Left vs Right - The two sides of emerging India

India is changing, in my previous post fulcrum, I mentioned how the nation is tipped at the razor sharp point of a knife. The ideological divide between left and right is at a point where both are desperately trying to drag the the country in their chosen direction.

Left vs Right, Azadi vs Patriotism, Lal Salam vs Vikaas

Lal Salaam & Azadi are the clarion calls sounded by the students of JNU reinvigorated by the release of the JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar from the Tihar jail, while sabka saath; sabka vikaas remains the motto of Prime Minister Narendra Modi

This is the story of an India in churn, what comes out could be as frothy as a butter or as dangerous as halahala - only time will tell. It is a sign of the changing times, when students gathered in a collage campus can shout slogans for azadi (freedom) and give out lal salaam (revolution) calls while naming the Prime Minister of the country as a faker, poser and a weakling.

This is a calculated approach IMO as the PM has chosen to represent himself as a honest, meritorious and a strongman while leading his party BJP during the general elections held 2 years ago.

In his speech from the JNU hours after he was released, Kanhaiya sounded the call for Azadi, not from India, but in India from issues like corruption, casteism, religionism, poverty, poor infrastructure and a multitude of grievances impacting the country and shackling its growth.

India is experiencing its own form of Arab Spring. The students of JNU have raised the banner of Lal Salaam while the government is waging a war based on Good  Government. The gauntlet has been thrown and ironically by the left and the response is awaited from the right wing ruling party.

The battle is being fought in media channels and social media each side having its own bastion of supporters and quickly apportioning blame on the other for the law and order situation deteriorating in the nations capital. Political parties too have been quick to jump on the bandwagon against the government and the mob mentality running high on emotions is ruling the roost at the moment. There are shrill calls saying Dalit rights have been trampled, Dalits have been excluded...

Kanhaiya has chosen to put his movement as an Ambedkarite socialist movement. Ironical given the man been chosen as the ideological spearhead of a what is essentially a leftist socialist movement was a person who believed in meritocracy over anything. Ambedkar was a giant at a time where the backward castes of the country were suffering extensively. He was a visionary who aspired for a modern, casteless, religionless India striving to grow on the basis of merit and talent.

Much of what Ambedkar stood for has been hijacked for political mileage; the weaker sections of the India continue to remain weak and backward even 66 years after the country's constitution was formed. Meanwhile new rallies are being held every day in different parts of the country asking for quotas or reservations while the meritorious are being held back due to lack of opportunity.

This is a battle of ideology, a battle of leftist socialism with right wing capitalist democracy. While the one side calls for freedom the other has been quick to seize National Pride for itself to retaliate against the other.

The questions raised by Kanhaiya Kumar are valid, his call for azadi from the problems stymieing our countrymen is correct, but his approach is wrong, raising banner of protest does not absolve you of your duties, these are problems which have been present since even before our country was independent, but the answers to these problems has never been forth coming.

The system has to change, but the change has to come within, trying to change the system from the outside would collapse it and lead to anarchy. There are already too many fires burning in the Middle East, Africa and our neighboring countries without us aspiring to burn our house as well.

Mistakes have been made by both sides, both have gone overboard and what was a misdemeanor at the most has snowballed into a big political fight between the government and the students. Sizing the opportunity the opposition has again stalled the house while important legislation like GST is pending which will allow the country to attract investment for the ambitious Make in India scheme.

Only time will tell if this is just another chapter in the political story of India like the Anti corruption crusade which was launched a few years back or something else which changes the social fabric of this country. In the meanwhile all that the citizens of this country can do is watch and pray...