A New "Class"

It's not only the people of India who are demanding a government which is more transparent, more accountable, more responsible and more effective. The whole world's middle class has been drawn into the symmetry of movements whether it is Ukraine in the North, Thailand in the east, Venezuela in the south or Bosnia in the west.

After the imagination of Karl Marx being cut down, an era emerged in the 20th century and the different class of people came into existence - The middle class. Just a few years back it was predicted that it would be the middle class who would drive and lead the world's economy. They would be the one who would shape the world of cactus into a rose and of course would provide stability along with the mass consumer markets under the ambit of democracy. Some how we saw the results, the middle class grew globally at the other hand, the hope of being a rosy picture was dashed to the ground and what we got is a broken democratic government full of corruption coming in conflict with the annoyed people, the so called middle class people.

Taking the two urban examples who are one of the leading economic nations: First one is Brazil , the country was shaken with massive urban protests after the President Dilma decided to spend gorgeously on the two upcoming major global events - The football world cup and the Olympics and eventually the burden of this over spending was transported into the pockets of urban common people by raising the transport fares and by making the exchange value of the Brazilian currency hit hard on the hollows of people. The city of Istanbul went into the flames of protests last year when the state decided to reshape the city with new construction projects which even included the closing of the Gezi Park who is a valued urban haven. Both of these countries had to back down from its policies and had to reshape them complying to the demands of the people. These two countries are the perfect example of a place where the middle class is not just a sloth consumer or a meek voter rather the are resisting the state who are running away from its role of being more accountable, more transparent and more responsible. Countries like Brazil, Venezuela, Thailand, Bosnia, Turkey are teaching a lesson Globally that if the drivers of the dawning democracies are corrupt and who consider the matters of the national interest as their personal matter would give rise to the flames of anger and protest.

Every corner of the world is into the remarkable flames of anger and protest by the urban middle class. Despite being at different corners, the contemporary events in Ukraine, Thailand, Bosnia, Brazil, Venezuela and India (2011 protests- Annacracy and Kejiography) can be threaded into a single garland of similarity. Giving a glimpse at the IMF income index, the income tells us that almost all the countries mentioned above fall under the middle income category where the Oil king among them Venezuela tops with 73rd in per capita GDP, Thailand at 92nd, Bosnia on 99 and Ukraine, the poorest among the middle class in the above mentioned comes at 106th place.

Keeping India aside for a second, rest of the countries has a heavy chunk population literate population which is now relying on the state to create greater economic opportunities in the country for the current young generation and for the future generation, social security for the elder generation, decent amount of public services for all. All of this depends profoundly on the leaders on the nation that where do they take their country, whether they choose the path of progress and prosperity or they drive the nation into the doomed and bedevil nation wrecked with corruption, inequality and injustice. The countries have reached a point where combating corruption has become the top most priority through increasing accountability if the people want to catch up with the standards of high HDI countries or poorer ones. Many times statistics can be misleading also specially the indices of short term economic performance . The short term indices do not take into the account the disparity in the prosperity and how the gap of economic growth emerges into the different sects of people and how the corruption accelerates the economic growth. Looking at the two countries which recently has emerged from hustle and bustle of democracy - Egypt and Syria; just before the protests, the nation's economy was growing at the rate of 5.5 percent (GDP) and 6.0 in case of Syria.

Lessons for India 

The Indian flames for the so called second Independence began with the mock stage set by a combination by primarily two persons (I am ignoring the back stage) in 2011 who tried to initiate a plethora of new pythagoras in the Indian politics by challenging the Perpendicular UPA and the base NDA with a new Hypotenuse called Jan Lokpal (UPA² – NDA² = Jan Lokpal(sq) but eventually it emerged as UPA² – NDA² = AAP(sq).  We tend to forget that the people who were looking for alternative in the Indian politics accepted the new formula not because of the precipitation of poverty, inequality and insecurity in their lives but because of the annoyance and the acrimony against the state who had/has became the biggest hindrance in their lives to move forward.  

It should be noted that the countries which had been discussed above are also one of the most corrupted countries of the world along with India. Democracy is no more a game of numbers and the one who would achieve the magical figure of 272 would run the country according to its own wishes, is not what the people are seeking now. The emergence of Global Middle Class reflects in the major events in the countries of Brazil, Venezuela, Bosnia, etc that people are asking for greater accountability, responsibility and an essence of real good governance and they are ready to challenge the state corrupt administration.

The events in the different corners of the world set a close and early warning for the state of India and for its upcoming new government that just like those countries India, being the largest democracy has become home to a greater chunk of urban middle class who desires for a better sense of life and security. The new government should understand that old age formula of providing assurance to people is not going to work in the country where the products and gains of modernization are unevenly distributed with higher amount of disparity. This problem is going to be at its worse if the next government continues to ride its administration on the Mantras of Corruption, regionalism and religious chauvinism. The on going elections in the country creates a ray of hope for the new government which would put the country back on the rapid economic growth and which believes in the Mantra of "Co-existence with differences". The day will not be very far when the flames of protest like Egypt, Brazil, Bosnia, etc would ignite in New Delhi if the state fails to deliver what the country needs.

Just like those countries, the people of this country also aspires a government which is stable, more efficient, effective and creates a system and legacy of good governance in the country which will ride the country further on to the stations of prosperity and progress of all.