A sinister pattern underway
The ruling party is doing its best to establish that being critical of its government is tantamount to being anti-national. It is not just the inconvenient person or collective being intimidated; the Constitution is under attack.
“In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act”
— George Orwell
The controlled voice of Ravish Kumar on a blackened screen and his stark
report on NDTV India on February 19 made for a powerful statement. It
brought back memories of June 28, 1975, 41 years ago, when The Indian Express published
a blank editorial, making its point stronger than words could have. The
two statements are distanced in time and differ in context. But the
similarities stare us in the face — both are strong symbolic protests
against the assault on the principles of the Indian Constitution.
Attacking the inconvenient
No party can afford to express its lack of faith in the Constitution — not even the Hindutva-vadi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The art of doublespeak is a prerequisite of arbitrary power, and the BJP is using it in full measure. The pretentious statements made by the BJP on November 26, 2015 (Constitution Day) extolling the virtues of the Constitution ring hollow when measured against the acts of the party and its cadres on the ground. Issues such as “beef-eating”, “love jihad”, “ghar vapsi” are ratcheted up to a high emotional pitch, as a means to circumscribe cultural spaces, linking these issues to ‘patriotism’. Unruly elements unleash violence, and the ruling party ensures impunity for the perpetrators. This collaboration between the government and the ruling party’s cadres is clearly visible today from Delhi to rural Rajasthan, where the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) works.
No party can afford to express its lack of faith in the Constitution — not even the Hindutva-vadi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The art of doublespeak is a prerequisite of arbitrary power, and the BJP is using it in full measure. The pretentious statements made by the BJP on November 26, 2015 (Constitution Day) extolling the virtues of the Constitution ring hollow when measured against the acts of the party and its cadres on the ground. Issues such as “beef-eating”, “love jihad”, “ghar vapsi” are ratcheted up to a high emotional pitch, as a means to circumscribe cultural spaces, linking these issues to ‘patriotism’. Unruly elements unleash violence, and the ruling party ensures impunity for the perpetrators. This collaboration between the government and the ruling party’s cadres is clearly visible today from Delhi to rural Rajasthan, where the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) works.
Everything is projected through the lens of a narrow Hindutva definition
of nationalism, leaving no room for tolerance and pluralism.
Questioning the death penalty is attacked as anti-national; studying in
Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is anti-national; being a human rights
worker in Chhattisgarh is anti-national; the ‘right to report’ is
anti-national; and asking for transparency and accountability is
anti-national. The propagators of this nationalism see the Constitution
as an uncomfortable impediment that must be challenged by undermining
its institutions and targeting its defenders. This deliberate
orchestration must help us understand that it is not just the
inconvenient (‘sickular’) person or collective being intimidated; the
Constitution is under sinister attack and our secular democracy is at
stake.
Hatred in the hinterland
It is sometimes hard to understand where the attack will originate from — and why. On January 16, a yatra for accountability organised by the Suchna Evum Rozgar Ka Adhikar Abhiyan — a network of social sector organisations travelling across Rajasthan — was unexpectedly and inexplicably attacked by a violent mob in the small town of Aklera. The 30-odd members of the mob who beat men and women taking part in the yatra with lathis and bricks were led by Kanwar Lal Meena, the current BJP MLA of Manohar Thana (Jhalawar district). The yatra focussed on access to development and dignity for poor and marginalised communities. It is difficult to understand or explain why an accountability yatra of this nature should provoke such an attack.
It is sometimes hard to understand where the attack will originate from — and why. On January 16, a yatra for accountability organised by the Suchna Evum Rozgar Ka Adhikar Abhiyan — a network of social sector organisations travelling across Rajasthan — was unexpectedly and inexplicably attacked by a violent mob in the small town of Aklera. The 30-odd members of the mob who beat men and women taking part in the yatra with lathis and bricks were led by Kanwar Lal Meena, the current BJP MLA of Manohar Thana (Jhalawar district). The yatra focussed on access to development and dignity for poor and marginalised communities. It is difficult to understand or explain why an accountability yatra of this nature should provoke such an attack.
