By Amay Singh
Who wouldn’t want to live in a country where a charismatic leader makes a proclamation that sounded like a euphonious sound that was meant to assure you prosperity in the near future? After all, Obama said Yes! We Can in 2008 and delivered on his promise.
“Acche din aane waale hain'' (Good days are coming) is what Narendra Modi promised to bring for India if his party won the election in 2014. It’s been six years, 10 months and three days from the date he was elected as the Prime Minister of India. In the past 12 months alone, the Lok Sabha, India's parliament, led by Modi's authoritarian Bharatiya Janata Party, has had a key influence in passing certain controversial bills —The highly controversial farm laws that made global headlines, the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), a bill that associates Indian citizenship with religious identity, attacking the basic tenets of egalitarianism enshrined in the constitution of India. The latter half of 2019, up until the early months of 2020 when the novel coronavirus broke out, saw mass protests and demonstrations against the CAB (Citizenship Amendment Bill when passed by both houses of the parliament makes it an act/law). The farm bills caused farmers to protest which still continue to date with active participation from over 21 farmers associations. Laws that infringe upon the rights of a minority religion, Islam, such as the ban on the Triple Talaak, an archaic Islamic practice wherein a man could divorce his wife by saying the words “Talaak” thrice, which angered the majority of India's Muslim minority too were passed. I may not agree with this practice as it is archaic and incredibly misogynistic, regardless, this is not the first time the Modi government has blended elements of fascism such as a controlled form of ultra-nationalism, authoritarian suppression of dissent, and an intertwining of religion and government into their style of governance. Despite all of this, Modi and the BJP enjoy unprecedented popularity among the Hindu majority population that helped them get re-elected in the 2019 elections.
However, this popularity is not just political, it is popularity that stems from the deep-rooted Islamophobia coupled with the radical enabling by the BJP's parent organization, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS, which is a right-wing, Hindu nationalist, paramilitary volunteer organization. The organization's ingrained networks marshal propaganda activities throughout the nation, the same anti-Islamic, anti-left propaganda is then echoed by various partisan media outlets. Like any fascist regime that enjoys the support of a majority, there is a minority that faces severe consequences. Since his election in 2014, Amnesty International’s Indian division reported "hate crimes, particularly the lynching of working-class Muslim men, have seen a sharp increase," like the incident reported by Time India on June 20, 2019, reported, “A viral video did the rounds on social media in India. A young Muslim man tied up, bleeding profusely all over his body, hands folded, was being lynched by a mob that forced him to chant of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Jai Hanuman.’(Glory to Lord Ram and Lord Hanuman),” Within the same week, a 26-year-old Muslim teacher was pushed from a moving train, two days later, a Muslim cab driver was nearly thrashed to death and when forced to chant the same in order to survive. Since then, Amnesty has been forced to cease operations and leave India because of reprisals from the Modi government in the form of frozen bank accounts. February 2020 saw the infamous Delhi riots which saw a predominantly Hindu mob attack marginal and poor communities which were predominantly Muslim. It just doesn't stop there, you would assume if you were a part of the Hindu majority you would be safe, you'd be gravely mistaken. The government and the BJP have targeted minority communities within the Hindu society, in the form of casteism.
The concerning part about all of this is the fact most of the predominantly Hindu majority don't really care about what happens to minority. They have been brainwashed along religious lines that has helped this fascist government spew its divisive and supremacist ideology to a point where it is undermining the very democratic fundamentals of India's constitution. It seems like this transformation from a secular democracy to a right-wing ethno nationalistic country could be the biggest problem India faces since its independence from their British colonizers but as I said, a lot of the majority couldn't care less as they chose to elect a leader as notorious as Narendra Modi.
A lifelong member of the RSS, Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat in 2002, where he played an active role in communal violence and genocide against Muslims. He encouraged violent Hindu groups to rape, kill and loot Muslims without fear of repercussions, the same earned him a ban from visiting the United States until he became the prime minister. People not being dumbfounded about having a leader who stands for the extremist belief of dismantling the secular edifice the fathers of our constitution envisioned in favor of a Hindu 'Rashtra', a Hindu state which treats minorities like second class citizens still astonishes me.
India recently ranked 139 in the World Happiness Index. It doesn't seem appalling until you realize there are only 149 countries on the list. India ranks poorly in the UN's Human Development Index at 131 out of 189 countries. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure why a potentially great economic power, a country that recently supplied 21 countries with COVID-19 vaccine doses can rank so low on a happiness and a human development index when you factor in the rise in ultra-nationalism, suppressed freedom of expression, openly not believing in the libertarian concept of “human rights”, controlling the media while spreading propaganda and the abhorrent fusion of religion and politics.
Nothing is more depressing to see in modern day India than the lack of empathy, the sense of elitism and the social superiority that thrives in every vestibule of this country. For a country as diverse as India, one would assume they learnt how to live together in peace and harmony, but political leaders such as Modi still play their divisive politics to separate this great nation and fill their own coffers. With a lot of socio-economic problems owing to the pandemic, the control of the media has essentially allowed the BJP to hoodwink millions of Indians into believing they have a vested religious interest in the governance of the country. Could this be foreshadowing something more authoritarian in India's near future? It wouldn't be so farfetched to believe if you look around and see the state of affairs in India. You would still be found asking the same question again: Are these really the good days billions of Indians were promised back in 2014?
I did try to reach out to a friend of mine who is extremely vocal about their right-wing ultra-nationalistic views and for supporting everything the BJP wants to do on her social media, who also happens to be a youth party member of the BJP. When asked about their thoughts about the rising hate crimes, violence against minorities, they replied, “It’s our country. Muslims have so many countries where they proudly profess their religion, Christians have so many countries where they profess their religion, so why can’t Hindus have one?” Further questioning revealed that they felt comfortable with the BJP as it was for the first time in a long span of time that someone cared about the majority and not just the minorities who live off of reservations, India’s form of affirmative action.
It is this ideology and thinking that is festering in the minds of young Indians, who instead of celebrating the diversity and culture that make us, have been brainwashed into believing India is only for Hindus and Islam and Christianity are invaders trying to convert our people.
I believe the year of 2024 shall be the fateful year that decides the global image and perception of this growing economy as it will decide the fate of the country for the next five years. Will India remain a secular republic or turn into a modern-day rendition of Nero's republic, with NaMo (Narendra Modi) as Nero with the BJP and RSS acting as Seneca as they try and turn India into a dictatorship, something to compete with the likes of Hitler's Germany or Mussolini's Italy.
Commentaires