Blog: India, the churn within

People of India through the just-concluded Lok Sabha elections have decisively settled the debate on cultural primacy of Hinduism by delivering an overwhelming mandate to the BJP government.

It is beyond doubt that old order has crumbled and a new order has stepped in whereby assertion of cultural and religious symbols in public life and political discourse by the majority community will not be met with snigger or a tag of him being a closet ‘Sanghi.’

Does it change our lives radically? It is both yes and no at the same time. I live in a suburb of Delhi called NOIDA. In the middle of Ramzan, both my fridge and A/C gave away.

After frantic calls to my odd job guys, it dawned upon me that all of them are Muslims and workers had gone back to their villages to celebrate Eid.

My wife suggested me to go to professional service centres but I refused as all these chaps had been servicing my utilities for years.

Such was my frustration that, it became a topic of discussion with my friends during the morning walk. One of them told me with surprise that try getting your car serviced in stand-alone shops?

I asked why? He said,” You will find most of them functioning on bare minimum capacity, as most of them are Muslims.” It is not as if, this fact was unknown to me but it would touch me so closely this summer was stunning as I had to move to a different room and food had to be ordered every night.

Even the local chap, who would sit right in front of our society repairing gas, mixie and common kitchen equipment was no-where to be seen. In frustration, I again called the odd boy Zafar and asked him bluntly, "Boss, there has to be someone who can do my fridge while you celebrate Eid.” He said, "Sir, Most of us are Muslims and we would do the job once boys are back after Eid.”

I don’t think that this reality will change quickly. Most of the sanitation workers in the society come from the lowest rung of the society and especially from poor Dalit sections, however,most of the guards and security officers are upper caste Thakurs and Brahmins, which showcasesthat old village order of caste privilege is slowly giving way to more robust order determined by economic success and migration.

Most of the maids in the society are migrants from Bangladesh who all happen to come from Midnapur district. I do not know, what will happen if all of them disappear one day. The middle-class kitchens, at least in my part of the world, would come to a grinding halt.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi soon after his victory said that there are only two types of people in India," Haves and have-nots.”

It is a good start and worth investing your faith in. Dalits and Muslims for long have been the victim of the politics of empowerment. None of them has really been empowered.

They have been kept as vote banks to be electorally milked every five years. I sincerely hope that like other old orders, this reality should also melt away by creating more vibrant and inclusive India where feudal linkage of job, religion and caste gives way to a more diverse representation of haves, have-nots in prosperous India.

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL.)