Fascist democracy!

Faced with the charge from Mahua Moitra, TMC MP, that BJP is a fascist party, PM Modi exhorting the nation to celebrate democracy is both reassuring and puzzling. The question that is foremost in the minds of people is whether he would truly walk the talk.

In his first address to the nation after becoming PM again, Modi, through his 'Mann ki Baat', called upon people to cherish the value of democracy, mentioning how democratic rights were trampled during the Emergency days. He is right. People did realise the values of democracy and personal liberties only when they were snatched from them in those days. It is for this very reason that the country is now worried. Some recent happenings, coupled with the experience of the past five years have only led to mounting anxiety and cynicism to agree with Mahua to a great extent, if not fully.

Fascism promoted by Mussolini and Hitler had unique features–a strong leader as a dictator; democratic values given a go-bye as it opposed liberal democracy and supported one-party state; it redrew the frontiers between private and public, sharply diminishing what had once been untouchably private; unity was promoted in the name of nationalism; pursued the policies of social indoctrination through regulated propaganda in education and the media. George Orwell said that 'bully' was a synonym of fascism. Contrary to this totalitarianism, principles of democracy demand conduct of free and fair elections; respect for Parliament and Opposition, debates and discussions; several liberties; autonomy of the judiciary and other democratic institutions; freedom of the press; and importantly, freedom of thought and expression.

Freedom of thought and expression is a sine qua non in a democracy. Yet, recently, Hyderabad police asked the organisers to cancel their closed-door discussion on 'Fascism is still resistible', all because they received a tweet from a BJP leader dubbing it as 'anti-Hindu programme'. In fact, they were to discuss our deviation from secular, socialist, and republic India. In UP, disdaining the legal procedures, a journalist, Prashant Kanojia, was arrested for allegedly making objectionable comments against the CM on social media. While ordering his release, the SC observed that the arrest was an even greater affront to democratic principles of freedom of speech and expression than some person forwarding a social media message lampooning politicians. A year ago, there were cross-country arrests of dissenting intellectuals, lawyers and activists, naming them as urban Naxalites, on the framed charge of plotting to assassinate Modi. Flouting the laid down procedures and humiliating the family members at the time of arrest only speak of the intolerance of dissent in a democracy. Moreover, the media makes these activists anti-national villains.

Media, one of the pillars of democracy, is only made to dance to the tune of the government which serves them information on a platter; thus, saving them the labour of getting independent news. As a result, it is now an unscrupulous 'His Master's Voice'. There is no wonder that they are silent about the agitation of people across the country against the manipulation of elections through the EVMs.

The Fascist party rigged election and captured power in 1925 before Mussolini proclaimed himself as the dictator and dissolved the Parliament. Now, after the surprise massive victory of Modi and BJP, questions are being raised by several citizens on the functioning of EVMs–for their hacking, tampering, pre-fixing through programming. Videos are in circulation showing truckloads of EVMs at certain places which were not properly accounted for. The High Court Bench of Gwalior is seized with the matter of 20 lakh missing EVMs from the source. Based on the details obtained from the EC website, Quint magazine has brought out revealing information that in over 370 constituencies that went to polls in the first four phases of the elections, the total votes counted were more than the votes polled; there is a discrepancy of a whopping 58 lakh votes. Instead of answering their queries, in suspicious complicity, Election Commission deleted the information from their website. One only wishes that it is all not true, since, if they are true, it amounts to serious criminal offences of conspiracy, cheating, fraud, theft, etc. Eyebrows are also being raised about the enormous amount, Rs 27000 crore, spent by BJP during elections, apart from huge black money splashed; details of collection and expenditure are under wraps. The conduct of EC during the entire process of elections, working as a robot obeying commands of BJP, is thus being questioned.

Not only EC but every institution in the country buckled under the pressure of the government. Heads of PSUs are too small in the hierarchy to resist the bullying and remain mute spectators when private enterprise is promoted at their cost. Anil Ambani cornering the Rafale deal at the cost of HAL is just one example. Jio of Mukhesh Ambani is flourishing and expanding their activities to 5G, while the state-owned BSNL and MTNL are not given clearance to even go for 4G, thus depriving them of a chance of competing with the market forces. As a result, they are ending up with huge losses.

