If 2019 is heralded as the year of his grand return, 2020 will be remembered as the year of his grand betrayal. As in the previous term, we have been asked repeatedly this year to trust the intent and wisdom of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In the past, such has been the blindness of this trust that it did not question any of his decisions, and sought to crush any and all voices that were raised in opposition.
However, this term, from the questions that rose during the CAA protests to the mishandling of the economy and the recent corona-induced crises, voices of support have progressively grown silent and our trust in him has begun to weaken, if not completely broken.
Described by some psychologists as the lubricant of our social system, trust is perhaps the most important social good in India. Given the levels of information asymmetry, the lack of accountability, and the delays in natural justice in our country, it is almost impossible to live one’s life without trust. Trust is unique in that it does not always manifest itself as an emotion. It also works on a completely rational level, especially in the context of relationships between economic actors. India’s economy runs on trust right from the ability to get credit and employment to payments and investments.
But now, the trust that we placed in the leader of our nation has been broken. The trust that we could feel safe as he would be vigilant not only about protecting us from enemies north of our borders but also from threats to our overall health; that the pain we felt as we stood in line for hours to get our own money, lost our jobs or shut down our small business was in service of building a modern and resilient national economy.
A recent RTI filed by Saket Gokhale showed that only 19% of all international arrivals from the time we discovered the virus had entered our borders on January 30 to the day the lockdown was announced had been screened. The Centre spent February celebrating US President Donald Trump in Gujarat and March trading horses in Madhya Pradesh. In a laissez-faire approach that has become its signature, the Centre announced the lockdown with only four hours of notice, leaving many stranded around the country.
Then came the telltale signs of an unplanned execution — delays in certifying test labs or procuring test kits, delays in providing frontline workers with adequate PPE kits and finally, an unintended revelation in court that we were massively overpaying for faulty test kits. While this was happening, the PM was asking us to wear masks, wash our hands, bang plates and light lamps, asking employers at the same time to pay their workers.
The poorest amongst us, struggling for one square meal a day, listened to him, banged their empty plates, turned on their camera flash on their zero balance phones and waited for their employers to comply. When it didn’t happen, unable to afford medicine or even soap, they washed their hands in dirt, ate half-cooked rations and tried to sustain themselves on the generous bounty of `1,500 for 60 days. They hoped their trust on this man and his government would not be taken for granted. As we went from Lockdown 1 to Lockdown 2, their despair grew and what resulted was a humanitarian crisis the likes of which we have not seen since Partition.
Lakhs of people began their long march home, sometimes stretching close to a 1,000 kilometres, with whatever little money and rations they had. Many have asked: Why did they not wait? Were state governments not giving them rations? They were walking home to return to their families and communities, people who were still in their circle of trust—a vaunted position the PM had just been ousted from.
The PM has asked us to place our trust in him through every “tough” decision he has taken that has ironically only been tough for us. From demonetisation, a faulty GST, insufficient MSP for farmers, reductions in scholarships for higher education to the continuing draconian taxes on fuel, every section of society has had to suffer hardships courtesy the PM’s hard decisions. He is willing to trust corporates with a tax cut to invest the money they save. He is willing to trust banks to lend to those who are starved of any credit. He is willing to trust foreign governments to reciprocate our generosity in sending them essential drugs when we might not have had enough for ourselves.
However, he refuses to trust our poor with some money to buy essentials, our middle class with a slightly heavier pocket every time they buy fuel, and our small to medium businesses with resources to employ our youth. The PM erroneously believes that our trust in him is constant while it is actually reciprocal. The first and most important test of whether people are willing to trust him again is going to be in the Bihar Assembly elections to be held a few months from now. I can’t help but wonder if the father who rode pillion on a cycle his daughter pedalled 1,200 kilometres from Delhi to Darbhanga will ever be willing to trust his PM again.
Mohan Kumaramangalam
President, TN Professionals Congress and Working President, TN Congress Committee
(Email: mohan2k4@gmail.com)