2024 elections are starting when India appears to be on the verge of turning proto-fascist. The Hindutva saffron brigade has penetrated in every sphere of Indian life, every social order, destroying and undermining the very fabric of the Constitution.
Persecution of minorities, particularly Muslims, has reached heights unscaled, laws or bills have been passed violating constitutional norms and jeopardising the projection of farmers and industrial workers like never before, economic disparity is wider than ever before, inflation and unemployment have sky-rocketed at an unprecedented level, democratic dissent has been crushed more mercilessly than ever in the nation’s history, corporates have been given free licence to plunder at a level unmatched, and communal fervour has gripped every corner the nation, giving overtones of fascist regimes of the 1930s.
The political scenario e of India has been dramatically reversed after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, when the BJP-led NDA (National Democratic Alliance) emerged victorious. Development was the only agenda of the BJP government in the election of 2014, which shifted to Kashmir and CAA-NRC in 2019.
Recently, the Indian government “amended” the preamble and scrubbed the words ‘socialist’ and ‘secular’ without any constitutional amendment. The government thus unscrupulously evaded the very base of constitutional morality in the Indian constitution. Regretfully there is no organised mass movement sprouting in the country, which illustrates the need to elevate the process of development of consciousness with historical bondage n of religious beliefs and feudal relations and practices far stronger than democratic values.
The last mass movement was against the CAA-NRC which engulfed almost every part of the country. The way that the students took part in this movement was outstanding., exposing the general masses the draconian laws of the country, under which a number of activists were arrested on fabricated charges of UAPA.
It projected the character of the proto-fascist nature of the state, where the entire Delhi police administration rallied behind the RSS forces and even the Apex court accepted the Delhi Police’s biased investigation into the Delhi pogrom case. However, this movement scarcely mobilised the peasantry and working-class population and was interpreted by a section of the Left as having been controlled largely by petty-bourgeois leaders and limited constituency holding forces.
The farmers movement of Samyukta Morcha, waged valiant resistance, literally making the rulers shake, but its leadership has in important stages blunted the revolutionary resistance, and acted complicity with electoral politics.
The traditional Left parties hardly undertook political education inside their trade unions to build solidarity on the class-line and instead projected Hindu-Muslim unity. The parties were correct to build a communal harmony between two communities, but it failed to wedge class solidarity and a working-class movement to force fascist forces to retreat. The opportunistic tendency of Left parties misleads common people that all Left parties are bidding for only gaining votes and winning a few seats in the elections.
To stir a revolutionary wave or combat fascism, the independent initiative of the proletariat is an imperative task. An independent initiative is essential to establish its own base within the masses. Without an independent initiative, a Communist party will ultimately be tailing behind the big parties.
The established Left parties firmly adhere to the fact that the current regime can only be toppled through the electoral means and there is no other way to combat it. They also endorse the idea that the current political regime of BJP-RSS is fascist, but insist, they must be overthrown in the election.
A united front like Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) under leadership of the Congress is unlikely to check the wave of fascism, because most of the partiesshow electoral opportunism. We have witnessed throughout history that, if the Communist forces delay action, the feeling of nationality blunts the class consciousness of the working class.
The working class people rallied behind the Nazi forces not because they cherished the working condition or facilities provided by Hitler, but due to the weakness of the proletarian leadership to act on time. If democratic forces fail to undertake collective organized action against fascism, it will rob us against time to cut it’s weeds.
The history of the Congress and other ruling parties in India is more or less the same. The Congress never eradicated or even restricted flow of foreign finance penetration from foreign capital, opening the gates to globalisation and liberalisation, selling India to corporates, dismantling the industrial sectors.
Congress never effectively combated RSS-like organizations, but morally and craftily tried to support the idea of Hindutva
At the same time, it tried to cater to the religious feelings of of the people. Under the regime of the Congress, the first idol of Ram-Sita was installed inside Babri Masjid, and entry was restricted, open the gates for the movement to demolish the Ayodhya mosque.
The Congress stormed into Nagaland to suppress their demand for nationhood. It paid no heed to the Sachar Committee report in the interest of minorities. It introduced draconian laws like AFSPA, NSA, UAPA etc. It never effectively combated RSS-like organizations and morally and craftily tried to support the idea of Hindutva nationality.
The BJP has merely sharpened the path that the Congress was treading in the past.
Given this framework, parties like like the banned CPI (Maoist) have called for election boycott, without establishing alternative or parallel organs of democratic power or required revolutionary democratic consciousness. It fails to understand that today, the revolutionary movement is not on an ascendancy, and political slogans are inviting no powerful response from the masses and the parliamentary system is still not been rendered futile by broad masses.
The Maoist cadres may be sincere, but still its armed squads stop people from voting not by creating political consciousness but instilling fear among them. Even if disillusioned and propaganda of state misleading about voter turnouts, however disillusioned, the people’s consciousness has not been escalated to exercise an active boycott.
There have been instances in Jharkhand and Odisha when Maoists after boycott slogan have supported ruling class parties,
On the other hands the CPI(ML) factions like ‘Red Star’, ‘Massline ‘ or ‘Class Struggle’ are supporting the parliamentary process by backing the INDIA bloc without properly securing re-organised vanguard party, with the Communist party being in scattered bits. This is capitulationist.
The Congress stormed into Nagaland to suppress their demand for nationhood. It paid no heed to the Sachar Committee report in the interest of minorities. It introduced draconian laws like AFSPA, NSA, UAPA etc. It never effectively combated RSS-like organizations and morally and craftily tried to support the idea of Hindutva nationality.
The BJP has merely sharpened the path that the Congress was treading in the past.
Given this framework, parties like like the banned CPI (Maoist) have called for election boycott, without establishing alternative or parallel organs of democratic power or required revolutionary democratic consciousness. It fails to understand that today, the revolutionary movement is not on an ascendancy, and political slogans are inviting no powerful response from the masses and the parliamentary system is still not been rendered futile by broad masses.
The Maoist cadres may be sincere, but still its armed squads stop people from voting not by creating political consciousness but instilling fear among them. Even if disillusioned and propaganda of state misleading about voter turnouts, however disillusioned, the people’s consciousness has not been escalated to exercise an active boycott.
There have been instances in Jharkhand and Odisha when Maoists after boycott slogan have supported ruling class parties,
On the other hands the CPI(ML) factions like ‘Red Star’, ‘Massline ‘ or ‘Class Struggle’ are supporting the parliamentary process by backing the INDIA bloc without properly securing re-organised vanguard party, with the Communist party being in scattered bits. This is capitulationist.
They advocate for overthrowing the BJP, without properly attacking the seeds that plant the poisonous weeds -- the rotten parliamentary system.
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*Freelance journalist
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*Freelance journalist
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