[First published in YouthKiAwaaz]
In ‘2024: India in Free Fall’ former Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha talks about some of the urgent issues that the nation should be concerned about — ‘from the othering of Muslims minorities and the bulldozing of citizen’ rights and even homes, to the surreptitious dismantling of the judiciary and the unfettered growth of crony capitalism and plutocracy that has aggravated income inequality.’ In an ideal democracy, with General Elections just a few months away, these issues should be discussed on prime time debated every night. Since mainstream media seems to have abdicated it’s role of a watchdog, it is left for books like this to ensure that these issues do not fade from public memory.
Sanjay Jha, who describes himself as the person who has the dubious distinction of remaining suspended from the Congress Party for the longest period of time, still describes himself as “a Congressi by DNA”. He grew up in the India that many of us thought we grew up in — an India that was loyal to the Nehruvian ideas of secularism, liberalism and scientific temperament.
He believed, as most of us did at that time, that in a democracy people have the fundamental right to question those in power. In today’s India, however, being a secular liberal has almost become an insult. Nehruvian idealism is not something anybody claims to follow, and if they do, they are relegated to being part of the fringe minority. Yet, Sanjay Jha remains true to those ideals, and it is that which comes through in this entire book.
2024 provides an analysis of many of the issues which might have destabilised a government in the past, but which far from being doing that have not only not been adequately discussed, they have been ignored to a point where they have completely faded from public memory. Throughout the book, which discussing everything from the handling of the Covid epidemic, to the state of the economy and the level of unemployment, the author keeps reiterating his stance that if the 2024 elections are fought on the basis of performance, it is extremely unlikely that the current government would come back. However, he also points to the fact that the election is more likely to be fought on emotions than on facts.
While holding the BJP government responsible for ignoring the promises on which it was elected in the first place, the author does not give the Congress Party a free pass either. Despite being a former Congress spokesperson, or maybe because of it, calls out the largest opposition party for resisting (or delaying) taking a stand on certain issues, and for not facilitating a grassroots protest. He also questions the leadership style, and talks of the importance of access and managing perceptions. Given how long and intimately the author has known the party, and how he remains loyal to its values, it might be good for the party in question to introspect on these issues.
When I was talking to someone the other day they said that it is ‘the job of politicians to lie’ and that I should not get agitated about the fact that election promises have not been kept. What the person failed to understand was that even if one concedes that politicians make election promises which they perhaps have no intention of keeping, in a functioning democracy the media is supposed to question them relentlessly and hold them accountable for the promises they made. In India, as the author reminds us in the book, the mainstream media often ends up defending the government even more than the official party spokespersons do!
The predominant emotion running through the book is not anger, but disappointment tinged with bitterness. The book is a silent lament for the values that an entire generation grew up with but which have now been eroded. There is bitterness about lost opportunity, and sadness that a country which was poised to take its place among the best in the world is today slipping down on many of the global indices that matter.
Above all, this book serves as a reminder of the many issues which we have allowed to slide from our memories after the initial outrage- incidents of communal violence, issues of gender oppression, and the gradual erosion of the values on which the nation was built. Ideally, these issues should have been kept alive by the opposition and by the media, but after a few days of hashtags, they have now disappeared from all of our consciousness. The book serves to remind even those who genuinely care for the idea of India of the number of incidents that we have now completely forgotten.
2024, as the author says, is an important year for the world. Three of the largest democracies (USA, UK and India) go to polls this year. All three nations are facing extremely challenging times. All three have deviated from the principles on which the respective nations were founded, and in two of those countries, the government seems to be out of touch with what the population wants. The book does not make any predictions about what might happen in 2024, but it does remind us of how we got to this point in history.
This book is a must read for everybody who is concerned about where the nation is heading.
The book has been published by Harper Collins India. I received an ARC of the book. The views are my own.
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