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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Revenge of the middle class by Santosh Desai

Revenge of the middle class by Santosh Desai

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published Published on Aug 23, 2011   modified Modified on Aug 23, 2011

The key to Anna's appeal lies in his status as a detached, almost bewildered outsider in the world of FDI inflows, stock indices and GDP growth numbers.

If two years ago, someone had predicted that the next popular leader who would catch the imagination of the middle class and become the spearhead of an unlikely protest movement spanning a large part of urban India would be a 73-year-old largely unknown man, wearing khadi and representing a time even nostalgia keeps forgetting, the person would been thought of as delusional. If news channels were to be believed, India was looking for a young, fresh-faced, inspirational leader who would cast aside the cobwebs of yesterday's messy complexities and lead us into a shiny, new, technology-enabled future. Nothing about Anna Hazare should have appealed to the middle class if these glib analyses were to be believed - he is physically unimpressive, is far from being a rousing orator, he does not look remotely 'global' and certainly does not present himself as a likely candidate for the ambassadorship of Brand India, a formulation that mainstream media has become quite fond of.

The key to Anna's appeal lies precisely in his status as a detached, almost bewildered outsider in the world of FDI inflows, stock indices and GDP growth numbers. He comes from nothing recognisable in the present, at least to urban middle class India and resembles pictures on fading walls in old Hindi films, something that gives him an air of unspecific legitimacy. Since the entire political system is seen as being corrupt, the middle class needed a leader who could engage with the system but also be able to visibly stand outside it. Hazare's biggest strength is that he does not belong;this is why there is little interest in his larger worldview and, interestingly in a world saturated with words, we have barely heard him speak, and even when he has spoken, his words are not what have propelled popular support for the cause he stands for. It is Anna's persona, the fact that he looks the part, and acts without any apparent vested interest, that makes him seen as someone worth following.

The movement flies under the banner of being ranged against corruption, but is in fact a movement against politicians. The middle class has seen the ruling elite pull away from it both in terms of exercised power and wealth extraction, and more importantly has seen the profile of its rulers change. The emergence of a more representative group of politicians coming from classes that earlier did not have access to power has created a sense of illegitimacy in the minds of the middle class - not only do they see their leaders as corrupt but in some deeper way, being fundamentally unworthy of ruling them. This lends an added edge to the sense of outrage felt at the state of the polity.

The fact is that the middle class increasingly sees democracy much more as a transaction where both sides need to keep their side of the bargain and feel cheated and let down by the other side. The growing assertiveness of this class has created a demand for governance that is directly beneficial to it. In the electoral arithmetic of the country, however, the interests of this group, however visible and vocal it might be, do not take priority for the political class, since the numbers lie elsewhere. The clash is created by the middle class' growing sense of significance colliding with a continuing feeling of disdainful neglect on the part of the political system, which in turn creates a heightened sense of anxiety that has spilled over onto the streets today. The political system seems to have abandoned its adherence to some inviolable principles and seems to function in purely instrumental terms where everything becomes subject to calculations rather than beliefs and where there appears to be no internal self-correcting mechanism in place. The support for the continuing agitation is based not so much on understanding the true nature of the demands but in backing a line that seems to be uncompromising. A deep-rooted problem needs obstinate solutions, and stubbornness becomes a sign of standing firm.

It is interesting that the critiques of the movement too come from the urban educated elite. There has been no dearth of people who have been deeply suspicious of this movement, characterising it as undemocratic, coercive and superficial, among other things. Part of the disagreement is based on the merits or otherwise of the movement, but there is something else at work here too. Historically, this is the class that has taken it upon itself to pronounce judgment on politics, and has acted as a mediating force between the people at large and the ruling class. Today, they find themselves bypassed, and their neatly labeled categories being summarily cast aside. What some see as spontaneous democratic outpouring, this group sees as an attempt by a consumerist class to corner more resources and attention for itself, and do so in a manner that has all the finesse of a neighbourhood jagaran. This is not what protest looks like, they protest, Anna Hazare is no Gandhi, this is not the second freedom movement, the middle class is shallow and selfserving and, most importantly, how can anything important happen in this country without our approval?

Corruption affects everybody, and it hurts the poor much more than it does the affluent, and while this movement gets its legitimacy and popularity from this fact, the reasons why it is taking the form it is might be more complex. Underneath the surface of a popular corruption movement might lie attempts by different classes to maintain and enhance their significance. The politicians have become too strong, and need to be taken down a peg or two. Think of it as the revenge of the middle class.

Times Crest, 20 August, 2011, http://www.timescrest.com/coverstory/revenge-of-the-middle-class-6070

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