(Report on the Public
meeting by New Socialist Initiative on 24th Nov, 2018 by Sanjay
Kumar)
Speakers: Prashant Bhushan, DrAtulSood (JNU) and DrRohit Azad (JNU)
Economy
is unarguably among the most important component of any society. However, it is
also true that informed discussions and debates on issues related to economy rarely
enter public discourse. Instead, a moralistic populism which is quick to
eulogise heroes and vilify villains dominates. In their opening remarks, the
organisers of the public meeting on the above topic cited this lacuna in the political
discourse in India as the context of the programme. For example, during the
most recent national elections in the US, France and UK, an increase in the
minimum wage was an important part of the opposition candidates’ campaign. In
India that is highly unlikely. This absence is especially dangerous for left
politics because it does not allow a critical class consciousness to emerge. Ever
since independence movement we are witness to a longstanding populism in India,
which talks of the poor, and how they need to be ‘helped’. Through this thepolitically
powerful develop patronage over the weak. However, the poor in whose name
economic policies are declared cannot be agents who make history, which any
left politics needs.
