By Barnes Mawrie
The unforgettable Independence Day speech of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on 14th August 1947: “At the stroke of midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom”, still rings in our ears as we celebrate the 70th Independence Day this year. India has always boasted of being the largest democracy, a land of “unity in diversity,” a truly “secular” nation where every citizen is respected irrespective of his religion, race, culture and language. For nearly seven decades we Indians have lived an envious existence unlike people in other countries where freedom remains a distant dream. The freedom that Mahatma Gandhi and other freedom fighters have earned for the nation, is seasoned by their sweat, tears and blood. It is a freedom that our forefathers who lived under the foreign yoke welcomed with ecstatic joy. Perhaps the present generation is taking it for granted and fails to appreciate the value of it because they have never suffered the yoke of colonialism.
Whatever we may say, the Congress Party has remained faithful to its sacred duty of preserving the democratic character of our nation. Perhaps the Emergency period between 1975-77 during the prime ministership of Indira Gandhi remains a dark spot in the INC’s annals. Documents however show that Indira Gandhi wanted emergency only for a short period of time due to internal unrest. However, in election that followed the emergency the Indian people demonstrated their disapproval by voting out the Congress party.
Indian democracy may seem permanent but in reality it is gradually under threat of survival. Since the coming to power of the BJP government in 2014, there has been a step by step attempt to denigrate the democratic values and destabilize the democratic system in our country. As of now, the Congress Party is almost in shambles and the UPA appears to be out of form, therefore the BJP is riding high and perhaps 2019 election will undoubtedly go in their favour. The BJP has a right-wing ideology which is proving extremely dangerous for Indian democracy. Today they are on top of the world with their own men in the topmost positions, namely, the President and the Vice President. It is true that theoretically the President is above party politics, but this is to be seen in reality as things unfold in the days to come considering the fact that he is an RSS man.
Already in the higher bureaucracy the BJP has got its own loyalists who are ready to tow the line and implement their dictates. The way the media has been bought off or tilted towards the BJP, is a major threat to democracy itself. Dictatorial governments have always targeted the media first before they started suppressing democracy. The picture presented by the India Today poll survey in these past few days shows that if a general election would be held today, BJP would back 298 seats and Congress would get only 47 seats. This is a one sided picture presented by the media which tries to put the BJP on a pedestal and so create a make-believe scenario in people’s minds that the BJP is the best government and should be voted to power again. The manner in which some of the media channels are going crazy in their sting operations against the UPA and the Congress in particular, is a clear indication that they are not neutral but are highly politicized. Unlike in the days of the UPA government when every media channel would uncompromisingly criticize government policies from time to time, today we hardly hear any media channel say anything negative about the NDA government. We will not be surprised if Modi is projected as the second “Father of the Nation.”
Added to these threats, the BJP is raking up religious issues targeting the minority Christians and Muslims. Through their religious fundamentalism they are threatening the religious freedom guaranteed by our democracy. Today there are already eight states (the latest being Jharkhand) which have passed the anti-conversion bill which legalizes the suppression and persecution of Christians and Muslims. It is alleged that even Muslims (who are over 14.2% of the population) are living in fear in many parts of our country today. It is the fear of imminent danger to of an uncertain future. Hidden plots are being fomented against the minorities. It looks like the BJP is heading towards a constitutional amendment. They seem to be allergic to the term “secular” and want to replace it with “hindutva.” As things progress today – the BJP surging ahead in power, the Modi magic hypnotizing the citizens and the Congress left leaderless and in total disarray – the future of Indian democracy is in real peril. Perhaps this may be the swan song for our great Indian democracy.
The BJP left to its whims and fancies will turn our country into a theocratic nation. But I strongly believe that the Indian people are wise, insightful and moderate. They are neither blind to the dark sides of reality nor easily duped by the glamour of political propaganda. Just as they have always disapproved of any undemocratic movement in the past, they will do so in the next general election.