The struggle for independence from the British was also combined with the struggle for the idea of India.
Alex Tuscano
The 2024 election is a test for Indians to choose the nation, India, they want.
From the emergence of the movement for freedom from the British Raj, the
people of India did not only want freedom from India but also wanted India
according to their idea. By 1930, it had become clear that three different
ideologies dominated in defining the Idea of India.
1. Left ideology: In 1922, the Communist Party of India was started. Along
with it, other leftward ideologies emerged. We mention here only one, i.e.,
the Socialists. For convenience's sake, I would like to put these two under
one title, the "communist-socialist ideology." Those who vouched for this
ideology wanted India to be a socialist country, very much in line with the
Soviet Union or the United Soviets of Socialist Russia. After independence,
the communist party split into two, the Communist Party of India (CPI)
and the Communist Party of India Marxist (CPIM). The CPI was close to
the Soviet Union and was guided by it. The CPIM was inspired by and
guided by the Communist Party of China. Both the CPI and CPIM were
fundamentally secular parties.
2. The second ideology was represented by those who sponsored the idea of
India as a Hindu Rashtra. They believed that there were two nations in
India, one Hindu state and another Islamic state. It was represented by
Deendayal Upadhyaya, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Vinayak Damodar
Savarkar, Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, Madhav Sadashivrao Golwalkar, and
the like. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee was the president of the Akhil
Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha from 1943 to 1946. Keshav Baliram
Hedgewar founded the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in 1925. Vinayak
Damodar Savarkar developed the Hindu Nationalist Political Ideology of
Hindutva and supported the two-nation theory, endorsing the idea of
India as a Hindu Rashtra. All these stalwarts of the Hindutva ideology
were Brahmins, and they advocated the Manu Smriti as the guide to the
politics of India.
3. The third major ideology advocated a secular, democratic, and socialist
India. This ideology was advocated by the bulk of freedom fighters who
were leading the freedom struggle, such as Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit
Jawaharlal Nehru, Babasaheb Ambedkar, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel,
Subhash Chandra Bose, Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar, and Maulana
Abul Kalam Azad, among others. The defenders of this ideology had been
the leaders of the freedom struggle. Scores of people gave their lives in
the freedom struggle, and many spent ten to twenty years in jail.
Incidentally, none of the advocates of the Hindu Rashtra found themselves on the
list. They sided with the British rule on occasions of several struggles and
boycotted the Quit India movement. The Hindu Rashtra proponents considered
Muslims as their biggest enemies, more than the British. In 1939, the Hindu
Mahasabha, under the leadership of Savarkar, formed an alliance with the
Muslim League to form governments in many states.
The struggle for independence from the British was also combined with the
struggle for the Idea of India. In this struggle, the people who fought for a
democratic, secular, and socialist India used the language of love and non-
violence. Mahatma Gandhi was the icon of this approach. He was deeply
committed to the principles of non-violence and non-retaliation. However, those
who wanted to build a nation based on the ideology of Hindutva used the path of
violence. They went to the extent of killing the icon of the idea of a secular,
democratic, socialist India, Mahatma Gandhi, who was a deeply religious Hindu
and secular in politics. His life is proof that one can be a deeply religious Hindu
and yet secular in politics. Nathuram Godse, who was brought up on the hate-
filled RSS ideology and under the guidance of the Hindutva ideologue Vinayak
Damodar Savarkar, killed Mahatma Gandhi while he was at prayer with a large
number of people. The last words from the dying Gandhi were "Hey Ram."
Finally, this struggle concluded by adopting the Constitution of India, drafted
under the leadership of Babasaheb Ambedkar. The Constitution is the
summation of the freedom struggle and an endorsement of India as a secular,
democratic, and socialist country.
Today, after seventy-five years, India seems to be again at a crossroads between
India as a Hindutva nation and India as a secular, democratic, and socialist
country.
We have already seen the BJP-led NDA government in the past. There is a clear
plan in the minds of Modi and the BJP to change the character of the nation. It is
not necessary to enumerate all the indicators of this plan. A few glaring facts
would be enough to see what Modi as the Prime Minister and the BJP-RSS
conglomerates are heading towards.
1. Their outlook towards minorities as a whole and Muslims in particular,
targeting Muslims and bullying their properties, denying them the right to
marry girls or boys from the Hindu community and declaring such
marriages as "love jihad," determining what they should eat and wear.
2. Their attitude towards Dalits and Adivasis.
3. The growing incarceration of those who dare to question the government,
such as journalists, human rights activists, and those who fight for the
rights of Dalits and Adivasis, branded as "anti-national" and "urban
Naxals," put in jail without charge sheets and trials. The Bhima Koregaon
incident will go down in history as a mark of fascist treatment.
4. Erosion of the independence of constitutional bodies, such as the
Judiciary, Reserve Bank, Election Commission, the press, the Enforcement
Directorate, Central Bureau of Investigation, National Investigating
Agency, and Income Tax authorities. These investigating bodies have been
made agencies of the ruling parties, directed to go after politicians of
opposition parties.
