Politics is competitive but do we have to demonise each other?

For those interested in tracking politics, the mainstream media — which includes print and electronic media — no longer enjoys a monopoly of information and opinion. As someone who tracks local politics in West Bengal, it is always necessary to keep a close watch on local newspapers, magazines, and the discussions on Bangla news channels. In addition, the proffering of activists and others on Facebook (and, less so, Twitter) is obligatory. Over the past 18 months or so, these platforms have been supplemented by numerous YouTube channels that incorporate a combination of local information and the opinions of those who are not usually accommodated in the mainstream media. Some of these commentators have very distinctive presentation styles and, consequently, have a significant following.Among the more popular figures who feature in the YouTube channels is a lawyer-politician with a reputation for being remarkably acerbic, blunt, terribly opinionated and, occasionally, unpredictable. With a penchant for viewing things in black and white, he delights viewers with his demeanour of permanent disgust with the world around him. Predictably, like most Bengali intellectuals from the Congress-Left gharana, he has nothing but contempt for Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and, in fact, the BJP. A forceful political disagreement is understandable and a feature of democratic life. However, what is interesting is that the disavowal of the stalwarts of the ruling party at the Centre is heavily peppered with a sense of profound intellectual entitlement which includes a wilful refusal to say some of their names correctly. The belief that India is being run by those who lack education and culture dominates the gentleman’s fulminations.This explicit disdain is combined with unconcealed admiration for the young Left brigade, not necessarily for the profundity of their political interventions, but because they have attended institutions such as Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University. The admiration extends to Rahul Gandhi because he has an M Phil from Cambridge.

This show of what is unquestionably social snobbery masquerading as intellectual superiority isn’t unique: it is a feature of the culture wars globally. There were a lot of things about Donald Trump that people took exception to, not least of which was his abrasive and idiosyncratic presentation of what constituted home truths. In Britain, a similar reaction greeted the pro-Brexit, nationalist crusader whose interventions resembled the rantings of an old colonel holding up a Golf Club bar. At one time, this contempt greeted Lalu Prasad Yadav’s crafty rustic witticisms — that is until the khalnayak of the fodder scandal was converted into a drawing room celebrity by the chattering classes.Social media is a platform where such hate is plentiful. Modi and Shah have been favourite targets of this intellectual condescension. The bhakts, in turn, have responded by painting Rahul Gandhi as a blithering idiot, incapable of any thought beyond scripted lines.At the heart of this distressing polarisation are two associated assumptions. First is the conviction that there is only one way of looking at a situation and that one side holds a monopoly of wisdom and the truth. Secondly, by association, it is felt that anyone on the other side of an argument is a fool and educationally and culturally challenged.What inevitably follows is the demonisation of the opponent and the belief that the adversary is also the enemy who must be dealt with in about the same way Maoists reserved for ‘bourgeois deviationists’ during the infamous Cultural Revolution — by heaping abuse, subjecting them to humiliation and, in contemporary parlance, by ‘cancellation’. This is not the way competitive politics should work in a democracy. This grave distortion of the democratic ethos is at the root of intolerance and political violence of the type we are witnessing in post-poll West Bengal.The central idea behind the democracy India has codified in the Constitution is that there are fundamental freedoms that are guaranteed to citizens. It naturally includes freedom of speech, thought and association. However, behind the statutory guarantee of periodic elections where there are minimal restrictions to citizen participation (either as voters or candidates) is also the right to be wrong and even heretical, be in a minority and even indulge in what might best be called political promiscuity — changing the political preferences at periodic intervals. The only thing that is non-negotiable is a commitment to unity and integrity of the Indian Union.As Oscar Wilde is reported to have said, “I may not agree with you, but I will defend to the death your right to make an ass of yourself.” Without, of course, calling you an ass.