THE PORTENTS OF A FASCIST TYPE RULE.

THE PORTENTS OF A FASCIST TYPE RULE.

(Publish in 'CLASS STRUGGLE' -Magazine of CPI(ML).

For the past 22 months India in the rule of NDA government under the leadership of Narendra Modi is being pushed backwards. The ruling party-BJP-and its government have been systematically threatening the entire populace in to accepting the view of the communal forces in every issue. They are not allowing any dissent, and even not allowing to question the basic presumption of the ruling government.

Particularly for the past 3 months such a threatening situation is created in our country by the ruling party as well its fellow communal out-fits. Various incidents occurred in this period indicate the dangerous portents of the B.J.P. rule.

The NDA government is playing diversionary tactics in order to cover up its many failures and divert the attention of people from basic issues like unemployment, ever-growing poverty, uncontrolled price rises, ever increasing assaults and atrocities against women, agrarian crises, displacement of adivasis from their natural abode, ever increasing police brutalities etc. By promoting ‘nationalism’ of its own variety, BJP is acting as if patriotism is its monopoly and is attempting to forcibly “instill nationalism” among the students as well among the youth and populace.

Even the state governments are resorting to violence as well to bring-out various draconian laws to oppress and suppress people under various flimsy pretexts.

Recently the Rajasthan state government had cracked down an intended peaceful ‘Jawabdehi Yatra’, to be conducted under the banner of the Soochana Evam Rozgar ka AdhikarAbhiyan, for 100 days of work programme to cover T blocks across the state’s districts to listen to people’s grievances and spread awareness through street-corner meetings. This yatra was flagged of by social activist Aruna Roy. A mob led by B.J.P. legislator Kanwar Lal Meena attacked the members of organisations like Mazdur Kisan Shakti Sanghatan (MKSS) at Aklesa in Jhalwar district. This shows how the ruling party is intolerable towards civil society activists. This cannot be seen as an isolated incident. Even the central government has been hounding Greenpeace India -an NGO - which is unpalatable to the ruling BJP leaders, and is seeking to cancel its registration. In fact the NGO Greenpeace is not raising any fundamental questions against the system and establishment.

The Gujarat state government is making persistent efforts to get the draconian ‘Gujarat control of Terrorism and Organised Crime Bill- 2015’, which has provisions such as “making confession to a police officer of the rank of S.P. of police admissible in court, and allowing 180 days instead of 90 days for filing of a charge-sheet”. This bill was first moved by Narendra Modi in 2003 when he was the C.M. of Gujarat. Three times this bill was refused to be cleared in the UPA regime. But again in March 2015 the assembly passed the bill and sent it afresh to the center for presidential assent. Thus through this GCTOC, the Gujarat state moots to do away any nominal legal available protection from the abuse of the powers by state.

Recently the instance of police high-handedness was brought to light when a Tirunalveli Court directed district police to charge 12 personnel including seniors with murder, who staged a fake encounter last year shooting a rowdy dead. This shows how the state violence is legally practiced in our country with the backing of the ruling-classes.

Despite the above incident of court-indictment and question against the state violence, the BJP government in center and the Gujarat state government and the brutal and inhuman higher police officers who were castigated and punished by the Supreme Court in Ishrat Jhahan’s fake encounter case, are making every effort in their power to justify the fake encounter killing of Ishrat Jhahan, by arguing that she was a LeT terrorist, by basing on the Pakistani-American double agent David Headly, who is an approve granted with many immunities for not punishing him- to give a dubious deposition that Ishrat was a LeT operative. The Gujarat state government shamelessly announces that its stand on encounter deaths is vindicated. The honchos of Sang Parivar ideology are persistently preaching that an accused to be a terrorist can be killed without the necessity of any legal formalities or processes. Whoever question this perverse logic are being branded as anti-nationals and seditious.

Again we witness another brutal method of the state violence adopted in Chattisgarh state. The state government Chattisgarh seems to have allowed to clamp down on free-speech and dissent in the state. A leader of Adivasi movement Sonisori and leader of Aam Admi party, who sought to hold the state administration accountable for the killing of Adivasis in fake encounters, arbitrary arrests, sexual torture and assault of Adivasi women by the police and security forces and planned to highlight these issues through a 200 km march from Bijapur set to end in Jagadalpur on international women’s day, March 8, was attacked by motor cycle borne assailants who threw acid like substance on her and injured. In the first week of February(2016) Malini Subramanyam, a journalist associated with Jagadal Legal aid group, a group working with Adivasis was forced out of state by the police. In fact Ms. Sori was previously too was tortured and sexually assaulted by the Chattisgarh police while in their custody in October 2011 and Ms. Sori had been trying to lodge an F.I.R against I.G.P of Bastar,S.R. Kalluri for intimidating her. Now this present attack, which speaks volumes about the unbridled police (state) violence in that state.

