Elections in India are no longer being held on developmental policies or ideology, but on populist announcements and the magic of speech. All ideas have now been reduced to populist declarations or flowery but meaningless speeches. Even the biggest leader’s charisma is limited to how big a populist announcement he can make. If there’s one thing that’s going to define the election, apart from the centrality of populist pronouncements, it’s divisive rhetoric.
Divisions in the name of religion, caste and region have also become an important element of elections in India. But they also have no independent status if they are not accompanied by some lip service and populist declarations. It has been proved in many recent elections that parties do not need to get involved in any kind of ideological complexity while contesting elections. They have to announce distribution of free services and goods and at times make inflammatory and divisive statements. This much will suffice.
The question is that if it is so simple and all the parties are contesting elections on this formula, then why only BJP is getting more success and why other parties are not able to get more benefits? It is true that BJP is getting more success but this is not as true in the context of Lok Sabha elections as it is in the case of state elections. Other leaders in the states also win elections by making populist announcements and raising divisive issues based on their regional or linguistic identity.
It can be seen from Tamil Nadu to West Bengal and from Andhra Pradesh to Delhi, Punjab. In fact, despite populist announcements and divisive policies being adopted uniformly, the leader who has a better oratory style and who communicates better with the public has better chances of winning. Be it Narendra Modi or Arvind Kejriwal, they get the benefit of their communication ability and language.
The relationship and importance of language in politics has been explained in detail by the great writer George Orwell in his writings. He wrote two long essays, ‘Politics and the English Language’ and ‘Why I Write’. Apart from this, those who have read his great work ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’ will have a better idea of it. There is an appendix at the end of the novel, ‘The Principles of Newspeak’, which explains the language of the novel’s fictional totalitarian country ‘Oceania’. The language of governance in ‘Oceania’ has its own dictionary. In his ‘B Dictionary’ there is ‘no word which is ideologically neutral’.
This means that all the words are going to sound different from their original meaning. For example, the place where laborers are made to do forced labor or work is called ‘Joycamp’ and the Ministry of War is called ‘Minipax’ i.e. Ministry of Peace, i.e. all the words sound the same as they sound. The meaning is completely opposite to that.
In India, leaders who have a better record of winning elections through populist or divisive speeches will clearly reflect the ‘Principles of NewSpeak’ in their speeches or language of governance. For example, if the Government of India gives Rs 500 per month to farmers, it is called ‘Samman Nidhi’. When the Delhi government decided to give one thousand rupees per month to women in the budget of financial year 2024-25, it was named ‘Mahila Samman Yojana’. In Jharkhand, Hemant Soren’s government is giving Rs 1100 per month to women and is calling it ‘Maiya Samman Yojana’. Think, how can the plan of giving Rs 17 per day to farmers and Rs 33 per day to women be a plan to respect them? But this is the ‘Principles of Newspeak’ that you should give alms or charity and show respect to it! Rajesh Joshi, one of the best contemporary poets of India, has written in a poem, ‘Proverbs reside more in intention than in meaning’.
So, there is a need to see the meaning of the leaders’ words, not their intentions, but unfortunately the common voter is not able to see this. He feels that the leaders are talking about his welfare, are giving some things and some services for free to make his life easier and are committed to protect his honour, his identity etc. But in reality this does not happen. In reality, division on the basis of identity and all the populist announcements are just a plan to cheat the common voter. It depends on the leader how he conveys this to the people through the magic of language and brings them to his side. Some leaders are more adept at this than others, hence they get more success.
If we talk about the ongoing elections, all the parties are making equally populist announcements and all are talking about dividing or uniting equally. If you know about the ‘Principles of NewSpeak’ then you will immediately understand that the one who is talking about joining is also actually talking about breaking. He is using different terminology for this. There is not much difference in the basic sentiments of those who say ‘If we divide, we will cut’ and ‘If we unite, we will win’. Both the slogans need to be seen more in meaning than in meaning.
However, in both Maharashtra and Jharkhand, elections are being fought on declarations and guarantees. Announcements are being made to distribute cash to women and youth. Promises are being made to provide cheap or free gas cylinders to women. There are promises of giving cheap or interest free loans to small entrepreneurs. Announcements are being made to bring more employment and jobs. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party, which called the free electricity and water scheme a ‘free rabble’, has taken the lead in this matter. But see the magic of language that the Prime Minister is defending every work of his party for which he criticizes the opposition parties.
In Jharkhand, ‘India’ block has given tickets to 20 people from different political families, while BJP has also given tickets to 18 people. But the Prime Minister attacked the nepotism of Congress and its allies with great enthusiasm. BJP believes that if opposition parties give tickets to family members then it is nepotism and if BJP gives tickets then it is Parivar Samman Yojana. Similarly, when opposition parties give goods and services for free then it is a freebie or a false promise and when BJP gives it then it is a scheme to honor farmers or women or youth.