The burgeoning middle class of the 80’s and 90’s in which many of us grew, was too busy toiling for our bread and butter that we barely had time to notice what the governing elites and their progeny enjoyed and splurged. The information fed to the masses, primarily through govt sources ensured that only palatable info reached the public.

The so called culture of elitism was not only enjoyed by one political Party or its cahouts as is commonly believed.  Rather these elitists spread across the governing spectrum, from the judiciary to the civil services to the business moghals and the royals. The list doesn’t end with this. Many others, like the Film Industry and its dominance by a few production houses was a part of this elitism.

With the advent of social media, the RTI act and the slackening of hold on the dissemination of information, came the general awareness and the consequent awakening of the masses from the slumber.

Democracy is the Fig Leaf of Eliticism: Florence King

Hard working people, people with talent and those better educated and far superior than the progeny of these elitists, started grumbling and questioning the social wrongs due to this culture of elitism, many  of which were continuing since independence.

It was here that quite a few, in position of influence started hammering at the walls of elitism and this phenomenon was across the board. Though the society had awakened, but much still eluded the media or possibly, in the words of one of the Ex Army, now an honorable Minister, General V.K. Singh, “presstitutes” that fed on the leftovers of elitists, deliberately closed their eyes to this awakening. However, incidents with political overtones started making impact and headlines, thanks to social and digital media.

The birth of groups and organizations started taking place. “India Against Corruption” was one such movement which gave birth to many a luminaries cum self proclaimed commoners of present day politics.

The Aam Aadmi Party being one of the main offshoots of this IAC movement, having been triggered after a leading politician of the then Ruling Party, Mr Kapil Sibal, challenged the rag tag group led by an upright Mr Arvind Kejriwal, to get a mandate from the public and then stand up to his level to debate and demand, what they stood for.

Though it can’t be denied that some of the self made elitists, did work really hard to reach the echelons of power but these were too few that could be counted on fingers.

So, the Governance was largely left with, but for a few elites, born with silver spoons. In the process we could easily come across the dumbest of dumb offsprings of political bigwigs, easily getting tickets and joining the exclusive clubs that only a chosen few would have access to.

One such glaring example of elitism was that of Abhijit Mukherjee who won the 2012 Jangipur Lok Sabha constituency election from the safe seat that was vacated by his father President Pranab Mukherjee after the latter got elected as the President. Abhijit was reelected to Lok Sabha from Jangipur in 2014 only to lose the recent 2019 election to TMC candidate.

No one recollects anything worth while mentioning during this period of 7 years that Abhijit Mukherjee held a responsible public office, but he certainly is remembered for his degrading and lose comments, calling the protesting female students as highly dented painted women and the Nirbhaya protests as fashionable.

Shekhar Gupta in his 25th Nov 2018 article in The Print, “Here is when elitism in Congress actually started” examined the social elitism plaguing the Congress.

Rahul Gandhi, even when he wasn’t the president of the Congress party, was one of the first few who realized that this culture of elitism will eventually bring doom to the Congress, if not arrested in time.

Quoting Rahul Gandhi’s speech at San Diego, as early as 19th January 2013, the headlines in San Diego Union Tribune read “Indian Political Heir, Rahul Gandhi, condemns elitism.”

Reflecting on his eight years while working for the party organization, Rahul Gandhi said India’s governmental system was struck in the past and the answer lay in completely transforming it. “A handful of people control the entire political space” he said to cheering party workers. “It doesn’t matter how much wisdom you have. If you don’t have position, you have nothing. That’s the tragedy of India,” he said.

Rahul Gandhi also said many Indian youths are angry because they have been excluded from the political class. “We only empower people at the top of the system. We don’t believe in empowering all the way to the bottom,” he said.

Such a system promotes mediocrity, Rahul had added. And truly so, as i recall an encounter with a national level leader in one of the associated organizations of INC. The person, a novice himself, preferred appointing a naive and inexperienced female as the state head of the social media, while rejecting another dude, citing over qualification and too experienced to be managed by those whom he would report. Unfortunately, such is the tragedy with Congress that Rahul Gandhi needs to handle with sensitivity.

To this effect, Rahul did undertake a herculean effort to bring in sanity and a culture of rewarding quality and talent, identifying and promoting deserving candidates, even though they had not been born with silver spoons.

