The New Middle Class

We recently stayed at a colonial hotel in Darjeeling. The hotel is very la di da and focuses on creating an ambience reminiscent of pre-independence British India complete with afternoon tea and coal fires in all the rooms. It is a small hotel and apart from us and a few westerners, there were a large number of people who were part of a fitness group led by a well known nutritionist. This group was a mixture of people, old and young, and there were children too. Most of the participants were from Gujarat and Maharashtra though there were a few from Kolkata as well. Evidently, anyone who stays at this hotel is reasonably well off as it is an expensive, upscale property.

It was interesting to observe the behaviour patterns of this group vs the other residents of the hotel. All of them took off their footwear before entering any of the rooms. All the floors were carpeted and it was fairly cold so everyone else, including the hotel staff kept their shoes on. Clearly there was some cultural conditioning at work here. The hotel served the finest Darjeeling tea, perfectly brewed and presented without any milk or sugar. This group all asked for masala chai, obviously finding the Darjeeling tea insipid. Further, a sizable chunk of them had strict dietary preferences such as Vegetarian food or a Jain diet. They mostly spoke in Gujarati or Marathi with some Hindi thrown in. Though they were dressed in western clothes mostly, they did not speak English. If they did, it was with a broad regional accent, It would be fair to assume that most of them did not go to the so called 'Convent or Missionary' schools and that they did not have English speaking parents.

Vir Sanghvi's recent article captures the profile of this segment New Middle Class (NMC) and its political leanings. Apart from whether they are English speaking or not, the critical difference between this segment and the Old Middle Class (OMC) seems to be their religious underpinnings. In my view this manifests itself in two ways. Please note that whether they are OMC or NMC, the underlying religion in India is mostly Hindu:

1. The OMC tends to practice religion intermittently. (There are shades of difference between people in this segment and it is not as black and white as it is presented here) Events like marriages, deaths, and other significant life events are celebrated with full ritual but that's about it. Temple visits are minimal and are more like tourist events. The NMC is certainly more ritualistic and practices religion overtly.
2. The OMC explicitly states that it is secular. Not everyone is sure of what this means but I presume that in this context it refers to treating people of all religions equally. The NMC does nothing of the kind. The Hindu religion is clearly superior for them and they would, at best, tolerate people from other religions without too much of social mixing.  

It is clear that the OMC is dwindling in numbers. This is the breed which is often derisively referred to as the Lutyens Elite, Presstitutes etc as most of the established civil service and media were from the OMC segment. They are being simply overwhelmed in numbers by the NMC as time goes on. This change has profound implications for India. Perhaps because of the stronger Hindu underpinnings of the NMC they naturally gravitate towards the BJP, a fact that the party has joyfully accepted and exploited. Whether it acts on their aspirations (Mandir in Ayodhya, Common Civil Code, Muscular policy against Muslim separatists in Kashmir, Expelling illegal Bangladeshis etc) or not is still work in progress. It may be argued that a 'strong' pro Hindu policy is easier to articulate when you are in opposition rather when you run the country with a sizable majority.

The opposition parties, specifically the Congress have totally failed to appreciate the growth of the NMC. There is a strong vested interest spearheaded by a section of the English language media (NDTV, Sagarika Ghosh etc) that essentially looks down upon the NMC while deifying the tenets of the OMC. There is also a belief that, with time, the NMC will become like the OMC. That sounds like wishful thinking and is unlikely to happen. In reality the OMC has all but withered away. Unless the opposition parties recognize the growth of the NMC phenomenon they will be unable to strategise on how to deal with it.

The foregoing discussion essentially boils down to changing attitudes towards religious minorities, specifically Muslims. This is indeed the key differentiator between the OMC and the NMC. English speaking is a non issue. Global realities will ensure that English will grow and prosper in India. We have a natural advantage in this respect and it would be foolish to fritter it away. So what do these changing attitudes translate into? In my view there are 4 critical issues:

1. The perception that the Indian 'secular' state favours religious minorities over Hindus. This perception leads to demands for a 'level playing field' or loosely translated a common civil code (common here would largely equate to a Hindu civil code)
2. Righting of historical wrongs. This centres around issues like building the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, identifying the Taj Mahal as a Shiv Mandir or changing Muslim place names like Allahabad to Prayagraj 
3. Rewriting history like defining Maharana Pratap as the victor at Haldighati or highlighting Hindu Kings like Lalitaditya who have been ignored by Colonial and Leftist historians, or insisting that most scientific, medical and other discoveries happened in India
4. Reforming obscurantist Islam - issues such as the ban to triple talaq or allowing the entry of women into Muslim shrines like Haji Ali.

Where is all this leading? That's a tough question to answer. I am of the very strong opinion that India is a self correcting society. By that I mean a place that does not swing towards extremes. Social revolution, military rule, totalitarian regimes etc will not flourish here simply because of the inherent pluralism of our society. But will we find a new equilibrium where our Hindu identity finds greater focus? Yes, I do think so. What does it mean for us and how will it impact our daily lives only time will tell.


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