Why Pushpam Priya Chaudhary is the Best Hope for Indian Liberals in the Bihar Assembly Election
In the upcoming Bihar assembly elections, voters are confronted with stale options so far as the mainstream political outfits are concerned. The current CM Nitish Kumar’s charisma has petered out as the sushasan babu’s good governance program has increasingly given way to a lackluster performance. Sans real and continuous change, the narrative of hope could only take you so far. The main opposition party RJD is a victim of its past image which still haunts the Bihari imagination. Confronted with the lack of a real choice and well-versed in caste calculations, voters are likely to give the reins back to Nitish Kumar-led NDA. Columnist Shivam Vij calls this reluctant electoral consensus a failure of Bihari imagination. For such a politically charged state, the baffling absence of a disruptive challenge would certainly warrant questions. Bihar though has already provided a response if one cares to look at the right place.
A Fresh Alternative
A prominent face in newspaper advertisements and social media feeds, Pushpam Priya Chaudhary is the new political entrepreneur in town. Founder and president of the Plurals party, Pushpam made an entry in politics by announcing her candidature for the CM post. For a recent entrant, her considerable daftness in grabbing public attention and media coverage could not be overlooked. A formidable social media presence forms a core part of her outreach strategy coupled with the old fashioned visits to the electorate. To be sure, hers is not the only ambitious foray into Bihar’s much-muddied political waters. Other political entrepreneurs to emerge recently in Bihar would include Prashant Kishore and Mukesh Sahani. But, what makes her a disruptive force probably is an uncharacteristic honesty and a clearly discernible liberal approach to politics.
Bihar’s development sclerosis is in no less measure an outcome of illiberal politics and policy measures. In this context, Pushpam Priya’s electoral foray should be seen as a refreshing act, more so by liberals. With two degrees in Public Administration and Development Studies, she has positioned herself as an economic technocrat. Implicit in her political talking points is the recognition that the prevalent caste-based social justice politics has run out of steam in terms of its emancipatory promise. In contrast to the clientelism-fuelled division of spoils based on ascriptive identity politics, her electoral plank promises to break the oligopoly hold of power brokers from the corridor of block offices to the hall of Patna secretariat. Though, what makes her distinct from Arvind Kejariwal’s AAP phenomenon- yet another recent and more successful case of disruptive political entrepreneurship- is an absence of populist fervor.
Instead, what we witness is a determination to fix institutions to generate economic growth and prosperity. The challenge to her transformative promise though lies in the electoral viability of the economic development agenda. Morgan Stanley investor and author Ruchir Sharma has argued that economic reforms and development do not exactly get votes for the reformist politicians in India. However, as Bihar’s own electoral pattern illustrates, good and programmatic governance trumps clientelism to yield rewards for the incumbent reformist politician. Hence, an electoral campaign premised on institutional overhaul and technocratic reforms coupled with the promise of raising living standards might overcome social engineering-based politics.
Finally, a Liberal Choice on the Ballot
Beyond the obvious anti-incumbent and a novel technocratic positioning, it is the substance of Pushpam’s policy agenda that should raise hope for Indian liberals. In contrast to the largely dole-centric distributive political economy, she has refreshingly focused on the language of growth-inducing innovation and productivity. Her electoral plank is refreshing in the sense that it ditches the usual paternalist ‘mai-baap ki sarkar’ attitude in favor of empowering citizens with economic freedom. Of course, decently functional state machinery with the ability to deliver services and maintain law and order is a prerequisite for investment and business to pour into the state. It is here that in her strong stance against corruption, VIP culture, and crimes may lay the roadmap for a new developmental politics after the sushasan babu phase.
Also, in contrast to a Lohiaite Nitish Kumar who has focused on subsidies and basic physical infrastructure, Pushpam Priya’s governance vision openly embraces liberal economics. In a recent interview, she pointed out the missed train of economic liberalization and globalization as the partial explanation for Bihar’s underwhelming performance. Her plan for the agrarian economy involves productivity growth through mechanization and value addition by agro-processing. The imprint of her policy background is visible in the blueprint document of the party which has words like inclusive and sustainable sprinkled all over it. Although the document is not clear on the policy mechanisms to achieve the purported sustainable development goals.
Apart from economics, a strong belief in effective decentralization and devolution of power would make her amenable to liberals who advocate the same. She has also opposed the draconian and failed liquor prohibition drive, a pet project of Nitish Kumar to woo the female vote base. Liberals have long been arguing against such policy both on normative and outcome grounds. Moreover, an early sign of ‘politics as a service’ approach that moved the great liberal leaders during the colonial period is visible in her party’s modus operandi. The case in point is the ticket distribution mechanism that involves vetting candidates on basis of their commitment to public service, not on their ability to rope in funds or mobilize the vote bank. Another step towards clean politics is seen in the domain of electoral financing where her party would largely rely on crowdfunding.
Tough Road Ahead
A female leader who believes in Kantian moral imperative and Rawlsian veil of ignorance is definitely unusual for Bihar’s politics. Indeed, a casual look at the negative or dismissive social media reaction to this confident female politician reveals two things about Bihar. The obvious one is the ingrained patriarchy which could not come to terms with an assertive, independent, and driven woman making a foray into politics on her own. Second, the dismissive comments on her polished English accent reflect the feudal zero-sum mentality of Bihari society which does not look kindly to the spatially and socially mobile and aspirational individuals. The baffling hypocrisy though is evident here given the strong trend in spatial migration outside the state in search of jobs and education.
The more pressing challenge for her party though lies elsewhere. Politics essentially is a demanding vocation with returns in a long gestation period. It would be unrealistic to expect a decisive public mandate or even more than few seats for the Plurals in their electoral debut. However, things might look different if Pushpam and her party decide to stick in the game for long. In her, Indian liberals- long in exile after the demise of the Swatantra party- might as well find a political home.
