Under Assault: A fragile republic

India became a ‘Sovereign Democratic Republic’ on January 26, 1950, with the Constitution coming into operation. The 42nd Constitution Amendment, 1976, inserted the words “Socialist, Secular’ to the Preamble, making India a ‘Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic’. The word ‘republic’, derived from the Latin republica, means “a state in which power is held by the people.”

In democracy, the people are supreme. In India, however, democracy has come to be understood in a narrow, distorted sense as rule by majority, which doesn’t necessarily reflect the majority opinion. Democracy is essentially a government by discussion, debate and dissent. It is expected to protect and safeguard the interests and rights of minorities. The fundamental rights secure to all “the right (a) to freedom of speech and expression; (b) to assemble peaceably and without arms; (c) to move freely throughout the territory of India; and (d) to reside and settle in any part of India.”

Implicit in the freedom of speech and expression is the right to criticize government policies and actions. Invoking the sedition law to curb dissent in the name of “reasonable restrictions” by the State is atrocious. It is abuse of executive power. And dubbing anyone who opposes the government as anti-national or anti-patriotic and demeaning the critics is a new phenomenon, a feature of Narendra Modi’s India. This is not the democracy that we understand and teach our students in classrooms!

During the UPA-2 regime, a massive anti-corruption movement was launched by Anna Hazare, bitterly attacking the Manmohan Singh government. No one in the government then called the critics anti-national.

Nor does democracy mean contesting and winning elections by hook or crook. Governments come and go. But if the voice of the people is suppressed, democracy will be endangered. It is not a matter of taking a pro-Modi or anti-Modi stand. It is a question of tolerating those having different points of view.

The Indian republic is fragile. The government keeps repeating that everything is normal in Jammu & Kashmir. The indefinite clampdown on the people in the world’s largest democracy is unacceptable. Kashmiris do not have free access to internet services and communication; the state is under surveillance and lockdown for over seven months now. This is undeclared emergency.

European parliamentarians and foreign delegates are taken on a guided tour to the state, but our own Opposition leaders and MPs are not allowed to visit the state and meet the people, and Kashmir’s own mainstream politicians, including former chief ministers, continue to be under detention. People’s human rights are being violated in the name of national security. How can we call this normal? This is not the way to find a political solution to a vexed problem.

The nation has been polarized and its social fabric torn apart by the mis-conceived legislation— the CAA. The CAA should not have been a priority when there are so many pressing issues that demand the government’s intervention. Some 144 petitions — a record number — have been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of the CAA, which makes religion a basis of citizenship. While the court will decide the constitutionality of the amendment, it is a matter of concern that it has created fear and insecurity among people across the country.

Students, women and the general public are demonstrating on the streets, denouncing the CAA as communally divisive and demanding its withdrawal. The entire Opposition is opposed to it, so are the non-BJP governments. The government cannot dismiss the protests as anti-national as Yogi Adityanath and many leaders of the ruling party do. It is obvious that if the CAA is implemented and followed by the nationwide NRC that Amit Shah has been asserting the government will conduct, it will lead to chaos and unmitigated disaster. The poor, the marginalized and the minorities will face untold misery in trying to reclaim their citizenship, unable to produce the required documents and, in the process, making endless trips to government offices, spending time and money for years on. The whole exercise will lead to large scale corruption in the babudom, resulting in unending harassment of innocent people.

The right to assemble peaceably is being denied by imposing Section 144 repeatedly. The brutal suppression of people’s protests against the CAA by the UP police is deplorable. The government spokesmen are making contradictory statements, adding to confusion and insecurity. The surprise policy pronouncements on emotive issues are creating ripples in society, keeping people on the edge all the time.

The organized unleashing of mayhem inside Jawaharlal Nehru University by armed goons sent shockwaves across the country. It shows how our educational institutions are being targeted to crush dissent. To this day, no one has been held accountable for the murderous attack on the students and teachers. This is a mockery of the justice system, with Union minister Smriti Irani even accusing actor Deepika Padukone of supporting ‘the tukde-tukde gang’ for visiting the campus and expressing solidarity with the victims of violence.

If the Modi government thinks it is acting in the national interest, then why is it so intolerant of dissent? We see many cracks in the functioning of the State. The decline of Parliament, the erosion of democratic institutions, the controlled media, the loss of autonomy of state-run institutions and the rise of majoritarianism pose serious threats to our fragile democracy. A secular country is sought to be converted into a theocratic state in practice, where the will of the majority community will determine State policies. Whither India?

(The writer is a Professor of Political Science and retired Principal, KES College, Mumbai)