Republic Day 26 January: Can Indian Masses Reclaim Their Democracy?
At the root of the backsliding, in India as elsewhere, is a rejection of the core democratic principle that all citizens are equal. (American author journalist, Jonah Blank in The Atlantic, 9 June 2021)
British colonial rule in India ended on 15 August, 1947. The Indian Constitution was adopted on 26 November, 1949 and came into effect on 26 January, 1950, known as the Republic Day. To all appearances, India became the largest democracy in the world. However, the foundation of Hindutva (Hindu nationalism) had already been laid more than 50 years earlier by leaders of the majority community.
The Hindutva movement is almost fascist right-wing extremism committed to a political agenda aimed towards Hindu cultural dominance. However, Jonah Blank was mistaken when he wrote that Hindutva has grown from a fringe movement into the focus of national politics. Hindutva as understood today, was central to Indian politics since the foundation of the Indian National Congress in 1885. From the outset, those like Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Mahatma Gandhi and later Congress leaders were actively leading the movement towards Hindu ideology and idiom. The Muslim leaders sensed what was going on and started leaving what should have been a secular movement. Later, Hindutva agenda was openly formalised by those like Savarkar and became known through organisations like Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Vishav Hindu Parishad (VHP), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other organisations, as the Sangh Parivar. Savarkar first used the term Hindutva to describe Hinduness or the quality of being a Hindu.
Muslim and Sikh scholars objected. Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha wrote his famous book Hum Hindu Nahi towards end 19th century to remind not only the Sikhs but also the Hindu nationalists that Sikhs cannot be bracketed with Hinduism and that India was a country of diverse religions and communities and had to be accepted as such. However, Hindutva politics asserted dominance over millions of Dalits, the lowest rungs of the caste-ridden Indian society, the downtrodden and diverse minorities, and made sure by the Republic Day 26 January 1950, that the Indian democracy had less than a fighting chance of succeeding.
Jonah Blank wrote last year that Small, rich, homogenous nations do not offer stories of hope []]for democracy]. Big, poor, diverse ones do. India is the big, poor and diverse democracy referred to by Jonah. He believes that, quite rapidly, India is being transformed from a secular democracy to a Hindu nation. Against usual democratic criteria, India has slipped from 35th position in 2006 to 53rd position on the list of democracies prepared by The Economist. That slimy slide down the nationalist Hindutva slope, has implications for the state of global democracy as a political system. It is a serious sign of the failure of the system and its the institutions which have been exploited by Hindutva-led majority.
However, last year, on January 26, 2021 Republic Day, there was ray of hope when farmers from all over the country marched into New Delhi to protest against newly introduced black farm laws. The impression gained was that the people of India, including most lower castes and working class Hindus and the 279 million non-Hindus are in the process of reclaiming their republic. That they can defeat the unholy alliance between the far-right Hindu nationalists and large corporate interests.
Gurmukh Singh OBE
Principal Civil Servant retd