Mumbai: The ruling dispensation’s attack on Constitutional democracy was highlighted by eminent speakers across the spectrum at a day-long programme organised by Mumbai Collective at the Chavan Centre. But the real eye-opener came from The Hindu Editor N Ram during the inaugural session in his talk where he critiqued corruption.
He disclosed that former President Venkatraman had told him that “the contract commission in defence deals is six per cent.” India is omnipresent and diverse, with an unholy nexus between politics and corruption, commission agents and crony capitalism. The value of the Rafale deal is 7.87 bn euros. Until Pulwama happened, Rafale was in the eye. GOI has approval for 42 squadrons, but the current strength is 30 plus.
Justice Gopala Gowda, retired Supreme Court judge who was in the students movement with N Ram in 1972, observed that the BJP-led central government “is blatantly undermining rule of law and systematically subverting democracy in the country.”
He cited a way of example, “RBI whose autonomy is at stake thanks to unnecessary interference by the Government.” S L Shetty said 2014 was a watershed year for India “with a totalitarian clique assuming power.” Session Chairperson Uday Narkar recalled that “the RSS attacked the Constitution at inception “because Manu the Lawgiver’s name was not mentioned; in fact the coward Savarkar had even said the Manusmriti was the most worshipped.”
He demanded that the Government of Maharashtra withdraw all cases against dissidents. A presentation titled, The rise of surveillance state by Sanjay Hegde, Supreme Court advocate, who recalled “mobs going from housing society to hsg society deciding whom to attack. Eminent lawyer Iqbal Chagla refused to take his nameplate off.
Then, surveillance was manual. Today, it is electronic. However,information harvesters Facebook and Google can’t jail you. The Indian Government can. Surveillance state starts off as welfare continues as security and at the end of the day remains as control. In the West, there are criminal costs if data is misused. In India, eternal vigilance is required.”
P C Mohanan who resigned as Acting Chair of the National Statistical Commission and economist R Nagaraj discussed missing jobs, misleading statistics and the deterioration of institutions. Mohanan said the statistical system should be distanced from the government. Nagaraj said it is a matter of concern that after 2015 the Home Ministry’s has stopped publishing data about farmers suicides.
Eminent poet Javed Akthar wanted to know what had stopped the country from banning triple Talaq when other Muslim countries have. “Giving a handle to fundamental forces so-called secularists protect Muslim fundamentalists even as Hindu fundamentalists equate poor Muslims with the mullahs. Poor Muslims suffer because we have wrong definition of secularism which serves the purpose of the right wing. We must change the definition of secularism.”
The RSS also came in for flak from Akthar who lambasted it as “an unadulterated fascist organisation whose intellectual level is low.” Referring to the clamour for war, he said, “In the armed forces, there are various regiments, including the Maratha regiment. I haven’t heard of a Gujarat regiment initiated by PM Modi who incessantly talks of aggressive action against enemies.”
Magsaysay Award winner and retired Admiral Ramdas said the Election Commission had informed him that political parties would be told to desist from using swords in poll media campaigns in response to a letter from the ex chief of naval staff about politicisation of armed forces following Pulwama.
Historian Irfan Habib said the social media, like WhatsApp was being misused to create history and fake news. He said the right wing has hijacked icons and stalwarts like Sardar Patel, Bhagat Singh and Subhashchandra Bose to present them as aggressive nationalists while ignoring their deep intellect and opposition to reactionary forces.
He cited various accounts (specifically Patel’s speech on Feb 23,1949 ) to highlight the Iron Man’s poor opinion of the RSS and said both Bose and young Bhagat Singh (“martyred at 23”) were strong votaries of freedom,gender and social justice and inclusiveness. Unlike Patel, Singh and Bose’s pure nationalism, the right wing’s nationalism is based on “othering and demonising. History is being vandalised,and vulgarised.”