As the Diaspora is celebrating 72nd Independence Day of
India, one of the questions that arise in minds across the globe is whose
independence and freedom is actually being celebrated on August 15, 2018?
Obviously, it is not the freedom of Akbar Khan, who was lynched by a mob in
Rajasthan on suspicion of cattle smuggling or Gauri Lankesh, a journalist who
was shot by a Hindutva fanatic who brazenly stated that “she was anti-Hindu and
had to be killed” or Rohit Vemula, a Dalit Scholar who was driven to commit
suicide because of the entrenched anti-Dalit mindsets and practices still
prevalent across the nation!
In the case of Akbar Khan, instead of immediately rushing him to the
hospital, the police appeared to have given priority in arranging the transportation
of the cattle to a cow shelter and thereby denying him timely medical care that
could have saved his life. It only appears to have given fodder to those who
believe that it is safer to be a cow in
After four years of BJP rule, lynching has become the national pastime, and
the mobocracy rules the day. The latest attack in Rajasthan came days after
‘The basis for democracy is
Despite these variances,
In this week, we may witness widespread celebrations of
The Cultural and Religious organizations that provide forums for these
events appear not to be concerned about the ever diminishing freedom of
In these days, Embassies and Consulates of India have been utilized as
propaganda machinery for the ruling party in
Indians have done well with the open electoral process in the
Many of the Desi civil rights organizations in this country that would make loud
protests, justifiably so, at the slightest discrimination or physical attack on
an Indian, but remain largely silent to any level of atrocities committed to
vulnerable groups in
Many liberal critics of the Modi regime sincerely believe that his
administration is run by a political dogma inspired by the RSS ideology. That
ideology is based on a common thread promoted by the Sangh Parivar
organizations and is called the ‘Hindu Nationalist agenda of BJP.’ The ultimate
goal of the agenda is to transform the pluralistic and democratic
The constitution framers created a democratic system wherein the legislature
would make laws, the executive would implement laws and be accountable to
parliament, and an independent judiciary would enforce and interpret the laws.
They also put in systems of checks and balances among these three organs of the
state. However, over the years, these three organs of the state have pushed the
boundaries of their relationship with one another. NDA has the majority in the
Lok Sabha where they pass ordinary bills and then pass it on to Rajya Sabha as
Money bills to circumvent their numerical impairment in that body. They also
have shown utter disregard to deliberate on essential bills bypassing various
parliamentary committees.
Agencies such as
Since the Narendra Modi government came to power, access to information
through the Right to Information (RTI) Act has diminished greatly, according to
the annual report of the Central Information Commission (CIC) for 2014-15.
“Every Indian deserves to know the truth, and the BJP wants to hide the truth.
The BJP believes the truth must be hidden from the people and they must not
question people in power. The changes proposed to the RTI will make it a
useless Act,” Rahul Gandhi said that recently on the Twitter.
Shiv Sena, a member of the NDA coalition has recently dubbed the election
commission as a ‘Tawaif’ (Mistress) of a political party. Coming from an ally,
it only amplifies the long-held suspicion by many that the election commission
has become a tool increasingly in the hands of the BJP government. “People are
losing faith in the voting system,” Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut told
ANI.
Freedom of Conscience is fundamental to all other freedoms. It is innate and
God-given. It is guaranteed under the Indian Constitution. However, it is open
season on those who freely exercise it. Professor M.M Kalburgi and Govind
Pansare were active in combating the organized mysticism and cultures of
gullibility widespread at the "popular" level. Their professed
independence and determined efforts to alert the common man from the hideous
agenda of the so-called religious godmen cost them their lives.
Media is dubbed as the fourth estate and has a vital role to play in a
vibrant democracy. However, they are increasingly fearful for their existence
if they do not toe the line of the Government. Many of these media outlets are
bought out by the crony capitalists and have become the cheerleaders of the BJP
agenda.
Academia has become another favorite target of the Modi Government. BJP and
its ilk have always hated Institutions like JNU where the free flow of ideas
flourished, and lively debates on the pros and cons of contemporary issues were
the order of the day. Today, the students and faculty in these revered
institutions are intimidated, harassed and called anti-national for failing to
toe their Hindutva agenda line and are often charged with sedition. Modi
Government has been openly hostile to civil society groups. It repeatedly
denounces human rights and environmental activism as “anti-national” – a phrase
that carries connotations of treason.
