In her debut, TMC MP outlines 7 signs of fascism

Mahua Moitra, a first-time Member of Parliament of the Trinamool Congress, representing the Krishnanagar constituency in West Bengal, on Tuesday, delivered her maiden speech in the Lok Sabha, launching a scathing attack on the ruling BJP-led government.

On Twitter, her name was on the list of top trends for hours since Tuesday evening.

She began her speech by opposing the motion and supporting the amendments made by her party in the House. She said she accepts the mandate that the Narendra Modi government got in the Lok Sabha elections adding that "the totality of the mandate make it necessary the voice of the dissent be heard".

"I stand today to reclaim this inch that has been guaranteed to us," the 42-year-old lawmaker stated.

"Had the mandate been any less, there would have been a natural check and balance woven into the narrative. That's not the case. The House belongs to the Opposition," Mahua said.

She even quoted the first Union Education Minister, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, upholding the synthetic culture of India built through ages. She also argued that the idea of the constitution was under threat.

"You may say that acche din are here and that the sun will never set on the Indian Empire that the government is seeking to build. But then, you are missing the signs. Only if you open your eyes, you will see there are signs everywhere that this country is being torn apart," said Mahua, a former investment banker in the US, pointing at NDA lawmakers.

1. Powerful and continuing nationalism that is searing into our national fabric. It is superficial, xenophobic and narrowed. It is a lust to divide and it is not a desire to unite.
Citizens are being torn out of their homes and being called illegal immigrants. People who lived 50 years in the country are having to show a piece of paper that to prove they are Indian in a country where ministers cannot produce degrees to show they graduated from college. You expect dispossessed poor people to show papers to prove they belong to the country.

Symbols and slogans are being used to test allegiance. There is no one symbol and no slogan that can show any Indian that they are a patriot. There is no one tester, there is no one test.

2. There is a resounding disdain for human rights that is permeating in every level of government. There has been a ten-fold increase in the number of hate crimes between 2014 and 2019. 10X. This is like the valuation of an e-commerce start-up. There are forces in this country that are sitting there just pushing this number up. The lynching of citizens in broad daylight is being condoned. From Pehlu Khan in Rajasthan last year to Mr Ansari in Jharkhand yesterday, the list is not stopping.

3. There is an unimaginable subjugation and controlling of mass media today. Five of the largest news media organizations in India are today either indirectly controlled or indirectly debted to one man in this country. TV channels spent a majority of airtime broadcasting propaganda for the ruling party. Coverage of every Opposition party is cut out. Let the government come out with facts and figures to show ad-spend per media house. What are they spending the money on and which media house are they blocking out. The Information and Broadcasting Ministry employs over a 120 people solely to check the content on TV channels every day to make sure that there is no anti-government news being put out.

3. Fake news is the norm. This election was not fought on farmer distress. This election was not fought on unemployment. This election was fought on Whatsapp, on fake news, on manipulating minds. Every piece of news that this government repeats, every piece of news that you put out, every lie that you put out, you repeat and repeat till it becomes the truth. This is the Goebbels doctrine.

You talk about naamdar and kaamdar? Let me tell you the Congress party may have put up 36 dynasts since 1999 in parliament but the BJP has put up 31. I tell you, every time you put out one figure, one fact that is not the truth, anything that is not the truth, you are destroying the fabric of India. Yesterday the floor leader of the Congress party said that the co-operative movement has been a failure in Bengal. I urge him to check his facts. The one co-operative that he is referring to – Bhagirathi – in Murshidabad is now in profit. Every small misinformation that we put out serves to destroy this country.

4. There is an obsession with national security – identification of enemies. When we were children my mother would say do this, do that (or) kala bhoot will come. It is as though all of us in this country today are in fear of some nameless, shameless kala bhoot. There is fear pervading everywhere. The achievements of the army are being usurped in the name of one man. Is this correct? New enemies are being created every day and the irony is that in the last five years, terrorist attacks have gone up manifold. There has been a 106 per cent increase in the death of jawans in Kashmir.

5. Religion and government are now intertwined in this country. Do I even need to speak about this? Need I remind you that we have redefined what it means to be a citizen? With the NRC and the Citizenship Amendment Bill, we are making sure it is only one community that is the target of anti-immigration laws. Members of Parliament today are more interested in the fate of 2.77 acres of land than in the 812 million acres of the rest of India. Yeh sirf 2.77 acre janmabhhoomi ka mudda nahi hain. Yeh sara desh, 80 crore acres, ko akhand rakhne ka prashna hai.

6. The sixth sign is the most dangerous. There is complete disdain for intellectuals and the arts. There is a supression of all dissent, funding is being cut for liberal education, scientific temperament, which is enshrined in Article 51 of the Constitution and demands a scientific temperament. Everything we are doing is pushing India back to the dark ages. Secondary school textbooks are being manipulated and distorted in order to indoctrinate.You don’t even tolerate questioning, let alone dissent.

I wish to quote the great Hindi poet, Ramdhari Singh Dinkar. I wish to tell you this, that the spirit of dissent is integral to India. You cannot shackle us.

“Haan haan duryodhan baandh mujhe,
baandhne mujhe toh aaya hai.
Zanjeer badi kya laya hai?

Sune ko sadh na sakta hai,
woh mujhe baandh kab sakta hai?”

I ask you this, you cannot keep us down.

7. There is an erosion of independence in our electoral system. The Election Commission is being used to transfer key officials. Rs 60,000 crore was spent on this election; 50 per cent by one party, Rs 27,000 crore.

In 2017, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum put up a poster in its main lobby and it contained a list of all the signs of early fascism*. Each of the seven signs that I have pointed to you feature on that poster. There is a danger of fascism rising in India. It is incumbent upon all of us to stand up to it. Let us, the Members of this 17th Lok Sabha decide which side of history do we want to be on. Do we want to be upholders of this Constitution or do we want to be its pall-bearers?

I do not dispute the resounding mandate that this Government has got but I have the right to disagree with your idea that ‘there was no one before and that there shall be no one after you.’

In conclusion, I quote the poet Rahat Indori:

“Jo aaj sahibe masnad hain woh kal nahin honge
Kiraaydaar hain, zaati makaan thodi hai,
Sabhi ka khoon shaamil yahan ki mitti me
Kisi ke baap ka hindustan thodi hai?”

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*According to Fact-checking portal Snopes, though the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum at one point included a poster listing the early warning signs of encroaching fascism, it is not on display at museum now and the list for sale in the gift shop. This poster is no longer available at that venue.