All signs tell us that Indian Democracy is dying.
The belief that the strong leader is efficient. The belief that hardliners make great administrators. The belief that anyone of any opposing view or disagreement must be a conspirator from the other side. The belief that strong governments are essentially good governments. The belief that killing the opposition is more important than moving forward. The belief that your side can do no wrong.
India was under a state of Emergency in 1975, with the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi consolidating her power in a dictatorial move, suspending elections and civil liberties, getting opposition leaders arrested, and her son Sanjay Gandhi spearheading a Forced Mass Sterilization program. In spite of all of this, more than 40% India had voted for her in the next elections in 1977. In the next elections in 1980, her vote share increased to 43% and she got a thumping majority in the Parliament, making her the Prime Minister once again.
Even today after 40 years, though a lot of consciousness about the importance of civil liberties has spread in India, we find that many people(including some ‘intellectuals’), still revere her.
And why should they not? She wasn’t responsible for the Emergency. We were. People voted for her and made her the Prime Minister once again, even though she had done a transgression that should end most politicians’ careers. But the false aggrandizement of her stature, image and personality in people’s minds made sure that she kept on thriving.
No dictator or fascist has ever taken control of a country without a good chunk of people backing him- no matter what.
Today, with the likes of Modi and Yogi in charge, I believe that political idol worship is back with their bhakts. (hindi word for devotees)
Never have I seen a group of people vehemently support a politician and even more vehemently oppose those who show even a slight opposition to him- as Modi. In the Bhaktistan, everything is binary- there is no concept of spectrum. In the Bhaktistan, everything the master does is correct, every scheme that he has created has worked and every person who disagrees with him is an anti-national.
Yes, anti-national. The debate in the Bhaktistan is based on the the binary world of nationals and anti-nationals. If you disagree with him, you are not called an idiot or stupid or misguided, you are called a jihadist or naxal or colonial pimp. The transition of our national debate from ‘right vs wrong’ to ‘national vs anti-national’ has finally happened.
In the Bhaktistan, the only truth in the media lies between the TV channels of Times Now, Republic, Zee News and India TV. In the Bhaktistan, the biggest ailments in the country are Love Jihad, JNU students and people standing up for the National Anthem, while the huge dearth of jobs and poor standards of living are secondary.
Meanwhile, the so-called economic libertarian bhakts keep clinging to their messiah, as he kills small businesses, introduces a GST which is a wet-dream for Chartered Accountants, and enforces Demonetization, which was too extreme even for Leftists. Maybe they convince themselves by replaying tapes of Modi harping on about Ease of Doing Business in his earlier speeches. And how a libertarian can support Aadhaar is still a mystery to me. Oh, by the way, if you oppose Demonetization and Mandatory Aadhaar, get ready to be labelled a corrupt person with black money.
Demonetization proved why belief in Sen is much better than Bhagwati, or maybe it proved that the entire economist sphere is full of partisan hacks.
One should already see how the so-called anti-corruption bhakts, have stopped asking for Lokpal, have stayed mum on dilution of Whistleblowers’ Act, and have stayed silent while political donations are made anonymous with legal restrictions on corporate donations removed. All this while BJP has received the highest amount of donations without information about either PAN or Address or both. Somehow, the Right wing doesn’t really raise much voice on the issue of corporate lobbying, even though it is so clearly opposed to the idea of free market.
These people also stay silent as every state government under a regional or opposition party or Non-BJP party, has had it’s government destabilized, has had CBI/ED opening up cases against them, or has it’s legislators crossing over to the BJP en masse just before the elections.
Meanwhile the constant paranoia engulfing the lives of the citizens of Bhaktistan can be noticed via the following:
- Ex-Vice President Hamid Ansari is touted as a cousin of Strongman Mukhtar Ansari by the BJP IT Cell head only after he gives a speech critical of the current government- and Bhakts believe it. Some other propaganda against him was debunked in the following articles-
i) https://www.altnews.in/bjp-spokesperson-sambit-patra-defames-former-vice-president-hamid-ansari/
ii) https://www.altnews.in/no-hamid-ansaris-budget-not-six-times-president/ - Son of BJP Haryana Chief is caught stalking a woman. The Bhakts accuse the IAS daughter of being a opposition stooge and spread/believe that she was close to the accused on the basis of a false picture.
- Gorakhpur Tragedy: self-explanatory. When I had described the incident to a friend of mine, a common dweller of Bhaktistan, his first reaction was that it is an opposition conspiracy to defame the Adityanath Government. This is a far cry from a time 4 years ago when the most common and reasonable initial assumption during any such incident was- It must have been the Government’s fault.
- Bhakts believe that Barkha Dutt is an accomplice of Hizbul Mujahideen because of a misinterpretation of a grainy picture that she, herself, had posted on her twitter profile.
- Edit: They believe a highly flawed, illogical and false version of Indian history:
i) https://www.altnews.in/trueindology-truefraudology-debunking-goldmine-fictitious-historical-claims/
ii) https://www.altnews.in/trueindology-truefraudology-part-2-goldmine-fictitious-historical-claims/
iii) https://www.altnews.in/trueindology-truefraudology-part-3-exposing-fakery-rebuttal/
This is far beyond Left and Right politics. The dwellers of Bhaktistan don’t even judge things in terms of ideology- let alone facts. They believe in WhatsApp forwards, and Postcard news. This is just pure blind support through which they feel some sense of personal pride- some of it is guided by Hindu Supremacist belief, some by anti-Muslim bigotry and some by plain hero worship- all a result of propaganda. This sizable chunk of voters will vote for the likes of Modi and Yogi- no matter what.
A simple example of this was during the Delhi Municipality Elections- many voted for BJP, the incumbent, while admitting that their past ten years in control of the Municipality had been worth nothing. They said that they had to vote for Modi- who is the Prime Minister of India- even though the election was that of a Municipality level. Indian democracy isn’t in danger because of Modi, but because of his Bhakts.
Democracy is rule by the people, not just the prevalence of fair elections. The rule by the people succeeds only when they know the objective truths necessary in choosing a temporary ruler. It succeeds when the temporary ruler isn’t able to use his erstwhile powers to game the system to make those powers permanent for himself. In the absence of any meaningful political opposition, it is the people who might have to take up that mantle to make sure that doesn’t happen. Why?Because a politician works for the people only when he is afraid and uncertain of their vote in the next election.
Do the Indian people have the desire or courage to take up that mantle? Have we learnt the vital lessons from our pseudo-democratic past to make sure that mistakes like the Emergency are never repeated again? The present situation offers little hope- but we must keep striving for the truth.
Edit: An example of the paranoia and devotion in many Bhakts-
