When Qazi Tauqeer was born in Srinagar, in 1986, India was different. Doordarshan was the single channel on television, Kashmir was at relative peace, and we were far from the ‘shining’ India that was to follow some years later, at least in some privileged places, for some privileged people. In 2005, Qazi Tauqeer, a singer and performer of some ability, is the latest TV celebrity, winner of Sony TV’s Fame Gurukul, in an India with no less than 70 TV channels, a steadily increasing ‘‘shine’’, and a much bruised, indeed battered, Kashmir.
One could say Qazi has grown up through a period of huge change in independent India. The spread of markets with increasing opportunities for people and a deepening of political democracy are the upsides, while an increasing disillusionment with a sometimes arbitrary and seemingly corrupt state apparatus is the downside, most brutally exposed in Kashmir.
Markets have brought with them not only a huge range of goods, services and TV channels, but also a culture of individuality, opportunity and merit, quite distinct from the more parochial culture of caste, region and religion which ran and, in some places, still runs deep in India, especially in the functioning of institutions of the state. This is no surprise. The guardians of the state are only human. And humans are fallible, which makes the state fallible. It can be exploitative rather than helpful. This is not to argue that the state should not act at all. It should. But it must be a helpful, rather than cruel guardian.
Qazi Tauqeer’s success is good news for India and its people: its underlying secularism, quiet egalitarianism and democratic traditions. A Kashmiri Muslim boy from a less than privileged background received no less than 15 million votes from across India, saving him from eviction from the show 10 times and finally perching him on the winners’ podium with a lucrative singing contract and a brand new car as bonus. All that mattered to the voters was his ability — not his religion, not his place of birth, not his economic status. And the voters themselves, a staggering 50 million SMS messages received by the show, at last given a chance to elect someone on merit in a transparent fashion. This was quite unlike our general elections, where religion, region, caste, economic power and a lamentable absence of merit dominate the show. Indeed, barriers to entry are so formidable that the best do not even enter the contest. But lest we damn the state completely, its role in helping Taqueer reach where he did is crucial: the introduction of cable television in Kashmir in 1998 gave Qazi and many like him a connect to the world, and opportunities outside.
Could Qazi’s success send out some important lessons for India’s pressing problems? India has no greater political problem than that of an estranged Kashmir. Perhaps instances like this will help integrate more Kashmiri youth into the mainstream, rather than drive them to the path of violence. Perhaps the people of Kashmir will come around to see that the people of India at large harbour warmth and goodwill for them, whatever the state may stand for. The state on its part, of late, has been trying to be more a force for the good: a free and fair election, the talk of peace and an attempted healing touch, are a start.
The achievements of Tauqeer, as well as others on television, may also show us the way forward in another pressing problem, that of missed economic opportunities. We need a move up the economic ladder as quickly as possible, for as many as possible. We need opportunities, equal and many. We need merit. And we need the state to provide the basic minimum to all: not only food and clothing but also shelter, healthcare and education, so that people are in a position to grasp the opportunities. We need the right mix of state and markets, sadly missing in India over the years, both in statist India and now in liberalised India. The churning must begin now, beginning with institutions of the state, and then, to fine tuning the role of markets in order to maximise benefits.
Lest we forget, well done, Qazi Tauqeer. May you inspire many more to follow your path to hard won success. And well done, people. Keep voting, preferably on merit. Keep yourselves empowered. You will get what you want, somewhere, and then, hopefully, everywhere.
The writer is a research scholar in Economics at Trinity College, Cambridge
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