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'Modi's India' isn't 'flirting' with fascism
Business Standard
Bhaswar Kumar
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) national general secretary Ram Madhav was introduced to the proverbial “freight train” when he went ‘head to head’ with Mehdi Hasan at the Oxford Union; and despite his best efforts, he got run over. The audience, for their part, were introduced by way of the question posed by the show’s title to the much-thrashed-out idea that perhaps “Modi’s India” was flirting with fascism.
Most of Madhav’s arguments — harmony between the minority and majority communities being the primary guarantor of safety for the former, instead of the rule of law enforced by the government and accusing participants of the ‘awards wapasi’ campaign of “defaming India” — were puerile, albeit expected. Hasan, in his characteristic style, cooked Madhav’s goose with facts, figures and an unrelenting insistence on getting a straight answer. However, there is little by way of facts on the ground to justify the title of the interview.
The aforementioned question can be answered with a plain ‘no’. “Modi’s India” is not flirting with fascism, not even making eyes at it. Is there an uptick in incidents of communal violence? There is a sizeable portion of the population that feels so, and another that doesn’t. Can the Modi government be accused of employing communally charged rhetoric? It most certainly can. But it has not set India down the path to fascism.
The recent winter session of Parliament can adequately back that answer up. Despite its dominance in the Lok Sabha, the government found its path blocked due to its weak presence in the Rajya Sabha. And, despite the rhetoric that emanated from both the ruling party and the Opposition, the two sides continued to talk on the most important agenda of the session — the passage of the goods & services tax (GST) Bill.
Even after the National Herald issue exploded in Parliament, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu were busy holding meetings with Ghulam Nabi Azad, the leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, and Deputy Leader Anand Sharma, to sort out issues regarding the crucial Bill. The talks proved inconclusive but the engagement continued, even as the session was nearly a washout — if Jaitley’s recent remarks are anything to go by. “I am in continuous touch with them and I intend to continue that. It is part of my job to continue to persuade them,” said Jaitley while talking about the Bill on Monday.
Of course, the engagement with the Opposition, especially the Congress, had started even as the session began. On November 27, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had met Congress President Sonia Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh to find a middle-ground on the GST Bill.
These attempts at reaching a settlement through talks were not novel achievements, and neither side deserves much praise over the matter. In fact, this was simply democracy in operation.
Aspiring fascists, most will agree, are not known for their patience and are most definitely not known for sitting idly by even as their agenda is thwarted by the limitations imposed upon them by an existing democratic set-up. The idea of tolerating the existence of an Opposition, much less talking to one, would have made a Hitler or a Mussolini catatonic with rage.
Coming to the rhetoric, Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump’s wish to ban Muslims from entering the US or shutting down mosques did not suddenly raise the spectre of fascism taking over the country. He was severely criticised but he has not been disavowed as a presidential candidate by his party. This is not to say that Trump’s remarks somehow make the utterances of Adityanath, Akbaruddin Owaisi or Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar justifiable, especially when inflammable remarks can lead to or inspire real violence in India.
This is not to say that we should look at bigots around the world and declare that all is well in India by comparison. It most definitely does not mean that the prime minister can shy away from taking action against members of his party who spew vitriol. Hasan rightly grilled Madhav over the various inflammatory statements made by members of the ruling dispensation. However, it is a stretch to base the contention that we may be flirting with fascism on such remarks.
Hasan kept up the pressure on Madhav through most of the interview; that is, till the topic of India-Pakistan relations and Kashmir came up. As a democracy and a nation that believes in universal human rights, we cannot take umbrage to fielding difficult questions regarding Kashmir. However, badgering Madhav to provide a solution to the issue on the spot was unfair. It would have been equally unfair to pose such a question to Nawaz Sharif or Narendra Modi. The very reason both countries have decided to go forward with dialogue, despite the existing tensions, is that the issue is very complex and unlikely to be solved in a hurry. We in India hold a particular position on the issue, and rightly so. The Pakistanis hold another. A solution is unlikely to emerge over an interview with Mehdi Hasan.
Where Hasan succeeded was in putting Madhav in an uncomfortable position over the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s ideology. Madhav’s reiteration of the idea of “Akhand Bharat” led even BJP to distance itself from the remark. However, Hasan seems to have ignored that even as he was conducting the interview on December 7, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj was preparing for her visit to Pakistan. Hasan also ignored the fact that the national security advisors (NSAs) of India and Pakistan had met in Bangkok a day before the interview. The joint statement after the Bangkok meeting was: “Pursuant to the meeting of the prime ministers of India and Pakistan in Paris, the NSAs, accompanied by the foreign secretaries, met in Bangkok on Sunday.” The statement also revealed that everything from Kashmir to cross-border firing was discussed. Of course, by the time the interview was aired, Modi had stunned supporters and critics alike, executing a foreign policy coup by paying a surprise visit to Nawaz Sharif in Lahore on the latter’s birthday.
To his credit, Madhav did not let the smile on his face slip throughout the interview. Besides, Madhav has clarified his statement on “Akhand Bharat” and categorically stated that his “ideological position” should not be misconstrued as a “political programme” of the government.
There are many things that the current government, much like all governments in the past, can be rightly called out on. But let us not reduce it to the argument that if a democracy is not perfect, it is sliding towards fascism.
Link: 'Modi's India' isn't 'flirting' with fascism | Business Standard On The Beat
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Business Standard
Bhaswar Kumar
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) national general secretary Ram Madhav was introduced to the proverbial “freight train” when he went ‘head to head’ with Mehdi Hasan at the Oxford Union; and despite his best efforts, he got run over. The audience, for their part, were introduced by way of the question posed by the show’s title to the much-thrashed-out idea that perhaps “Modi’s India” was flirting with fascism.
