As the country celebrates its Independence Day on August 15, it is important to pause the moment of history and ask, are we truly a democratic society? Have we lived up to the ideals of the Constitution makers, who fought the British so that India as a nation could one day see the sun of freedom? Lakhs of people sacrificed their lives hoping that the day would come when the might of British imperialism would breathe its last and India as a civilisation would rise to free human souls from the bondage of slavery and create a just society, and India would be the leader and beacon of hope for all those who fought to make the world better. The galaxy of leaders, under the creative leadership of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, fought those who had come to “civilise” us Indians, to teach them how wrong they were and make them realise that an ancient civilisation like ours was awake when they lived in prehistoric ages.
The soul of the Gandhian movement was based on love, compassion and non-violence, bitterness to none and harmony with all; a cosmic reunion of all faiths and unity of universal values. When Gandhi was asked what his religion is, he did not name Hindu religion but said his religion was the best of all religions. He believed that all religions were different paths to find the same almighty, the creator of all. If we have been true followers of Gandhi and Nehru, we, the people of India would not have witnessed so much enmity and religious conflicts around us.
Today it is far more important to ask, are we truly living in a democratic society, in which we are free from fear and every faith has freedom to pursue its path? Have we really created a society in which all faiths live in harmony and there is no race for superiority and no claim of purity of race? The answer will be a big ‘NO’. One can easily blame politics and say that politicians, for their narrow sectarian goals, have played with the emotions of the people and opened the floodgates of raw passion which now have become difficult to control. The lust for power has created a wedge between different communities. Within a community, it has further divided people in the name of sub-identities and these sub-identities into sub-sub-identities and has forced them to compete with each other. This competition for recognition and power is now leading to dehumanisation; people belonging to one group are becoming bloodthirsty for the other group and vice versa and there is no Gandhi and Nehru to scold and turn them back to their original selves.
The crises in Manipur and Haryana are just a glimpse; these are warning signals. There is no denying the fact that Manipur has been a troubled spot for a long time. Two communities — Meitei and Kuki — have been at loggerheads for long, which needed a nuanced handling and balanced approach but in order to consolidate power, old wounds were ignored and the equilibrium which had kept them in harmony for some time was broken and the result is for everyone to see. Now both the social groups are at each other’s throat and Manipur has become a killing field where armories are being looted at will, women are being remorselessly gang-raped, villagers have no trust in security forces, and are making bunkers and have resorted to arms to protect themselves; officers and leaders are divided into opposite camps and each is trying to protect themselves and annihilate the other. The mighty Indian state is a mute spectator.
This politics of passion has also reared its ugly head thousands of kilometres away from Manipur, in Haryana. 50 kilometres from the national capital, the two communities — Hindus and Muslims — attacked each other and destroyed each other’s religious places of worship. Six people died in this carnage and thousands of properties were looted and burnt. Tempers are still running high, but the state seems to be oblivious to the dangers. Instead of dealing firmly with both the communities, the government has been seen to be partisan and the Centre a mute spectator.
The situation in Haryana is so bad that members of one community are openly calling for an economic boycott of the other community in many cities; a hate campaign against the other community has been launched. Large congregations are allowed without police permission where provocative speeches are given but no action is taken. The local police are openly siding with one community, bulldozers are being used against only one community with the excuse of teaching the rioters a lesson. The members of the other community are using modern firearms in the presence of police. This happened when the Supreme Court in its order on April 28 2023 on hate speeches had told the state governments that “either act swiftly against hate speech or face the contempt of the court”.
The Supreme Court till now has not initiated any contempt proceeding against the Haryana government. Though the Chandigarh High Court has asked about the use of bulldozers, “if it was ethnic cleansing by the state”. On Manipur, the Supreme Court in its scathing remark, said that there was a total collapse of law and order and Constitutional machinery. Yet, it did not inspire the Centre to take any drastic measures in either of the states. Rather it is busy overturning the Supreme Court orders. This is with reference to two verdicts of the Supreme Court, one about restoring the Constitutional rights of Delhi government in the appointment and transfer of its officers; and in the other to make the appointment of the election commissioners look independent, it has ordered the formation of a committee in which along with the prime minister and the leader of opposition, the Chief Justice of India would also be included. But the central government has decided to not abide by the Supreme Court verdict. It has nullified the Supreme Court order about Delhi by passing a law from Parliament and about election commission, it has proposed to replace CJI with a central minister that will effectively neutralise Supreme Court endeavour to make the EC independent.
In this context, one is reminded of the words of philosopher Jason Stanley: “India, the United States and Brazil… in all three countries, there is a movement toward unifying institutions around loyalty to ethnic identity, as in India, or loyalty to a single leader, as in the United States, where the most powerful political party is increasingly defined by the fealty to Donald Trump. These threaten the democratic nature of these institutions as well as their competence to carry out their institutional mission. Our democratic culture is on life support.”
These are undoubtedly harsh words. India is a very vibrant democracy, and it is very proud of its democratic roots and culture. But the trends which are visible now, are dangerous and if not controlled, sooner than later, the dark clouds will thicken and the politics of passion will envelop us all and there will be no looking back.
The writer is Editor, SatyaHindi.com, and author of Hindu Rashtra. He tweets at @ashutosh83B