Religious freedom in
Christians who constitute around 2% of the population are also under severe
stress with many of their places of worship under attack, increased
re-conversion efforts by Hindu fundamentalist organizations, removal of Christmas
Day and Easter Day from the National Calendar and by the cancellation of FCRA
of thousands of Christian charities effectively putting them out of business,
the Saffron brigade appears to be questioning the very Indian ness of every
Christian in India.
“Democracy is under threat in India
with “artists, writers and rationalists” being attacked in some form or other,
says acclaimed actress and filmmaker Nandita Das who feels conservatives and
right-wing groups are increasingly becoming country’s moral police citing the
effort to block the release of the movie ‘Padmavati.
Since the ascension of BJP to power, there is one in a series of incidents
that has revealed the mindset of a party, on the one hand, urging Dalits to
unite under the flag of Hindutva but on the other, setting up a delimiter to
what extent they can be included; first, the ban on the Ambedkar-Periyar Study
circle of IIT Madras, then the burning alive of Dalit children in Haryana and
finally General VK Singh allegedly referring to them as animals.
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s victory in the Lok Sabha elections of 2014 has
ushered in an unprecedented attack on
(Writer is a former Chief Technology Officer at the United Nations and
Vice-Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress,
Change for some is unbearable. Others welcome it. After reading this long article, I feel that Mr. Abraham belongs to the unbearable ones. The author is imploring the diaspora to raise their voice against Mr. Modi and his government. As a Vice-Chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress USA, he has nothing better to do than being an infantryman of the party that struggles to be relevant in India. So, in other words his credential speaks for itself.
According to Indian Express, about 45 people were killed in India due to communal violence during the last 4 years. Majority of them were killed by mob fury caused by wrong social media messages. These are isolated incidents perpetuated by wrong information. In God’s own country, where BJP does not even exist (figuratively), a mob killed Madhu, an aboriginal, recorded and shared it on social media. I am not justifying Mr. Khan’s murderer. Unfortunate incidents like these happen in any developing country with a huge population. Indians in general are not as sophisticated as West Europeans. There are, of course, some elements in Indian society that tarnishes our image. But one cannot blame Mr. Modi for all these atrocities. BJP does not incite violence.
On the 5th of September 2017, Gauri Lankesh was gunned down by 3 assailants. Mr. Abraham, I think, based his arguments on an article written by Sudipto Mondal in New York Times. Mr. Mondal is a controversial figure who fantasies about a Dalit Nation in India. He was a friend of Ms. Lankesh. Parasuram Waghmore, Mr. Lankesh’s killer, confessed to the police that he was told to kill someone to save his religion, and that he did not know who the victim was. Mr. Abraham distorted these facts and blamed it on Hindus. The killer did not say who asked him to kill Ms. Lankesh and did not even know who Lankesh was. Let me quote Christopher Hitchens here “What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.”
Mr. Abraham mentions about the good old Nehruvian policies. What good did it do to India? Nehru’s mixed economy was a total failure. The Planning Commission was a white elephant. Non-alignment movement was an absolute failure. China betrayed Nehru’s Panchsheel agreement. India’s image tanked among the world leaders. We were profiled as “poor Indians” in those days.
Before the BJP government, India’s GDP in 2013 was only 1.8 trillion Dollars with a growth rate of 5%. But after Mr. Modi took over, our growth rate has increased steadily and now it stands at 7.5%, even beating China. Now our GDP is 2.84 trillion Dollars. So, within 4 years the GDP gained more than a trillion Dollars. How is that possible if Mr. Modi was not governing properly? And yet Mr. Abraham attributes our vibrant economy to Rajiv Gandhi. How absurd is that. Economic policies of Congress stagnated the Indian economy by adopting a mishmash of Socialism, Capitalism and anything in between. In my opinion, India would have been much better financially if we adopted Capitalism after the independence.
Only the atrocities committed by Hindus are portrayed in this article. How about the violence on Kashmiri Pundits? Or on the Sikhs, when Mrs. Gandhi was killed? Or about the assault on Prof. T. J Joseph? For the Congress politicians, pampering the minority for vote was more important than standing up for the country. For your information Mr. Abraham, RSS is not that bad. Even your idol, Nehru, invited 3000 Sangh Parivar to the Republic Day Celebrations in 1963 in recognition of their selfless service during the India-China war of 1962.
I do not believe the BJP has an intention to make India into a Hindu nation. No matter we believe in Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, Buddhism or Jainism, culturally, we are all Hindus at heart. So, Mr. Abraham, I think India is moving in the right direction. Every democracy has its own flaws. Don’t be a fear monger like Sasi Tharoor.