This Republic Day, one bemoans systematic undermining of Indian democracy and ethos by ruling regime

India on the 72nd Republic Day presents a very grim picture with its secular, constitutional, pluralistic democracy not working. The country has changed politically, socially and economically. The current regime at the Centre has actively participated and aided communal and divisive forces in vitiating the harmony among religious and social groups just for the ruling party to reap electoral dividends. The media and judiciary have caved-in to government pressure, instead of holding the executive to account.

Since the current NDA government took over in 2014, India has transformed socially into an illiberal, majoritarian and intolerant country. Politically, the country has become authoritarian. The Prime Minister is deified, institutions have weakened, vigilantism is growing and the media is suppressed, subjugated or has become sycophantic to a degree that are quite unprecedented.

Indian democracy is facing an existential crisis with those disagreeing with government being labelled and even locked up for being ‘anti-national’. Democracy under the current regime has diminished. The PM has emerged authoritarian and discussions/debates have ceased. Parliament barely functions, select committees/ standing committees do not even operate. Indeed, Parliament has been made irrelevant.

Hate speech attacks by RSS parivar are on the peak with genocidal calls for ethnic cleansing of minorities. Hate crimes attack individual dignity and threaten national unity. Public governance has turned Hitlerian.

Unless majoritarian hate is stopped, it will destroy India of our dreams. India has now entered genocidalism, the most advanced stage of nationalism, even as PM Modi keeps silent.

For the first time, IIM students, armed forces veterans, leading lights of civil society, lawyers and people of goodwill, substance and trust have addressed open letters to PM, President and CJI demanding action against hate speeches. More than 50 open letters have been addressed to the PM urging him to stop communal, divisive politics and misgovernance to ensure social, communal, inter-faith harmony, peace and progress of the nation.

The ruling BJP stands accused of encouraging the persecution of Muslims and other minorities by hardline Hindu nationalists since 2014. The BJP’s agenda is to turn officially secular and pluralistic India into a purely Hindu nation. Muslims maintain they have been increasingly subjected to attacks and threats. Together with other minorities they live in fear and insecurity with their livelihoods under attacks. There has been a sustained dehumanizing narrative against them.

Even the father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi in place of being revered and deified by all citizens continues to be killed in a million ways in today’s India. His assassin is glorified, lionized, idolized and worshipped. RSS parivar is wilfully destroying the Mahatma’s legacy.

The Mahatma is revered and honoured worldwide as one of the greatest men of peace and hence, called the apostle of non-violence and peace. It is for such exalted stature that the UN General Assembly has designated Mahatma’s birthday on October 2nd as World Non-violence Day. It’s a sorry state of affairs that the current NDA Government is allowing such despicable treatment of the Mahatma.

Other worrying signs include unprecedented action by Central agencies like CBI, ED, Income Tax and NIA against the BJP government’s rivals and critics. Since 2014, they have targeted a whopping 570 of government’s rivals and critics. Massive sweeps included opposition politicians, social activists, non-NDA politicians, lawyers, independent media houses, individual journalists out to show mirror to the government. Even members of the film fraternity and government officials who questioned the ruling party’s conduct are not spared.

State governments, mostly BJP ruled ones, increased the use of sedition law by 165 per cent against journalists, cartoonists, historians, students, actors, directors and even little children. In India, what now counts is not freedom of speech but freedom after speech.

Added to this, this regime has converted India into a surveillance state. The government evidently used Pegasus for surveillance on leading journalists, civil society activists, lawyers, judges and others, making a bonfire of fundamental right to privacy decided unanimously by the Supreme Court. The matter is under probe by a SC-appointed committee.

The media in the country is in bad shape. Largely dependent on government for advertisement revenue and arm twisted by the government under various economic offences laws, mainstream media is functioning as the govt’s mouthpiece. The few media houses and individual journalists who are bold and who through their scrutiny of the functioning of the government are critical have been subjected to raids by official agencies and related repression.

However, mainstream media, now promotes the very communalism that the PM symbolizes. PM Modi at some time will leave office, but the damage to Indian democracy and Indian civil society is simply unprecedented.

The downturn in the economy is the worse since Independence with 23 crore people rendered unemployed and pushed to poverty since demonetization in November 2016 followed by ill-conceived implementation of GST and subsequent coronavirus induced prolonged lockdown. Inflation is at an all time high. Official data is being fudged, losing its credibility.

In worldwide hunger index, India ranks below its neighours like Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan.

Our foreign policy is getting exposed as a failure with all our neighbours turning hostile. Western liberal democracies are looking down on India as an ‘electoral autocracy’ notwithstanding India’s Constitution being one of the best in the world enshrining Justice, Equality, Liberty and Fraternity for all citizens.

This regime clearly does not accept people as citizens with the right to differ. India may not have official emergency, but it would seem to have an insidious emergency where the opposition is treated as an enemy pushed beyond the pale.

(IPA Service)

Views are personal

By arrangement with Anypursuit.org