Coronavirus impact: Virtual politics sets the tone for digital transformation in India

Congress president Sonia Gandhi has set up a high-level COVID think tank under the chairmanship of former prime minister Manmohan Singh. It has party stalwarts as its members and features Rahul Gandhi also as a member.

The committee will meet virtually every day and “provide constructive suggestions and positive criticism.” The decision to set up the committee comes close on the heels of Rahul Gandhi’s video interaction with the media.

As political pundits mull over the composition of the committee in terms of who is in and who is out and whether it signalled the return of young Gandhi to the top, the key takeaway from the development is that COVID has hugely transformed the way politics is now transacted in the country.

Post his junta curfew call last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has gone into overdrive when it comes to invoking the spirit of federal India. His ‘Team India’ pitch is on vivid display given the push for a virtual connect with respective chief ministers in the country.

Virtual India

Given the nature of such virtual connects, democratic participation is part of the standard menu. The microphone on a video call does not discriminate hence the federal India sentiment has come to the fore with various state leaders expressing themselves freely. The virtual world has set in a new hierarchy-less political order.

This is welcome except that it should have happened without COVID playing the leveler. On the flip side, this is something that must endure beyond COVID as well, for Team India needs to optimise its capability and talent in the new digital governance era.

The tone for the digital architecture to come into play was set up early on by the prime minister laying ascent on reaching out periodically to top bureaucrats across India to monitor the progress of various initiatives of the NDA government. But that remained a one-off initiative. His proactive Twitter governance agenda has set a new benchmark with many in his Cabinet too joining the movement.

What has happened today is that India is reaping the digital transformation dividend. COVID has fast-tracked India’s adoption of the virtual world with a vengeance. Politicians are driven by their respective political agenda but in COVID times there has been unanimity in adopting the digital tools to not only stay connected but to stay impactful. A positive change has been the pause that has set in the competitive federalism pitch. A Bhilwara or a Kerala model has evinced national interest without any derision.

Early on, in view of the ever-growing COVID threat, Congress party leadership set into a dialogue mode with top leaders assembling virtually to make a statement as the leading opposition party. The Union Cabinet met digitally while various state governments got busy setting up digital conversation platforms to administer the COVID response. The overwhelming fear and the need to maintain social distance has crafted politics in India in a new avatar.

Virtual Politics

Post-COVID, politicians may like to get back and hit the ground. The sight of large crowds and packed stadium draws out the adrenalin in them but they have learnt to stay impactful even without being physically in the midst of a milling crowd. Call it the fear factor or the digital dividend?

Given the tradition and rather lack of digital connectivity for the common man, especially the poor, the absence of a physical touchpoint for an ordinary voter to connect to a councilor, legislator, parliamentarian, and minister, will hurt in the short term.

Politicians love to hold their durbars but if COVID has taught us a lesson, it is time to push for accelerating digital literacy. It is far easier to make a nation digitally literate than to impart formal education to a large section of the population that has been denied the opportunity for a variety of reasons.

The digital political landscape provides for connect, credibility and correction at the press of a button. Politicians are often a hated lot (even in a thriving democracy like India). They bear the burden of 24x7 public contact without them having any firm control either on their life or schedule. The objective is not to deny access but to make it digital rather than always physical. Physical contact, especially in large numbers, has to be shunned for many more months and may be years until the time the virus finds a match in the vaccine.

The mobile penetration story in India has been a global template for all developing economies to emulate. Obviously, internet penetration has yet to match pace. But with the advent of Jio, data prices have found a new democratic acceptability.

All this should expedite the advent of a new creative, credible, constructive and cogent relationship between the voter and the elected. Those wanting to make the grade as an elected leader will do well to traverse the digital highway to connect with the voter. India’s demographic profile suits the transition from the excessively physical ground manifest of politics in India to a more orderly, disciplined and just connect between the voter and the leader.

Digital Transformation
It is time, indeed, to lay some credit for this inevitability on the Digital India initiative launched by the Modi government. India is set to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the campaign on July 1. The campaign, which rests on nine pillars, aims to use digital technology to fill traditional gaps in key governance areas. But truth be told that the digital transformation idea has made less than desired progress. It has mostly stayed a favourite conference slogan achieving not much traction on the ground.

That was until COVID happened. Not just politics and governance in India, the country has observed digital transformation as key elements of our business, economy, and civil society under the lockdown. For India Inc, work from home looks like an enduring reality and for the government e-governance is set to be the key antidote against the virus.

For politicians of all hues, it is time to collaborate and converge virtually to redeem India from the COVID cauldron. It is rest time for politics in India.