Opinion New and updated
How meanings change. Heres the revised lexicon for our government and economy
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How meanings change. Heres the revised lexicon for our government and economy
An earlier column (A Dictionary for Our Times,January 27,2011) had argued that Indian politics defies all traditional definitions. The economic,political and social revolution of our time requires reinterpreting old vocabularies of government; our language is breaking under the weight of innovation. Over the last couple of years the conceptual revolution has only deepened. You cannot approach Indian politics with any conventional grid. Appearances are deceptive. This is the sheer magic of our democracy. Before we can explain what is going on we need to once again fix the names and clarify meanings. Perhaps these new definitions will tell us more than the reams of political analysis that are wedded to old assumptions. How can we judge and explain the brave new world we are making through old standards and expectations? Can we really understand news if we cling onto old categories? Have we not underestimated our capacity for conceptual and institutional innovation? The previous column had identified new meanings for a range of phenomenon,from the separation of powers to inflation. Here are some recent additions to our lexicon. Let us begin with government:
Ministry of External Affairs: The ministry that advocates the doctrine of non-intervention everywhere,except in family matters. It is generally against the Responsibility to Protect,except in the case of Norway.
Finance Ministry: The ministry that can defy the arrow of time and logic of mathematics. It can change the past. It can make any numbers add up to predefined target.
Defence Ministry: The only ministry that has triumphed in a theatre of war that is the biggest threat to the government of India: the Supreme Court. It even ousted a general in the process.
Planning Commission: Keeps poverty in India low,by definition.
Railway Ministry: Chief Minister of West Bengal.
Prime Minister: The guy who still does not get to pick his cabinet.
Ministry of Coal: Coal is a national treasure. Like all treasures it shall not be used,only smuggled.
Ministry of Civil Aviation: The ministry that ensures a level-playing field for both private and public airlines. Both should have an equal chance of being ruined.
Ministry of Rural Development: The ministry that shall forever be fixing MGNREGA
The Supreme Court of India: The institution that can also change natural geography all under the constitution of course.
Presidential Reference: Please,may we have our discretionary power back.
Attorney General: The office with the constitutional obligation to make sure government loses most big cases.
Coalition Politics: The first rule is: ally is never a friend. The second is: a friend need not be an ally.
Opposition-Government Relations: Absolutely wonderful. Next time around we will swap Andhra for Karnataka,and with some luck,Gujarat for Maharashtra.
Party Manifesto: The promises that you cannot talk about in election time.
Secularism: Politicians against Salman Rushdie.
Legislative Assembly: The one place where legislators refute Freud power is not about sublimation. It is about acquiring vicarious knowledge in public display.
National Counter-Terrorism Centre: A Centre to Protect the Constitution. It energises defenders of federalism. It even converts Jayalalithaa of the cause of civil liberties.
NGOs: The new foreign hand.
Rights: Something the Supreme Court gives us,when government cant give the real thing.
There are of course interesting regional variations in a diverse country like India. Our federalism is being truly redefined:
A National Party: A party whose leaders belong nowhere.
A Regional Party: A party that thinks the Centre is always unfair.
Narendra Modi: The projection of him as prime ministerial candidate is perhaps just a plot to finally liberate Gujarat.
Minister of Jails: The only ministry where minister might have first-hand domain knowledge.
West Bengal: Its historical destiny lies between the Left and the extreme left.
Manipur: The state where the blockade was so successful that the opposition could not unite.
Andhra Pradesh: The problem the Congress thinks it has solved,till there is a by-election.
Chief Minister of West Bengal: The office that says,though shalt not give an inch to Bangladesh.
Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu: Thou shalt not cut any slack to Sri Lanka.
Like all genuine revolutions,the reconsideration of language is not confined just to politics or institutions. It reverberates across all sections of Indian society,into economics as well. The functions of departments change,commodities acquire different meaning.
Inclusive Growth: Every party will get an opportunity to stand in the way of growth.
Economic Reforms: Bring back the seventies!
Reserve Bank of India: Whatever optimistic projections the government gives you,reality will be 20 per cent worse.
Income-Tax Department: The only department that takes the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act seriously. It tries to meet its March targets.
Service tax: The tax you pay because government does not deliver services.
Life Insurance Corporation of India: Insurance against disinvestment gone wrong.
Free trade: Free to export,free to restrict export,free to remove restrictions on export all in a week.
Micro-Finance: The illusion that high interest rates to small borrowers is noble,just,viable and profitable all at once.
Gold: The commodity whose import makes India even more economically vulnerable than oil.
The Tablet: Even the humble technological marvel has so many uses. It is a sign surfeit with meaning. Think of what it means for so many political parties. For the Samajwadi Party,accepting the tablet is a sign of modernity. For the Congress,the dream of Aaakash reignited the old passion for indigenous technology and self reliance with roughly the same results. For the BJP,it was an occasion for clarifying: we are not against sex,only sexy sex.
Of course,the revolution extends to foreign policy as well.
Security Council: The place you always wanted to be,but had no idea what you would do when you get there.
Global Financial Crisis: Please bail out Kingfisher.
Like the first dictionary,this list this is radically incomplete and random. But hopefully the reconstruction of our language will continue. For otherwise,we will look at the newspaper every day and have only one response: utter befuddlement. Nothing is what it seems.
The writer is president,Centre for Policy Research,Delhi
express@expressindia.com
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