Social Justice vs Development

For a long time in Indian politics both Social Justice and Development has been a paradox. The state of utopia is always desired but is not achieved because of the lack of willingness of our political leadership to go the extra mile. Especially in the backward states, Social Justice becomes a more important election issue than Development which is most often misused and misconstrued by caste politics. One of the most obvious examples which come to mind is Bihar. The emergence of Laloo Yadav was largely because he was seen as the leader of downtrodden and to his credit he did manage to bring in social justice in Bihar during his stint as chief minister. But people eventually got fed up as people do want to be free from oppression but it has to be substantiated by material benefits which can be only brought in by development. The core issue of development led to the emergence of Nitish Kumar touted by the media as the Renaissance man. Nitish Kumar has brought in a new hope and new era in Bihar but to his disadvantage does not have a second and third point of leadership which has forced him to give undue power to the bureaucrats. This has led to lack of a structured people’s organization which has leaders from all strata of society with the desired power and control. Sometimes it gets difficult to manage a judicious combination of social justice and development. The most effective people for a post might not be of the caste for which the reservation has been done but political compulsions forces parties to bring in those changes. Nitish Kumar has not fallen into that trap. Looking at the state of Bihar, Nitish Kumar has done the right thing to concentrate mainly on development, law and order. He has also brought in reservations for backward castes which augur well for the future of Bihar.

Social Justice and Development might not always go hand in hand but a clear road map can always be created with a judicious leadership which will eventually bring in equality along with power to everyone in the society. I am sure Nitish Kumar will empower whole of Bihar with the same.