Conservative movement! Huh?

For a country where the Nationalist movement is at least one and a half century old and where a clean conservative movement close to a century old, it is quite odd that India still lacks a polity where conservatism is defined as it is. The media and social commentators do have a field day in defining their objects of observation as progressive, liberal, fundamentalist and so on, but in absence of a clearly defined ideology on what conservatism implies, these labels may turn to be misleading.

The above comment may be treated with incredulity by many as the RSS, with its various offshoots is seen as the banyan tree of Indian (read Hindu) fundamentalism / conservatism, while its political affiliate, the BJP is seen as the ‘Right’ in Indian politics. Undoubtedly, these organizations proclaim that they stand for the voice of the majority, which, conventional wisdom states, is the hallmark of conservative thought, across the world.

Conventionally, conservatism stands for maintenance of traditional institutions and supports only the minimal and gradual change in society. It would encompass support of republicanism, the rule of law and the religion, defense of civilization from the challenges of modernist culture and totalitarian governments, small government, low taxes, limited regulation, and free enterprise.

Now interestingly, applying the above tests, we find that none of the political parties in India come out as ‘true’ conservatives. Even more interesting, none of the parties come out as ‘true’ liberals either!  Both the poles of the Indian polity, the Congress and the BJP stand for support to traditional institutions, gradual societal change, ostensible support for rule of law and defense of civilization from modernist culture. At the same time, neither can truly claim to stand for small governments, limited regulation or free enterprise. True, while the Congress can be credited for assault on a basic societal tenant in the form of the Hindu marriage Act, the same Act can be construed as a great piece of Reform too. That leaves only religion where the BJP and the Congress differ. Here too, while the gradual but certain purge of traditionalists from within its ranks has made the Congress move away from majority conservatism, it is as conservative as it could be in terms of defense of minority religious issues, leaving the BJP as the only party supposedly batting for the majority religion.

So, is this the reason that we have never had a clearly denominated right wing in India, except for the brief flash of Swatantra Party? With no one party committed to anything in particular, it does make it quite difficult for labels to be affixed. But does that mean that conservatism is the prevailing thought in India? Not quite. With almost all parties committed to different vestiges of socialism, high Government control, high taxes, modernization and secularism, it is the liberal agenda which defines Government in India. And this is precisely where the Right Wing has failed in India.

For an apt comparison, let us have a look at the American conservative movement, for its greater familiarity with Indians today. Make no mistakes - even if we have a Black as the USA President, the fact of the matter is that  except of small intervals, legislature control in that Country has been primarily with the Republicans over the last 3 decades. Ever since Ronald Regan mesmerized America, that country has turned to the right and while we have had the Clinton and the Obama years, it is the Right which has been setting the political agenda. The media may be overwhelmingly liberal but it is the conservative political thought which is the one that needs to be vanquished by the liberals. The impact of conservative movement can be gauged from the fact that in any US elections, seemingly inconsequential topics like gay marriages, abortion, intelligent design, religion / sect of the candidate become major issues. Contrast this with India, where except for 1967, when cow slaughter was a limited issue or 1991, when Ram temple was an issue, no election has ever had any religious topic as campaign nodal point.

Even at its heydays, the BJP won only one quarter of the popular vote and while it did set agenda for political discourse for little more than a decade, today it cannot even articulate as to how different its rule would be vis-à-vis a Congress rule. So much removed from the US where according to an August 1, 2011 poll, 11% of American voters identify themselves as "very conservative", 30% as "conservative", 36% as "moderate", 15% as "liberal", and 6% as "very liberal.

In the popular Indian imagery, the US is associated with Kennedy, Nixon, Clinton and seen as a land of liberal business and moral values. And why not, our imagination is restricted to New York and other metropolitan areas with the South and Mid West hardly registering any presence at all. Reality is of course, more complex and during segregation, the Southern Democrats in fact were a part of the Conservative Coalition which governed the Congress till 1963. The biggest setback to the conservative movement was Kennedy’s assassination which in turn led to Lyndon Johnson’s landslide in 1964. Barry Goldwater was defeated in the polls but not vanquished. It was this defeat which led the conservative movement to change tracks and become more grassroots in orientation. The Church became more intwined with local politics and various denominations started acting as pressure groups as various levels. Of course, the high point was formation of the Moral Majority, which while condemned by the liberals, ensured Regan’s victory and the beginning of conservative stranglehold on the US politics. What is noteworthy is that organizations like ‘Save our Children’ or ‘Christian Coalition of America’ were not overtly politically aligned to any single organization. However, since Republicans led by Ronald Regan unabashedly articulated causes which the Christian Right held dear, the grassroots movement became Republican in character.

Here in India, the closest we came to this being replicated was the early 90s. However, not only did the BJP shoot itself in its feet, the foot soldiers of the Ayodhya movement too lost credibility. The reasons are not far to seek. Other than the Ram Temple, these organizations had nothing to offer on Hindu values, an Indian way of life compatible with changing needs of people. The movement does not have any intellectual champions, with whatever we have today, either being decades old or from people who have disavowed any connection with the Sangh Parivar. While there is a possibility that the BJP may still return to power, its next avatar is likely to be even further removed from its moorings as a conservative flagpost.