Public Comment

Using the Trump playbook, “how to be demolish constraints of a democracy,” Prime Minister Modi and his supporters aided by the ultra-right wing Rashtriya_Swayamsevak_Sangh) paramilitary party (RSS), has struck terror in the hearts of Indians yearning for a return to its secular roots. Younger Indians may not be aware of the tragic reign of Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi who manufactured a false “emergency” to neutralize her political enemies, culminating in the attack on the Golden Temple. Tens of thousands of Sikhs were killed in the aftermath of her assassination. Lord Indarjit Singh of London spoke passionately and wrote eloquently (for the BBC and Sikh Messenger) critical of Gandhi’s polices and accused the British of collusion with the Indian Government who were more anxious maintaining trade relations, than raising their voices in support of basic human rights. Repeated demands to the British government by Lord Singh to publicly acknowledge its dark role in the attack on the Golden Temple in 1984 has been ignored. President Trump, following the “British trade model” has sold $billions of US weapons to the most despotic regimes in the world (Saudi Arabia, UAE, , ) unconcerned by the appalling civilian casualties caused by massive bombing in neighboring Yemen.  

Fast forward to the present day, we are now witnessing troubling signs of India’s rapid descent into an autocracy. The government has seized on the pandemic to acquire new “emergency” powers. 

Prime Minister Modi often responds with explosive anger when courageous journalists criticize his harsh polices. Amnesty International, the world-wide human rights organization announced its unprecedented decision to shut down its Indian operations. In my many decades working for AI, I have never encountered such a fierce backlash from a country claiming to be a democracy. The government has even gone as far as charging peaceful demonstrators with sedition with no supporting evidence. Sedition is an overused catch phrase that is used by autocrats to silence dissent. Even the Trump administration flirted with charging pro-democracy activists with sedition but dropped the strategy following howls of protests. 

Amartya Sen, winner of the Nobel Peace, warned that massive silent demonstrations are the only remedy to cripple autocratic tendencies. The people of Belarus are a shining example of democracy in action taking to the streets demanding the removal of President Aleksandra Lukashenko following a massive fraudulent election. 

Under the BJP government India has made disturbing efforts to mold India into a Hindustan even going so far as rewriting history to glorify a Hindu raj while ignoring the insidious cruel caste system where “untouchables” and other low caste Hindus are condemned to a life of appalling discrimination. Not a single Indian leader has demanded an end to the “winners and losers” lottery system of life. Cases of rape and murder of Dalits (low-caste) by Hindus have been shockingly on the rise but frequently ignored or covered up the government. 

The government use of “sedition” charges harks back to similar actions taken by British colonial masters who arrested and imprisoned India’s champions of pro-independence, nonviolent leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Nehru udder “preventive detention” statutes.  

Under the Hindutva government now in office, preventive detention has acquired a far more sinister role , allowing easy arrests and imprisonment of opposition politicians, without trial. 

Under the provisions of this freshly minted law a state can unilaterally declare someone to be a terrorist, which allows the state to incarcerate them without trial. A number of human rights activists have been tossed into India’s dark dungeons under the new law. 

Critics of the government are often given the dreaded label “anti-national”, a draconian label which is meant to stifle and intimidate free expression.  

Remember Nobel Peace Prize winner, Nelson Mandela was described as a “terrorist” by apartheid South Africa. Israel has adopted similar measures to imprison Palestinian peace activists. 

The Indian authorities have been particularly harsh on the rights of Muslims, even going as far as denying them of their citizenship rights. 

The celebrated Hindu poet Rabindranath rejected religious fanaticism and “casteism” and described himself as confluence of three cultural streams, combining Hinduism Islam, and British culture. 

For more go to, http://callforsocialjustice.blogspot.com/