NDA’s Third Term
By Dhurjati Mukherjee
Electoral battle of 2024 over and the BJP-led NDA government returning for the third term, techniques of governance such as suppression of democratic movements, persecution of religious minorities are thankfully expected to put on the backburner. Moreso, in the backdrop of compulsions of a coalition government, with BJP failing to get a majority on its own. The fear amongst the minorities viz this ruling dispensation was deeply disturbing for a democratic country like India. The Hindu consolidation strategy was being carried out, but minorities need to be protected in all possible manner. History reveals that fascism is a process that unfolded in many countries that includes inter-war Germany and Italy but also Spain, Portugal and Hungary.
In India, a growing appetite for such tendencies has been manifest among BJP’s corporate and upper-class backers. “The billionaire raj headed by India’s modern bourgeoisie is now more unequal than the British raj headed by the colonial forces”, had pointed out a recent paper of French economist, Thomas Piketty and others. This concentration of economic power is indeed another threat to society apart from religious fundamentalism. But the new government must, rather would need to change its strategy if democracy, which the voters have protected with their verdict, is to survive.
It is a well-established fact that not just authoritarian tendencies of the ruling dispensation but also the interference in the working of various agencies, not sparing even the educational institutions, has come to the forefront from think tanks in India and abroad. Apart from this, some forms of dissent have witnessed dangerous consequences, leading to arrests and detention of prominent political leaders from the Opposition and civil society activists. All this has led to questions A lot of questions were raised at home and abroad whether the country is steadily eschewing the democratic path.
A citizen’s manifesto, ‘Citizen’s Human Rights Manifesto (CHRM) for India 2024’, compiled by the NGO Citizen’s for Peace & Justice and the Maharashtra unit of People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) was released prior to the elections by former Madras High Court judge, D. Hariparanthaman. It resonates now and must be seen as a warning.
The demands included the protection of 14 rights that cover constitutional rights and universally recognised human rights – from free speech to education, legal aid and clean environment. It also asked parties a long list of laws. The manifesto further stated: “As human rights groups and individuals committed to a free and just India, we are demanding that governments abide by the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs if Society to Protect Universally Recognised Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms”.
But Prime Minister Modi had disagreed as was spelt out in his interview to Newsweek that democracy was in Indian genes. “A democracy like India is able to move ahead and function only because there is a vibrant feedback mechanism. And our media plays an important role in this regard. . . There are a few people in India and in the West who have lost connection with the people of India – their thought process, feelings and aspirations”.
In criticising the Western institutions that examine the state of democratic values in countries around the world, Modi had stated “they conflate their own dissonance with the people with dubious claims of diminishing media freedom”. Without delving into the real meaning of democracy that is involvement of the people in planning and development and transparency in operations, he referred to achievements of his government in physical infrastructure development like “lighting 10 million homes through rooftop solar programme or empowering farmers with solar-powered pumps, distribution of 400 million energy-efficient bulbs and ensuring 13 million efficient streetlights” etc.
One may refer to democracy watchdogs who agree that today India resides somewhere in a neither region between full democracy and full autocracy. While democracy-watching organisations categorise democracies differently, they all classify India today as a “hybrid regime” that is, neither a full democracy nor a full autocracy. In its 2024 report, Freedom House dropped India’s rating from Free to ‘Partly Free’ (the only remaining category is Not Free). As for the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) 2024 report India still remains an ‘electoral autocracy’ on its scale of closed autocracy, electoral autocracy, electoral democracy, or liberal democracy. India had listed in the ‘top 10 standalone autocratrizes in 2023.’
India’s democratic downgrading moved 1.4 billion of the world’s 8 billion people into the category of autocratizing countries. Wherever one draws the conceptual lines between the land of democracy, the sea of autocracy, and the marshlands marking the hybrid regions, the democratic world is considerably less populous without India among its ranks. The question of whether India is a democracy today is not just pivotal in analysing the country’s political future but in understanding the democratic trends more broadly.
In this connection, it may be pertinent to refer to an article ‘Why India’s Democracy Is Not Dying’ in 2021 by Akhilesh Pillalamarri, an international affairs analyst, writer, and journalist focusing on geopolitics, international security, Asia, who pointed out “cultural and social trends (in India today) are not necessarily evidence of democratic backsliding, but are rather evidence of social norms in India that are illiberal towards speech, individual expression, and criticism.” It is here that the question arises whether India has really departed the shores of democracy? And if so, is India’s transition into a hybrid regime reversible?”
In the recent elections, it was clearly discernible that the powerful candidates lacked in democratic spirit and were trying various tricks to hoodwink the Indian electorate by bringing in religious issues or talking about subjects that do not concern the common man. The liberal democratic polity was no longer in evidence in what the candidates speak and try to explain to the electorate. Added to this, the spread of concocted news and authoritarian tendencies of the parties in power are greatly manifest.
Another factor that has affected democratic values is the growing nexus in capitalism between political leaders, corporate and pampered bureaucracy and this has left little room for a transparent and pluralistic democracy to survive where the voice of those at the grassroot levels would be heard. This nexus has helped in cornering wealth of a select section of society oblivious of the poor and impoverished. The concentration of wealth and income is not judiciously distributed through taxes and subsidies, to improve livelihoods of the masses.
It turns out that a tiny elite controls both social and economic life of the people. With a continuous endeavour being made to merge religion with politics, widen the divide among communities and bring about social disharmony, the political class is thinking of itself only. Will and can there be a much-needed correction, is the big question ahead.
Finally, analysts rightly pointed out that there is no reason to mistake the present outcome as a setback for the BJP or to the support of the intellectual community or even the educated class to the policies of the ruling dispensation. A stronger Opposition shall now halt the imperial unilateralism and the authoritarianism of the Modi government. However, there are expectations of a major shift in national politics, and can we now expect a revival of democratic tenor in life and society in the coming years? — INFA