The five years (2014-2019) of Modi regime has seen heightening of social tensions – attack on Dalits and Muslims, had been the order of the day. Farming sector is in complete distress. Unemployment figures at an all time high and the performance on the economic front had been dismal. With no place for dissent, liberal voices had little space, it was thought, and a democratic society would not take the situation very kindly. It was widely believed that time had come to show ‘him’ the door. But those were the murmurs of the liberals, ignored by the country as the decisive leadership was seen as need of the hour. He beat the trend of economic failure leading to loss of political muscle. He managed to decimate the opposition by building a larger than life image of himself, in the midst of Pulwama attack and a divided opposition which provided no candidate for the presidential style campaign.
The accolades the government got over the passage of triple talak and dismantling of the regional autonomy enjoyed by the state of J & K is proof of a polarised polity. The government cannot get an acquittal over niceties of debate, discussion and constitutionalism, though Art. 370 was part of their core agenda and found place in the manifesto.
After the Bangladesh war, Indira Gandhi converted the 1972 assembly elections into a presidential campaign. Then the institutions built by her father were resilient enough to take the shock, but with the passage of time, they gave in to executive pressure. She bought in internal emergency and it is during that period, how the SC caved in is now part of history.
What did the country bargain for in 2019? The recently concluded parliament session is supposed to be most productive. Thirty legislations were approved by the parliament. Not a single bill was referred to the select committee or standing committee. Select/standing committees scrutinise the bills on non-partisan lines. Experts in respective areas and civil society members contribute to the fine tuning. Committees essentially contribute to deliberation and discussion so essential in a parliamentary democracy. Under the UPA regime almost 65% of the bills were sent to committees. Under the first Modi regime about 25% bills went there. There is a belief that all talent and statesmanship reside in the decisive leader.
Despite the figures not matching, the passage of the Finance bill was over in about half of hour of its introduction. As the country clapped at teaching the Kashmiris a lesson, it has almost gone unnoticed that Right to Information Act is diluted. The same Act exposed scams of UPA-II and Modi regime’s fallacy of minimum governance. It was thought that RTI is an idea that is here to stay, but the government succeeded in maiming it. The draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act now stands amended and permits individuals to be treated as terrorists (earlier it was organisation), without any difficulty. Pre-legislative consultation policy 2014 which mandates draft bills to be placed in public domain for 30 days for public scrutiny and feed-back is now a complete. What sort of parliamentary democracy in this, that laws get approved without any debate?
As the legislative muscle gets pronounced, the SC, it appears to have been co-opted by the executive. When four senior most judges held the famous press conference expressing anguish over executive interference and pointing a needle of suspicion to the then CJI, there came ray of hope, that the last bastion would stand up to the decisive leadership.
P Chidambaram, the former finance minister, may fall into the rogue category but the inaction Delhi HC and the SC contributed in making his anticipatory bail petition infructuous. After all principle against self incrimination is part of civilised criminal jurisprudence. I fully agree with a columnist who said ‘Medieval Vendetta is being dressed up as pursuit of absolute virtue’. The Rafale judgement and the manner in which the SC handled the easing out of the CBI chief Alok Verma have all created a perception of the top court having caved in, even without any formal emergency. While hearing a petition by Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter for free movement in Kashmir, the CJI’s reaction ‘why do you want to move around? It is very cold in Srinagar’ says it all!
While on the Supreme Court, another institution that stood the test of time got felled. The country’s Central bank (RBI) has now mortgaged its independence to the government by providing Rs one lakh and seventy six thousand crores to the government at a time when the government is in the dark over how to bring about a turnaround of the Indian economy. The present government seems to be emboldened by the mandate despite a dismal economic growth. It has realised the slogans and not performance sell well.
Did the country bargain for this, in 2014 and again in 2019? It is almost a war against the very idea of India so well nurtured by strong institutional arrangements including an independent judicial system and a free press which acted as the central pillar of that arrangement. The unprecedented mandate in parliament comes from 45% of population, while the majority vote share of 55% stood distributed amongst those who could not provide a creditable opposition with a formidable leader. In that 55% lies the hope and certainly that 45% and did not give mandate to remodel our parliamentary democracy. The country cannot lose hope in these testing times when our citizenship itself is put on test. Millions in Hong Kong are fighting back for democracy. We cannot be far behind!
(The writer is a practising advocate and political analyst)
