Understanding the Politics of development-

A typical urban Indian middle-class is of the belief that, all the ills that had plagued this country are because, the voters, especially the ‘downtrodden’, are easily ‘fooled’ by politicians who seek votes based on caste and other ‘divisive’ agendas. They laments that these politicians, instead of discussing health, education, jobs etc are talking about Mandir, reservations, Pakistan etc, so India remains poor and backwards. They wonder why people are ‘fooled’ so easily, and blame all political parties for doing the same and hence have a pessimistic outlook towards politics and voting.

 

In this blog, let us try to understand why people are supporting ‘caste politics’ and do not vote for ‘development’.  Why, as a rational voter, they don’t vote for ‘bijli,sadak,makan and instead vote a man of their own caste who doesn’t bring any ‘development’. What are his motives and incentives and why he doesn’t see ‘larger picture’?

After deeply enquiring in to this issue, I firmly believe that each voter, irrespective of his identity, is voting to a leader/party/ideology who he perceives to promote his self- interest.

There are three key ideas in the above statement.

a)     How he, as a voter, is defining ‘Self’?

b)    How he defines ‘Interest’?

c)     Do the perception and the reality differ?

 We generally equate self with an individual. However, the ‘self’ is a dynamic and elastic concept and is anchored with different identities that we all belongs to. We mistakenly believe that every voter is a selfish, atomised, isolated individual. However, the reality is that, he vote to a leader/party who he perceives to promote his self interest, and he defines his ‘self’ as per the political and social context which he belongs to.

In the context of taking a political choice, every voter will be having a certain Radius of Self. Within that radius, he feels a sense of belongingness to a community for whose larger interest, he support a particular political party. He doesn’t feel empathy for communities and people beyond this radius of self, even if he may not have any enmity towards them. In other words, his radius of self extends to what he calls as ‘We’ and for him, rest are ‘They’.

Communal, regional and casteist parties thrive in our electoral system because they cater for the political aspirations of voters who neither think as an isolated, atomized voter nor see themselves as belonging to a larger National community. The primary political identity of this voter is his own caste/ region/ linguistic group whom he identifies as ‘We’ and whose collective interest is his foremost priority over all other political goals. Hence he votes accordingly.

Identities can also be prescriptive, ie, identities that come out from job, social status, professional and commercial interests like traders, middle class, students etc. Quite often, an individual voter will be torn between various identities and this ‘conflict of identities’ will make his political choices quite difficult. For example, BJP government might have increased GST rates. As a shopkeeper, this voter will tempt to vote against the government but his ‘civilizational identity’ as a ‘proud Hindu’ would compel him to vote to BJP again. It all however, depends on his willingness to sacrifice and set aside his trader identity for the ‘larger self’. These kinds of conflicts can come often and a successful election campaign will be the one in which a suitable narrative is built around a ‘self’ that can stitch together maximum number of voters than its political opponent.

Groups that are unable to define their identity and can’t express their self, won’t be able to come together and collectively bargain.  Needless to say that that identity will be soon politically marginalized and their interests will be sidelined.

Similarly, the concept of Interest   is also an elastic one. Should it mean only an immediate, visible and short term interest which can be easily understood and clearly articulated? Or should he vote for long term and perhaps invisible interests which is very difficult to be convinced? Should he be ready to pay more taxes/ forego subsidies so that his kids and grand children can lead a better life? For ex, should a voter support and reward a party that offers cheaper petrol, but with increased pollution and higher import bills or should he tolerate higher taxes that may reduce Fiscal deficit and hence reduced inflation?

People’s voting decisions are depended not just on utilitarian interests but also non- utilitarian interests as well. It is wrong to assume that his interest lies only in few basic goods like roti, kapda, makan or in such similar physical goods. Just like Hierarchy of Needs (a theory formulated by Psychologist, Abraham Maslow), a voter will also have Hierarchy of interests.  Since he is a Homo-sapien, he will be also interested in non- tangible goods like self- esteem, protection and promotion of his cultural and civilizational values and identities, undoing of historical wrongs,   upholding of a universal moral values, National pride and likes. Many times, it is also possible that voters value these ‘Non- tangible goods’ much more than tangible goods. Politics is not just about provisioning of some public goods, it is also about competition for social dominance, defining identities and advancing their interests.  

Maslow's Hierarchy of needs-

Political pundits decry that political leaders diverts attention of voters from ‘real’ issues to ‘emotional’ or divisive issues for gaining votes. However, they forget that human beings are emotional animals and our myths, believes and identities, are equally important, if not more, than his physiological interests. What we call ‘emotional issue’ are in reality are Psychological and self-fulfillment interests. Certainly, he will support for a political party/ leader whom he perceives, can advance his Psychological and self -fulfillment interests.

Similarly, a party/ leader will contest an election to promote its interest by winning an election and capture power. Accordingly, they will present a basket of promises which will serve physiological, psychological and self-fulfillment interests of their targeted voters. Election will be won by a party who can put across credible promise for fulfillment of maximum number of interests of largest electorate.

The challenge for a political party is to articulate the promises in such a way that, it will be seen as fulfillment of many, if not all, of their voter‘s interest. Much of the symbolism like temple visits, wearing skull-cap etc are nothing but a signal that these leaders are making credible promises for furthering the ‘safety and psychological’ interests of their target voters. Effective and successful campaigns are the one in which brings out that identity which the promises are catering for. For example, BJP through its campaign, try to bring out ‘Hindu identity’ of a voter as deciding factor for his electoral choice while CPI(M) wants a voter to think in terms of his ‘occupational status’. Both promise to advance the interests, both psychological and physiological, of the prominent ‘identity’ which they want to project.

 Countries like India with its civilizational fault-lines, low level of social trust and polarized societies, voting behavior of the people will also be largely determined by fears, aspirations, community pride, self esteem etc. Provisioning for public goods and physical needs alone cannot be seen as advancement the self interests of voters/ citizens. What a voter prefers is a basket of promises that cater for the hierarchy of interests which he wishes to be advanced which includes both ‘secular issues’ like health education and ‘communal’ issues like Mandir/ reservation etc. The secret of success of ‘Castiest / communal’ parties are that they take of care of this aspect while designing their policies and agendas.

It is foolish to believe that voters will be always remaining gratuitous towards a party/ leader who have provided them certain physical goods. With the spread of physical goods ( like 100% electricity, Housing for All etc ), people are climbing-up to the hierarchy of interests and will start aspiring for more Non- tangible goods like community pride, Honour, Self esteem etc. Besides with the rise of education and enlightenment, radius of self is expanding and more people will see themselves as National voters. This seemingly contradictory and perhaps conflicting socio-political phenomenon would be defining the dynamics of electoral politics in coming years. A political party/leader who will foresee these trends will gain a unique and superior advantage over others who ignore these signals.