They have bridled and devoured the bureaucracy. They did it with RBI. Suppressing the real fraud, even CAG trivialised the Rafale matter. Helpless CBI, IT, ED, CVC, etc., simply follow their diktats. And, concerned with the way the Supreme Court is also being treated for the last three-four years, Justice Arun Mishra lamented, 'this institution is going to die.'

While the iron hand of Fascism and the all-pervading fear-psychosis are too evident, promotion of Hindu-agenda of RSS and BJP in the name of nationalism is another worrisome facet of Fascism that has driven India in reverse gear, from secularism to the dark days of intolerance. Post-Godra incidents, Sohrabuddin, Bilkis Bano cases, etc., and the relevant statements of the police officers, Vanzara and Sanjeev Bhatt, and others about the role of Modi and Shah send shivers down the spine of people. Encounters of Muslims, like how the non-Aryan races were targeted by the Fascists, were the order of the day. Then we have the Samjhauta express, Ajmer Sharif Dargah, etc., incidents in which the Hindu outfits involved were blatantly protected, even by influencing the judicial system. Malegaon blast case, involving Pragya, is another episode in which the public prosecutor openly stated about the pressure exerted on her. Judge Loya's death is still a mystery. The agenda is the same in UP and other BJP-ruled states.

The cow-vigilante bigots are allowed a free hand to lynch Muslims and Dalits. UP alone accounts for over 1900 extra-judicial killings of Muslims in police encounters in one year. And post-Pulwama, Kashmiri students and traders were subjected to harassment and hardships, as if everyone were a terrorist. In the latest incident, in Jharkhand, Tabrez Ansari was allegedly tied to a pole, forced to chant 'Jai Shri Ram' and 'Jai Hanuman', and thrashed by the mob. The giggling bystanders and passers-by diabolically enjoyed the barbaric spectacle and took snapshots before life finally evaporated from him. Yet, Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi tells the nation that lynching should not be given a communal colour or politicised; it is only a serious crime. Then, why such deeds are never condemned by the top leaders? And why such organisations are not banned? For Modi and BJP, such incidents, and Godse being deified, apparently is sweet music. In spite of her eulogy to Godse, no action has been taken against Pragya Thakur. Tacit support for such violence and assertions which are in tune with the tenets of Fascism against their opponents and people of an inferior race underscores the decay in Indian culture of tolerance.

Like in the regimes of Mussolini and Hitler, people are being brain-washed. It has gone to such an extent that Congress is afraid of a political backlash if they take exemplary action against the bigots. Thus, instead of taking stern action, Kamal Nath in MP, for his short-sighted political gains, has gone a step further to book the cow-traders themselves under the draconian National Security Act. Similarly, instead of giving justice to the family of Pehlu Khan, who was lynched to death in Rajasthan, by ordering fresh and impartial investigations, Gehlot has allowed the shoddy work done during the BJP regime to continue.

Another aspect of Fascism is indoctrination in education. Although not blatant, the government is subtly pushing the agenda of the RSS through the NCERT. It is being protested by academicians and experts that NCERT has omitted constitutional values, socialism, secularism, democracy, gender sensitisation, women's education and reservation from their draft policy document on learning abilities for secondary school education. This exclusion, experts believe, will create a gap in learning and understanding social science and adversely impact the thinking of students. For example, gender sensitisation is meant to create awareness among the genders of sexual harassment and to refrain from the same.

Although India is a democracy with an elaborate Constitution in place, five years of BJP rule passed off without any debates in Parliament; opposition was brow-beaten with raids by Central agencies; dissent was suppressed by dubbing them as anti-national; institutions were bulldozed; plans were afoot even to snoop into every computer to deprive the privacy of citizens; elections rigged with money and muscle, and also allegedly with technology. In every aspect of governance, we find either direct or subtle manifestation of authoritarianism and the tenor of Fascism. The idea of simultaneous elections also appears to be a plan with the aim to convert India into a totalitarian state, under one party, one dictator. Do we have to cherish a Fascist democracy?

(Dr. N Dilip Kumar is a retired IPS officer and a former member of Public Grievances Commission, Delhi. The views expressed are strictly personal)