Thoughthe Waqf(Amendment) Bill2024 pushed through the two Houses of Parliament may not signify any immediate threat to the Modi government, it certainly signals theend of the BJP hegemony on the country’s political horizon. The BJP establishment has no doubt been successful in managing support forthe controversial measurein teeth of opposition from Muslim organisations and the Congress-led Opposition parties but it has failed to gauge the psyche of the mass mind which matters in the end. The reason is that the BJP leaders are unaware of the concerns, fears, and threat perceptions which are embedded in thesub-conscious mind of a poor Indian voter. Let us try to make an attempt to get an insight into this sub-conscious mind.
In the pre-economic liberalisation era one of the prominent economists in India was Prof M.V. Mathur of Rajasthan. As ayoungreporter working for The Tribune, I chanced to interviewhim in the year 1974 in Chandigarhwhere he had come to chair some conference. That was the timeour country was undergoing Green Revolution and after the depressing years ofthe second half of 1960s when the countrywitnessedfamines and the humiliation of PL 480 by the United States there was hope all around forvibrant economic growth and social progress.
As we settled for the exclusive interview,I asked him that since the Green Revolution was generating a lot of money, where do you think this money should be invested bestfor a quickoverall development of our country.
I had expected the eminent economist to say industry and technologyprojects because these were the areas the Western world which was dominating the global economy, did not want us to have. To keep their dominance, they wanted India to remain an agrarian economy and were unhappy with Nehru because he had put the country on path to industrial development.
To my surprise, Prof MV Mathur said that there was a big housing shortage in the country and we should divert our resources towards house building for all sections of our society.House building will boost industries like cement, steel and sanitary ware, he said in support of his argument.
“That is all right Sir, butIndians do not have enough money for essentials like healthcare, education, transport and even areasonably good living standard,where will they get money to buy houses,” I asked.
What this economistsaid surprised me even more. He said that Indians may not have money for anything but theycan always find resources for two things – buying a house and holding a marriage function.
I filed my story but kept thinking what he had told me. I looked around and could see a yearning in my colleagues, friends and family members for owning a house of their own, howsoever modest these units may be. I could also see the glee on the faces of those who could have a house of their own. Soon I realised that owning a house of once own gives a tremendous sense ofconfidence and self-assurance to people, especially in Punjab, Haryana andU.P. whose generationshave been subjected to attacks, lootings and uprooting by armies of invading forces throughout the medieval era. A house or land of one’s own is an existential requirement and best guarantee ofsurvival. All rest is secondary. The politics of Chaudhury Charan Singh and Laloo Prasad Yadav is a testimony to this. The land reforms initiated by thembenefited the landless who worshipped these leaders like god.
Unfortunatelythis basic trait embedded in the psyche of a north Indian is something that the Gujarati lobby led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi neither knows nor is willing to learn. Votaries of a money-centric business culture,they do not understand that no amount of cash subsidy or free ration can meet this existential requirement. Howsoever well-intentioned,any measure that even remotely threatens alienation of people from their land is a bugbear for the masses.First they brought the three farm bills which, though withdrawn, eroded the party’s mass base in Punjab, Haryana and U.P. andcost them heavily in the2024 elections. Again they have committed the same mistake by this Waqf Bill, which will cost them even more heavily.
If Prime Minister Modi and people around him think that the Waqf Bill will only impact Muslims who are not their votebank, they are wrong. If they think Hindus will be happy with it, they are again wrong. Whatever the government’s intentions or motive, the message for the average man will be that the government wants to divest them of their landed property, the guarantee of their safe survival. And this message will be for Muslims, Dalit Hindus and poor of all segments wholead an unsecured life with fear of being uprooted from their land deeply embedded in their sub-conscious mind. This will lead to the alienation of poor masses of all communitiesfrom the BJP which no amount of other economic subsidies or communal propaganda willbe able to remove.
[The author is chief editor of mediamap.co.in website]