Social Justice Pvt Ltd

In this war of brands, a CBI chargesheet is only an occupational hazard of wealth creation. An inconvenient interference in the business interests of the House of Yadav where the law is a necessary casualty for those seeking to demolish centuries of ‘elite’ dominance. A railway accident in itself is without value. It is valuable only if it provides yet another opportunity to market Brand Laloo. After all, a Railway Minister, obsessed with his own sense of victimhood can’t be expected to weep over the dead bodies of those who belong to other, possibly privileged castes. The man of the public can’t be burdened with public expectation. In fact, he doesn’t represent the public at all. He represents only his own private business.

Thus ‘normal’ ministerial reactions to a railway accident are missing. Decisions to address, for example, the problem of exhausted, sleepy drivers and antiquated signal technology. Who can forget the ghastly collision in Gaisal in 1999. Or the beheaded train hanging from a bridge in Warangal in 2003. And in Yadav’s own reign the collision at Mukerian, Punjab last December when he famously stopped off to attend an election rally in Bihar, forgetting that Parliament needed to be told why two trains had failed to notice that the other was approaching. No, boring things like track and technology upgradation in the Railways aren’t particularly important for Laloo, beyond the odd khullar initiative.

Why is the railway using public not important for Laloo? Simply because matters of national ‘public interest’ are of limited relevance for the John D. Rockefeller of the Yadavs. Did John D. Rockefeller care about the hazards faced by the average American when he was building his Standard Oil company in late 19th century America using all manner of deceit and tricks? No, he did not. Similarly as the first OBC entrepreneur of Bihar (not the first OBC leader, mind you, before him there was Karpoori Thakur and others) Laloo’s energies are elsewhere. He’s building a business, damnit. And so far he’s been enormously successful, his is an astounding rags-to-riches concern. His stakeholders have become rich. In the utter absence of business opportunities in Bihar, Laloo’s created a huge market for his single product: caste. Simply because he’s always thinking of whether or not his private company is growing, the ‘public’ is the last thing on Laloo’s mind. So to hell with the CBI, and the rule of law and parliamentary behavior and the railway passenger. Laloo’s business is business.

In fact, there are several politicians today who are not political leaders but political entrepreneurs. Karunanidhi and the DMK are supposed to be the upholders of the principles of the anti-upper caste democratic Dravida movement. But in fact the House of Karunanidhi is a private business where stakeholders are supposed to enhance the political profitability of the product, namely non-brahmin caste consciousness. The Lok Janshakti Party of Ram Vilas Paswan is also a private business, headquartered in Hajipur, a rival business to the House of Yadav but selling the same sort of product, namely caste and crime. What is Paswan’s product differentiator? Dalit acceptability. Brand Paswan’s nearest corporate rival is Brand Mayawati, a celebrity brand in Indian politics, embellished not just with the tag ‘Dalit’ but also with ‘woman’. Forget about whether Mayawati or Paswan actually care about dalits, or women or the Sikh victims of ’84, or the children of the tsunami, or for the fisherfolk of Kerala. The point is they are brand ‘social justice’ and that is what matters. Unfortunately private companies with principles as their brands are a tragedy for the rest of India.

Political private companies can’t be social movements defined by ideology, democratic values and national service. Political private companies are scornful of ‘national political life’, Parliament or judiciary. For these private companies, politics is a bypass mechanism, where a ministerial berth is not about national decisions but a useful tool. A ministerial berth protects you from going to jail. After all, if the NDA had won in 2004 there is no reason to suppose that Laloo may not have found himself behind bars. And a ministerial berth gives resources and brute power. Laloo’s not the only example here. Remember how Mamata Banerjee speedily became minister of coal on the eve of the 2004 polls, so she could mop up convoys of red-light Ambassadors to sweep grandly into political rallies in West Bengal? A ministerial berth allows you to retain product monopoly in the state where (in the inverted pyramid of present-day politics) Central power is located.

Thus political entrepreneurs are terrific for their stakeholders but they’re not statesmen. If individual self-aggrandisement is the only motivator, then the notion of the public or public interest becomes irrelevant; there is little incentive to take decisions for the public good. If the meaning and substance of ‘social justice’ and ‘democracy’ is lost, if these terms simply become meaningless advertising jingles of Brand Laloo and his private company, rather like ‘Oye bubbly Oye bubbly’ is for Pepsi, then the day is not far when train accidents will come and go and the Railway Minister will not even bother to visit the accident site.