Indira to Modi: from Authoritarianism towards Fascism
By Prabhakar Sinha
Indira Gandhi clamped the emergency on June 25/26, 1975 to protect her throne and put thousands behind the bar .To throw dust in the eyes of the people , she declared that the country’s security was in grave danger .She told the nation that the nation -wide agitation led by JP in which almost all major political parties except the C.P.I. were participants was an attempt at the takeover by Fascist forces in the country with links to forces outside .Several anti-Fascist conferences were held in the country at different levels. Indira Gandhi herself participated in the important such conferences. Innocent persons were arrested and sent to jail for no fault. Since fundamental right to life and personal liberty was suspended one could not get any relief from the court. Everybody was in panic. Many of us who were teachers in a university were arrested for opposing the emergency and were kept under suspension even after release on bail or otherwise.
While Indira Gandhi tried to whip up mass hysteria against her opponents by branding them as fascists , Narendra Modi and Co .are trying to do it by branding his opponents as ‘anti-national.’ While Indira Gandhi indulged in character assassination of her opponents and tried to create mass frenzy in the country to protect her Prime Ministership, Narendra Modi is doing it to foist his ideology on the country by misusing the power of the government .While the threat to her throne was grave and real (a nationwide agitation was going to be launched demanding her resignation , as the High Court had held her guilty of corrupt electoral practice and nullified her election to the Lok Sabha), Narendra Modi has launched an attack on JNU on the flimsy and ridiculous ground that anti-India and Pro-Pakistan slogans shouted by a handful of JNU students posed a grave threat to the security and integrity of the country. In the estimation of his government, 50 or 100 anti-India slogan -shouting students pose a grave threat to a nation of 120 crore people with million strong armed forces and larger number of other security forces!
It is a typical fascist strategy to give a bad name to the dog before shooting him. Hitler had arranged to have the Parliament house set on fire, and then launched an attack on the opposition and destroyed them holding them responsible for the arson. There is no clinching evidence to believe that the anti-India slogans were shouted by the members of the ABVP. But it is undoubtedly clear that the government moved post haste to take advantage of the slogan shouting to advance its fascist agenda.
There can be no other explanation for making a local issue free from violence into a national issue. Modiji has no problem in embracing the P.M. of Pakistan, when Pakistan’s ISI has been running scores of camps to train terrorists to attack India. He has no problem in rushing to Pakistan on an informal invite as if Pakistan is his bosom friend’s country house .He has no problem with showering affection through gifts to Pak P.M.’s family. This is not to suggest that he is wrong in his conduct in dealing with Pakistan, but to underscore that a PM who has so much patience and tolerance with an inimical Pakistan has so much intolerance for some youngsters shouting pro-Pak slogans , as if they pose a greater threat than ISI and Pakistan -based terrorists who have been attacking us periodically at Gurdaspur, Pathankot and J&K.
The disproportionate highlighting of the JNU incident as an attack on the nation’s integrity and security is nothing but a ploy to attack democracy under the garb of saving national interest .
There is a very disturbing difference between the emergency and now. Indira’s government was ruthlessly authoritarian, but was not fascist. Modi government is not yet authoritarian because it does not have the power of emergency, but it is fascist in its conduct. During the Emergency, we feared the government agencies like the police etc, but not the Congressmen or the organisations affiliated to it. There was no fear that they would beat us up or insult us. Unlike in the fascist system, the difference between the government and party was maintained. Under Modi’s government, as under a fascist regime, that difference has disappeared. The beating up of JNU students in the court in Delhi by BJP supporting advocates, ABVP members and a BJP MLA present irrefutable evidence of the fascist character of the Modi government.
The only convincing denial would be to deal with his fascist colleagues as sternly as his government has done with the undeserving JNU students and to keep in check his fascist brigades.
Prabhakar Sinha, National President of PUCL was imprisoned during the Emergency period in Bihar. A university teacher at that time, he led a popular movement of teachers and students against the Emergency.