Mayhem unleashed during UP civic polls affirms that India is now indeed an ‘electoral autocracy’

The people of this country must hang their heads in shame for the attempted cheer-harana (disrobing) of a present-day Draupadi in Uttar Pradesh, the state ruled by the fanatic Hindutva protagonist, Yogi Adityanath, reportedly at the hands of his party’s cadres on July 9 during local body polls held in the state.

The karyakartas of the RSS and BJP, who have been maintaining the façade of being upholders of Hindu traditions and ethics, were allegedly involved in trying to pull off the saree of a woman accompanying a woman leader who had gone to the collector’s office to file her nomination for the chairmanship of the block panachayat samiti.

The elections to the district panchayat samiti and block panchayat samiti, just 8 months ahead of the state assembly elections, have acquired immense political importance. Only a month back, the Samajwadi party had won nearly one third of the panchayat elections in the state. In the first tier of the panchayat election, the Samajwadi party as well as the Congress and other opposition parties strengthened their base at the ground level. This manifested the changing mood of the people and emerging new alliances at the ground level.

Not surprisingly, the BJP’s top leaders, mindful of the party’s humiliation in West Bengal, are desperate to capture power in the crucial state again in 2022 using just about any kind of machination. This explains the widespread violence witnessed during the civic polls, following which, ironically, Modi and Yogi bestowed praise on the state election machinery besides congratulating the party’s cadres.

Yogi Adityanath was quite ebullient at the ‘victory’ of BJP candidates in 635 out of 825 seats of block panchayat chiefs, which he attributed to teamwork. The CM also praised the state Election Commission for the ‘peaceful and fair polls’. He even attributed the success to ‘guidance and inspiration of PM Narendra Modi’.

What was even more shocking was Modi’s lavish praise of the state government. Instead of showing any concern at the large-scale violence in 17 districts of the state, he tweeted that the "big victory" is a reflection of the “benefits people have received due to the Yogi Adityanath government's policies and pro-people schemes”.

The intensity and nature of violence that took place in Uttar Pradesh last week could be gauged from the simple fact that an IPS officer posted as Additional Superintendent of Police was slapped by the BJP goons while on duty. The officer, ASP (City), Etawah, Prashant Kumar Prasad also apprised his seniors over the phone: “BJP workers have also brought bombs."

In Unnao, some journalists were brutally thrashed while they tried to click photos of the kidnapping of an opposition candidates by the BJP cadres. It is alleged that chief development officer of Unnao, Divyanshu Patel, an IAS officer, caught hold of a television journalist and beat him up.

The violence seems to be a curtain raiser of the show that BJP would enact in 2022 when UP assembly polls are to be held, and the General Elections due in 2024.

The events simply underlined that India is indeed hostage to ‘electoral autocracy’, as pointed out by a report of the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) earlier this year, and how democracy has been slowly smothered to death during the last few years. The ruthless use of violence sends a loud message that for Modi, winning even civic body polls is essential to maintain the façade of democracy.

Since the victory of BJP in 2014 and Narendra Modi taking charge as Prime Minister, the electoral process is being used as a cover to hide trampling of the democratic government selection process.

The V-Dem report had also criticised the Indian government for its frequent use of sedition and defamation laws and UAPA. More than 7,000 people have been booked for sedition since BJP came to power in 2014.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav minced no words in accusing BJP workers of perpetrating violence, describing them as “power hungry goons of Yogi”. SP workers and members will protest against the “murder of democracy” by the BJP government, and the party will submit a memorandum to the Governor Anandiben Patel.

Anarchy and violence by BJP leaders and workers during nomination for Block Pramukh posts is nothing but a mockery of democracy. Members of the ruling BJP are openly throttling democracy and the state administration is a mute spectator to it. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, in a tweet in Hindi, said that in Uttar Pradesh, violence has been renamed "masterstroke".

Surprisingly, it was not the state Election Commission but Yogi who guided and controlled the entire proceeding. This was manifest in the fact that Yogi Adityanath “announced” the results of Saturday’s Block Pramukh polls before the state election commission (SEC) did. Modi also tweeted his congratulations on the BJP’s “bumper victory” about two hours later, by which too the state poll panel had not officially declared the results.

(IPA Service)

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