When a nation showcases its religious symbolism to reiterate its commitment to the perceived ethos of a country, a celebratory mood takes precedence.
The holographic projection mapping kaleidoscope at Ayodhya, braced with aplomb by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Deepawali, was projected as a jab at India's psyche. The grand spectacle of 18 lakh earthenware lamps displayed with pomp earmarked a nation's tryst with its history, an aura of recaptured imagination. But beyond the glitter and razzmatazz, hard realism pipped in and played spoilsport. As a precursor to the festival of lights, the PM was on a detour – real and virtual.
Interspersed between his Kedarnath sojourn and the Guinness record-shattering laser show on the banks of Sarayu was the Rozgar Mela or employment fair, perhaps an acceptance of the present job scenario in the country.
The employment fair may be a tacit acceptance by the ruling regime that India cannot satiate through Hindutva alone. Modi's appointment overdrive to fill 75,000 pending vacancies in various government departments is not the same as creating new posts. Hence, the Diwali gift to India's youth does not unmask our dismal unemployment scene. The event hyped as a fair was more of a moniker stressing the need to firefight the empty vacancy front.
As campaigning picks up in poll-bound Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, both saffron bastions, the Rozgar Mela was a reminder that majoritarianism cannot replace threadbare issues of food, healthcare and housing.
Jibes from the opposition were pushed to the back burner to highlight the government's achievements. The Congress alleged this was a well-planned spectacle to coincide with Diwali, when the mood of the nation is usually upbeat, and the appointment letters were withheld for months with assembly polls in mind. Another gala event that provided great atmospherics and a delight for flash bulbs was the beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana being handed over homes in Madhya Pradesh through videoconferencing by the PM. Modi's platter of jobs and preceding pilgrimage on Diwali eve is a dexterously crafted strategy. It reinforces the PM's humane image and indirectly links economic welfare to religion.
It is important to note the government's viewpoint on the bleak economic state of affairs. Sidestepping the zooming unemployment numbers, the PM emphasised the distribution of appointment letters in one go as a milestone and promised to repeat the same. Official estimates suggest more than 9 lakh vacancies across various central government departments. So, if the PM's Ayodhya visit harnessed his religious credentials, he has also played the lamplighter in disseminating brightness to all corners of the country. As icing on the cake, celebrating Diwali with the men in uniform highlighted the government's commitment to brawny nationalism.
As expected, the Congress is claiming more brownie points from this employment exercise than the BJP-led dispensation at the Centre. Is this a forced offshoot of Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra, as the Congress party claims? The three issues Rahul Gandhi has consistently raised during his travails are joblessness, skyrocketing prices and divisive politics. Even those not supporting the Congress admit that thousands of youth have joined Rahul Gandhi's walkathon to raise the core issue of
job creation and economic upliftment. The Congress' consistent campaign on unemployment has resonated with the people. The upcoming Gujarat hustings may have compelled the BJP to go in for a glitzy employment fair.
What has emerged starkly in all this is the PM, instead of refraining from the job crisis, has admitted the same yet blamed the pandemic and global woes for the grim economic scenario. Was this Rozgar Mela an initiative to cushion India from global challenges or the promise of two crore jobs a year going haywire and becoming mired in vacuity? Even sceptics would admit that the thrust on government hiring comes amid fears of a slowdown from current geopolitical tensions and unusually high inflation in parts of the developed world. Social welfarism and religion may sync in harmony but what sticks like a glue to a nation's progress is often the economy.
In politics, even with spectacular event management, the juxtaposition of binaries is very important. One has to carefully analyse and read beneath the covers the PM's chain of inaugurations in succession - ropeway projects in Kedarnath and Hemkund Sahib in Uttarakhand, the two holy shrines in the higher reaches from where the doors of prosperity for the rural economy are supposed to open. "Our centres of faith are not just structures; they are symbols of our cultural legacy, which is thousands of years old. They are our life breath," the PM's words are a bridge to sync economic upliftment to socio-religious laissez-faire. Next in the queue is the Rozgar Mela, appointment letters to thousands of job aspirants and then the Ramlila tableau at Ayodhya on Deepotsav to celebrate India's psyche.
(Chiranjib Haldar is a commentator on politics and society)
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.