The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has come back to power and a majority of cabinet leaders were sworn in yesterday including BJP party chief and PM Modi’s key aide – Amit Shah. The BJP under PM Modi and strategist Amit Shah were confident of crossing the three hundred mark which they successfully did. What should India expect in the next five years of BJP Rule?
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While BJP was overjoyed and its supporters hysterical with joy, many of those in opposition and also those struggling for upholding of democratic values and human rights were shocked, to say the least. While some felt that it is the manipulation of electronic voting machines (EVM), there were others who drew our attention to the bleak future of democratic and plural values.
The election campaign was dominated by the propaganda on the rival sides. BJP, rather Modi, ignoring the pattern of 2014 campaign and the promises made in that campaign focused more on the national security, nationalism and sectarianism. The Pulwama terror attack, which exposed a big failure of Government in preventing the attack in the highly militarized area, the lapse of the government in airlifting the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy and letting them travel on road, was projected as the great success of the Government on the security front.
The language of revenge and hysteria created against the “enemy country”, Pakistan, worked wonders for Modi BJP. The cry of anguish of unemployed youth, the worsening plight of farmers in agrarian sector was drowned in the din of ‘Ghar mein ghus ke marenge’ (will beat enemies in their homes).
Hitting below the belt Modi went on to paint Rajiv Gandhi, the martyr as the ‘Corrupt number one’. Targeting minorities was subtly used to woo the majority. This was exemplified when Modi told the voters that Rahul Gandhi had decided to contest from Waynad, as that is an area where Minorities are in majority. To win over majority community, it put up terror accused Pragya Singh Thakur as the candidate from Bhopal Lok Sabha seat.
Rahul Gandhi, the Congress President, talked of Love, a hint to counter the intensity of divisive politics created by the last five years of BJP rule. The schemes of job creation, the measures to counter agrarian distress found pride of place in the booklet, stating the objectives of the Congress party.
On the minus side, Congress failed to strike the proper alliances at places. While it did well to stitch an alliance in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, it could not find the place in the ‘Mahagathbandhan’, which was forged by Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) in Uttar Pradesh. It also could not put the alliance in place in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Maharashtra. The consequences were disastrous.
BJP’s control over a large section of media has been very obvious from the last many years. Its money power has been one of its major strengths in last 2014 elections also. With electoral bonds brought by BJP rule, large Corporate funding fell in the kitty of BJP. Election Commission all through was partisan, letting go the violations of Modi-Shah, while issuing notices against opposition leaders.
One of the Election commissioners showed his displeasure against the doings of the Commission. With all this manipulation of the democratic processes, Modi is back in the saddle of power. What awaits India’s future?
During the last five years, the country has suffered a severe violation of the values of the Indian Constitution. The fate of religious minorities has been relegated to second class citizenship, what with the lynchings in the name of cow and attacks on Christians’ prayer meetings and Carol singing.
The public institutions like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) have seen a vertical split. The universities are being packed with Vice Chancellors and faculty whose sole qualification is ideological affiliation to Hindutva nationalism. The power has been centralized in the hands of one person. The doings of the Government got well reflected during the last five years with eminent persons returning their awards, the institutional murder of Rohith Vemula, the floggings of Dalits in Una.
So what future awaits for India? The return of Modi with increased power may further intensify the processes unleashed during the last five years. The type of fright experienced by religious minorities is unprecedented. What is called a Hindutva agenda, Ram temple, Abolition of article 370 and Uniform civil code may be on the cards. The intensification of violence in the names of the cow is already the phenomenon assuming dangerous proportions.
Unemployment rose terribly, the number of security personnel dying during the last five years has been very high despite the ‘ghar mein ghus ke marnenge’ posturing. The glorification of Godse is assuming horrid proportions indicating the rise of Hindutva nationalism in many portals of our society.
The prevalence of Hate in the society, Hate against religious minorities is damaging the very concept of fraternity in the country. So what should be done? While the ruling autocrat, Modi will try to further damage the democratic institutions, the need for protecting the carefully nurtured institutions is urgently needed. Mass movements to demand the right to life, employment, housing, food need to be stepped up. The constitutional guarantee of affirmative action for minorities is already being trampled.
We need to raise a united voice to preserve and promote the core values of India. The dreams of the freedom fighters, those who strove to uphold the plural values while respecting diversity need to be upheld and nurtured. The dangers of Hate need to be underlined and social programs to promote amity and oneness as the Indian nation are the need of the hour.
All the political parties, who want to uphold the values of Indian Constitution, the values of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity need to come together and take further the voices of social movements demanding promotion and preservation of human rights of all sections of society.
By Ram Puniyani
