How to handle 'Flash Mob'
The protesters appear as though with a rub of Aladdin’s magic lamp. So different it is from the traditional rent-a-rally protests, and the comforting prior knowledge of the routes they’d follow before their leaders court the symbolic arrest.
Harish Gupta
“I am not using this term, but I am told it’s like a flash mob, difficult to handle or foresee”. That was Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, his face evidently turned ashen, reacting to the avalanche of people that had gathered around India Gate in the capital last month, after the news of the brutal gang-rape of a 23-year-old girl in a moving bus in the city had hit the nation’s conscience, like a charged power line. The girl, named Damini to hide her identity, died in Singapore after battling with death for 13 days. The perpetrators of this heinous crime, six in number, four of whom are slum dwellers, are booked.
Politicians, meanwhile, have committed gaffe after gaffe—Home Minister Sushil Shinde saying it wasn’t his job to try and calm the agitators at India Gate for that might be a prelude to his being called upon to meet the Maoist insurgents in Chattisgarh; Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit, after blasting Delhi Police and shutting herself in a hidey-hole, surfaced at Jantar Mantar, a candle in hand and armed guards in tow, and was promptly booed back by the crowd; Congress president Sonia Gandhi chose the safety of speaking before a television camera and uttered homilies, meeting select group of protesters and even going to the IGIA to receive the dead body of the brave-heart, her son, Rahul Gandhi, the Congress’ great white hope in the next general election, suddenly became invisible ; the son of the President of India, who had become an MP, suddenly decided to project himself as a man with brains and lamented, in charmingly unorthodox grammar and accent, that the space for public protest had been hijacked by “dented and painted” ladies, thus leaving his father’s public image dented.
These are cameos of helplessness of a generation of politicians not used to witnessing spontaneous mass outrage of the educated and urban middle class, venting its irritation so close to the Lutyen’s Zone. They were baffled by the proximity of public anger, so different from the unwashed masses pelting stones at government buildings in small towns. It is no wonder that Delhi Police, obviously with the knowledge of their boss, Minister Shinde, turned water jets on the crowd in the shivering winter of Delhi. In a similar situation couple of years ago, imagining that a show of humility might mollify Ramdev, the yoga instructor, a clutch of ministers had scrambled to the airport to receive him in the capital. And some time later, suddenly losing nerve, the same politicians ordered the police to pounce on him after midnight on the podium at Ramlila grounds.
Why is the political class so flustered with the “flash mob”? Is it because of the novelty of their mobilization? The protesters appear as though with a rub of Aladdin’s magic lamp. So different it is from the traditional rent-a-rally protests, and the comforting prior knowledge of the routes they’d follow before their leaders court the symbolic arrest. It’s obvious that the crowds stirred by such triggers as the rape incident, or rampant corruption, are driven by social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, at one level, and, at another by chains text messages on mobile phones. But who are behind it all? The government fears it’s some Professor Moriarty or at least some of its political opponents, and so it loses its cool. But it fails to notice that the new millennium has brought something quite new to the fore. In its first decade, the share of rural population has dipped while the urban population has risen to 400 million (40 crore), 80 percent of whom are literate. It is 20 per cent more than the population of the US. In the twentieth century, politics was, by and large, the art of managing rabbles. It is a different story now, involving management of not crowds but large gatherings of individuals, most of whom are sensitive, informed and young. More importantly, they are used to treat politicians as their equals, at best, and not as ‘leaders’ who may shower largesse if they so please, and lathis when they’re not.
Many of our politicians are well-read. Some are scholarly. But most of them have the twentieth century mindset that makes them think of themselves as patriarchs. This mindset had disappeared from the western world just after the World war-II, but, alas, in India, it became the hallmark of the post-Independence political elite. The sense of superiority of the politician created its own symbols—the twirling red light on the car roof, the bungalows with sprawling lawns in Lutyen’s Delhi, and, thoughtfully indeed, the right to remain above anti-corruption inquiry unless cleared at the layer above and guarded by security. This mentality violently clashes with the new paradigm of public affairs in which the politician is but on a contract with the people to govern, and govern well. Instead of being surprised at the “flash mob” politicians should discover just how anachronistic they are in today’s India.
It is horribly wrong if they assume that shrinking rural India with 60 per cent population share will still accept them like a vast pocket borough. People migrate from village to city while ideas travel in the opposite direction. The nameless girl who was ravished and died has succeeded in sending out the message of the urban protest against her killing, and apathy of the state that leaves women so utterly unprotected, will surely travel back to the villages. People everywhere in India are no more prepared to see the politician riding the pedestal. The politician has to learn the language of communication in the new era. Its not Flash Mob like a Flash Flood. If the inventors of RTI and MGNAREGA failed to foresee their effects, Chidambaram’s admission on “Flash Mob” at least is honest. Its time to shift from paid crowd to flash crowd in the era of social media and FB revolution. A funeral in vee hours of the day can solve the problem temporarily. Sonia Gandhi is lucky to surive the Anna Hazare, Ramdev and Arvind Kejriwal onslaught. But the language of communication has to change with times.