However, for a party, so entrenched in royalty and elitism and a culture of “Yes Madame”, Rahul Gandhi’s best efforts could not achieve much. This could be seen when after winning the state legislative elections in three states few months back, the old hawks put their foot down and in the end, it was Rahul who had to budge and compromise on the choice of Chief Ministers for the states that were won.

The hammering on the walls of Elitism had started getting louder in 2012. In the run up to 2014, Narendra Modi, the then chief minister of Gujarat led this sharp and planned attack on the Congress. Calling and referring to Rahul Gandhi in his public speeches as Shehzada, Modi started denting the image of the Congress and successfully managed to create a realization that Congress was a party of elites led by the Gandhi family.

The attacks drew protests but Narendra Modi was non-reluctant and non-repentent and continued with his strategy to successfully brand Congress as a party of elites, thereby reaping its benefits not only in 2014 but in 2019 as well.

Jibes like “Pachas Crores Ki Girlfriend” that referred to Shashi Tharoor’s, now late wife Sunanda Tharoor, resonated across the nation.

Self inflicted damage even though through unintentional display of elitism continues to this day. While Shashi Tharoor’s foreign accent and the pronunciation of words like “Floccinaucinihilipilification” attracted kudos from damsels, not only from the likes of Sagarika Ghosh or Swati Chaturvedi in India , but even from Mehar Tarar from across the border. No doubt a moment of glory further alienates the north indian native masses back home, who take this as another manifestation of elitism.

Then there were others like Sanjay Jha, a senior member of the Indian National Congress who, possibly disconnected with the ground realities is bent upon scoring self goals and in the process damaging the party.

Recently Jha tweeted..

My dearest Oliver ( we called him Olly ) died an hour ago. He would be 11 years in a few months.

How do you explain a relationship of crazy unbridled love where it’s a wagging tail and those soulful eyes that tell a story.

The heavens are blessed to have my little boy! pic.twitter.com/9sriZmMc1f

— Sanjay Jha (@JhaSanjay) May 31, 2019

Though, my condolences to Mr Jha on the epic loss, but probably Jha didn’t realize that through his tweet he might have looked elite, aligning with the 0.0001% of dog lovers, in India. However as a public figure, it antagonised and became a laughing matter with a vast majority coming from humbler origins. The number of zeroes in 0.0001% . though could be exaggerated, but signify the miniscule percentage of such elitists in India, who take pride in raising their dogs with such love and affection that they don’t even provide to their own kids. This reminds me of a neighbor of mine in Greater Kailash -1 who recently appointed a Trainer, on a hefty salary, for his very naughty and wild, four legged Pinky.

All this does not go well with the political proposition that the party presents. It is anti-elitist, non-suit boot, common man’s, poor man’s party. But the poor man is more busy fixing a squre meal for himself, rather than his poodle, Oliver’s cousin.

On the other hand Modi left no stone unturned in associating with the people whom he addressed.  Whether it was in Jammu or Arunachal or Bihar, Narendra Modi well understood the concept of Egalitarianism and he exploited it to the hilt.

The heights of synching with the concept of Egalitarianism could be seen in Narendra Modi’s successful move to associate himself with the masses through his “Main Bhi Chowkidar” campaign during the recently concluded Elections 2019. Similarly, associating with Chaiwala’s in the run up to the 2014 elections too reaped rich dividends for Mr. Modi.

Thus Narendra Modi beat the Congress at it own game. The Party which claimed to be socialist and egalitarian — speaking for the downtrodden, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, minorities, the weaker sections et-al lost the perceptions game about what it stood for, while Modi single handedly managed to associate himself and became one with the masses. Despite tailoring a cabinet dominated by Upper castes, Modi perception war demolished elitism and the elitists. At least, so believes the public.

Not only on the political front, Modi’s perception war shook the foundation of the strongest of lobby of elitists in India ie. the Civil Services. The “Lateral induction” into the Civil Services of a few experts and professionals from the industry earned the much needed applause from the public and the well-wishers of the country. The upcoming 5 years could be a turning point in how and who gets elected in the future elections of Indian democracy. Either way, one thing is sure, the elitists are in for some bad times, while the prospects for the sincere, hard working and tech savvy professionals, in politics, are looking up.

Rahul Gandhi has a tough task taming the first generation of Congress leaders and the new generations of the various dynasties — who bring in their inherent elitism because of their upbringing and social placement. And unless this culture is curtailed, Modi continues to synch with the concept of egalitarianism that appeals to the masses.

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