Dirty politics, dirtier ideology

Time of India

6 days ago

If politics is the art of the possible, ideology is the blueprint for the impossible. When ideology trumps politics, the consequences vary from deplorable to catastrophic. This is exactly what we are witnessing in the world's biggest democracies, India and the United States. While the various problematic elements of Hindutva are adversely affecting the functioning and performance of the Narendra Modi government, the Democrats' Leftward drift is making their party's struggle to crawl back to relevance tougher by the day.
It will be helpful to examine the essence of ideology. It is the toolkit of a philosophical school, which brings us to the nature of philosophy. Philosophy is the rational investigation into and general understanding of the world in general. When a group of people start believing in the functioning of the world (natural as well as human) in a specific manner, they become a school, identified with the suffix 'ism.'
Often, this entails two consequences. First, the 'understanding' part eclipses the 'rational investigation' element, usually leading to beliefs becoming dogmas—impervious to reason and empirical evidence. Second, adherents develop a toolkit to transform the world in accordance with their beliefs, or rather, dogmas. Philosophers recede; ideologues march on. As Karl Marx famously said, 'The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it.'
Unsurprisingly, Marxists have tried to change the world without understanding it, leading to the death of over 100 million people.
Ideologues and visionaries fantasize about a utopia, a never-never land; they invest their ideas, ideals, emotions, and not infrequently their phobias and pathologies into this dreamworld. Their followers (both on the Left and the Right) strive to rearrange the real world in consonance with the vision of their prophet(s)—invariably resulting in destruction and disaster.
Galvanized by the seemingly unstoppable march of the Hindutva ideology in the last 11 years under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and somewhat smug in the face of feeble and confused responses of the Opposition, the saffron brigade seems convinced that it will rule the country for a very long time. This conviction encourages them to peddle their most outlandish ideas and execute a few of them.
A case in point is the opposition to GM foods by some right wing organisations. Their opposition is not because of any adverse remarks by any scientist or expert body; their opposition is doctrinaire, not evidence-based. GM foods are bad: this is an article of faith, a dogma for them. Typically, in their scheme of things, dogmas matter, not facts or reason.
Decency is also seen as an overrated virtue—if it can be called a virtue in the first place. So, saffron cowboys feel free to harass any Muslim with cattle and want to examine every mosque to find if it was built over a temple. Some of them even forced a Muslim servant at an eatery on the Kanwar to take off his pants.
Worse, the high priests of Hindutva—who greatly emphasize social graces, good behavior, values, piety, sacrifice, (sanskars, shuchita, mulya, tyaag, et al) etc.—and other educated and well-placed defenders of the Bharatiya Janata Party tend to ignore the abominations unleashed by the saffron hotheads. The rowdiness of Kanwariyas and the preposterous decisions like shutting down schools and roads for them don't arouse any indignation among the sophisticated and cultured supporters of the Modi regime. Nor are the top pontiffs outraged by any excesses; indeed some of them join in the fun.
The reason? The ideology-fueled cadres like the abominations.
The ideology-fueled cadres on the Left also like excesses, though of a different kind. Unfortunately, they increasingly control liberal parties all over the world—from the Congress in India, to the Democratic Party in the US, and Labour in the UK. Rahul Gandhi, the top leader of the grand old party, has surrounded himself with pinkish intellectuals, which is evident from his growing faith in dangerous Leftist doctrines like social justice and wealth redistribution.
But even in the US, the bastion of capitalism, a communist like Zohran Mamdani can rise in the Democratic Party because the ideologically motivated radical Leftist cadres love him. 'If there was any system that could guarantee each person housing, whether you call it the abolition of private property or you call it, you know, just a statewide housing guarantee, it is preferable to what is going on right now,' Mamdani, who won the party's nomination for mayor of New York City, said in a resurfaced video.
This is despite one reason for the party's presidential candidate Kamala Harris' loss last year being her suggestion of price controls, a socialist measure.
Yet, the party leadership is helpless in the face of loud and assertive Left within, even though it knows that the ideological agenda of radicals is hurting them politically. Ideology has trumped politics.
In our country too, the politically motivated decisions (like abuse of Central agencies) and the outrageous actions of Hindutva hotheads often diminish the good work that the Modi government has done in the last 11 years—from maintaining a high growth rate, checking the fiscal and revenue deficits, and building infrastructure to enhancing military preparedness. Politics may be dirty, but ideology is dirtier.
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Views expressed above are the author's own.