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Yet another election season begins and yet another round of political leaders offering voters the moon and the stars in exchange for their votes. Freebies galore are promised by every political party, with the BJP’s campaign differing slightly to remind voters that their lives have improved because of the ‘visionary leadership’ of Narendra Modi. Personally, I find this campaign so boring that I am having a hard time paying any attention. Whenever this has happened, I have cheered myself up by remembering that being steadfastly democratic has been India’s finest achievement in the past seventy-five years. If this means enduring endless tedious speeches by tired politicians, then it is torment that is worthwhile for the sake of democracy.
Preserving democracy has become vitally important today not just in India but in the world because long shadows loom over democratic countries like Israel and Ukraine. They are manifest in evil forces like Hamas. It is hard to believe anyone would stand by terrorists who nurture in their ranks a man like the one who rang his father to declare proudly that he had “killed ten Jews”. His father blessed him for this instead of being horrified that he talked of human beings like they were goats slaughtered for a feast. Extraordinarily, this wicked terrorist organisation has the backing of Iran, Russia, China, and sundry Islamist countries. What brings us back to democracy is remembering that those who back Hamas believe in neither democracy nor freedom.
In India these are values we have cherished and celebrated for years and so it is right that we should be on the side of those countries who share these values. It was heartening that our Prime Minister denounced the barbarism of October 7 immediately after the world came to know of it.
Since then, there has been a mysterious silence from those who have charge of our international relations. The statements that have come out from them, and from most of our political leaders, have been ambiguous. Of course, what Hamas did was wrong, they say, but the bombing of Gaza is horrendous and a crime against humanity.
This is a view I share. There is nothing sadder than the sight of dead children, nothing more painful than the cries of babies who cannot understand their injuries or why their safe little lives have been torn apart by bombs. But, for this, I blame Hamas. Why are they still holding Israeli hostages? On social media this question has been asked over and over and those who support Hamas say that they will be released if Israel releases the 6,000 Palestinians it has in its jails. Mystifyingly they seem not to have noticed that the Israeli hostages are civilians and most of the Palestinian hostages are terrorists. One of those released in an earlier hostage exchange is allegedly responsible for planning and executing the October 7 savagery.
To return to the subject of democracy and freedom. As someone who has grown up in an India in which these things have been cherished, except for those eighteen months under Indira Gandhi, I pay close attention to any infringements of freedom and democracy. It saddens me to admit that in recent times the Modi government has done many things that amount to trampling over our democratic rights. The media has been curbed in a variety of ways. Writers, historians, and other critics have been reminded, sometimes brutally, that they better watch their words. And, last week, we heard opposition politicians complain that every time election season comes around, so does the Enforcement Directorate.
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In a moment when the biggest battle in the world is developing so clearly into a battle between the forces of democracy and freedom on one side and dictators and unfreedom on the other, India needs to protect and preserve her democratic credentials. Last week, the leader of the RSS made his annual Dussehra speech in which he raged against what he called ‘cultural Marxism’, ‘exploitative capitalism’ and George Soros. From the vantage point of Nagpur, it might seem as if all of India’s enemies are external, but it could be time for the Prime Minister’s alma mater to notice that our real enemies are those who try to weaken democracy. These enemies are all within the country.
Democracy does not just mean holding regular elections. It means making sure that every Indian feels free to demand that the fundamental rights guaranteed to him in our Constitution are respected. These rights include the right to criticise our political leaders and the right to speak out when injustice is done. Elon Musk described these rights with clarity recently when he said that freedom of speech means allowing someone you do not like to say something you do not like.
There is much that Narendra Modi has achieved in the past nine years, so he has nothing to fear from his critics or his political opponents. The only people who can harm his image are those who in their eagerness to please him wander about stamping on the rights that guarantee the survival of democracy and freedom. It is these officials he needs to put on a short leash because they have done immeasurable harm not just to his image but to the image of India that he likes to boast is the ‘Mother of Democracy.’ More than ever before India needs to cherish her democracy.
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