A hundred years ago, Antonio Gramsci wrote to affirm that every human being is endemically an “intellectual.”

Translated, we all have opinions about the conditions of our times. It is just that only some have the privilege of having received adequate socialisation and formal education to articulate and substantiate their opinions.

However, in our common experience, it is an everyday occurrence that the less privileged, individually or collectively, voice their approval or critique of official policy and public management or mismanagement of issues that concern the lives of “ordinary” people whom the leaders of the French Revolution of 1789 captioned “citizens.”

It is generally thought that all those whose chief business is to make a profit in a market economy speak, if they do, only to laud the powers-that-be. Largely true as this is, the history of every country provides illustrations of how sections of the entrenched barons of the economy, however few and far between, have on occasion lived up to a more pressing conscience and spoken truth to political power.

A recent instance of such an occurrence in our own country is that of industrialist Adi Godrej.

Speaking at a leadership summit on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of his alma mater, St. Xavier’s College, Godrej boldly articulated a comprehensive critique of the situation India finds itself in today.

To quote him: “rising intolerance, social instability, hate crimes, crimes against women, moral policing, caste and religion-based violence, and many other sorts of intolerance are all rampant”.

As might be expected, Godrej has emphasised the aspect that naturally concerns a corporate entity most closely, namely, how the situation as underlined by him bids fair to “seriously damage” economic growth.

To his credit, Godrej has also drawn attention, unfashionably, to the “impoverishness” that still “plagues the nation” – a reflection that bespeaks a concern larger than mere profit-making. On an earlier occasion, Godrej had also spoken of the massive loss of livelihood caused by the official ban on beef trade.

Implicit in what Godrej has observed is a larger systemic concern, although one that remains muted in his articulation. To wit, how an over-centralisation of political authority and a culture of surreptitious immunity among sections of the hoi polloi who feel entitled by that authority cause, through their social and moral depredations, intolerance and violence that damages not only “economic growth” but also the democratic and lawful order of the constitutional republic.

To the extent that the “intolerance” and “moral policing” Godrej speaks of are driven by the totalitarian impulse to bring all citizens, especially the minorities, into forced conformity with dominant predilections, Godrej’s observation alert the nation to a more fundamental menace, and not a day too soon.

Political theory generally teaches us that a strictly enforced constitutional democracy is seen by the corporate class as inimical to “growth.” Yet, Godrej’s intervention clearly underscores a rather forgotten aspect of the making of India’s corporate class, namely, their intimate immersion in the ideals of the freedom movement.

It is doubtful that any of India’s reputed corporate, barring the predictable ones now in favour, would countenance the degeneration of the democratic republic into a Bonapartist dictatorship. Or stand by to witness the suppression of citizen’s rights underwritten by the constitution as by law established by a regime of prejudice and lawless impositions by sections of the polity with no authority to so enforce their unauthorised will.

Godrej’s admirable intervention reminds us of the progressive role that has in history been played at various points by the bourgeois class. We owe Godrej thanks for recalling that role by articulating an anxiety that transcends mere capitalist self-interest.

It remains to be seen whether or not Godrej will now be counted among the ‘urban Naxals‘ who allegedly make a business of berating majoritarianism, thereby bringing the grand vision of ‘nationalism’ into disrepute.

Badri Raina taught at Delhi University.

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