Open Forum

New Delhi, 3 April 2024

Democracy Vs Autocracy

POLITICAL CHAOS INEVITABLE?

By Dhurjati Mukherjee 

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge recently stated that a reign of autocracy and hooliganism has been unleashed in the country by the ruling dispensation. This is concern expressed by other Opposition parties who say there’s no semblance of democracy in the country with the government using the central agencies to harass political opponents. 

The recent arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, and also that of his counterpart in Jharkhand Hemant Soren are glaring examples of the government’s ulterior motive. In the case of Kejriwal, apart from Germany, the US demanded a “fair, transparent and timely legal process”. However, Prime Minister Modi has said no matter how big the corrupt are, action will be taken against them.    

It may be interesting to note that Aurobindo Parma’s director, P. Sarath Chandra Reddy, on whose statement Kejriwal was arrested by the ED in the excise policy-linked money laundering case is himself an accused in the same case and contributed Rs 59.5 crore to the BJP through electoral bonds before and after his arrest. It is said that Reddy was used to arrest the AAP convenor, widely perceived as an upright politician. 

The government, which is riding on a so-called Modi wave, is trying all sorts of tricks to put obstacles before the Opposition through various measures. Apart from the arrest, the Congress has been served IT notices demanding Rs 1823 crore, a hammer blow that threatened to deepen the financial crisis ahead of the general election and prompted the party to accuse the government of ‘tax terrorism’. This is in addition to the earlier fine of Rs 210 crore imposed on the party and freezing some of its bank accounts. 

On the basis of available data, Congress Treasurer Ajay Maken pointed out that the ruling party should have been fined for multiple violations of the norms applied to the Congress as “the BJP did not give details of 1287 transactions worth Rs 42 crore in 2018-19; no addresses of the donors were given and calculated by the same criteria that was applied to us, a demand of Rs 4600 crore should have been raised”.  

The laws on money laundering, sedition, unlawful activities and hurting sentiments of communities are so vaguely worded that the government can arrest anyone on flimsy grounds. The government is also trying to prove that the Opposition leaders are corrupt, obviously indicating that those who belong to the BJP have a clean image. But will this strategy of the BJP be accepted by the educated electorate? 

This is reiterated by an article of Yamini Aiyar, who just before her resignation as chief of the Centre for Policy Research wrote in The Economist (on March 23): “The incumbent, Bhartiya Janata Party government of Narendra Modi is set to win a third term and surveys show that the prime minister’s personal popularity is at an all-time high. But his governance, built on aggressive centralisation, legitimised by a cult of personality and undergirded by an exclusionary Hindu nationalist ideology, is eroding India’s democracy. If unchecked, the consequences for the country’s political, economic and social fabric with grim”. 

Incidentally, the clean image of the ruling party has been negated by the recently released data on electoral bonds by the State Bank of India. Apart from the fact that the BJP was the largest beneficiary of electoral bonds, it is significant to note that over 60 companies that were set up after the announcement of the electoral bond scheme in early 2017 gave close to Rs 260 crore to political parties through bonds. Of this, over Rs 100 crore or over 40% went to the BJP while the BRS was the second largest recipient with Rs 61 crore or about a fourth of the money. Moreover, it is amply clear that the bonds were given under pressure and have encouraged a  quid pro quo. 

Further, it has been revealed that several companies bagged huge government contracts after donating via electoral bonds, which allowed donors and recipients to remain anonymous, some NGOs alleged. BJP was the biggest beneficiary of EBs paid by loss-making companies and certain corporate groups. The Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), NGO Common Cause and individuals like Prashant Bhushan and Niti Sethi have alleged that: (i) 16 companies that made no profit in the preceding three years paid a combined Rs 710 crore through the EBs with the BJP receiving Rs 460 crore of this amount;(ii)certain companies paid the BJP a total sum of Rs 1751 crore through EBs and received government contracts worth Rs 62,000 crore; and (iii)41 group of companies paid the BJP a sum of Rs 2471 crore via the bonds after facing raids from the CBI, ED and income tax authorities. 

The other side of the picture is that the INDIA alliance has yet to project a unified picture of its allies with a coherent strategy though Congress leader, Rahul Gandhi has been harping on valid socio-economic issues, claiming the government neglect over the years. However, the BJP has conveniently shifted focus instead on religious issues and Hindu nationalism. 

For the party, the focus was on northern and western states where Hindutva propagation would win the heart of the masses. Added to this, the consecration of the Ayodhya Temple fulfilled the ambit of the government’s steady move from a secular approach to Hindu nationalism, reinforced by the notification of the recent CAA rules.    

The educated electorate in southern states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Telangana may not support the BJP’s strategy of Hindu domination and imposition of Brahmanical culture in the country. These states are highlighting the social and economic issues plaguing the country and reaching out to the poor and neglected sections.  

The burning issues of unemployment and underemployment, food inflation, the increase in unpaid labour and the disparity between the formal and informal sector need to be addressed by the Centre and respective state governments. The ‘pro-rich policy’ of the BJP has helped in increasing the wealth of billionaires by 280% between 2014 and 2022, ten times the growth in the average national income, as per statistics released by Kharge. 

India’s transformation that has been witnessed in recent years resulted from the order changing from a liberal democracy to what the opposition terms as an autocracy. The idea of India is also under transformation – from a secular inclusive State that glorified diversity in thought, culture and faith to one that is based on one faith, one culture and a strong nationalism that glorifies the nation state. Not just the BJP, which is said to be the main villain of the pieced, the authoritarian tendency is also manifest in the TMC, BRS and some other regional parties. 

Finally, in a society where power and money are becoming decisive factors in politics, the controlling manner in which the Centre and most states are governed, and the rising inequality and dwindling incomes of the bottom 30-35% does not augur well for the country. If changes don’t take place, social fragmentation, economic disparity, and chaos is inevitable. ---INFA 

(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)