By: Manas Chakraverty

Democracy survives on the citadel of a free press and truth-seeking journalism. And we should encourage free media and truth-seeking journalism. People have become used to the empty rhetoric dished out by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. But the declaration that 40 Trinamool Congress members are in touch with him and that they will desert the TMC once the results are declared is too much even by his standards. Can anyone in the history of independent India remember a prime minister openly admitting to what, in effect, amounts to horse-trading? This from a person who claims to be the protector of honesty and integrity in India. It is clear that Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party are ready to go to any lengths to hold on to power.

It is unfortunate that even while the elections were on, the prime minister was talking about horse-trading. This makes a mockery of the democratic process. What is even more worrying, however, is the seeming inaction of the Election Commission, which is tasked with upholding the constitutional values that form the foundation of democracy. This government’s way of suppressing the anti-CAA protestors in various parts of India resorting to shutting down the internet, closing down metro stations and a clampdown on anti-CAA protests in the national capital Delhi as well as Mumbai is worse than what was witnessed during the emergency period.

When the anti-CAA protests flared up last year, the prime minister himself suggested protestors could be identified by their clothes. Burkhas, hijabs, skull caps and beards were suddenly deemed incriminating. Counter protests started, with chants of “desh ke gaddaron ko, goli maaron saalon ko” – shoot the traitors. In the run-up to the Delhi assembly elections in February, the chant was deployed by Union Minister Anurag Thakur. Social media was flooded with fake footage and pictures suggesting the protests were a sinister conspiracy to destabilise the state. The CAA put undocumented migrant non-Muslims from neighbouring countries on the fast track for Indian citizenship. For the first time, religion was overtly made a criteria for Indian citizenship. It was also feared that the act, paired with a proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC), would become a tool to discriminate against Indian Muslims. While Muslims protested in the face of disenfranchisement, citizens from all religions came out to defend the secular values of the Constitution.

A year later, Delhi and its surrounding areas were alive with protests again. This time, it was farmers unhappy with the three farm laws hastily passed by the government in the middle of the pandemic. The laws, it feared, will leave farmers at the mercy of ruthless market forces, destroy small farmers who cannot compete and threaten food security.

For months, the protests simmered away in Punjab, out of sight of the capital. Now, farmers have marched on Delhi, demanding the Centre’s attention. While the most visible face of the protests is Sikh farmers from Punjab, they have been joined by farmers’ unions from various states. In both cases, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre betrayed its unease with dissent, its impulse to discredit, silence and repress. But the responses to the anti-CAA and the farmers protests reveal whom the Centre considers citizens and whom it sees as mere subjects without the right to have rights, which matters are within the pale of democratic debate and which are not.

With both protests, the BJP reached for its old handbook – weaponise minority identities and cast them as threats to the nation-state. Last year, it was the Muslim women of Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh, which became a synecdoche for the anti-CAA protests. This year, it is the turbaned and bearded farmer from Punjab. When farmers marched on Delhi this year, elements in the BJP were quick to brand them “Khalistani terrorists”.

Farmers speaking English were held, suspect. But if they were really to be considered anti-national, the farmers had to be linked to the citizenship protests. A popular conspiracy theory suggested an elderly lady in Punjab was really Bilkis Bano, who became the star of Shaheen Bagh and was now allegedly protesting for a fee. Some suggested that the Sikh farmers were really Muslims in disguise. The BJP’s IT cell chief Amit Malviya put up manipulated videos of the protests on Twitter. Farmers marching into Delhi were greeted with water cannons and lathis. The Haryana police force, taking its cue from the Centre, dug trenches to prevent them from entering the capital. But a special kind of violence was reserved for the anti-CAA protestors last year. The Delhi police ransacked campuses and thrashed students. In BJP-ruled states like Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Karnataka, protestors were met with bullets.

With global democracy failing at the hands of the dictatorial approach of those in power to crush protestors’ rights, we witness opposition leaders around the world who have been charged with sedition, sodomy, bribery and arson, and who now face prison and even death sentences. But at the same time, we should not forget history which stands testimony of the fact that democracy, in the long run, has to succeed going by the examples of Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar, India’s freedom fighters Nehru and Gandhi, Nelson Mandela of South Africa, Mohamed Nasheed of Maldives, Musallam al-Barrak of Kuwait, Anwar Ibrahim of Malaysia, and the list goes on; all of these leaders proved that democracy may not spearhead winning a war but it definitely leads to winning an election.

In April 2010, a secret report of the Assam government alleged that Akhil Gogoi had close connections with CPI-Maoist. Gogoi challenged the report and dared the Assam government to prove the allegation. Intellectuals across the country including Magsaysay Award Winner Sandeep Pandey and Medha Patkar condemned the government for trying to implicate the activist. In an interview with NDTV, Akhil Gogoi said, “I am a Marxist and I do believe in social transformation. But I am not a Maoist. They don’t believe in mass activities. We at KMSS are trying to organise the masses for radical change. But the attempt of the government to implicate me as a Maoist shows their frustration because they have been unable to contain the growing popularity of KMSS.” It created an embarrassment for the Assam government and the matter was dropped thereafter.

Gogoi was arrested on December 12, 2019, from Jorhat for his alleged role in instances of violence during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act in the state. But the NIA kept him confined in prison since then, on that 2010 secret report of the Assam government that alleged that Akhil Gogoi had close connections with CPI-Maoist although NIA could not prove its claim to brand Akhil Gogoi as a Maoist. Akhil Gogoi fought the current Bidhan Sabha election from jail, being the first contender from Assam who fought and won the election from behind the prison. Notwithstanding the entire election machinery of the BJP, which put all its weight behind BJP candidate from Sivsagar constituency, Surabhi Rajkonwar as top leaders such as Union Minister Smriti Zubin Irani addressed the people of the constituency, Akhil Gogoi, a greenhorn, emerged victorious with absolutely no cash in hand and Rs 60,497 in deposits. This is the strength of democracy and democracy can’t be crushed behind bars. (The writer is the HR Manager of PEWS Group of Institution , Guwahati. He can be reached at [email protected])