Despite trying hard, Rahul Gandhi can’t do ordinariness; the dynast’s mass outreach programs smack of insincerity

A country of India’s size, population density and stage of development curve will suffer from chronic income inequalities when the scourge plagues nations far ahead of India in the metric,  such as China. By all available measures, however, India is steaming ahead. Its economy is growing at the fastest clip among large economies despite a global downturn, and all rating agencies and surveyors are putting India ahead, be it a short term projection or a very long one. Parsing through income tax data, a major report by SBI, India’s biggest bank, has found that average Indian middle-class income has risen over the years, growing from (weighted mean) Rs 4.4 lakh in fiscal 2012-13 (FY 2013) to Rs 13 lakh in FY 2022. The report also captured the transition of the lower middle class to higher income levels over the past 10 years, calculating that since FY 2011, 13.6 per cent of the Indian population left the lower income strata and migrated upwards by FY 2022. Concomitantly, there has been a significant decline in the number of zero-tax liability returns. Explained as tax returns where the individual’s taxable income falls below the basic exemption limit, the share of such ITRs has gone down from 84.10 per cent in FY 2011 to 64 per cent by FY 2022.

This is tangible progress. To argue that such progress has been restricted to only a small segment of the population — as Oxfam has done in a controversial report this year where it claimed that poor in India “are unable to afford even basic necessities to survive” — is not only wrong, but downright spurious. In its report released in July this year, the United Nations observed that India has registered a “remarkable reduction in poverty”, pulling out 415 million from poverty level within a span of just 15 years (2005/6 - 2019/21), ahead of peers such as China and Indonesia. Remember, this progress occurred despite a once-in-a-century pandemic that dragged down many from ‘lower-income’ segment back to poverty. Therefore, if we add India’s progress in poverty alleviation with the migration of lower income group to the higher income bracket, we get a weighted mean segment reflecting a majority of the population that has improved its financial situation despite the crushing blow of Covid-19. And for allegations that India’s income inequality has reached pandemic proportions, a deceptive assessment that has formed the core political strategy of Opposition parties such as Congress, it might make for a handy electoral strategy but the core assumptions are questionable. V Anantha Nageswaran, India’s chief economic advisor, and K Balasubramanian, joint secretary in the department of revenue, Union finance ministry, point out in Livemint that the inequality debate is “greatly exaggerated” if based solely on ‘income tax’ data “because individuals whose taxable income is less than ₹2.5 lakh are not required to file tax returns… Thus, any changes observed in the pattern of the tax base in the ‘Under ₹5 lakh’ group (i.e. lower income group) cannot be used as a dipstick to measure the impact of the pandemic or other policies on the most vulnerable sections of Indian society.” Tehe authors also state that “India’s social security net is vast and expanding (elaborated in Chapter 6 of the Economic Survey 2022-23), and cannot be overlooked in any estimation or opinion of income inequality in the country.” A case can be made therefore that India is moving ahead with determination and speed, pulling people out of poverty. Provided there is political stability and willingness to implement reforms — of the kind we have seen from the Narendra Modi government — it is not unreasonable to assume that despite an unequal progress India may become a moderately prosperous nation by 2047, the centenary year of Independence. It is also the Modi government’s oft-stated goal. Still, it is the duty of the Opposition in a democratic setup to punch holes in the government’s narrative, offer a counter-perspective and regain power. Having had to sit out of power for a decade, the Congress is noticeably restive and desperate. It has evidently zeroed in on a strategy to identify with some who have inevitably fallen behind in the ‘India growth’ story, and its electoral gameplan is to solidify this base through emotive appeals and hope to erode BJP’s electoral dominance. Noticeably, the Congress campaign on total erasure of income inequality, a noble if utopian goal, is demonstratively high on rhetoric and low on roadmap. There is nothing wrong with this strategy, except its tawdry implementation and substitution of painstaking, unsexy grassroot outreach with a swashbuckling social media strategy high on ‘coolness quotient’ led by its irreverent icon, Rahul Gandhi. There is a twisted irony in the heart of this electoral strategy that so far seems to have escaped Congress or Rahul Gandhi. For a campaign that identifies with the downtrodden and the destitute and hopes to stitch a coalition of ‘have-nots’ to oust the ‘well-heeled’, the promotion lacks focus and reeks of confusion, even hypocrisy. For instance, the Gandhi scion recently undertook a bike ride to Ladakh followed by an army of ‘influencers’ and camerapersons capturing every moment of his journey through the picturesque locales to one of India’s remotest corners and posting it on social media platforms such as Instagram. Media reports abound on how the Gandhi dynast “Halts To Fuel Bike at Ladakh Petrol Pump, Poses for Selfies.” He reportedly even “interacted with people in Leh’s main market”. For someone who has historically (and successfully) been portrayed by rivals as ‘cold and aloof’, Rahul’s earnest attempt at social connect is praiseworthy but the carefully maneuvered outreach programmes lack the spontaneity and electric bond between a leader and the masses and appear more of an imperial outreach in a setup where the subjects are expected to grateful for the prince to have emerged from his ivory tower. Despite his effort, Rahul cannot convey ordinariness. The social media campaign of inviting a vegetable vendor, Rameshwar, to his quarters and serving him food smacked of the same insincerity. The video clip of a desperately poor Rameshwar struggling to make two ends meet became viral on social media and presented before Congress an opportunity to cash in on the central message of ‘unequal progress’. Highlighting the apathy of the poor is a legitimate political strategy in a democracy. Congress can’t be faulted for seizing the opportunity. Trouble is, it seemingly believes a sleekly edited clip is enough to project Rahul Gandhi as an empathetic mass leader. The spectacle of making the poor sit before the camera, zooming in on the contents of his plate, ensuring the perfect ‘angle’ right while “serving food”, or leading a band of camerapersons on a field during harvest to send a message of solidarity with farmers appears disrespectful and fraudulent. Even if we overlook the fact that Congress was in power for most of the years after independence and its socialist policies, crony capitalism kept people desperately poor, can the Gandhi dynast ensure similar, glitzy, instantaneous progress that he demonstrated in his video interaction with Rameshwar once Congress comes to power? The commodification of the poor, who enjoys a few minutes of limelight, gets to eat good food in luxurious setting is as cinematic as Congress’s idea of eradicating poverty. This reductive logic of reducing elections to a performative art of winning votes, oftentimes by mimicry of the western gaze is the deepest possible insult to the electorate. It also reflects the deracination and lurching for artificial allegiances that defines the politics of Rahul Gandhi. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views. 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