Tired of being fed the same bland diet in different forms, voters in
the U.K., unlike in India, are demanding clearer choices, and there is a
clamour for more ideological politics
If Indian voters were to be asked about their ideological preferences,
there is a good chance that an overwhelming majority would describe
themselves as political atheists — neither on the Right nor the Left —
but pragmatic, broadly liberal or centrist. Even those who voted for
Narendra Modi are likely to offer non-ideological reasons (his
development agenda, anti-corruption pledge etc.) for their support.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that India, once home to strong political
beliefs, appears to have fallen out of love with ideology.
Yet, elsewhere in the world, ideology is fighting its way back,
signalling an end to a decade of Tweedledum and Tweedledee style of
politics that saw ideological labels shunned in favour of the so-called
“middle ground”, which became the holy grail of mainstream parties as
they scrambled to broaden their appeal. Now, the “empire” is striking
back. Tired of being fed the same bland diet in different forms, voters
are demanding more choice, and there is a clamour for more competitive
politics.
Distinct choices
There is a hankering for an era when voters knew what a party stood for
and offered them distinct choices. In Britain, both Labour and the
Tories are being torn apart by an ideological struggle. Their
traditional supporters and grassroots activists believe these parties
have moved too far from their old ideological positions in the name of
“modernisation” and simply to win elections.
Labour is facing a civil war, reminiscent of the 1980s split. In an
extraordinary move, a man regarded until a few weeks ago as an “outcast”
and ridiculed for his “antediluvian” views, is set to become the
party’s leader. Remember the radical Left-wing Jeremy Corbyn from the
CND era? Banished to the margins by New Labour and mocked for
championing “lost” causes, he is now leading the four-strong leadership
race to replace Ed Miliband, who quit after the party’s humiliation in
the May election. Mr. Corbyn came to the contest late and was
universally dismissed as a bit of a joke who would crash out at the
first hurdle. Instead, to everyone’s astonishment including his own, he
is leading the pack that consists of two Blairites and one who is even
Right of Blairism.
The development has plunged Labour leadership into a panic, and already
strategies are being discussed to get rid of him at the first
opportunity in case he gets elected. But it has also sent shockwaves
through the wider Westminster political establishment amid fears of a
domino effect of a Corbyn victory on other “centrist” parties. The
Liberal Democrats have already elected a Left-wing leader to replace
Nick Clegg, associated with the party’s Right. Tim Farron, the new
leader, has vowed to return it to its radical agenda after paying a
heavy electoral price (reduced to just eight seats in the Commons) for
cohabiting with the Tories for five years.
Return to roots
The yearning for the good old ideological days is also brewing among the
Tories, who distrust David Cameron’s modernising tendencies. Thus, both
on the Left and the Right, there is a desire to return to old roots
with clear blue water between them and their rivals. Winning elections
is seen as secondary to ideological purity.
It is perhaps a sign of the times that the same commentators who once
hailed Tony Blair for making Labour re-electable, by dressing it up in
“Tory-lite” clothes, are now calling him a “false prophet”. Suddenly,
pundits are arguing about the “purpose” of politics, saying it is not
simply about winning power, but about believing in something: ideology
trumps power.
Similar debates are taking place elswhere, including the U.S., where
both Republicans and Democrats are being challenged by
ideologically-driven factions. Bernie Sanders, who is challenging
Hillary Clinton for presidential nomination from the Left, may not
ultimately win but the fact that he has come as far as he has on a
Left-ish agenda speaks for itself. Europe is swarming with far-Right and
far-Left groups. Syriza, of course, has become internationally famous
because of its controversial handling of the Greek bailout negotiations
but it is not the only one. Almost every European country — Italy,
Spain, Denmark, Austria, the Netherlands — has its own “Syriza”. Some
are already in government either on their own or in coalition with
others, and some hoping to get there.
People have become suspicious of mechanical, smooth-talking, on-message
politicians and are looking for “authentic” figures, not afraid to go
off-message and speak their mind. Donkey jacket is in; Saville Row suit
is out. There is also distrust of what a Labour Party figure described
as “soggy, drab Centrism and spin”.
It is possible that this could just be a passing phase brought on by
public anger over the devastating effects of austerity measures imposed
in the wake of the economic crisis. Yet it all feels so different from
the 1990s when Bill Clinton and Tony Blair invented the so-called “Third
Way” politics — neither Left nor Right but anchored in the Centre and
pitched at the new “aspirational” middle class, that did not care
whether the cat was red, blue or saffron so long as it caught the mice
for them.
And it worked well for a while, thanks to a booming economy, until the
bust came. The hardships sparked by the 2008 crash, costing millions of
people their livelihoods, shook their faith in a promiscuous political
and economic culture in which nobody was around to hold their hand when
the chips were down.
But did ideology really ever go away?
George W. Bush was one of the most ideological U.S. Presidents in recent
history; and his political soulmate Blair may have rejected the Old
Labour ideology but had his own deep-seated beliefs that led him — among
other things — to support the American invasion of Iraq. Moreover,
people seem to have forgotten the mushrooming of far-Right groups across
Europe, as it was swept by the post-9/11 wave of Islamophobia.
Even the Left did not quite go out of fashion but took on a different
form. But there was a pretence that with the collapse of the “evil”
Soviet empire, ideology had died and, in the words of Francis Fukuyama,
it was “end of history” as we had known it. What we are witnessing now
is that bluff being called.
(Hasan Suroor is a London-based columnist. ‘Making Sense of Modi’s India’, a book edited by him, will be published in the autumn. E-mail: hasan.suroor@gmail.com)
