EDITORIAL

Stand Up To Save Asli Bharat, Asli Azadi!

IT is customary to greet all Indians on our Independence Day. After all, the mighty people's struggle for freedom finally liberated the Indian people from the colonial yoke. It is indeed an event to be remembered and celebrated. It is also customary that on such an occasion, a balancesheet is drawn up so as to identify the goals and tasks that have remained unfulfilled and to redouble the efforts to achieve the same.

On this 57th Independence Day of our nation, however, instead of looking ahead to complete the unfulfilled tasks, the major issue griping the vast masses of Indians is the fundamental question of safeguarding the republic itself. This is the unfortunate situation into which the current BJP-led NDA government has plunged the country during the last five years. 

Every one of the four foundational pillars --- secular democracy, federalism, economic self-reliance and social justice --- of the grand structure that constitutes the Indian Republic is under assault. 

The secular fabric that wove together this nation of immense diversity is being systematically torn asunder. The assaults in the name of religion against the religious minorities have mounted to frightening proportions, as seen in Gujarat last year. 

The strident campaigns on a communal agenda by various outfits of the saffron octopus, under the patronage of this Vajpayee government, continue to vitiate the atmosphere. The communal juggernaut continues to roll on seeking to metamorphose the secular democratic Indian Republic into a rabidly intolerant fascistic "Hindu Rashtra." 

During these five years, the country's economy has been thrown open to the loot and plunder of multinational capital. There is no sector, including defence production and communications, so vital for the country's security that has not been thrown open for the predatory profit search of foreign capital. The country's self-reliant economic foundations ---  the public sector --- is being virtually dismantled and sold to private capital for a song.   Corruption and sleaze have become so vile that new standards of immorality are being institutionalised. The Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG), last year, informed the country that more than two-thirds of the country's GDP is corresponding to the liabilities of the government. Instead of strengthening our self-reliance, these five years have seen a steady mortgaging of the Indian economy.

As always, it is the vast majority of the Indian people who are victims of such policies. Starvation deaths and distress suicides have become the order of the day in many parts of the country. The agrarian distress has reached such levels that the per capita availability of foodgrains in India today is less than what it was during the second world war period, i e, nearly sixty years ago! 

In just one year --- 2002 --- the foodgrains' production fell by an alarming 14 per cent! So insensitive is this government to such  human suffering that more than six crore tonnes of foodgrains rot in its godowns while people die of hunger! Vajpayee & Co, instead, is selling this grain in the international market at rates lower than its sale price offered to people below the poverty line! Accumulating foreign exchange reserves by such sale is preferred over the task of saving the lives of common Indian people. Such is the character of these spurious "Ram bhaktas."

Caste-based social oppression and gender oppression continue unabated with the massive scale of privatisation and a freeze on government employment.  Whatever little benefit the socially oppressed could get through reservations is being rendered ineffective. Similarly, privatisation and commercialisation of education, endorsed in a way by the recent Supreme Court judgement, has deprived these sections even of the meagre benefits of reservation in educational institutions. 

The tendency within this government towards imposing a unitary state structure has been seen on a number of occasions in the recent past. The current suggestion to synchronise the Lok Sabha and state assembly elections is one such instance. The erosion of the legitimate rights of the states, the centre-state relations far from strengthening the federal content  and spirit of our constitution have often seen the central government interfering in the states' rights to serve their political agenda. 

Needless to add, this government is loath to even consider the reversal of such trends that undermine the foundations of the Republic. On the contrary, this government has the unprecedented record of having come into confrontation with all constitutional authorities and institutions. The Election Commission, the National Human Rights Commission, on occasions the judiciary --- have all been targeted by the Vajpayee & Co whenever they chose not to facilitate the advance of the RSS/BJP’s communal agenda. 

On top of all these comes the abject servility displayed by this government to US imperialism. Apart from the communal trishool aiding admirably the globalisation's trimurti --- IMF, World Bank and WTO --- this government on foreign policy matters is seeking to replace Pakistan as the US surrogate in the region. 

In such a situation, where this government has alienated the vast mass of people due to its policies, the RSS/BJP find that the only way in which they can muster some political support from the people is by whipping up communal passions. As we enter the 57th year of our independence, this government brings before the people a bizarre agenda that has little to do with their day-to-day life or a better future. 

Ayodhya, uniform civil code, abrogation of article 370, cow protection, etc, constitute their agenda when the misery of the people continues to grow menacingly. 

Take the issue of the proposal for a central legislation on the protection of the cow. Now this is a subject that falls within the purview of the states, according to our constitution's federal spirit. Instead of leaving this matter to the state assemblies, this government, to further its communal agenda, seeks to bring in a central legislation in complete violation of the federal structure.  Clearly, the RSS/BJP wish to utilise this issue for their electoral advantage.  The irony is the fact that those who are advocating the protection of a cow are precisely those who are implementing economic policies that is leading to the destruction of the dairy economy and consequently the impoverishment and destruction of cattle! Lakhs of cows that remain unattended, particularly on the roads of urban centres, testify to the fact that the upkeep of the cow is becoming more impossible by day due to the reckless liberalisation permitting the cheap import of all subsidised dairy products from the west. Milk, cheese, ghee, butter -- all byproducts of cow's milk are now allowed to be imported. When the cow’s produce is not protected, who will protect the cow and maintain its upkeep? Vajpayee & Co's concern is not the welfare of the cow.  Their concern is more with the potential of communal polarisation that this issue can whip up giving it electoral benefits!

Clearly, as we enter the 57th year of our independence, what is at stake is the very character of the Indian Republic. India, as we know of it today, needs to be first saved from these forces who neither cherish nor value its secular democratic republican character. It is only by saving India today that we can change it into a better India, tomorrow. Those of us who value our asli bharat and its asli azadi will have to defend our independence and nurture the secular democratic character of the Indian Republic. This requires steadfast opposition to this communal monster that seeks to transform India into a rabidly intolerant, fascistic "Hindu Rashtra."

Let us together stand up to safeguard asli bharat and its asli azadi!