Experts participating in a panel discussion here on 'Why is India's Middle Class Back in Politics" are of the unanimous view that this section's significantly huge involvement in the 2014 general elections has brought about an attitudinal transformation in Indian society.
Organized by the Ananta-Aspen Centre, the panelists involved in the discussion included political columnist and public policy analyst Swapan Dasgupta (who chaired the discussion); Smita Barooah, a Singapore-based addictions therapist, writer, blogger and fine arts photographer; Akhilesh Mishra, a former marketing professional-turned election campaigner and writer and Rajeev Mantri, an entrepreneur and venture capitalist, who is an avid blogger on politics, foreign policy, public health, besides on other issues.
Commencing the discussion, Dasgupta expressed the view that India's middle class has never been away from politics, but rather, has always been involved in politics. He opined that this year's general election saw the Indian middle class participating more intensely than before, as compared to their predecessors in the 1980s and 1990s, where the participation was more that of the "inherited class" than that of the middle class.
He further said it was his view that India has undergone a transformation between 1991 and 2014, where urbanisation was more pronounced, and an attitudinal transformation was starkly visible.
He said, "More people are aspiring for middle class status. The middle class has become an autonomous voting bloc, and a section that can no longer be ignored by the political class. There is also a greater degree of political activism in what were once traditionally laid back institutional establishments."
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He was rather insistent on emphasizing that the middle class turnout in this year's polls was significantly huge in comparison to past elections, which in a way suggested growth of the middle class.
The media, particularly the electronic media, played a role in highlighting the changing voter turnout trends, he said, adding that it was his considered view that the middle class was here to stay in politics.
Smita Barooah used a power point presentation and her skills as a photographer to present her view on why she felt the need to take a three-to-four-month-long sabbatical from her job in Singapore to participate in the BJP's election campaign.
She said that for her it was a no-brainer in deciding not to support the Congress or the Aam Aadmi Party (Party of impromptu Dharnas) in the elections. Through her photography, she illustrated why as a member of the middle class, she felt that the BJP was the right choice for taking up the reins of government at the Centre.
She said that left her particularly amazed was the fact that 22 lakh volunteers were able to position themselves to work for better governance and a better India, and that all of them were zealously motivated to get over what she called "The Wasted Years (2004-2014)".
For example, she said that every "Chai pe Charcha" that Narendra Modi attended during the election campaign was organized by 72 volunteers on an average.
There was, during the elections, she felt, a Pan-India Outreach by the BJP, which no other party was successful in achieving.
BJP leader and now Minister of State for Commerce Nirmala Sitharaman came in for praise for the activist role that she took on in the company of the volunteers.
She said a visit to Varanasi was enlightening in the sense that it was clearly visible that there was going to be a BJP majority victory in spite of the obstructionist tactics of the Samajwadi Party and the Congress. Even rotis being made in a dhaba in Varanasi, she said, had imprints of "Ab ki bar Modi Sarkar", which in a sense was unique in reflecting the public's frustration with the previous regime, as well as its hope for a better future.
Akhilesh Mishra and Rajeev Mantri talked about changing mindsets, the intensity of participation in the elections and talked about making a difference to realize the hope and dream of a better and improving India.
Mishra listed three key factors for this change - (1) Economic (greater aspirations) (2) Connectivity (huge rise in tele-density) (3) Spread of Digital Media (greater linkage between online and offline users) and (4) Emergence of young voters in both urban and rural India.
The question and answer session that followed was a robust interaction between the audience and the panelists, wherein the focus was on who should be identified as the "middle class" in India; whether the expectation bubble would survive or burst, and whether that expectation should be only shouldered by the government, or was it the responsibility of the individual self to contribute as well.
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