Why it’s more than just the age

In the 1980s, the big fight was mainly between the 40-something, baba log, represented by the then youthful Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, and the old khaddhar dharis of the Congress, led by the Zail Singhs, the Bahugunas and the Kamalapati Tripathis. The baba log were victorious. The infighting in the Congress between the older generation syndicate and the younger ‘Indicate’ in the 1960s was similar. The young Indira swept the 1971 elections. But these generational gaps were intra-party.

Today, the inter-party generation gap dominates the intra-party one. For instance, the 40-and-50-something younger lot within the BJP — the Sushma Swarajs, the Uma Bharatis, and the Pramod Mahajans — do not seem to share a vision very different from their older leadership. The differences inside the Sangh is more party versus parivar, government versus movement: ideological rather than inter-generational.

The new generation gap, therefore, rests on the cusps of an altogether new contour: It is reflected over the different interpretations of secularism, in the cacophony over the issue of POTA, and the new fight between Centre versus state. But the underlying gap driving the mutually opposed stands between the different parties is largely generational.

At one level it can be seen in the recent spat between Opposition leader Sonia Gandhi, 55 and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, 76. But it is much more. Take a look at the new generation Congress and Third Front state level leaders. The erstwhile Congress baba-logs,some of whom have turned into mature mass leaders in their 50s — Digvijay Singh in Madhya Pradesh, Ashok Gehlot in Rajasthan, Captain Amarinder Singh in the Punjab, SM Krishna in Karnataka, Ajit Jogi in Chhatisgarh — have raised the possibility of a Congress revival via a new agenda. If the mandates were merely anti-incumbency then why did Digvijay Singh win for a second consecutive term? Most of the Congress CMs are highly educated, computer savvy, market friendly, secular and believe in good governance. This is in total contrast to the pathetic record of state governments led by the BJP wheter in Gujarat or in Jharkhand.

The 45 to 55 year old Mandalites and Dalit politicians — Laloo Prasad Yadav, Mayawati, Chandrababu Naidu, and even a generation older Mulayam Singh Yadav — always spoke in a voice at great variance to the older generation of politicians. No doubt, the Ram Janambhoomi movement was a reaction to the Mandal agenda in politics. These state-level grass root leaders joined politics in the post-Emergency period. Although politics is a game of positioning and in that some of them might have allied with the BJP for tactical reasons, they are secular to the core, champions of social justice, and have engineered rural empowerment and passionately pushed redistributive politics over other values. Naidu even shares a technocratic vision along with the baba logs.

The cohort of the Mandalites and the new baba-logs stands in striking contrast to the grandfather generation now ensconced in New Delhi. Unlike the wise Bhisma Pitamah, who merely witnessed the battle of Mahabharata from a bed of arrows, the present bunch of old fogies, continue to tight fistedly control the high commands of the national parties. Although most of them swear by the laurels won during the national movement, the fact of the matter is that they are totally out of sync with the needs of a fast changing world, whether it is the relationship between communities, between the Centre and the states or that between nations in a fast globalising world. All they seem to care is for POTA as an agenda when the need of the hour is clearly the healing touch.

What prevents the Mandalites and the new baba-log to form an alliance? After all, they were born in an independent India, and being socially progressive, they share several values including secularism. Two reasons: First, the class divide: while the Mandalites come from as well as represent the rural backward and Dalit castes, the baba-log represent the yuppie face of the brave new generation.

Second, the territorial war, evident in the brutal battle between Congress and Samajwadi Party over minority votes in the recent UP elections.

In the past, in the factional fight between the two different generations within the Congress party, the younger generation turned victorious. Today, in the Mahabharata between the two different generations, across rival parties, it is older, more Machiavellian generation, which is successful via the strategy of forging workable coalitions.

Today, the Mandalites and the baba-logs, locked in a suicidal territorial and sociological conflict, find it difficult to capture power in the Centre. Unless a new tall leader of the brave new generation is able to tide over such differences, the new generation will continue to be relegated to the provinces.