Identities – Part VI – The Politics of Identity

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Identity Politics is an attempt to empower a group of people that have a basic differentiation from the rest based on their race, colour, religion, caste, ethnicity, culture, region, sex, sexual orientation and a multitude of such other identifiers. Many of its practitioners are well intentioned highlighting the plight suffered by their group. For example, there have been multiple feminist movements across the world. These movements often run campaigns on issues like female infanticide, dowry harassment, sexual harassment, domestic violence, equal rights, honour killing etc. Another example is Gay Rights Activists, running campaigns on equal rights for Gays. Highlighting these Identity based issues plays in important role in a civil society that promises to give equal rights to all its members. It is an attempt to address a problem area that confines a particular group to the backwaters of a society.

The problem I have is that Identity based politics can get a lot uglier when the same practitioners look for political representation. I am not talking about feminism, gay rights, environmentalists and various such other groups. I am talking about Identity groups that seek to enter mainstream politics. Groups that cater exclusively to black or white, Christian, Muslim or Hindus, Yadavs or Dalits etc

Let's take a classic example. The British National Party is an exclusive whites-only political party in the United Kingdom. Party membership is limited to "Indigenous Caucasians". One of the objectives of the BNP is to see an all white nation. It wants to send all immigrants back to their home country. What about non-Caucasian people who are now naturalised British citizens or non-Caucasian people who were born in United Kingdom? Well, tough luck if you are one of them. They want to send you back "home" as well, never mind that you don't know of a home outside mother England. The BNP however does not have a problem with white immigrants. Those folks are fine and dandy. Thankfully the British public has so far denied the BNP any representation in the Parliament. They do however manage to win a handful of local council elections. Interestingly, the wards in which they do win are some of the most economically backward wards in the whole of Britain.

Alas, United Kingdom is not the only country that has to deal with far-right winged politics. Germany has National Democratic Party of Germany to contend with. This political setup is very similar to the BNP in its ideology. News about them reached even India when Obama was elected President of the United States. They apparently felt his presidency was the result of "the American alliance of Jews and Negroes". Like UK and Germany, almost every democratic country in the world has to tolerate such divisive and hate based politics.

You would want to elect a candidate based on a development platform, based on election promises that focus on improving our day to day lives. But instead we have to deal with candidates who don't have any focus of development. Their basic premise is to induce mass paranoia among the general public. It's almost like they are thinking – 'Let's scare them so much that development is no longer the most important issue. Let's make them insecure, unsure, hesitant and suspicious. They will have no choice but to vote for us'.

I cannot discuss Identity politics and not discuss India. It is like talking about flying reindeers and not talking about Santa Claus. India is a country with amazing diversity, diversity in its languages, regions, religions and caste permutations. It's the Promised Land for all Identity Politician wannabes. Unlike other countries, Identity politics can actually get you political mileage and the elusive seat of power. Interestingly many of the identity politicians in India are not far-right in their ideology. They are so self-serving that often their ideology is obscured and relatively unimportant in the larger scheme of things.

I list below just three such interesting identity political parties.
Shiv Sena – Can claim to be one of India's first right wing political parties. This politic party was born out of perceived marginalization of Marathi people living in Maharashtra and a strong advocate of a pan-Indian Hindu identity. It was also vehemently anti-Muslim in the 1990s but these days its ire is concentrated on the immigration of North Indians to Bombay (Mumbai)

Bahujan Samaj Party – Stands for the rights of Dalits. The political setup is controlled in an authoritarian manner by Mayawati, U.P's current Chief Minister. Her net worth today runs into hundreds of millions of rupees. She has no ideological leaning worth talking about, having opportunistically aligned with BJP, Congress, SP and the Left during various elections in the last 15 years. It is her ambition to be the next Prime Minister of India. God have mercy on us.

DMK and AIADMK – Both political parties represent the Dravidian movement and have a strong presence in Tamil Nadu. So strong that since 1967 Tamil Nadu seen 16 Chief Ministers - all of whom are either from DMK or AIADMK. The Dravidian movement started out as an anti- Brahmanism, opposition to Hindi and even cessation from India much of which subsided in the 1960s.

The most encouraging factor of the 2009 Indian General Election has been the defeat of many of the identity based political parties. Caste and race permutations failed in this election. For instance, Shiv Sena lost in its stronghold of Bombay, BSP lost seats even in constituencies where the scheduled castes were in a majority. Is our electorate getting wiser? Only time will tell.

Part I - Groups and Affiliation
Part II - Stereotypes
Part III - Ghettos
Part IV - Zeitgeist
Part V - The Fear of Small Numbers

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