Populism is permanent. It is the first article of the Indian politicians’ creed, and also their last resort. As a breed, Indian politicians believe that only populism is a sure vote-winner. Thus, from dusty shelves, the present government has retrieved the populist slogan to end all populist slogans: ‘garibi hatao’. This was coined by Indira Gandhi, in her pre-Emergency incarnation when she was riding high on leftist rhetoric and populist politics. The present government intends to recast that programme to meet current needs. The latter are not difficult to identify. Elections are due next year in Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Punjab, Manipur and Gujarat, and in 2008 in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Delhi. The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance has decided that the only path to success is the well-tried one. The slogan has all the right ingredients. It targets the most important problem facing the country. It appeals to the populace, and above all, it has a radical ring to it.

It can be nobody’s argument that garibi, i.e. poverty, should not be removed or eradicated. The existence of poverty is India’s shame. What is at issue is the mode of its eradication. What is equally important is the political use that is made of poverty to garner votes. It is assumed by the proponents of ‘garibi hatao’ that poverty can be eradicated through a series of welfare schemes aimed at helping the poor. A current incarnation of such a scheme is the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme. Indira Gandhi and her spin doctors had made blueprints of many such schemes. Studies have shown that the money spent in welfare schemes in India seldom, if ever, reach the target group, the poor. These projects lead to a proliferation of bureaucracy and middlemen who gobble up the state’s largesse. What is worse is that often such schemes remain only schemes. They are announced before the electorate a few months before the elections. After the elections are over, the schemes are filed and forgotten, never implemented. Indeed, a very small part of the original ‘garibi hatao’ programme was actually implemented and put into action. It was nothing more than an act of bad faith perpetrated by Indira Gandhi to secure votes. Poverty was thus cynically used and exploited to garner votes. There exist no grounds to believe that the retrieval of ‘garibi hatao’ will be anything better.

It is a misconception that increased and targetted government spending can eradicate poverty. The only proven way of removing poverty is the increase of wealth in society through economic growth and development. Despite the many criticisms made of the ‘filter down’ theory, it remains the only tried and tested method. The prime minister, Mr Manmohan Singh, began this process by reducing the state’s role in economic affairs. The benefits of economic reforms are already manifest, and levels of poverty are already being reduced. To invoke ‘garibi hatao’ is to step back from economic reforms. Populism is a precipitous slope.