(The Political Line newsletter is India’s political landscape explained every week by Varghese K. George, senior editor at The Hindu. You can subscribe here to get the newsletter in your inbox every Friday.)
The BJP and its friends are retaining power in all three northeastern States that went to the polls: Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland.
Barring Tripura, most northeastern States have usually allied with the party that is in power. The political economy of the region is dependent on Central funds, and policies. Interest groups negotiate with Delhi and being a political ally of the ruling party at the Centre is very helpful in this. Insurgent groups are also interest groups. Delhi is willing to incentivise those who help to keep calm a region that is on the border with China, Myanmar, and Bangladesh. Interactions between Delhi and regional interest groups happen through elections and armed conflicts. Taking note of this can be helpful in understanding how the BJP gains and sustains its electoral base.
The BJP, as usual, was quick to give all credit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi who kept himself at the centre of it all. Addressing BJP workers at the party headquarters in Delhi, he said while his detractors wished “mar ja Modi” (that Modi should die) the people of the country wished the opposite: “mat ja Modi” (do not go Modi). He then pointed to the fact that two of the three States have a Christian majority. “Meghalaya and Nagaland are Christian-dominated and our brothers and sisters there have taken us to their hearts, as the people of Goa have done,” he said.
The BJP was categorical in reassuring the native population in the northeast that its anti-beef campaign that often turns violent against Muslims in the Hindi heartland does not apply in the northeast. This shows the BJP’s ‘flexibility’ given its focus on winning, but it certainly cannot be seen as any turn to secularism or an eschewing of Hindutva. It is unreasonable to assume that the tribal Christians of the northeast have found an ideological affinity with Hindutva. What is at play are interests.
There are various ways in which interest groups negotiate with the political process and the State. They might use a national party or a regional party — for instance, a section of Jats in Haryana is with the Congress party, while another section is with the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), a regional party led by the Chautala family. Many interest groups that once stayed with the Congress at one point have moved out to create their own platforms — for instance the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) of Andhra Pradesh or the Nationalist Congress Party of Maharashtra.
While Hindutva is an alluring ideological proposition for a lot of BJP voters, its successes are also linked to tying up various interest groups. In fact, numerous interest groups use the BJP as their political vehicle. Conversely, the weakness of the Congress party that hopes to take on the BJP at the national level is that no interest group finds it a suitable vehicle. That’s the Big Picture.
My interview with Taylor C. Sherman, author of Nehru’s India: A History in Seven Myths
The historian examines several central concepts associated with the first Prime Minister of India. Jawaharlal Nehru’s admirers and critics broadly use the same codes to make sense of his tenure: secularism, non-alignment, a strong State, and socialism. Placing Nehru on a pedestal was part of the nation-building narrative, particularly after his passing, says Sherman, who identifies herself as an admirer.
Federalism Tract
TMC plans to use long forgotten Punchhi Commission report to build common ground with opposition parties
In April 2007, the then-Manmohan Singh-led UPA government established the Punchhi Commission, which was presided over by Madan Mohan Punchhi, a former Chief Justice of India (CJI). The Commission delivered its report to the Center in seven volumes in 2010. One of its recommendations called for the Governors’ wings to be cut. The Inter-State Council’s standing committee took into account the commission’s recommendations during meetings held twice in 2017 and once in 2018.
The TMC’s decision to bring the Punchhi panel’s report back into the public eye comes at a time when many State governments led by non-BJP parties are frequently at odds with the Governors, who serve as the Centre’s representatives. The opposition has prompted accusations of political bias in the administration of the high constitutional office, over a variety of legal issues. Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Delhi, Telangana, and West Bengal are among the States with opposition party-led governments that frequently clash with the Governor appointed by the Centre. The TMC believes that the opposition can unite around the shared grievance of the Governor’s persistent interference in the government’s day-to-day operations.
History of invasions dug up to keep the country on the boil: Supreme Court
The Supreme Court rejected a petition that asked for instructions to restore place names that had been changed by “barbaric foreign invaders,” stating that “a country cannot remain a prisoner of the past” and that the “court should not be an instrument to create havoc. “The petition’s attorney, Ashwini Upadhyay, was told by a two-judge bench of Justices K. M. Joseph and B. V. Nagarathna that one cannot revisit history selectively and that bigotry has no place in Hinduism, but the attorney tried to remind the panel that Hindus have been reduced to a minority in seven states in India because of the religion’s benevolent nature. The petitioner questioned why history should begin in Ghazni or Ghori as the bench pondered how history could be reframed.
From ‘Rohith Vemula Act’ to reservations in higher judiciary, Congress lists out its social justice commitments
The Congress asserted that it would commit to secularism in letter and spirit and would be at the forefront of protecting the rights of minorities. It also promised to introduce a special piece of legislation called the “Rohith Vemula Act” to address the discrimination faced by students from SC, ST, OBC and minority communities in educational institutions.
The Congress pledged to conduct both a biennial census and a socioeconomic caste census in addition to the decennial census in its social justice and empowerment resolution adopted at its 85th plenary session. The resolution stated that the caste census would also count nomadic and de-notified tribes. The Congress alleged that the BJP has consistently refused to conduct the census, which is necessary for socio-economic and educational improvement.
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