29

Mar

Democracy in India : “Rebuke”  All Right, But What About Respect

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Today’s Edition

New Delhi, 29 March 2024

Atul Cowshish

There is much rejoicing in the Modi government and among its millions of blind, frog-in-the-well followers over the strong riposte to the German and US governments over their comments on certain ‘internal matters’-- the state of democracy being practised in the country. If the government is indeed quite pleased over the manner it has ‘rebuked’ two powerful Western nations who are also India’s ‘friends’ it couldn’t be living in a more delusional world.   

Long before the Vishwaguru drum beaters took over, newly independent India with all its diversity commanded respect in the world for opting for undiluted democracy. The populous but poor country was often hailed as a beacon of freedom and tolerance in what was then known as the Third World, now called the Developing World.  Of course, democracy in India was never free of warts and all but nobody claimed that even the old and much-established democracies were perfect either.

***************In Nutshell***************

“The Modi government has received criticism from the US and German governments regarding the state of democracy in India. However, the Indian government has dismissed this criticism and has accused the US and Germany of interference in India's internal affairs. This response has been criticized by some as being dismissive of legitimate concerns regarding the health of India's democracy.

 Recently, there have been incidents of opposition leaders being arrested and the bank accounts of the Indian National Congress being frozen. These actions have been seen as attempts to stifle opposition and limit free and fair democratic procedures.

 The Modi government's response to this criticism has been aggressive and has done away with diplomatic courtesies. This has led to some countries, including the US, firing back with further criticism of the Indian government.

Despite this, the Modi government has been praised by its supporters for standing up to what they see as biased and ignorant criticism from foreign governments. However, it is important for India, as a country with a proud democratic tradition, to be tolerant of dissenting voices and respect the freedoms enshrined in the Constitution.”

 

 

The state-induced euphoria over Amritkaal or the golden period in the country has coincided with increasing scrutiny by the outside world of assaults on democracy inflicted without any sense of guilt by the present rulers. What is disconcerting is that powerful ‘friends’ in the world are at the forefront of the dissection of Indian democracy.

In recent days, Germany and the US in quick succession issued statements that pointed to ingressions of the Indian government in the functioning of free and fair conduct of democratic procedures—the arrest of Delhi chief minister and Aam Admi Party supremo, Arvind Kejriwal preceded by a host of other Opposition leaders, and stymieing of the functioning parties challenging the ruling BJP when general elections are round the corner. In an unprecedented move, the bank accounts of the principal Opposition party, the Indian National Congress, were frozen.

The response of the government to the criticism by ‘friends’ has been prompt and aggressive, doing away with diplomatic courtesies. It suggests that it is unable to control its anger which may have been compounded with the realization that the world has not approved the attempts to make India a nation of one party, one ideology and one leader.

But if the government wanted to impress its domestic followers with a display of unusual chutzpah, it was further embarrassed by the most powerful ‘friend’, the United States of America, which fired a second volley of criticism at the government literally hours after the external affairs ministry had summoned the deputy chief at the US embassy for a dressing down at the South Block.

The issues that have riled the influential and important Western friends of India are about allowing space for expressing contrary views which has been constricted considerably by ‘terrorizing’ Opposition leaders with the help of certain central agencies, and arbitrary incarceration of critics, many for long periods without any trial.

The government has taken a broad sweep in describing the criticism of its actions against the Opposition: It is based on ‘ignorance’ and amounts to ‘interference’ in the internal affairs of the country and is disrespectful of the judiciary and ‘autonomous’ institutions in India which work freely.

Arguments like these and those similar to it are invariably used by the government to rebut whenever it is under attack from its critics—from any quarter, except that Indian critics are also likely to be branded ‘anti-national’, ‘Naxalites’ and whatnot.

But the hollowness of the government’s defence is exposed by its acts—and sometimes by the higher judiciary. It stresses credulity to believe that corruption is confined to the Opposition camp and the moment an allegedly corrupt politician/official joins the ruling party, he or he becomes squeaky clean. But this is what has been happening almost from the day the present government came to power.  The ruling party can do no wrong!

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on record as having said that he ‘welcomes’ criticism because democracy is not complete without it. But he qualifies by adding that he wants ‘criticism’ to be ‘constructive’—a euphemism for praise. Where is the room for evaluation of government policies and programmes by those who do not subscribe to his beliefs? Will not the outside world comment on this when India has been among the plethora of nations that commented on the ‘internal’ affairs of other countries? Genocide, glaring discrimination, summary executions of innocent civilians, jailing of Opposition leaders and even ‘trade barriers’ in one country or the other are regularly criticized by the rest of the world.

It is disappointing and even disheartening to note that the government is ready to cross swords with the world, including ‘friends’ who are ‘biased’ and ‘ignorant’, but has no stomach to seriously ponder over the criticism from these friends who are certainly not working for a regime change in India.

If anything, India’s ties with the ‘friendly’ countries remain largely unaffected; even the large Muslim world seems to have decided not to raise the pitch of its protests too high in the face of the anti-Muslim bias of the Modi government. It is a clear indication that trade and other transactions drive relations between nations. Still, a country that takes pride in its ancient civilization and calls itself the ‘mother of democracy’ has to be tolerant of dissenting voices and respect the freedoms enshrined in the Constitution.

It may not exactly be soothing to our ego,  but some ‘friends’ seem to have taken upon themselves the task of reminding India that it should not do anything to knock itself off the high pedestal that it had occupied for decades after throwing away the colonial yolk in a unique peaceful manner that brooked no discrimination. (Words 950)

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