Each time out on bail Kanhaiya Kumar uses rhetorical flourish to taunt Narendra Modi, he acquires new followers on the Left. Each time Anupam Kher spouts nationalism, he acquires new fans on the Right. Hours after getting bail, Umar Khalid announced to loud cheers that he doesn't want "Bharat ki Barbadi"; rather he actually wants "RSS ki barbadi". Many Indians seem to think that this is an existential war between the Left and the Right. The ridiculous manner in which Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested on charges of sedition added fuel to this ideological fire. But delve a little deeper and you will find that both the Left and the Right actually share ideological common ground when it comes to issues that affect the future of India.
The first is being "liberal". The brutal fact is that both the Left and the Right revel in being anti-liberal, if you use the genuine meaning of liberal. The Right wants to impose a brand of Hindutva that is entirely alien to Hinduism. The Left, on the other hand, wants to impose a version of Marxism that is even more alien to the ethos of India. Both are intolerant and both resort to violence to prove the superiority of their ideology. It just so happens that the mainstream Indian media tends to focus more on the verbal and physical violence of the Right rather than the Left. But look at how the views of the Left and Right merge when it comes to key issues.
Everybody agrees that Indian agriculture is facing an unprecedented crisis. There seems to be no relief or respite for Indian farmers. Many scientists think that GM crops could offer a solution. But the very mention of GM crops has both Marxists and Manuwadis frothing at the mouth. There is not even an attempt to engage with scientists in any meaningful debate. The Marxists are convinced GM crops are a grand Imperial conspiracy of western multinationals to enslave India (It is an entirely different matter that China has happily embraced GM crops) and produces double the food grain output of India despite less land under actual cultivation !). The Manuwadis think that GM crops will destroy the ancient heritage of India. Any "liberal" would at least engage in a debate and seek scientific evidence about how good or bad GM crops are. But who said our Left and Right are liberal?
There is something else everyone agrees about: without a sustained growth in manufacturing, there is no way that the Indian economy can generate the 10 million new jobs needed every year for the next decade or so. One key reason (apart from many others) why manufacturing in India has not grown at even a fraction of the rate of China is outdated and restrictive labor laws. But the moment you talk of reforms in labor laws, both the Left and the Right will gang up to viscerally oppose it, out of 500 million plus Indians in the workforce, the Left and Right leaning trade unions represent just 40 odd million working in the organized sector. But they have a veto power which seems absolute. The fact is, garments exports from Bangladesh are now higher than those from India. The key reason is flexible labor laws. But try talking to trade unions on the Left and Right.
Virtually every country that has been a major economic success story in the last five decades owes it to a mix of domestic and foreign investment. But talk foreign direct investment in India and the bogey of East India Company is immediately raised. The Left invokes past sell by date Marxist rhetoric to oppose FDI. The Right invokes equally past sell by date "swadeshi" to oppose FDI. The Swadeshi Jagran Manch is ideologically affiliated to the RSS. But when it comes to FDI, it finds common ground with the CPI(M). You see the same when it comes to other issues like disinvestment of public sector companies.
So where really is the so-called existential fight between the Left and the Right? In reality, the average Indian badly needs "Azaadi" from both the Left and the Right!
