Pity the Indian middle class! So united in its quests and aspirations, but almost always bitterly disunited over ideas of politics. It is the inherently fractious nature of this class that pulls it in different directions, willy-nilly breeding disappointment among sections of it and pitting them against popular movements, even those its members spearhead or in which it is invested heavily.
The fragmented nature of the middle class will inevitably turn sections of it against the Aam Aadmi Party, which sprang from an anti-corruption movement that they conceived, organised and supported in large numbers. There is already a growing murmur in some segments of the middle class against the AAP government's decisions and conduct of its leaders. And they seem unforgiving.
Not a homogenous group. Reuters
In qualifying words such as "segments" and "sections" lies the catch: the middle class may agree on the problems facing the country, but never on their solutions. That is undoubtedly democratic, testifying to India's much-celebrated argumentative spirit.
Or is it that there is another story underlying the sharp disagreements among members of the middle class over contentious political issues? It is possible the middle class opinion gets fragmented because it reflects the reality of its composition – that it is riven with deep divisions, economically, socially, culturally – and therefore, politically as well.
Perhaps the problem is analytical, arising from the method employed to categorize the middle class. No doubt, it is a sound proposition to band a category of people on the basis of income-range and call them middle class. But it isn't a sound idea to assume a shared class position will necessarily lead them to harbour common ideas about politics – or society and culture, for that matter. To believe the economic position of a person determines all his or her attitudes is as Marxist in approach as that of those who self-avowedly belong to this school.
Indeed, the theory of economic determinism glosses over the sheer heterogeneity of the Indian middle class, which is said to have doubled over the last ten years. Partly, this heterogeneity is inherent in the income bandwidth invoked to categorize the middle class. The National Council of Economic Research (NCAER) divides the middle class into two – seekers with annual household income between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 5 lakh, and strivers with annual household income between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh at 2001-2002 prices. On the basis of these figures, the Indian middle class is variously estimated to range from 70 million to 153 million.
It would be erroneous to presume a unity in intent and action between a household earning Rs 2 lakh a year and another Rs 10 lakh a year, that is, between a household earning a little over Rs 17000 a month and another around Rs 83,000 a month. This is because the two will necessarily inhabit two different worlds. For instance, the neighbourhood they live in, the civic facilities they have access to, the schools their children go to, the degree of influence they can wield over the system, and the nature of problems they encounter in their daily lives. Different experiences foster varying perceptions about the problems and their solutions. Might it not be fallacious, then, to believe that a middle class, palpably diverse even economically, will necessarily adopt a common political outlook?
Income aside, the spatial spread of the middle class militates against it having common attitudes. A middle class person in a mofussil town, barring exceptions, will perceive politics differently from his or her counterpart in a metro. Nor should we ignore the possibility of caste or religious or linguistic identities inducing differences in political choices of two persons sharing the same class position. Really, is it inconceivable to imagine a Dalit middle class vote another way than his or her class brethren from upper caste?
The contradictions besetting the middle class are reflected in its responses to the AAP government. For instance, the subsidy offered on power and water has enthused those constituting the lower layers of the middle class, but alienated its upper segment. Partly, it is because this measure is in violation of the economic philosophy this segment espouses. But it might also be because it doesn't stand to benefit from a subsidy that is linked to consumption, unlikely as this group of people would be to reform their profligate ways.
Similarly, anecdotal accounts suggest the anti-corruption helpline has helped bolster support for AAP in the lower layers of the middle class. This group reels under the extortionist demands of petty officials and police; its members lack the necessary influence, or are not sufficiently networked into the system, to have their legitimate rights enforced without paying bribes. But this measure, quite understandably, has also alienated those who benefit from a venal system – yes, petty officials and constables who too constitute the lower layers of the middle class. It will, in the long run, inevitably turn owners of, say, small-scale industrial units and commercial establishments who grease the palms of inspecting officials to condone their flouting of rules.
Even more interesting a study is the schism in the upper segments of the middle class to the undeniable vigilantism of Delhi law minister Somnath Bharti, who led residents from his constituency to mount pressure on a house allegedly running a prostitute-and-drug racket. The conservative segment in the upper middle class believes the police was guilty of the original sin, as it persistently refused to heed to the demands of residents to crackdown on drug and prostitution in the area. It wasn't even willing to concede that Bharti hadn't subscribed to the due process of law, that the residents might have been guilty of racial profiling, and that they sought to impose their notions of cultural values on Africans. The liberals in this segment took a contrarian view, stridently critical of AAP for tacitly endorsing patriarchy and fostering the culture of khap-like vigilantism.
As AAP grows wings and wants to fly around the country to fight the election, these faultlines in the middle class are likely to intensify even further. It will inevitably coax the AAP to forage other social bases for sustenance, through policy formulations that would splinter the middle class even further. But then, it can be argued that the existing definition of what is the middle class needs revision.
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