5. Lower court judges would not grant bail out of fear of government action.
The Enforcement Directorate, CBI, and Income Tax authorities have
singled out leaders of opposition parties and put them in jail without
evidence. These bodies have put even sitting and former Chief Ministers
in jail.
6. The Election Commission, one of the most important constitutional bodies
to ensure fair and clean elections, has been compromised. It has been
working at the pleasure of the Prime Minister. It has been further made
redundant by amending the process of appointing members to the
Election Commission. Earlier, there were three members of the body who
selected the Election Commission members: the Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court, the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament or Rajya
Sabha, and the Prime Minister. With the latest amendment, the Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court has been replaced by a cabinet member of
the government appointed by the Prime Minister, literally giving the
government all power to appoint an Election Commission of their choice.
This has given unlimited power to the members of the EC, who will
ensure the ruling party has enormous benefits in the election process.
7. "Congress-mukt Bharat" and "Opposition-mukt Bharat," promoting the
idea of one nation, one party, one election, one religion, and one language.
8. Talk about rewriting the Constitution of India. While Modi is distancing
himself from this move for the sake of the election fallout, he does not act
against those BJP leaders going around proclaiming their goal of changing
the Constitution.
If one takes note of the way the Modi sarkar is going about, the Constitution has
already been rendered redundant. They have compromised the independence of
the press, the fourth pillar of democracy. Anyone who criticizes the government
has been hounded and put in jail. Some have even been killed, like Gowry
Lankesh and Narendra Dhabolkar. The mainstream news channels have become
"darbari channels." They do not raise any questions to the government, let alone
criticize government policies. The only interviews Modi has given to journalists
are like the one with Akshay Kumar, who could ask Modi how he eats mangoes
and why he does not get tired, etc. During his interview with Karan Thapar, Modi
walked out, probably because he was facing uncomfortable questions. Instead of
a free media, we have what is called "Godi Media," where Arnab Goswami shouts
his lungs out. Dhruv Rathee has come out with a bold YouTube video on
February 22nd, 2024, which speaks about how India is moving towards a
dictatorship.
The BJP-led NDA came to power riding on the allegation of corruption in the UPA
government. Anna Hazare led this movement against corruption. During the legal
proceedings, the court
The BJP-led NDA came to power riding on allegations of corruption in the UPA
government. Anna Hazare led this movement against corruption. During the legal
proceedings, the court declared that there was no evidence presented to convict
the people accused of corruption. Most of the people who were leading this 'India
Against Corruption' movement have found themselves in the BJP.
Modi has been declaring that he will not take bribes nor will he allow anyone to
take bribes ("Na kahunga, na khane dunga"). But on the other hand, politicians
from opposition parties who had cases of massive corruption were admitted into
the BJP, and all these cases against them have been withdrawn - making the BJP a
"washing machine."
The BJP party itself has been involved in scams, one among them being called
'electoral bonds.' The electoral bond has been proved beyond any shred of doubt
to be the world's biggest scam. It was legalized corruption. It was introduced in
Parliament as a money bill to avoid having to go through the Rajya Sabha. The
Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional and abolished it.
Jairam Ramesh has given an interesting description of it. According to him, it is a
corruption of four types:
1. "Chanda do dhanda lo" (give a donation to the BJP
party and get government contracts - prepaid bribes).
2. "Dhanda lo rishwat do"
(Get a government contract by paying a bribe).
3. "Corruption karo, hapta do" (If
caught in corruption after ED and IT raids, give a share and continue in the
corrupt business). There were several business companies against whom there
were ED and IT cases; these cases were canceled soon after these companies
gave donations to the BJP through electoral bonds.
4. Shell companies giving
donations (donations through electoral bonds from companies that exist only on
paper). The shell companies' donations are a way of routing donations from big
companies like Adani, who do not want their names to appear on the electoral
bonds. The BJP has collected Rs. 8,250 crores through electoral bonds. The
analysis of the data on donations given through electoral bonds indicates that
companies running at a loss have purchased electoral bonds and given donations
to the BJP. 1,297 donors gave Rs. 42 crores to the BJP, but their addresses are not
available.
The greatest threat to the nation is not so much from these massive corruptions
of Modi and the BJP. The greatest threat to the nation is the ambition of the BJP
as a whole and of Modi, in particular, to change the character of the Indian state
from a secular, democratic, and socialist state to a Hindutva state. BJP members
are talking about changing the Constitution. They have openly declared that if
the BJP gets 400 seats in Parliament, then along with the support of allies, they
can easily change the Constitution. Hence, their campaign slogan is "UP ke bar
400 par" (After UP, 400 seats). The BJP will not let any stone unturned in getting
more than 400 seats in Parliament.
This election is the last chance for the citizens of India to save the nation.
According to leading political commentators, if the BJP comes to power for the
third time, there would be no elections in the future. This is the last chance for all
freedom-loving citizens of India to save the nation from collapse.
