote Modi-Yogi ko denge.Its not like they didnt know what the word ideology meant, theydid muddle about Hindutva and Hindu Rashtra;its just that they dont need to apply any ideology to shape their political musings. Rather for them,their attachment to politics is moulded by their personal instinctsand liking to the leader, Modi ji, and their way of politicking.

Something similar had happened at a family functioninmy mothers village in Rajasthan. Election talks of Uttar Pradesh and Punjab had stirred the conversation to Rajasthanassemblyelections of 2023.Politics ofRajasthanhas always been dominated by eithertheCongress ortheBJP. So, it was a little shocking when some of the cousins mentioned AAP as their preference. When I inquiredwhy,they had no definite answer. One said bahut ho gaya Vasundhra aur Gehlot,Rajasthan needs change while for the other,it was the pull of Arvind Kejriwal and his clean image.

Par haan desh ke liye, hamesha Modi ji, I was reminded as a matter of fact, by my cousins, in case I took them as anti-Modi supporters.

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The public discourse has become devoid of the nuances that once used to fascinateand gripthe ideological narrative. The public of today, particularly the young and the restless, have lost patience and their desire is for instant politics, like instant noodles. As suchthe political behavior of the voter has undergone a change. Gone are the days when over cups of tea andcharcha,election manifestos would be discussed. Gone are the days when loyalty to a party would be based on ideology, policiesand performance. Inthetime of WhatsApp and social media,nobody wants to read those boring manifestoswith big ideas anymore. Their demand is for instant benefits, for freebies. They want snappy videos of castigation, of politicians of other parties being presented in poor demeaning light.

People wanta nayakto relate to, amahanayakwho adds zing to the narrative, andakhalnayakfor entertainment and sneering.

HaveIndias traditional ideological clashes faded out in these newer times? Have weenteredthe post-ideological times? Or is the new -ism of New Indiapopulism?

Populism hasbarely everbeenconsideredorused as an alternative to ideology to understand the phenomena of Narendra Modi and his politics.When Aatish Taseer wrote an article in theTime Magazinein 2019 Of the great democracies to fall to populism, India was the firsthe had faced the wrath of the Modi Sarkar.

In 2004, a young Dutch political scientist named Cas Mudde publishedThe Populist Zeitgeist, a paper that proposed a new and concise definition of populism. He defines populism firstasthe idea where society is separated into two groups,at odds with one another the pure people, understood to be fundamentally good and the corrupt elite, understood to be fundamentally corrupt and out of touch with everyday life.As per the second definition,populists believe that politics should be an expression of the general will a set of desires presumed to be shared as common sense by all ordinary people.

If weapplythis theory tounderstandthe newer politicaldiscoursethat has been shaping India, apicture emerges.

In 2014,Narendra Modi made the Prime Ministerial appeal as a humble candidate with no strings attached, having an ordinary background with rootsina poor family. Proclaiming himself aschaiwala,kaamdaar, and achowkidaar(in 2019),Modi tapped into the sentiments of thepeople. He launched attacks on the Congress, saying they are a party ofnaamdaarswho were born with a silver spoon in their mouth.Dynasticpolitics thus became a depraved term. So high was the rhetoric that a narrative was set which was emotional in its political toneand excitingin the rhetoric, thereby giving Modi his first thumping win in 2014. A narrativethathas beenrepeatedly put to usein multipleassembly electionssince then. And five years later, in 2019,it became onlylarger, encompassing the expression of the general will.

Today,the moodis at its zenith,incessantly being cultivated, of Hindus being persecuted in their own land, and becoming more righteous postThe Kashmir Files. Narendra Modi (along with Yogi Adityanath) has imbued into the conscience of the people that if there is anybody who can keep India safe from invaders (Pakistan) it is them. Adding to it the belief of the parent organisation of making India a Hindu Rashtra, Narendra Modi has invincibly become the common sense of the people.

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But its not just Modi, Arvind Kejriwaltoois fast becoming aformidablecontenderin national politics. Today,Kejriwal has a following in Rajasthan where his party has no visibility, where the local journalists claim that it will take another election (maybe by 2028) to establish ground in the mind and heart of Rajasthan.Butthe mood is already brewing forhim.

Kejriwals AAP is a classic political example of the post-ideological times. A party which is devoid of ideology or political leanings, minus any caste, creed or identity politics, yet has managed to fill the vacuum of the other alternative. To establishhimselfin politics,Kejriwalclung to the ideas and ideals of Mahatma Gandhi, donning thetopiofaam aadmi. But when the mood changed, Gandhi was replaced by Bhagat Singh and withtopicame the recitation ofHanuman Chalisa. Swaying with the time,Kejriwal filled the dots of not becoming an -ism of any traditional ideology artfully. He offers free electricity and employment to counter Modisfree ration, he takes upon corruption to counter Modis parivarvaadattackand to counter the Gujarat Model,Kejriwal has developed a Delhi Model thus sweeping the state of Punjab.

AAP, akin to BJP of Modi, has become a political party of newer times, built for a crowd that jiggles and thrives on boisterous cult personalities.

Along with job, money, security,jantaalso craves forflamboyanceand sloganeering like Bulldozer Baba,Modi haitomumkin hai, double-engine sarkar. It is aboutYogibulldozerbaba vs AkhileshbhaiyaYadav, NarendrahopeModi vs RahulPappuGandhi.

Narendra Modi and Arvind Kejriwal, both, in some ways have become the icons in this post-ideological populism movement, one that consistently promises to channel the unified will of the people, and by doing so undercuts the self-serving schemes of the elite establishment. Maude,however,clears to say that populism is not a fully formed political ideology like socialism or liberalism rather it is a thin ideology.

The sheer defeat of Congress and the smaller regional parties in the recently concluded assembly elections have made them irrelevant to the politics of newer times.Congress leaderShashi Tharoorwroteina national magazine, claimingCongress is essential for India and how it can be revived.He explainsthe ideology ofthe party, reminding of the past, secularism,and theeconomic prosperity India achieved underthe party. But he forgetsthatthe newer generation does not care. For them, the traditional ideologies have been sidelined with a simplistic narrative of Left is bad, Right is good,one that has become the pragmatic reasoning.

In New India,the concept of development, a commitment towards nation building upon ideology, is not finding space in the instant moodand political behaviorof the new generation. Narendra Modi and Arvind Kejriwal, followed by Mamata Banerjee, KCR, Jagan Reddy, all are speaking a language directed to an audience that wants no attachment to inclinationsor beliefs.

Populismis here to stay, cementing robustly and perhaps becomingtheideology of New India.

Shruti Vyas is a journalist based in New Delhi. She writes on politics, international relations and current affairs. Views are personal.

(Edited by Anurag Chaubey)

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Indians bored with politics of ideology. Populism speaksfrom Modi to Kejriwal - ThePrint