INDIA’S NEW POWER ELITE
It was on Roundtable a month ago that we broke the news that Sanjaya Baru was coming out with a new book, and on the show, another Sanjay (Jha) quipped, “hope this one is not an accidental one”. Jha was of course referring to Baru’s earlier book, The Accidental Prime Minister. Well, this one is called India’s Power Elite: Class, Caste
And a Cultural Revolution.
It’s a very smart treatise on the power elite and Baru talks, not just about the chatterati and politicians but also the elite in the bureaucracy, military and media. Baru traces the rise of the Nehruvian elites to what Narendra Modi now refers to as the Khan Market gang and the rise of a new cultural elite. This new power elite dreams in Hindi, prefers to eat with their hands than a knife and fork but does so with attitude and not diffidence—it is the group that surrounds Amit Shah and Yogi Adityanath. In this new elite both Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Romila Thapar who signified the Right & Left factions of the old elite, will feel misplaced. Baru also talks about the cosy equation between media barons, TV anchors and the government of the day. The politicisation of the military as well as the bureaucracy is examined, with V.K. Singh and N.K. Singh getting a special mention. In the end, he leaves us with a provocative question, asking whether BJP is really turning India into a Hindu nation or is the focus on religion a tactic to divert from failure on other fronts. If the latter, how long will this last? Baru’s answer is not very encouraging for he feels the BJP will hold until the opposition gets it act together or the economy collapses.