Similar to the Black Shirts of Mussolini or the Brown Shirts of Hitler, Mandales donning White Tees did function as shock troops of Panchayat during the 1970s and 1980s when their main job was to bash up opposition groups at various campuses. However, their methods since then have been refined beyond recognition. Former Mandales are some of the most articulate promoters of ‘peaceful politics’ these days.[break]
The Saffron Brigade of Hindutva politics try to appear as reasonable as possible in public. They have been so effective in using soft power that the discourse of egalitarian politics has almost disappeared from the mainstream media in India. Militants of Mulayam Singh Yadav wear green in Uttar Pradesh, but the color of their choice has nothing to do with sustainability, peace and environmentalism.
Bijay Rai/The Week File Photo
The greatest successes of the White Shirts in recent days have been in Egypt where they quietly overthrew an elected government with the help of the security forces and the so-called international community, all in the name of ensuring substantive rather than procedural democracy. When it comes to staging Astroturf Movements assisted by the social media—as opposed to grassroots agitations erupting spontaneously and spreading through the word of mouth—White Shirts have no equal in contemporary politics.
White Shirts are the surreptitiously militant instruments of the permanent establishment and consist of refuse of all classes. In that sense, they are mostly composed of what has been appropriately called the lumpenbourgeoisie. Consequently, they often work in tandem with the military, the mandarins, the merchants and the media of the country. What the White Shirts call the revolution is invariably a restoration of the status quo ante, Latin for “the way things were before.”
Guided debates
After the formation of a government made up of “people like yourself and myself and the good people among whom we move,” the White Shirts in Kathmandu seemed to have lost their edge for a while. The new budget promises more to the Profit Sector (Pros) than even the PEON had expected. Allocations for defense forces have been increased. The Pros have been entrusted with the task of running the economy. A raise in the salary of government employees implies that there would be more money in the market and the compensation packages in the service ‘industry’ too would go up. What would then the bleeding hearts behind White Shirts do to strengthen their hegemony?
Fortunately, all questions have convenient answers in conservative politics.
For those trained in the BORING (Bottoms-up, Rights-based, NGOs) approach to development, there is seldom a lack of worthwhile causes to champion. The intelligentsia now wants that an expert committee draft the Constitution. “Would not a newly elected body repeat the mistakes of the past and get entangled in federalism, inclusion and positive discrimination debate rather than going for development?” some of them ask in all seriousness, hoping that the respondent would catch the answer inherent in the question. “Let’s have local elections instead” is a suggestion dropped without realizing that that’s what Chairman Gyanendra tried with disastrous results. “Education is more important, as is fighting social evils such as alcoholism among Janjatis and dowry among Teraiwasis,” over-enthusiastic youngsters who claim to have grown up with Tamangs, Tharus or Yadavs would tell professionals twice their age. The ‘national’ media—the voice of the influential groups in society—displays little enthusiasm for fresh CA polls.
In a country where the PEON commands all strings of power, advocates of change are few and far between and lack the critical mass to have a significant impact. Wanting numbers, competence and access, those that do exist are intellectually and materially so feeble that they can easily be convinced or co-opted with logic and logistics. It is not very difficult to coerce the rest in discreet ways.
Movements of pro-federalism speakers inside the country are meticulously tracked. Until quite recently, such people would have been physically threatened or thrashed openly. There was a method in the madness of burning the Tharu museum in Nawalparasi or beating Laxman Tharu black and blue in Dhangadhi, the intention being to frighten pro-identity forces into silence and submission. After the restoration of non-party rule, such crude methods have become unnecessary. Techniques of intimidation these days are much more subtle. Instead of blue uniforms, White Shirts even in the moffusil lead the assault. If one were staying home, visitors in the guise of admirers would arrive with the ‘information’ that the pro-Christian forces or the Mullahs behind fancy Madarassas have begun to dominate the democracy debate and Hindu Rashtra is the only way of safeguarding national identity.
It is even easier to hijack conversations in a hotel lobby where pretensions of having had one peg too many comes in handy to throw wild allegations at any visitor. “Dr. so-and-so is in the payroll of a foreign agency” or “Oh, don’t you know the story behind that professor? A European woman has seduced him into Christianity” or “Be careful of Miss know-all, she was found hobnobbing with RAW agents” or even wilder accusations of similar nature. And then the exit route couched in a threat and whispered in conspiratorial tone, “We know you are a learned person. Please don’t fall into the trap of foreign forces bent upon destabilizing this peaceful country.”
At informal gatherings organized for exchange of ideas, the encirclement is more concerted and organized. C. Wright Mills, perhaps the most erudite observer of the middleclass in the United States of America, says about the social psychology of the lumpenbourgeoisie, “The whole force of their nature is brought to bear upon trivial affairs which absorb their attention and shape their character.” It so consumes the White Shirts that nothing about the speaker escapes their attention—the dress, the address, the family background, the circle of friends, and the brand of the pen in the shirt pocket—save the ideas that have to be discussed. The strategy invariably is to harass the speaker and humiliate the organizer. It takes a lot of courage these days to stand up and speak for federalism, inclusion and positive discrimination even in small towns of Tarai-Madhesh.
Mainstream mania
There is a significant section of population that does realize that the status quo cannot be retained forever. Their voices, however, are becoming increasingly weak. The radicalized ones, associated with various armed groups, are the easiest to discredit as opportunists mouthing slogans to cover their criminal activities. Cadres of political parties have lost their credibility due to the activities of their leaders in the capital city: Who can believe the commitments of ministers who have served under an UML-led anti-federal coalition? The intelligentsia is mostly angling for appointments and nominations and inspires little confidence. That leaves the newly literate communities itching to show their presence. Unfortunately, this is the group that easily falls for the anti-change propaganda of White Shirts in peripheral towns such as Gaur, Malangawa, Jaleshwar and Siraha Bazar.
According to latest census figures, four out of five districts with the lowest literacy rates are in Tarai-Madhesh. In Rautahat, Sarlahi and Mahottari, more than half of the population can neither read nor write. With the literacy figure of 50.2, Siraha has barely managed to cross the halfway mark to qualify as more literate than Humla, the other district in the dubious list of the least educated. These statistics are in percentage terms; in absolute numbers Mahottari alone probably has more illiterates than the entire Karnali region. Such abysmal figures mean that even slightly educated Madheshis have a strong desire to differentiate themselves from the masses, and dress, talk, eat—nothing explains the popularity of MoMos in the sweltering heat of the plains in summer—and join the national mainstream. It helps that that is where career opportunities in the NGO-affiliates of the UML lie.
The longer it takes for elections to materialize, the stronger White Shirts will get even in the moffusil.
Lal contributes to The Week with his biweekly column Reflections. He is one of the widely read poliitical analysts in Nepal
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