Indian state as a police state under Modi

Radhakanta Barik

Ashutosh Varshney in his article in Indian Express 23-2-2021 claims that Indian democracy is declining under the Modi rule. Welcome and but he wrote four years back in Indian Express on UP that Yogi's win is a protest from below and the poor and marginal voted for Yogi. After four years he realised that things are not good on the political sky of India. "Democracies do not charge peaceful protesters with sedition, do not have religious exclusionary principles for citizenship, do not curb press freedom by dissenting journalists and newspapers, do not attack universities and students for ideological conformity, do not browbeat the artists and writers for disagreement, do not equate adversaries with enemies, do not celebrate lynch mobs, do not cultivate judicial servility." He raises a question that Indian democracy will further decline? This brings his doubts in his mind. Modi Shah rule from Gujarat to Delhi from the beginning till now used antidemocratic means to sabotage democracy. It is pure a fascist regime which functions in India without any respect for human rights and Indian constitution.

The BJP backed by the RSS turned into a fascist organization. Trajectory of history tells us that a fascist organization working to satisfy the interests of the corporate which strengthens fascism in India.
Most of the key public institutions have been manipulated by Modi to work for the fascism. The Election Commission is the major institute is working for the BJP and they have plenty of money under their control. The Election Commission supports the EVM and money and muscle power of the BJP to win the election. This is the biggest shock Indian democracy has got. The second most public institution is the Judiciary which has been successfully manipulated by Modi to work for his rule. Last two chief Justices are working to bow down to the decisions taken by the executive. This makes Modi an arrogant political leader in the history of India.

The centre has the most powerful institutions under Modi such as CBI and ED are getting used to harass the senior leaders belonging to the opposition. These are political tools today. Most of the leaders are getting harassed without any respect for due process of law.

The next institution is Media which works as a propaganda machine for Modi to create fake news. Some are left which get threatened by him to either work for them or face the harassment by ED and CBI. The best example of NDTV gets harassed by these institutions.

 The next is class politics that middle class is the vehicle of carrying fascist ideas in the world including India. Middle class first brought the picture of Ram madir into their drawing rooms in 1990. They shifted to the BJP in 2014. Some argue that socialism of Congress made them angry. With the rise in income they slowly moved to hindutv thinking. With the coming of Modi, the attacks on working people created pleasure. They were happy while the workers started walking on the street. This pleasure had a short life. Today they had to pay for high petrol price which made them angry. What a narrow thinking this class suffer today.

Other social classes are protesting against the Modi rule. The farmers and workers who are suffering the brunt of the attacks from Modi rule. Kisaan leaders perceive Modi as a phenomenon. He is independent of the party. He doesn't listen to the opposition. He doesn't tolerate dissent. He doesn't bother of democracy. The sub text of this explains that politics doesn't bother of morality. Pretext of this that he has capacity to collect money. Money power is epiphenomenon of his politics. Muscle power is a means to work with the underworld. He works for corporate without feeling guilty. He doesn't bother of Constitution. He thinks that any restriction imposed by the laws of state needs to be bypassed.

Indian politics is having the worst anti democratic tendency today. In a recent debate in NDTV over the issue of arrest of Disha Ravi and the judgment  on her bail application where the judge created tremor by telling that Delhi police cannot arrest Disha on false charge where Varshney was present and he expressed his anguished feeling over the state of affairs in India. Nigam a RSS member and spokesman of the BJP participated in the discussion on Disha Ravi bail said,’ the judge must not question the police and he should have been allowed to collect more information in the case. Disha should not have given the bail. This observation fits in to concept police state by the RSS. This is where judiciary must function as justification of police action.

 Modi speaking on the land of Tagore 'first nation' seems absurd. Tagore spoke of humanism instead of nationalism. This strengthens Gandhi speaking of keeping doors and windows open. Let wind come from all sides. Their construction of nation a secular Democratic Republic based on ideas of Tagore and Gandhi not Modi's first nation which gives a justification of a police state in India.

Prof Radhakanta Barik (retd), Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi

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Mar 3, 2021