View: Election verdict 2019 a manifestation of the collective subaltern

By-Guru Prakash
The monumental verdict in favour of the incumbent government is path-breaking in Indian politics.

This rousing approval to Prime Minister Narendra Modi will give a fillip to India’s stature in the new world order. What is sufficiently clear, above all, though is the manifestation of the collective subaltern.


The entry of Modi in national politics in 2014 disrupted older structures of power that had, till then, gone unnoticed. With his prime ministership, power trickled down in the social pyramid. Modi’s humble origins was a relevant fact. But the level of resonance it struck with the backward communities in the Hindi heartland was unprecedented.

When Mayawati in Uttar Pradesh and Tejashwi Yadav in Bihar attacked the veracity of Modi’s ‘backward origin’, they didn’t anticipate the reaction it would have. Attributing him as a ‘nakli pichhra’ (fake backward) led to further intensification of the backward communities’ belief in his leadership.

In a decimation of family-based national and regional parties thriving on the idea of ‘social justice’, the subaltern voter has sent a stern message. After Punjab, West Bengal has a large number of dalits — the namosudras. They have historically been marginalised by both the Left and Trinamool Congress (TMC) governments. There were BJP social campaigns like ‘NaMo’ for namosudras in these areas.

The electoral losses of Rahul Gandhi, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Dimple Yadav, Misa Bharti and others indicate a certain maturing of democracy and the opening of the subaltern mind. The ones who have survived, like the Paswans in Bihar, have done so only due to their being fellow travellers on the Modi bandwagon.

The politics of patronage and populism was synonymous with backward politics. There is now a paradigm shift in this idea. Dalits have benefited from the constitutional measures of affirmative action.

What they seek now is not the breadcrumbs, but representation in the real sense. The next generation of the dalit movement will be pivoted on the idea of dignity and respect, and representation at critical decision-making positions. This has to be the most underestimated tectonic shift in the dalit consciousness.

Modi realises this because of his own social background. This was evident in his government’s policies during his first term. Giving constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes in August 2018 was a great step. The Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers’ Cadre) Ordinance in January 2019, to restore the roster-based reservation system in higher education institutions, the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe Prevention of Atrocities Act, and the subsequently repealed National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC), among other laws, found reverberations with dalits and other backward classes (OBCs).

The bulk of beneficiaries of schemes such as MUDRA (Micro Units Development & Refinance Agency) and Standup India have been from the backward segments. They were advantaged with institutional support in setting up their own ventures. This is dignity — ‘From being a jobseeker to a job-giver,’ according to Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Dicci) founder and 2013 Padma Shri recipient Milind Kamble.

When was the last time a group of safai karamcharis (sweepers) was invited to the prime minister’s residence? For the elite of Lutyens’ Delhi, this may seem eccentric, but when the head of your country’s government literally washes their feet, emotions are high. The traditional Valmiki community, marginalised over years, actually took great pride in this act by the PM.

The kanu halwai is a major backward community in the Hindi heartland whose traditional occupation is to run eateries on carts. When Modi spoke about selling pakoda and chai, members of this community were delighted.

I am a Paswan. Our traditional role in society had been of village guards. When Modi declared ‘Main bhi chowkidar’, the entire Paswan community felt honoured. Most of the dalit and backward communities worship Shiva. Modi’s pilgrimage to Kedarnath and Badrinath consolidated his support in this class.

Dalit issues are immune to the changing nature of ruling dispensations. Challenges will remain, and the struggle will continue. The idea is to have strong sense of purpose and direction in the subaltern imagination. Dalit thought is a work-in-progress. The future of social justice will, however, be premised on the bulwark of honour and respect.