How you view Rahul Gandhi indicates how old you are. If you’re a venerable, mature sort (as most Indian political analysts are, the assumption being dyeing your hair gives brighter ideas), you might look at Rahul indulgently. You might murmur about his surprising choice of words – ‘nonsense’ which ‘deser-ves to be torn up’, dalits needing ‘Jupiter’s escape velocity’, et al. But it’s possible you’ll note his sentiments, the apology following his Press Club stop-press, the empathy behind the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe-style analogies.
However, if you’re 35 or under – 65% of India’s population today – it’s likely you won’t buy any of that. This is because Rahul’s strategists have addressed this constituency too little, too late, leaving Rahul groping in the dark while thundering 2014 will see a government of youth – how little his advisers understand this youth reflects in many missteps.
India’s youth today are unique. Every young generation energetically questions the status quo, but India’s youth does something more. This is a generation typified by the Bollywood song ‘Budtameez Dil’, cheeky heart, with its naughty stereotypes, sequined numbers in nightclubs, kisses in nooks throbbing to a DJ’s beat, the hedonism of youth, all hips and hormones, highs and lows.
But what’s special is that every bit of this zest has been earned by young people themselves. The evidence is in roof-shattering school results, girls’ struggles to learn, brave choices to forsake traditional occupations and step into unfamiliar worlds, an IIM Ahmedabad study finding 75.90% young Indians enthusiastically supporting entrepreneurship as a career compared to 66.97% Chinese. Alongside, young Indians are investing more in education while mushrooming malls salute their openness to spend on a good time.
Clearly, this is a generation shaking off constraints, its self-determination challenging social norms. More young people are marrying across identity lines and fewer are willing to stay bound, divorces reportedly doubling since 1990. This intense transition mirrors individualism amongst the young, choosing the right to reject in manifold ways, working hard and playing harder.
Yet, this isn’t a generation of clichéd yuppies. It has a dil with social concern. One reflection glimmered in the enthusiasm around Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement. Another showed in the grief after a gang rape evidenced a callous system that taxes but doesn’t serve. Beating with hope, this heart’s also hurt by corruption, inflation and politicians refusing to reform themselves.
This dil lends itself to budtameezi then, meaningful cheekiness, what Slavoj Zizek elsewhere calls ‘jouis-sense, enjoyment-in-sense’ or ‘enjoy-meant’. This is natural for Indians, apart from being argumentative, are an impertinent lot. But in older days, there were limited forums to cackle at officialdom falling apart. Newspapers had a markedly lecturing tone while Doordarshan smiled mainly during Krishi Darshan. All that’s changed. Today, social media is a vibrant network where news, views, jokes and jibes flow fast and fearlessly. TV shows, radio talk-ins, movies, magazines follow virtual budtameezi, like the ‘Pappu’ versus ‘Feku’ face-off, spotlighting the most engrossing jousts.
Such budtameezi isn’t sparing Rahul Gandhi jabs. Rather than personality, this reflects the Congress’s delay in understanding two concerns core to this group – freedom and jobs. The UPA’s record on creating the latter has been so dismal, Rahul couldn’t have seriously addres-sed the same, but he could’ve spoken for the former to his gain.
Opportunities abounded when two girls were arrested for comments online, a young cartoonist was jailed for drawings, an IAS officer suspended for doing her job, when water cannons and batons rained down on those protesting Nirbhaya’s death. Speaking then would’ve helped Rahul understand one ideal budtameez dils cherish. It would have also strengthened Rahul’s own liberal credentials, armour for his forthcoming clash.
Instead, opting for 1980s-style photo-ops – dinner in a dalit’s hut, a train across Mumbai, swinging a spade at an MGNREGA dig – Rahul overlooked this chance. Mentioning Kalawati, a widow in darkness after her farmer-husband committed suicide, his oratory swung the Indo-US nuclear deal debate. But the following neglect of Kalawati recalled Rahul’s earlier gesture, opening the Youth Congress to non-dynasts, tanking before you could quip, new card, old hand, leaving budtameezes laughing out loud.
This amuses opponents too. At 63, Narendra Modi is an unlikely youth icon but sidestepping the question of individual liberty, he’s capitalised on the second thing young people consider – jobs. Highlighting the UPA’s abysmal show, Modi describes his vision in words that may not bear close scrutiny but throb with passion and cheekiness. The last endears him to budtameez dils, themselves more candid than candied.
Not keeping up shows Cong-ress’s lethargy. Ironic, as it was in Rajiv Gandhi’s time that this generation emerged. As the vote went to 18-year-olds, India became computerised and a communications revolution started in an STD booth, all the conditions fell into place to create a forthright cohort. Reforms added fizz to this test-tube, creating a young weaned on Bollywood and B R Ambedkar, Indi-pop and Steve Jobs, RTI and EMI, whose debates and debit cards warm India’s autumnal bones.
Poised to vote soon, this gene-ration’s impudence can pressure dynasts to walk their democratic talk and demagogues to listen up. This generation can shred nonsense that must be torn up. This generation can truly change the game with its budtameez dil, jo easily maane na.