By Zainab Mojibi
The political discourse of our country stands at a decisive milestone today. The reins might seem to be in the hands of fascists, the liberals may seem dumbfounded – some even contributing to passive evil, the opposition caught up in the game of opportunistic appeasement, yet fellow-men, let us never forget the greatest deciding power rests in our hands – ‘We, the people’! Let us not forget that ‘We, the people’ are the loudest resonance of democracy. We are and we have been the revolutionaries, we are the acceptors, we – the deniers! Blaze yourselves with the passion of the fiery headed TMC MP, Mahua Moitra’s speech drawing direct parallels between the current governance and Nazi fascism, one against which the world vows unanimously. Connect every point which she made with the developments in our country and conclude therefrom. But do not stop there, go on to find out the end result of such a fascism – genocide of 6 million Jews besides other groups. The seven danger signs of early fascism she listed went on as follows : powerful and continuing nationalism, disdain for human rights, subjugation and control of mass media, obsession with national security, intertwining of Government and religion, complete disrespect for intellectuals and the arts – repression of all dissent and erosion of independence in our electoral system.
Every amendment of the ruling party is a clear step towards concentrating power. The RTI Amendment Bill has been passed in the Rajya Sabha closing doors to government accountability. Transparency which ensured check on every move of the government has been done away with. It was a bill which had vested every citizen with the power to question, to know and to participate in the Governance of the country.
According to the UAPA Bill passed most recently in the Lok Sabha, the government can declare any individual a terrorist even if the person has zero charges and zero cases filed against him. It will be the individual’s own responsibility to prove why he is not a terrorist. This is a blatant violation of a fair judicial procedure. As of the bill, there is no definition of who a terrorist is. This bill comes in a time when we have seen numerous cases of acquittal of individual decades after they have been convicted on charges of terrorism. The NIA itself has been responsible for most of such cases. A case study of the issue clearly shows the bias against the youth of a particular community. Special reports have proven of torture, pressurized false statements, families being ruined, prime youth being wasted and social ostracism of the family.
Nationalism is the larger picture shown to gain the approval of the masses for policies like these which in fact are direct attacks on our Federal and Judicial structure. If for once the situation is viewed from beyond the lens of communalism , it would not be a difficult task to understand the danger our constitution faces today.
Let us try to understand the concept of nationalism and those who are riding it the best.
Patriotism is the feeling of love and loyalty towards one’s country. A fair example of Patriotism will be supporting the national team in international sports. This involves no ill-will for people of another country whatsoever. Nationalism is loyalty to the nation, support for its interest, belief in its values and identity which often comes with the belief that it is better and more important than other countries. In other countries, nationalism is closely associated with one language, one culture even one ethnic group or one religion. That simply has not been the Indian story. In a country where the idea of nationalism was perfected when all the communities came together with the sense, the expectation and the confidence that they would create their own Nation. Gandhi defined Swaraj as a bed with four sturdy bed-posts. The four posts that held up Swaraj were non-violence, Hindu-Muslim harmony, the abolition of untouchability and economic self-reliance, the values which were later enshrined in our constitution. Disunity of the country would mean the dissolution of the constitution. Unchecked Nationalism in a diverse country as ours has more often than not led to majoritarianism, rise of superiority among the members of a group, mobocracy and civil strife. Extreme nationalism has led to some worse massacres of the world. It is a historical fact that fanatical nationalism led to the holocaust.
In an online essay from Mt. Holyoke College, it is written:
“In a state of ubiquitous anxiety, the once disjointed Germans unified under government that provided comfort and security, a new state that will take control and help Germany become a rising hegemonic power. This newfound nationalism was built around a common enemy: the Jewish people. The people were blinded by these newly instilled nationalist beliefs, coerced by their superiors to believe that the Nazi way was the right way. The government was telling the people to represent and preserve National interest first and foremost. Simultaneously, the people were told that the Jewish citizens were threatening their national security. Some perpetrators knew exactly what evil they were doing during the Holocaust; on the other hand, other individuals were just Nationalistic pawns of the Nazi party that were so programmed to operate for the state and it’s interests. the Holocaust happened in large part because an overpowering government took advantage of a weak people who just wanted to be provided with direction during the time of disparity. The people followed their government wholeheartedly because their faith in their previous government, where they had lost their possessions and valuables, had been compromised.”
This is the kind of extreme and blinded nationalism which is called jingoism. Jingoism is Nationalism in the form of aggressive foreign policy in efforts to safeguard what it perceives as its National interests reinforced by the idea of self-supremacy. The greatest tragedy of India today is that jingoism hasn’t only manifested in it’s foreign policies, it has extensively affected it’s minorities – the Christian, Muslim and Dalit communities. Jingoism motivated by hate thrives on the exploitation of the major community by creating fear of a non-existent enemy as a threat to their religion and culture and the threat National Security.
Charles De Gaulle, the French statesman and former President of France, who led the French resistance against the Nazi Germany, said, `Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first, nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first.ʼ
Considering the political background of our country, we need to comprehend the policies being passed and ask ourselves, `Are they really serving the national interests? Are they pro-people? Are they pro-development?ʼ
As much for unemployment and the people, corporate friendly policies are being passed, lower lending rates are being fixed, better labour laws for the benefit of the industrialists and modernization through automation at the cost of rising unemployment. After the privatisation of six major airports, the central government has decided to privatise 22-25 airports in the next phase.
Apart from that public sector giants like BSNL, HAL, ONGC, Air India etc, 14 out of 19 PSU banks are running in loss. Talk of privatization of PSU is doing the rounds including the Indian Railways which has largest number of employees.
India’s unemployment rate rose to a 45-year high during 2017-2018.
Privatization is not only taking us towards capitalism, it is taking us there at the expense of unemployment, inflation and monopolistic operation. In the education sector, the regime has continuously pursued the policies of commercialization, centralization and communalization of education- as per the Hindutva agenda. In the Healthcare sector, the government spends less than 2% of the GDP while the doctor patient ratio is as high as 1:11000.
Is it time to ask ourselves who the real beneficiaries of nationalism are?