The Cheese is Moving

11^th March 2017 will be a watershed day in Indian electoral history. The Bharatiya Janata Party has emerged as the single largest part with a 3/4^th majority in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. People haven’t been surprised by the victory, but by the margin of victory.

However there is one narrative which has played itself out and needs a mention. The BJP has secured victories in Muslim dominated areas.  From all six constituencies of riot-hit Muzaffarnagar to Deoband in Saharanpur, Bareilly, Bijnor and Moradabad where Muslims dominate the demography, the BJP swept the polls. If one takes the case of Deoband, it has a 70% Muslim population. Now there is a common ‘perception’ that Muslims vote en bloc and are strongly against the BJP.  A Deoband win was not possible without Muslims voting for the BJP.

Clearly the cheese has moved and a people are slowly moving away from voting purely on casteist and religious lines. The BJP made no excuses about being a Hindutva party, at the same time, tried to woo the other religions not from a populist agenda, but from a developmental agenda.

The opposing parties have underestimated the value of Swach Bharat, Kaushal Bharat, Electrification and other announcements of the BJP Government, even though the actual progress on the ground may be limited. The so called ‘Jumlas’ are positive as compared to the promises of the other political parties, who have focused only on belittling the Prime Minister and catering to vote banks.

Clearly Vote Banks are beginning to evaporate and people are going to vote on the caliber of the candidate or vision of party irrespective of caste. The importance of Law and Order cannot be emphasized. In the past 5 years Uttar Pradesh saw 44 riots, and the so called ‘protectors of minorities’ were in power.  .

The writing has been on the wall since 2014, when Modi launched his campaign on a Developmental agenda than a divisive one. While the entire country is waiting for “Ächche Din” and the opposition is mocking the Prime Minister, what is their narrative? The political narratives of non BJP parties have been stuck in a time warp –“We are Secular, BJP is communal, Democracy is under threat etc.” 

If you look deep they actually have no narrative. If the opposition does not reinvent itself, it will be irrelevant. The Cheese has started moving, or maybe it has even moved.

There is a lesson in this for Corporate India. The way the BJP has seen what will work in the future and moved away from the once successful ‘Ram Mandir’ agenda, companies need to think about relevance of products / jobs in the next 5 year. The way technology is progressing, one cannot predict beyond five years.

A month back Capgemini came out with a statement that 65% of the work force is not trainable. A lot of people would have dismissed this statement with a pinch of salt. And then there are a lot of people who would have believed the statement, but said, “I fall within the 35%”. Either they are right, or hiding from the truth.

In my interaction with different corporates, the hushed narrative is that IT and IT enabled services people are going to lose 25 % of jobs to automation. It is time to listen to this narrative and act on the same. And this message of mine, is not to Corporates, but Corporate employees.

A lot of them function from one appraisal cycle to another trying to ensure a good pay hike. A lot of them have got promoted and have effectively no work and appear busy. If some of my readers think the above is an instigating statement, it is right. I want to instigate you to think whether it applies to your job.

It is time for all of us to smell the coffee. How do I know, whether I am a dinosaur or going to become one? First step is to write your CV today, and your CV as it will look 6 months from now. If there is no change other than the size of your pay packet, time to pack up.

I know of a friend who started her career in one of the best banks in the world. She kept on getting offers from multiple banks, offering her a better salary (sometimes hikes as high as 70%) but the same work profile. She was clear that if she moved, she would do so only to an industry and work profile which kept her relevant. Such maturity at a young age is rare.

Now if my future CV is not going to make sense, what do I do?

Please, please, look at what is going to keep you employable for the next five years. Look at the skills that will be in demand in the next decade and start acquiring them. If it means quitting your job and doing a course, so be it. Family and well-wishers will say it is a foolish move, but your elders haven’t been through the times you have and don’t understand your industry.

Time for you to disrupt your life for the better, before technology does the same. Remember when the ages change, some species become extinct.