Why Surjit Bhalla’s ‘deep state’ theory misses the mark: Vivek Kaul weighs in

In January 1972, when his star was not quite on the ebb, superstar Rajesh Khanna starred in a movie called Dushmun. This movie had a song sung by Kishore Kumar and set to tune by Laxmikant-Pyarelal. It was called Vaada tera vaada.

The song written by the lyricist Anand Bakshi started with this couplet: 

Sacchai chup nahi sakti banaawat ke usulon se
Ki khusbhu aa nahi sakti kabhi kaagaz ke phoolon se. 

(Truth/reality cannot be silenced by the principles of pretense
because fragrance can never come from paper flowers.)

Now, it needs to be mentioned here that Hindi cinema of yore had a habit of stealing without giving credit, or as their self-selected euphemism went, they got inspired. This couplet was originally written by Mirza Mohammed Taki Tarakki and this is how it went:

Haqeeqat chup nahi sakti banaawat ke usulon se
Ki khusbhu aa nahi sakti kabhi kaagaz ke phoolon se.

The word haqeeqat which means the same as sacchai was substituted in the song. 

Now, translations can never be as impactful as the original. But the phrase fragrance can never come from paper flowers is rather impactful on its own as well. The trouble is that neither Tarakki who wrote the original nor Bakshi who wrote a beautiful song starting with the couplet lived in an era where social media was the most dominant media.  

In the era of social media, if enough people of influence say that paper flowers emit a beautiful fragrance, chances are that a substantial chunk of their audience will start believing them, at least for a while.

Like over the last few years we have been told that the Indian economy is on a strong footing. 

Of course, the government of the day, like any government would, has tried to sell this message over and over again. They have also been helped by economists, journalists, businessmen and women, and those in the business of managing other people’s money (OPM) – basically people looking to cash in on the story being sold.

With so many people of influence selling the story, and the media, both legacy and social, working overtime to drive home the message, it was hardly surprising that a good chunk of people bought into it. Now, this is not to say that the Indian economy wasn’t growing as fast as it was, but there were big holes in the story being peddled, which these influencers conveniently forgot to talk about.

The world was being told that paper flowers had fragrance and it chose to believe. But now this fragrance, which was never really there, isn’t really smelling as nice as it used to, at least not in the minds of those who chose to believe it, because their lived experience is telling them something different. But the trouble is that they have invested too much of themselves into this story.

Even the influencers or to put it simply the propaganda wallahs, who helped spread the message, are coming out of their closets and questioning why the paper flowers aren’t fragrant anymore.

Enter the deep state

In a recent column in The Indian Express, economist Surjit Bhalla, a former Executive Director for India at the International Monetary Fund and a former member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, wrote: “Our GDP growth has surprisingly and inexplicably slowed down.” And who is to be blamed for this surprising and inexplicable slowdown? The deep state, writes Bhalla.

Now, those who do not understand what a deep state means and want to know about it in detail, I suggest you get around to Googling it or use whatever artificial intelligence platform you tend to use these days. But at a simple level, it is a sort of an unseen government which works on top of the seen government elected by the people of a country.

And who are these people who make up for the Indian deep state? As Bhalla put it: “Major industrialists, senior IAS babus, and their friendly influencers in the media.”

So, what Bhalla is saying is that the deep state is responsible for India’s slow economic growth or GDP growth as the economists like to call it. This raises a few interesting points.

First, irrespective of whether there is a deep state or not, and if it does exist, how much influence does it really have; this is very lazy reasoning to say the least. Let’s say major industrialists are a part of the deep state. But why would they want economic growth to slow down? How does it benefit them in any way? What is the incentive at play for them?