It is becoming increasingly clear that anyone who dares to raise issues
of freedom, justice and equality is seen as a threat. For the BJP, it
appears as if democracy is becoming a problem, and the Constitution is
ideologically inconvenient. In Hyderabad, Rohith Vemula strongly linked
issues of caste with democracy through the Ambedkar Students Union. In
New Delhi, Kanhaiya Kumar raised issues of class and poverty
through the All India Students’ Federation. If you happen to be from a
background that explodes the myth of social harmony and economic
opportunity, your existence is inconvenient. The demand for dignity as
established by the guarantees in the Constitution is deemed
anti-government. Through contrived and planned campaigns, the BJP is
doing its best to establish that being critical of its government is
tantamount to being anti-national.
Aklera is accustomed to witnessing ‘engineered riots’ (pre-planned
assaults unleashed on vulnerable minority communities). A cell-phone
recording of the January 16 attack documents a local bystander
explaining the attack to another by saying “they must be Muslims from
outside”! The criminal record of the MLA who led the attack — accessed
through RTIs filed — reveals more than 18 cases registered against him,
including leading mobs into mosques, people’s homes, smashing property,
forging documents and desecrating religious texts of the minorities. He
has even been charged with holding a loaded pistol to the Sub-Divisional
Magistrate’s head in 2006 while demanding the reversal of an election
result. The MLA’s party membership and Hindutva politics explains his
impunity. Manohar Thana is located in the Chief Minister’s home
district, and her silence raises many questions.
Painted iron signboards in Manohar Thana similar to those found in the
Narendra Modi-ruled Gujarat of 2002 proclaim: “Hindu Rashtra mein aapka swagat hai (Welcome
to the Hindu nation)”. The first and obvious target is religious
minorities, but Hindutva’s real objective is to destroy any opposition.
Reclaiming the Constitution
The dream of India was born with the clearly articulated concept of freedom — of speech, worship, assembly, and freedom from discrimination, want, inequality, and injustice. The modus operandi of using everything including state power to crush and intimidate any action that may arise from a different world view is the death knell of democracy. Before another hollow celebration of Constitution Day this year, the ruling party must be held to account for the unjustified acts of its cadres supported by the state —in the University of Hyderabad, in JNU, in the Patiala House courts, in Jagdalpur, in Aklera, and in places across the country. Nationhood in India is inextricably connected to the uncompromising commitment of the state to secularism and its constitutional principles. When these orchestrated acts of violence and intimidation are implicitly supported by a partisan state, the very fabric of the nation is undermined.
The dream of India was born with the clearly articulated concept of freedom — of speech, worship, assembly, and freedom from discrimination, want, inequality, and injustice. The modus operandi of using everything including state power to crush and intimidate any action that may arise from a different world view is the death knell of democracy. Before another hollow celebration of Constitution Day this year, the ruling party must be held to account for the unjustified acts of its cadres supported by the state —in the University of Hyderabad, in JNU, in the Patiala House courts, in Jagdalpur, in Aklera, and in places across the country. Nationhood in India is inextricably connected to the uncompromising commitment of the state to secularism and its constitutional principles. When these orchestrated acts of violence and intimidation are implicitly supported by a partisan state, the very fabric of the nation is undermined.
In Aklera, Mr. Meena destroyed the camera used to shoot the yatra.
However, videos shot on smartphones, now with the police, show him
leading a gang and thrashing prominent MKSS activist Shankar Singh with a
lathi. And yet the MLA has not been arrested. Even the BJP MLA from
Delhi, O.P. Sharma, and many of the lawyers who beat up journalists and others in Patiala House continue to enjoy the implicit support of the government.
The happenings in the Patiala House courts demonstrate that neither the
law nor proof, not even the Supreme Court matters when you have the
state on your side.
The responsibility vests in the government and the ruling party and they
are accountable for acts of omission and commission. As for the rest of
us, the time has come to understand that the freedom won so hard, and
with so much faith, is under threat unless we collectively protect our
constitutional rights. We need to understand that those who struggle in
order to establish constitutional principles of equality and justice are
the architects and builders of a free, strong, and democratic India.
(Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey are social activists and founder members of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan in Rajasthan.)