IIndia needs a bridge, a political bridge that connects opposition parties with grassroots movements. Last week provided a glimpse of what such a bridge might look like. The prospect of reviving Indian democracy and reclaiming our republic depends on this political innovation.
Recently, some prominent grassroots movement groups, which have a history of staying away from political parties, decided to join a major political campaign – the Bharat Jodi Yatra launched by the Congress party. The challenge of our country’s existence has compelled these groups to join the mainstream opposition parties and intervene politically. At the same time, this intervention is non-partisan in that it is not obliged to promote any one political party and refuses to participate in competition between and within opposition parties. We can call this the non-partisan politics of resistance.
Unsurprisingly, the novelty of the form didn’t make headlines. Media reports were about Rahul Gandhi Conversation With ‘civil society’. False reports of him admitting defeat in the 2024 elections did the rounds until the TV channel withdrew the baseless allegation. There was some speculation about something”Agitation“Joining Congress. No one had the patience to know who these organizations were and what kind of support they gave to this journey.
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Recent bridge-building initiatives
In the last one year, several attempts have been made to build such a bridge. [Full disclosure: I have been part of most of the meetings and initiatives that I mention here], Several eminent personalities, intellectuals and activists met in Delhi in September 2021 under the name “India deserves better”. Subsequent meetings were held in Bengaluru, Kochi, Jaipur, Prayagraj and Guwahati. Some of these participants have taken forward the initiative as “Hum Hindustani”. The basic idea is to create a broad unity of all those who wish to reclaim the republic and strengthen the hands of democratic resistance.
These initiatives have gained momentum as the threat to democracy is increasing day by day. Three important consultations were held this month. On 13-14 August, a ‘Rashtra Nirman Samagam’ was organized in Varanasi by a group of activists associated with Gandhian institutions and the JP movement. These include Amaranth Brother, Ramchandra Rahi, Prashant Bhushan and Anand Kumar. The meeting resolved to launch a multi-faceted nationwide movement to strengthen national integration and save democracy.
Meanwhile, the Congress announced its plans for the India Jodi Yatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir and appealed to all citizens, organisations, movements and political parties to join it. Digvijay Singh wrote letter to Congress President GG ParikhEminent freedom fighter and senior socialist leader is seeking support for Bharat Jodi Yatra. This was followed by a meeting in Delhi on 19 August involving about two dozen people’s organizations, including the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), which formed a “Quit Hate, Connect India Campaign” and supported the Bharat Jodi Yatra announced by the Congress. The signatories included Medha Patkar, Justice Kolse Patil (Retd), Ali Anwar, Tushar Gandhi and Dr Sunilam.
The conversation between the mass movements and the Congress leadership at the Constitution Club in Delhi on 22nd August should be seen in this context. At a conference at the invitation of a group of about 150 eminent representatives of mass movements (from 20 states, cutting across ideological and regional divides) Aruna Roy, Bezwada Wilson, Devanura Mahadeva, Ganesh Devi, PV Rajagopal, Sharad Bihar and I gathered. , The main agenda was whether and how people’s movements could join the Bharat Jodi Yatra. After detailed discussions, Digvijay Singh’s presentation and frank conversations with Rahul Gandhi, the group unanimously decided to welcome and “express their desire to be involved” with the visit.
It represents an important moment in the history of party-movement relations in India. To be sure, not all participants have signed in to join the tour; Each movement and group will find its own way to engage with the initiative. The participants freely aired their fears and objections about the readiness of political parties to oppose the politics of hate in principle. And these grassroots movements have never tied themselves to the Congress party. They may be open to supporting a similar initiative by any other opposition party, provided it promises an effective democratic resistance to attacks on democratic institutions and constitutional values.
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non party to non party
This is exactly what sets the present stage apart from the ‘non-party political processes’. In the 1980s, the theorists of Indian democracy saw a strange animal roaming the jungle of politics. These were not political parties; He did not contest elections or interfere in elections. Yet these were not philanthropic or charitable NGOs, nor merely pressure groups. These formations were political because they occupied political positions, opposed political power and were guided by political ideologies. scholarly Rajni Kothari, DL Sheth And Harsh Sethi – All based at the Center for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) – described these grassroots protest movements as ‘non-party political formations’. He had pinned great hopes on the new form that Indian democracy had invented, which was different from anything known to Western democracies.
The inevitability of democratic resistance today needs to be partially reversed. Instead of deliberate and productive dissociation between party and non-party politics, we need to design forms of engagement between these two forms of politics. Political parties in opposition need movements more than ever, as they turn into political machines without cadre, organization and ideology. In the last eight years, it is street no more Parliament which has provided a prime place for resistance.
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At the same time, grassroots movements need political parties more than ever. With growing intolerance of protest and dissent, elections are the only democratic arena available to us to effect political change. The politics of resistance cannot remain indifferent to the election results and the political parties that win the elections. Movements provide depth, parties provide scale. Movements bring up issues, parties mediate and put these on an agenda. Movements bring raw energy, parties channelize these into effective results.
So we need a special purpose vehicle which is neither a political party nor a movement organization. This should include shaping policies and approaches, but not as a think tank. It should initiate campaigns, but should not remain a mere campaign organization. It should interfere in politics, including the big Lok Sabha election of 2024, but should not become a political party. The extraordinary challenge we face today requires an extraordinary instrument. We need not only a new vehicle, but a new kind of vehicle, a special purpose vehicle, designed for public action at a very special moment in history. Such a bridge can shape our future.
Yogendra Yadav is one of the founders of Jai Kisan Andolan and Swaraj India. Thoughts are personal.