Page 40 - The Economist

40 Asia The Economist December 9th 2017
2 castesagainstmid-rankedgroupsthathave Japan’s monarchy tombs, for fear, many suspect, that they
gained “too much” powerorprestige. Earli- might find that the imperial family’s DNA
er this year the BJP won a crushing victory Chrysanthemum- doesnotin factderive, unadulterated, from
in India’s most populous state, Uttar Pra- the sun goddess, Amaterasu, or even from
desh, partly by exploiting resentment of mification pure Japanese stock, but includes traces of
the Yadavs, a caste widely seen as domi- Korean and Chinese ancestry.
natingthe outgoinggovernment. Katsuyuki Yakushiji of Toyo University
Tokyo
Congress is learning from these tricks, in Tokyo reckonsAkihito hopeshisabdica-
however. It has been accused in former The emperoris retiring, butotherroyal tion will spark a debate about how to mo-
reforms have stalled
times of “appeasing” Muslims to win their dernise the imperial family. Akihito is
votes, so in Gujarat it is simply ignoring T WAS an understandable request. Last known for his liberal views. Since becom-
them, knowing they are unlikely to vote Iyear an 83-year-old Japanese man, who ing emperor in 1989 he has apologised for
for the BJP. Meanwhile it has concocted an hassurvived prostate cancerand heart sur- Japan’s wartime past during foreign trips.
unlikelycoalitionofunhappycastes,head- gery,askedtoretire.Yetittookmuchdebate His frequent public appearances in Japan
ed by a trio ofcharismaticlocal leaders. Mr and a change in the law before the govern- have made him seem lessaloofthan previ-
Mevaniisoneofthese,butreckonshimself mentcould even seta dateforhim to do so. ous emperors. He is extremely popular.
small fry next to HardikPatel, a 24-year-old When it finally did, on December1st, it de- There are three obvious reforms, all
agitator for the rights ofPatidars, a far high- ferred the event for over a year, to April concerning imperial sexism: to allow prin-
ercastethatincludesaround12%ofGujara- 30th, 2019. But at least the long-suffering cesses who marry commoners to remain
tis. (Dalits are 7% of the population and emperor, Akihito, will be allowed to step in the imperial family and thus be able to
Muslims 10%.) Alpesh Thakor, a young down, even though the law previously carry out official duties; to allow the sons
leader representing mid-ranked castes, has said that the emperorrules until his death. ofprincesses to inherit the throne, thus ex-
also joined, while Congress typically en- The throne will pass to his son, Naru- panding the pool of potential heirs, and to
joys the support of tribal communities hito, 57, and a new era in the Japanese cal- allow women to inherit the throne them-
who account foranother15%. endarwill begin. Scholars are busy finding selves. Given the dwindling stock of royal
Hypocritically but perhaps unsurpris- a name for it. The current era, Heisei, boys—Akihito’s first three grandchildren
ingly, the BJP has lashed out at its rival for roughly means “peace everywhere”. were girls—such changesmightseem desir-
pandering to identity politics. “Congress is Japan’s government has granted the able, even to conservatives. But the arrival
once again doing what it always did in the emperor’s wish with a manifest lackof en- 11 years ago of a male grandson, the son of
past, divide people, be it on caste lines, thusiasm. Akihito tookthe unusual step of Naruhito’s younger brother, sapped the
communal lines, between villages and cit- revealing his desire to abdicate in a video impetus forreform.
ies,” stormed Mr Modi at a recent rally. message aired on NHK, the public broad- The law that allows Akihito to step
“Congress has learnt divide and rule from caster. He probably made the request pub- down contained a woolly resolution that
our colonial rulers.” Meanwhile, the BJP’s lic for fear that a private inquiry would seems to call for consideration of the first
supporters circulated a tweet suggesting have been buried by the government. In two reforms. The third was deemed too
that while Congress supporters would be June parliament approved a law allowing radical, even though women have reigned
votingforHAJ (an acronym made up ofthe him, but only him, to renounce the throne. in the past. Mr Abe has appeared to ques-
first names of Mr Patel, Mr Thakor and Mr After the second world war, which Ja- tion even the second idea, pointing out
Mevani), a vote for the BJP was a vote for pan fought in the name of the emperor of that the monarchy has managed to remain
RAM (an acronym derived from the names the day, Hirohito (Akihito’s father), the oc- patrilineal forovertwo millennia.
of the party’s local leaders and Mr Modi). cupying American forces curbed the au- Takashi Mikuriya, the deputy chair of
The insinuation was that the BJP stood for thority of the monarchy. The constitution the advisory panel on the emperor’s abdi-
the Hindu majority who count Ram as an they imposed restricted the emperor to a cation, told a national newspaperthat Aki-
important deity, whereas Congress is the purely symbolic role. Conservatives, in- hito’sretirement“opensa sealed box”. The
political defender of Muslims, who go on cluding Shinzo Abe, the prime minister, public seems open to change, too. In a poll
the haj (pilgrimage to Mecca). want to preserve what is left of the imperi- earlier this month 60% supported the idea
Such smear tactics have worked in the al mystique. The government has even re- of princesses remaining in the family after
past, and may work again. The BJP has far stricted archaeologists’ access to royal they marry. 7
bigger resources; the election commis-
sion’s figures show that the party has gar-
nered some 82% of all big, official political
donations in Gujarat in the past five years.
Congress’s incongruous caste coalition is
fragile, based partly on an unlikely pro-
mise of more state benefits for the better-
off Patidars. “There are huge material con-
tradictions between Dalits and Patidars,
and even between Dalits,” admits Mr Me-
vani. “Ouralliance will be short-lived.”
Amit Shah, the BJP’s campaign wizard,
says it will capture 150 of the 182 seats in
Gujarat’s assembly. He may be right, but it
may also be that, like the $400m statue
thatMrModi hasordered builtin his home
state—a colossus twice the height of the
Statue ofLiberty representing Sardar Patel,
an independence leader—the prime minis-
ter will find himselfon an island, with wa-
terrushinground his feet. 7 For Akihito, April is the kindest month