By D Raja
More than seven decades back, Dr Ambedkar had warned that “on the 26th of January, 1950, we are going to enter into a life of contradictions. In politics we will have equality and in social and economic life we will have inequality.”
In our times too, we continue to face these contradictions, and at a higher scale. The very concept of equality is under attack, politically, socially and economically. One of the biggest banes of BJP government headed by Modi is its promotion of an unequal political, social and economic order dictated by the RSS. It is making country suffer greatly. Inequality is explicit everywhere. There is discrimination against minorities, ever-increasing rigidities of caste, in growing misogyny and in the unprecedented concentration of wealth with a few.
The solution to this is the unity of secular-democratic forces to strike at the root of growing inequality, the monolithic communal cronyism of the RSS-BJP. To resist and defeat the assault on our secular democratic fabric, the history demands the secular democratic forces to unite in order to save India and change India.
The newly formed Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, acronymed INDIA, has become a topic of intense discussion and debate. On one hand, the emergence of INDIA has given the secular, democratic and progressive sections of our people a viable alternative to the hateful, divisive and crony capitalist rule of the RSS- BJP.
On the other hand, rattled from the unity of secular democratic forces being cemented, the right-wing RSS controlled ecosystem is going out of its way to speak foul about the unity of the forces that have united to safeguard the very idea of our secular-democratic Republic. Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the charge by comparing the alliance with the East India Company. He was deliberately oblivious to the history of patriotic and left forces chasing the East India Company and its offspring the British Raj from the country. His acts of omission are necessary since he and everyone else know who was serving the British loyally when the country was fighting for liberation from colonial rule.
In last nine years since BJP came to power, the country has been witnessingmis-governance all over and at an unprecedented level. Sector after sector of our economy is challenged through dictato rial whims like demonetization leading to a situation of complete disarray. The informal sector of the economy was greatly harmed through a hurried and anti-federal GST. Mismanagement of economy led to the crisis of unemployment and the mishandling of the Covid-19 crisis turned it into a catastrophe. Inequality has gone up under Modi as he showered benefits over corporates. The much needed social sector of our economy became the victim of such acts.
India’s fall on all social and developmental indices is a consistent feature of the BJP-RSS rule and has been detrimental to the most-vulnerable sections of our society. It is not an accident that the wealth of the richest increased manifold in the last nine years, it is by design. BJP’s model of crony capitalism dictates snatching everything from the poor and inundating the corporates with benefits. Education, health and employment have gone out of the reach of common people and from all sections of the society, they have come out protesting.
Further, the Modi government oversaw rampant erosion of the values enshrined in our Constitution. BJP’s lust for power has dissected Indian society and has created deep divisions among the people of our country. RSS-BJP is holding back the progress of our country by dividing people on the basis of religion, caste, language and region. They learnt the divisive game of ‘divide and rule’ from their British masters and are now trying to rule by using the same tactic.
Disastrous results of this dirty design are visible all over the country, most recently in the burning of the entire state of Manipur, on which the otherwise vocal Prime Minister kept mum for months. Voices critical of the government are being forcefully silenced using draconian laws and there is a general decline in democratic values and norms, inculcated by our freedom movement and our Constitution. Survival of democracy in our country has become the most critical question before us and the debate around the formation of INDIA should be placed in this context.
The need for a united opposition was felt since long against the ruthless stomping on our Constitutional values and also to uphold the ideas that unite our people. The CPI, in particular, was of the opinion that the BJP’s coming to power in the Union was not merely a change of government but a qualitative change that will strain the constitutional fabric of the country.
We have advocated for the unity of secular democratic patriotic forces to take on the BJP politically and ideologically.
The alternative to Hindutvacronyism can be offered from the Left of the political spectrum and the agenda of the united bloc should be radically different from the RSS-BJP to take the country forward. In the past also, BJP and its allies found it difficult to reach the majority when met with a formidable combination of united secular democratic forces.
Unity of secular democratic forces not only prevents the division of votes but such an alliance also counters the majoritarian agenda of the BJP by becoming the voice of all sections of society by providing an alternative agenda.
Constituents of such a bloc, it must be underlined here, must remain accommodative to each other to foster better understanding and enhanced mutual trust. The strong common resolve that has emerged at national level is to defeat BJP and to save the nation. The specifics need to be worked out at state level to ensure this. The Indian National Congress, being the largest pan Indian constituent of the bloc holds special responsibility in this regard.
To these ends, a meeting was held in Patna in June which was attended by leaders of 15 political parties where it was agreed upon to unite the opposition parties under one umbrella to uphold the Constitution, secularism and social justice by defeating the BJP. In the next meeting at Bangalore, quite a distance was covered as it was attended by 26 political parties. It was decided to name the united bloc as Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance that is INDIA.
The unity exercise making the BJP wary was evident when Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to call a meeting of the defunct National Democratic Alliance (NDA) the same day INDIA parties met at Bangalore. The party which was thumping ‘EkAkelaSab Par Bhaari’ had to join forces with no less than 37 political parties just by the emergence of unity among secular democratic forces. That itself shows the pivotal importance of unity and the cracks it creates in RSS-BJP’s Hindutvacronyism agenda.
The forces that have formed INDIA have the rich legacy of liberating the country from British colonialism. These forces have heralded the public sector and madeour country self-reliant. In the fight against social discrimination, linguistic chauvinism and anti-federal politics, the forces which are part of INDIA have played leading roles. These forces have the trust of the workers, farmers, students and youth of the country. In his desperation, the Prime Minister compared the alliance to the East India Company.
He must be reminded of elementary history of both the Left and patriotic forces and his own organization, the RSS. Patriotic forces sacrificed their blood, sweat and youth to liberate the country from British clutches. The steadfastly loyal RSS was pleasing their masters by opposing the freedom movement.
Leaders of our freedom movement envisaged a strong, inclusive and harmonious country. Justice —social, economic and political — was to be its foundation. The RSS stands opposite to this idea by promoting communal divides, caste hierarchies and gendered repression. It is to liberate the country from hatred and to usher in harmony, INDIA has arisen. It is to ensure Justice— social, economic and political that INDIA has united. Unitedly, we will triumph!(IPA Service)
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