In January, at the annual police conference, the Delhi Police Commissioner B.S.Bassi said that if permitted by the constitution of India, the Delhi police wood shoot or hang perpetrators of heinous crimes against women “on the spot”; revealing the dangerous line of the thought of police higher-ups. Thus the police ardently believe that they themselves are to be empowered to deliver justice without restraint. The police refuse to accept the concept of “innocent till proven guilty” but insist to accept the concept “guilty till proven innocent”. These comments of Bassi show, how the very police the supposed upholders of justice lack any belief in the very system itself.

The instance of arresting and implicating the students of JNU in to ‘sedition’ cases is again a pointer how the B.J.P. rulers and their state has prepared to be heinous in opposing and suppressing those who differ with their perverse views, opinions and notions.

The incident of the attack by pro B.J.P. lawyers and goondas, on the arrested leader of JNU Kanhaya Kumar, students, J.N.U. professors and journalists in the very premises of Patiala court where the J.N.U. case has be heard, reveals to what dangerous proportions, the B.J.P and its government’s tyrannical tendencies have grown.

Besides the above instances of the state, some other incidents appear to be having no connection with the state too are note-worthy in the present threatening situation.

On Jan-1, when the Njathuvela cultural forum against fascism, has planned a protest “kiss on the streets” as a sequel to its campaigns against “Brahminical Hegemony and caste system”, as soon as the protesters arrived to the venue, in Kozhikode of Kerala the workers of Hanuman Sena surrounded and attacked the protesters. The police lathicharged and arrested 31 people including the victims of the attack. Even a journalist of Thejas daily, who attempted to save a physically challenged man who was roughed up by the police was arrested and taken to police station where he was brutally beaten by the police.

On Jan-2, Marathi author Shripalsabnis lodged a complaint with police that he received death threats, for his remarks that “Narendra Modi would forever be smeared with the taint of 2002 Gujarat riots”.

On valentine day, Bajarangdal activists held “protests” demanding “Ban Valentine day” in many cities of the country.

Dr. Subramanya Swamy, on behalf of V.H.P has again raised the controversial issue of “construction of Ram temple on the site of Babri Masjid” at various forums from January on wards even going to the extent of filing a fresh petition in Supreme Court for building Ram temple. Thus he is actively razing hatred against Muslim community, as a part of the activities of V.H.P. and thus doing the possible damage in the minds of people.

The VHP announced that it would celebrate ‘Ramotsav’ in April in one lakh villages across India where the participants will be made to take a pledge to construct a Ram temple at Ayodhya.

The VHP in recent months made attempts to raise the temple pitch.

On March. 6, 15-20 youths sporting saffron bands on their foreheads, on motor cycles in Kanchna village on the outskirts of Chattisgarh’s capital, with cries of Jai Shriram they vandalized the church, and attacked men and women and thrashed them. These attackers are Bhajarang dal activists, and the victims are a group of people from down-trodden families in the village who set up the church under a tin shed, to pray on Sundays.

This is how the ruling BJP strategically using these mobs of ‘fringe elements’ to run riot and threaten its opponents in to silence, besides using “nationalism” as an alibi to suspend the rule of law.

While the above incidents and trends themselves are of a grave nature, the Prime Minister Modi himself had advanced a theory of conspiracy against his government and that attempts are being made to destabilize his government. Modi, the leader of BJP government who has an absolute majority to his party in parliament has chosen to make such unsubstantiated allegations without even an iota of evidence. Probably to garner electoral gains in the oncoming state elections.

However such allegations find parallel in the history of India. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi voiced the same conspiratorial theory in 1970s, when she was fast loosing political ground. She also portrayed the opposition as nation’s traitors. Several black laws like MISA, PD act were used to silence dissent and finally internal emergency was promulgated.

Now the very same story with a campaign of all voices opposed to ruling party are being dubbed anti national opposition is termed seditious.

After coming to power in 1933, in the general elections, the Nazi party of Adolph Hitler, made the same false accusations of conspiracy to destabilize the government and razing racist hatred against Jews and with the very slogan of ‘Nationalism’ has established its fascist rule.

Now in India, we see the very same arguments, claims, allegations of conspiracy to destabilize defame the government, and the very same pogroms conducted against Muslims and dalits making it very clear that NDA government is on the way nearer to establish its fascist type of rule in a near future!

Last year, when India marked the 40th anniversary of the imposition of emergency, L.K.Advani, the staunch R.S.S.man and its ideologue stated that he did not rule out the possibility of similar situation in future. Whatever might be his reasons for such an assumption, but to day though emergency is not legally imposed, the same situation of emergency is existing in practice.

This is how the present day situation portends the imminence of the danger of a fascist type of rule. The democrats and the real patriots of our country shall prepare unitedly to face and resist such imminence of the danger of fascist type of rule, resolutely.

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