Sujata Anandan
At the start of the year, there was hope. But within months, the hope fizzled out. By the end of the year, there was despair. But the year is ending on a high note for those who claim to be upholding the pluralistic nature of Indian democracy.
This would have been unimaginable after the resounding Lok Sabha victory notched up by Narendra Modi and his team this summer. But that is precisely what the gathering storm of protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) seems to have achieved -- Shake up the might of the government.
With a maha gathbandhan uppermost on the minds of opposition parties at the beginning of 2019, they were only expected to forge an alliance against the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre. However, it was obvious that barring a handful of them such as the Congress, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), who were on the same page in taking on the ruling dispensation, others had their own regional, state and personal interests. After the re-election of the BJP, fears took hold as the nation saw a lockdown in Jammu and Kashmir, the abrogation of Article 370 and denial of basic rights and freedom to Kashmiris.
With the Opposition in a shambles, there was not much of a challenge to the Centre. What caught the government off-guard, however, was the backlash against its Citizenship Amendment Act a few months later.
Now, the CAA is another policy that seems to have shifted focus from being anti-Muslim to one affecting almost everybody on caste, class and religious lines. That has come as a bolt from the blue to the ruling dispensation as the year comes to an end. What started off as a protest by students in the Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Milia Islamia gradually snowballed into a major controversy involving citizens of all hues, upsetting the applecart of not just the government but civil society per se.
Looking closer, one can find it largely as a movement of the youth and there seems to be an undercurrent of anger against the government for its handling of the economy. Even the worries about jobs, factories shutting down and falling GDP are having a domino effect and causing much turmoil on the streets.
The CAA has only added fuel to the fire. The government speaking in multiple voices has compounded the mistrust. Clearly, the government is on a very slippery slope.
After the result of the Jharkhand election, the BJP seems to have done for the Opposition what the latter may not have been able to achieve on its own – unity. It became all too apparent when some of the opposition parties who previously went with the government on the CAA subsequently developed cold feet in implementing the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in their states. Then again, the coming together of completely ideological opposites in Maharashtra speaks volumes about the new-found camaraderie.
If you still don’t get it, see what Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said in the Assembly: “We made a mistake mixing religion with politics.”
In simple terms, the current realignment has caused a tectonic shift. With the Shiv Sena too unwilling to play second fiddle to the BJP, the colour saffron is in danger of fading further. And that could mean changes in Indian polity as a whole.
Sujata Anandan is a senior journalist and author. Views are personal.
Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
