The ideology which Lutyens’ Delhi today represents is fundamentally at odds with an India which is growing accustomed to the idea of participatory democracy
Had Raj Thackeray been a ‘manoos’ from Lutyens’ Delhi, he would be facing an existential crisis. A strange wind is blowing across the corridors of Lutyens’ Delhi’ high-walled barbed gates, which metaphorically and physically remain out of bounds for 99 per cent of the population.
Ever since the British moved the capital from Calcutta to Delhi, central Delhi has become synonymous with power and prestige. After Edwin Lutyens radically redrew the capital, power was given a shape and symbol. And those who were fortunate enough to find themselves a space in Delhi’s vicinity invariably became the agents of change in independent India.
From there began an incestuous cycle of power where residents of the ‘chosen land’ dominated the country affairs, either directly or through proxy. Barring the inconsequential tenure of H.D. Deve Gowda, almost all Prime Ministers nourished their national political careers in one of the red sandstone buildings of the capital. For a large part of the last century and until recently, if one did not shape his or her public life under this dome-shaped edifice, he or she would be seen as lacking national appeal.
But now there is a discernible shift in the national mood. India is going for an election where its main political protagonists do not portray the look and feel of the conventional ‘Delhi-based leader.’ On the contrary, a common thread underlying the three key candidates — Narendra Modi, Arvind Kejriwal and Rahul Gandhi — to Delhi’s throne is their sequestered relationship to capital politics.
Emergence of the exceptions
Mr. Modi pitches his candidature as the ‘external redeemer’ who will clean the mess in Lutyens’ Delhi. The last time Mr. Modi lived in the capital was in the late 1990’s when he worked in the party’s headquarters. Though he did play a crucial behind-the-scene role in the party, it is the time he served in Gujarat which has significantly added to his credentials as a suitable leader for the top job. Expectedly, his campaign and aides are not restricted to Delhi, which represents a point of departure for the party’s electoral strategy.
Mr. Gandhi, of late, has been trying his best to rub off the ‘elite stains’ of being a Lutyens’ resident. He projects himself as a mere observer and not actor to all that has unfolded in South block in the last 10 years. Such is the national rage against all those who inhabit the grandiose building of the capital that Mr. Gandhi is making every attempt to break away from this image. His remark — that he would tear up the controversial ordinance that aimed at protecting convicted law makers — was viewed as such an attempt.
Mr. Kejriwal casts himself as the ‘eternal outsider.’ A resident of Ghaziabad, he chooses Lutyens’ Delhi as his preferred choice for protest. Considering the ideology of his politics, given a chance, he may even demolish the lofty monuments built by Edwin Lutyens and replace them with more aam aadmi-like structures.
Delhi: the hub of power
For more than half a century, Lutyens’ Delhi was venerated with both respect and fear. If one wanted to build a career in national politics, it was ‘the place’ to network and mingle. Other than a few exceptions, in the Congress scheme of things, it was the ‘Delhi-based observers’ who would anoint Chief Minsters for States from places as far-flung from Delhi as Kerala and Nagaland.
In our flawed federal structure, it was deemed impossible for one to make the logical and sequential transition from sarpanch to Member of the Legislative Assembly to Member of Parliament and then to Prime Minster. The concentration of power in Lutyens’ Delhi perpetuated a potent cocktail of nepotism and malfeasance. Today, for many, Lutyens’ Delhi symbolises a closed system which defies meritocracy and capability. It is a construct reserved exclusively for the bureaucratic or political elite. For many, it is this concentration of power which is the root cause of India’s corruption problems.
The ideology which Lutyens’ Delhi today represents is fundamentally at odds with an India which is growing accustomed to the idea of participatory democracy. This is not an idea propagated exclusively by the Aam Aadmi Party but is being increasingly adopted by all political parties. Mr. Modi too, through his maxim ‘minimum government, maximum governance,’ is calling for greater involvement of citizens in politics. Even Mr. Gandhi is making an attempt to write his party’s manifesto outside Delhi — a first of its kind for the Congress.
As a pluralistic and regionally assertive India progresses toward modernity, it is becoming clear that the country needs not one single solution but a gamut of localised solutions to problems in the country. An active citizenry, which demands closer physical access to power, is changing the definition of ‘national politics.’ This is evident from a closer analysis of election turnouts.
Between 1989 and 2009, the turnout for the Lok Sabha elections has remained constant at around 60 per cent. Interestingly, the turnout for State elections continues to surge, even while incumbents are voted back to power. The States that went to polls last December saw an average increase of six percentage points in voter turnout compared to the 2008 Assembly elections. This trend could be emblematic of the fact that voters believe they have a larger role to play in affairs to which they have closer physical access.
If this divergence in voter turnout continues, India could produce many more Narendra Modis in the coming years as it will become much easier for a Shivraj Singh Chouhan or a Jayalalithaa to prove their national credentials by performing in their State, rather than trying to emerge from Delhi’s rat race.
The emergence of any of the above three leaders this summer could mark a paradigm shift in Indian polity — AAP making an impressive national debut, Mr. Gandhi rejuvenating the Congress in his new avatar or Mr. Modi becoming Prime Minster. It would make the dream for many to occupy Lutyens’ Delhi seem less distant; the road to the capital can now pass through Gandhinagar, Gangtok or Goa.
(Siddharth Mazumdar is founder of Citizens for Accountable Governance.)
