By Arun Srivastava
It was a bloody coup attempted by the rightist forces which was master-minded by the president of the USA Donald Trump, in which at least four persons lost their lives, nevertheless the Congress ought to be congratulated for foiling the conspiracy to prevent the Biden presidency from taking charge.
It would be wrong to say that a mob spontaneously barged into the Capitol and occupied it. The fact is Trump had planned it with the help of his rightist mercenaries. The rightist forces attempted the coup in the form of a violent riot that stormed the Capitol building. An insight into the sordid incident would unravel the truth that the coup was planned and executed in full knowledge of the administrators. It underlined the complete collapse of the most powerful administrative machinery in the world.
The USA administration was aware of the machinations of Trump and ought to have taken full proof security measures as it was known to everyone who matters in the administration that Trump would resort to such anti-democratic action. Trump had spent months stoking the anger of his supporters with false claims that the election was stolen and rigged.
Throughout the world the right reactionary forces have been trying to throttle the democracy and democratic institutions. Obviously their action at Capitol has not come as a surprise. In fact what has pained is in their quest to continue to stick to the power and misuse the administrative machinery they have been indulging in all kinds of despotic actions. In fact this is a warning to the global fraternity. And anyone would date to ignore it at the cost of inviting his own peril. What has been really disgraceful is these people have been resorting to all such nasty actions on the plea of safeguarding the sovereignty and constitution of the country.
The rightist elements disrupted the proceedings that was in the process to complete the recognition of the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. The plotters violated the constitution and overrode the will of the voters. It is absolutely clear that the mob outside would not have existed without the tacit support of the politicians inside.
The citizens of the great democracy, the USA, must be complemented for electing a person who has turned America into the new land of coups; of course they must be rest assured that this was neither the first nor the last coup it would face. With Trump on the political scene they must get ready to witness more such blood incidents.
Some may argue against describing this as a coup as it was not carried out to overthrow of a sitting government. However they ought to know that the technical term for attempting to stay in power illegitimately—such as after losing an election—is also a coup. The most shocking aspect of the coup has been tacit support of the Republicans to Trump in carrying out this operation. They could have cautioned him from lowering the image and prestige of the nation. But ironically they behaved like a spineless creature in the face of the strong hand tactics of Trump. It would not be exaggeration to say that Republicans extended support to Trumps lies and his politics of deceit.
One fails to make out how the entire Republican leadership could subscribe to the lies and baseless claims of Trump that the election was stolen from him. It is worth recalling that before election, Trump had pressured the attorney general to investigate his opponent and his son, after being impeached for pressuring a foreign state to announce its own investigation into his opponent’s son. He had also fired the chief of the Pentagon, along with other top officials for not falling in his line.
In 1852, Karl Marx had observed that historical occurrences may occur the first time as tragedy and the second time as farce. Marx was mocking Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, the nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte who had just seized power in a coup (or, in the interest of technical precision, an autogolpe), declaring himself emperor. Louis-Napoléon did indeed seem like a figure worth ridicule, but the well-heeled members of ruling classes often confuse lack of propriety for weakness.
Amongst the rightist elements who invaded Capitol, there were good number of Indians carrying Indian national flag. By indulging in this type of activities they have simply lowered the image of the country. As Indians residing in the USA they are free to do whatever they like, but from where they got the right to carry the Indian flag during the coup? This nature of activity is certainly not in the interest of India and would simply jeopardise the bilateral relations with America.
Trump is creating the chaotic and confused conditions for a potential political confrontation. His intention all along has been to destroy the political order. It cannot be denied that the kind of violence which took four precious lives, has been completely authoritarian, a way to try to force other people to submit to the will of the perpetrators. Yet another aspect of the violence which was visible was the involvement of the white men who were long the only people with power in this country. They under Trump have been presenting themselves as the marginalized and oppressed. Like Indian Hindu upper castes they are scared that others, the blacks will have power and a voice.
These people in recent times have been found to be involved in many racist actions. Trump’s eldest daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump described the insurrectionists who stormed the US Capitol building as “American Patriots”. The increasingly political violence of far-right gangs and mobs should be a wake-up call to all. If you don’t control them, they control you. It is high time the liberal democratic individuals and politicians see the far right threat and get ready to counter their challenge. The siege which saw four people die was among the worst security breaches in American history and came after Trump had earlier urged a crowd of protesters to march on the Capitol and undo his November election defeat. (IPA Service)