The Congress’ welfare agenda, introduced during the last assembly elections in Karnataka and upgraded in Telangana, has left the BJP and its Right-wing economists in disarray. Even pro-Congress conservative economists and traditional intellectuals of the party are confused. Veteran leaders such as former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and P Chidambaram would not have approved such massive welfare measures for rural productive masses.
According to a Right-wing classical theory, providing bank transfers akin to monthly pensions to rural farmers and labourers—Rs 5,000 for those over 55 years of age, and Rs 15,000 per acre every year in schemes like Rythu Bandhu to both the owner of the land and their family members—is seen as an investment. The Congress also promised Rs 12,000 per annum for every labourer’s family as an improvement dose. Such money transfers are seen as catering to the agrarian masses’ lazy lot.
In addition to all that, every woman in Telangana will be given Rs 2,500 per month for her family expenditure, along with a gas cylinder for Rs 500. The Congress also promised Rs 2 lakh loan waiver, in addition to medical treatment up to Rs 10 lakh, directly paid to the concerned hospital. However, many economists argue that such welfare initiatives weaken industrial growth. Most of these economists are for writing off loans of hundreds of crore to big industrialists if they show losses, considering them hardworking rather than lazy.
In contrast, the welfare economy of South India is believed to increase the purchasing power of the vast rural Dalit/Adivasi/OBC/Shudra masses—the real producers of wealth in India—whether in agrarian or industrial sectors. As the Bihar caste census has correctly shown, the well-being of vast productive masses was consciously negated by the Dwija (‘upper caste’) intellectuals in social, political, economic and educational fields. The national caste census will expose the disease within the Indian social system just like an ultrasound does in the human body.
Also read: Modi govt’s reluctance for caste census is a political move to hide ground realities
Dwija economists
The conservative Dwija economists, whether educated abroad or in India, interpreted such schemes as unviable, citing they might make the labour force lazy. But the reality is that the rural agrarian sector is in the hands of Shudra/OBC/Dalit/Adivasis. They have to work hard to produce food, whether welfare help comes from the state or not. They cannot afford to be lazy in production seasons.
The new welfare agenda of the Congress, if it is adopted all across India, injects money into the rural markets that don’t have luxury malls and the riches of the upper-middle class found in cosmopolitan cities. Money flows into these markets and is spent almost immediately within a month or two in villages and semi-market towns. This will enrich the rural economy, which is away from the highways, airports, and Vande Bharat trains that the BJP is building. It’s a better approach to lead the development of rural housing, education, and health, as it improves the living conditions of productive individuals and their families. With better food, clothing and housing, malnutrition among the labour force is likely to decrease, and the productive energies of the population will grow. Their lifespans will expand.
GST income
The GST returns of Telangana, and India as a whole, are anticipated to grow significantly with booming rural and semi-urban markets. With digitised payments in villages, no small traders can escape tax. Money that goes into villagers’ accounts from the state budget will get ploughed back into the state exchequer in the form of expanded GST.
In a country like India, if governments allocate huge amounts of money to major contractors, only a fraction finds its way back to the markets. Apart from the massive wealth concentration in a few hands, prevalent issues include tax evasion (we see tax raids only in rich households), and hawala transactions to foreign countries. India is not meant to be like the US with its high-rise buildings, highways and massive ports and airports. The masses produce wealth from land and labour in our country.
Currently, these wealth producers are controlled by the richest of the rich—who invariably happen to be Dwija. They lack sympathy and empathy for the rural productive masses. This cultural disconnect reinforces caste divisions, a contradiction to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) belief that Hinduism promotes goodwill beyond castes. India, marked by widespread caste barriers, faces challenges in fostering universal human goodwill.
Also read: If Rahul Gandhi can tie aspirations to caste census, he will have a winning formula
Congress agenda
The Congress is also not free from its old Dwija mindset. The present model of economy that the RSS/BJP are operating in was built by the Congress. It seems to be changing now and the credit must go to party leader Rahul Gandhi. His symbolic efforts, such as joining men and women in planting and harvesting paddy, suggest a departure from the traditional mindset of the party. Unlike his grandmother and father, his interaction with food producers seems to have taught him something new—the existence of a caste-based economy in India. To what extent Gandhi’s insight will reshape the nation’s welfare system, beyond the electoral system, remains to be seen. While he has started to push for a new development model, as seen in the Chhattisgarh experiment, it is a challenge to make it an all-India model. Only time will tell how long the party will function according to his stance.
Gandhi and the Congress will have to fight the Narendra Modi government and the RSS/BJP’s contrasting economic model in the upcoming 2024 general elections. In contrast to the BJP’s economic model, which benefits big industrialists, the Congress model focuses on the masses who produce wealth from land and labour. Gandhi’s model, influenced by South India—especially Tamil Nadu—and theoretically rooted in his great-grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru’s democratic socialism, offers an alternative approach.
English education
As of now, the Congress has not promised English medium education in village schools, likely due to concerns about potential criticism from the Dwija media branding it as anti-mother tongue. There is also apprehension about encouraging the influence of the private English medium school and college education mafia. However, the party has promised to introduce one International English medium school in every mandal (covering about 15 villages) to the already established 709 residential schools that are teaching English in Telangana. It initiated the same in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan by opening a few schools. And was opposed by the BJP/RSS.
The Congress, as a national party, has finally accepted what I call the Shudra Development Model (SDM), as against the current BJP Brahmin-Bania Development Model (BBDM). While the pre-Rahul Gandhi Congress adhered to BBDM, the party is now willing to change. This shift is certainly going to be good for the country.
Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd is a political theorist, social activist, and writer. Views are personal.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)