Sunday, August 26, 2012

India Against Itself

What is India’s biggest security threat? China? Pakistan? Terrorism? Indeed, these three items are most likely to top our list of the security threats faced by the country. I, however, do not think these are India’s biggest security threats. I am of the opinion that India’s biggest security threat is itself. For one, external threats such as China and Pakistan are likely to unite India while the internal threats could easily create deep schisms within the body politic of the country. Secondly, India seems to be well prepared to address the security threats emanating from the external sources, but is undoubtedly ill prepared to face the ones stemming from within.  Thirdly, I do not think that India is going to face any real existential threats from China and Pakistan in the days to come, but India’s internal threats are clear, present and imminent. 

The recent episode of how people belonging to Northeast India had to run back to their native states from ‘mainland India’ is illustrative of the kind of existential security threats that India will face in future. Why do I think that India’s future security complex will be dominated by threats emanating from its domestic sphere? Here’re some of the reasons why I think India’s biggest security threat is itself. 

Culture of Status Quoism
Our governments revel in status quoism, especially the Sonia Gandhi-led Congress party. The Congress Party’s view of India is mechanical, not political. In other words, its politics of governance is premised on the assumption that progress is a convenient byproduct of stability, defined as status quo. It forgets that India is an unmanageably huge country with massive problems and the only way we can begin to resolve the country’s problems is by initiating bold, large-scale and out-of-the-box policy initiatives, not by piecemeal, half-hearted and politically bankrupt initiatives. This ‘never-rock-the-boat’ culture of the Congress party is partly due to the inability of the Congress Chief to act in unconventional ways: she is a prisoner of her public images and perceptions. Hence status quoism is the best policy for a party whose leadership’s ability to continue in power depends on images conventional politics.When was the last time the Congress party made an effort to think out of the box?!

A related problem is the politics of deferment that the Indian state is so adept at practicing. It believes that it is always better to postpone the resolution of difficult problems rather then address them head on. The idea is that once the burn is taken out of a burning issue, you can afford to ignore it because no body is going to take about it thereafter. However, the problem lingers on only to blow up at a later point of time. 

The question of stakes 
The idea of India can exist only in so far as the citizens of India have stakes in its continued existence. The idea of India is dependent on our stakes in it. Hence lets ask the question: what are some of the possible stakes Indians can have in the idea of India? I can think of four: 1) instrumental reasons (political and economic benefits), 2) cultural reasons (a sense of togetherness, cultural bonds etc.), 3)fear of the other (external threat perceptions)and, 4) Political reasons(patriotism etc.). The question to ponder over here is whether these reasons are still valid and for who. In other words, how many Indians consider one or more of the above-mentioned reasons are still valid for them in order to be part of the idea and reality of India. The recent incidents of violence in the country show, at least to my mind, that the fear of the internal other is replacing the fear of the external other! Humans are greatly persuaded by ideas that give them a sense of meaning and purpose, but once they lose their faith in those ideas, their sense of meaning and understanding of reality also undergo changes.  

Misguided politics of the middle class 
It is true that the degree of state-society negotiations in India is deeply unsatisfactory. And the citizens of the country, in general, and the middle class, in particular, are unhappy about it, justifiably so. The extremely limited space forstate-society negotiations in India has resulted in an acute lack of healthy civil society activism in the country. The available space is now hogged by ‘god men’ of different kinds (Baba Ramdev, Sri Sri Ravishankar and Anna Hazare etc.) whose agenda cannot be considered as contributing to a healthy idea of India. 

Misplaced Aspirations 
Yet another reason why the country has not been able to manage its internal threats is due to its misplaced global aspirations. India has, for sometime now, been focusing on the potential role it could play on the global stage and therefore been directing its material, intellectual and political resources towards such an objective. To my mind, this is not just a story of misplaced aspirations but, more importantly, has resulted in the country’s inability to focus its various resources on tackling its ‘internal threats’. For instance, take a look at the ever-increasing defense expenditure of the country that is often referred to as ‘arming without aiming’ or ‘defense buildup without a grand strategy’. India finds it necessary to continue to increase its defence spending in order to cater to its global aspirations as well as to address its ‘external threats’. If only India had focused these resources on the domestic front, the country’s governance would have been much better and the idea of India would have many more takers. 

Aversion to Reforms
One of the major reasons, and often cited by a large number of informed commentators, for the absence of good governance in the country is the lack of reforms. Indian state has a fundamental aversion to reforms of any kind. Numerous commissions have been set up in this country to recommend steps to the government for reforming its police forces, judiciary, electoral process, Civil Services, CrPC and what not, all of which belong to an era that we don’t belong to anymore. The government has implemented hardly any of those recommendations either because there is no pressure from the civil society or because the political class is just not serious about it. It would not be an exaggeration to argue that the current state of India’s police forces, judiciary, electoral process, Civil Services, and CrPC symbolizes an ancient idea of India: not an idea of India that belongs to the 21st century.

(Source: Greater Kashmir, August 26, 2012. URL: http://greaterkashmir.com/news/2012/Aug/26/india-against-itself-22.asp )