Most of Madhav’s arguments — harmony between the minority and majority communities being the primary guarantor of safety for the former, instead of the rule of law enforced by the government and accusing participants of the ‘awards wapasi’ campaign of “defaming India” — were puerile, albeit expected. Hasan, in his characteristic style, cooked Madhav’s goose with facts, figures and an unrelenting insistence on getting a straight answer. However, there is little by way of facts on the ground to justify the title of the interview.
The aforementioned question can be answered with a plain ‘no’. “Modi’s India” is not flirting with fascism, not even making eyes at it. Is there an uptick in incidents of communal violence? There is a sizeable portion of the population that feels so, and another that doesn’t. Can the Modi government be accused of employing communally charged rhetoric? It most certainly can. But it has not set India down the path to fascism.
The recent winter session of Parliament can adequately back that answer up. Despite its dominance in the Lok Sabha, the government found its path blocked due to its weak presence in the Rajya Sabha. And, despite the rhetoric that emanated from both the ruling party and the Opposition, the two sides continued to talk on the most important agenda of the session — the passage of the goods & services tax (GST) Bill.
Even after the National Herald issue exploded in Parliament, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu were busy holding meetings with Ghulam Nabi Azad, the leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, and Deputy Leader Anand Sharma, to sort out issues regarding the crucial Bill. The talks proved inconclusive but the engagement continued, even as the session was nearly a washout — if Jaitley’s recent remarks are anything to go by. “I am in continuous touch with them and I intend to continue that. It is part of my job to continue to persuade them,” said Jaitley while talking about the Bill on Monday.
Of course, the engagement with the Opposition, especially the Congress, had started even as the session began. On November 27, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had met Congress President Sonia Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh to find a middle-ground on the GST Bill.
These attempts at reaching a settlement through talks were not novel achievements, and neither side deserves much praise over the matter. In fact, this was simply democracy in operation.
Aspiring fascists, most will agree, are not known for their patience and are most definitely not known for sitting idly by even as their agenda is thwarted by the limitations imposed upon them by an existing democratic set-up. The idea of tolerating the existence of an Opposition, much less talking to one, would have made a Hitler or a Mussolini catatonic with rage.
Coming to the rhetoric, Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump’s wish to ban Muslims from entering the US or shutting down mosques did not suddenly raise the spectre of fascism taking over the country. He was severely criticised but he has not been disavowed as a presidential candidate by his party. This is not to say that Trump’s remarks somehow make the utterances of Adityanath, Akbaruddin Owaisi or Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar justifiable, especially when inflammable remarks can lead to or inspire real violence in India.
This is not to say that we should look at bigots around the world and declare that all is well in India by comparison. It most definitely does not mean that the prime minister can shy away from taking action against members of his party who spew vitriol. Hasan rightly grilled Madhav over the various inflammatory statements made by members of the ruling dispensation. However, it is a stretch to base the contention that we may be flirting with fascism on such remarks.
Hasan kept up the pressure on Madhav through most of the interview; that is, till the topic of India-Pakistan relations and Kashmir came up. As a democracy and a nation that believes in universal human rights, we cannot take umbrage to fielding difficult questions regarding Kashmir. However, badgering Madhav to provide a solution to the issue on the spot was unfair. It would have been equally unfair to pose such a question to Nawaz Sharif or Narendra Modi. The very reason both countries have decided to go forward with dialogue, despite the existing tensions, is that the issue is very complex and unlikely to be solved in a hurry. We in India hold a particular position on the issue, and rightly so. The Pakistanis hold another. A solution is unlikely to emerge over an interview with Mehdi Hasan.
Where Hasan succeeded was in putting Madhav in an uncomfortable position over the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s ideology. Madhav’s reiteration of the idea of “Akhand Bharat” led even BJP to distance itself from the remark. However, Hasan seems to have ignored that even as he was conducting the interview on December 7, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj was preparing for her visit to Pakistan. Hasan also ignored the fact that the national security advisors (NSAs) of India and Pakistan had met in Bangkok a day before the interview. The joint statement after the Bangkok meeting was: “Pursuant to the meeting of the prime ministers of India and Pakistan in Paris, the NSAs, accompanied by the foreign secretaries, met in Bangkok on Sunday.” The statement also revealed that everything from Kashmir to cross-border firing was discussed. Of course, by the time the interview was aired, Modi had stunned supporters and critics alike, executing a foreign policy coup by paying a surprise visit to Nawaz Sharif in Lahore on the latter’s birthday.
To his credit, Madhav did not let the smile on his face slip throughout the interview. Besides, Madhav has clarified his statement on “Akhand Bharat” and categorically stated that his “ideological position” should not be misconstrued as a “political programme” of the government.
There are many things that the current government, much like all governments in the past, can be rightly called out on. But let us not reduce it to the argument that if a democracy is not perfect, it is sliding towards fascism.
Link: 'Modi's India' isn't 'flirting' with fascism | Business Standard On The Beat
@Abingdonboy @SamantK @Bang Galore @SarthakGanguly @Hyperion @jaibi @Abingdonboy @acetophenol @Ayush @Capt.Popeye @Joe Shearer @ExtraOdinary @hinduguy @kbd-raaf @nair @kurup @Oscar @Roybot @ranjeet @Secur @Skull and Bones @The Deterrent @Armstrong @arp2041 @Anubis @Ayush @BDforever @ZYXW