The year ended on a depressing yet hopeful note. The government has shown that it is determined to push its invidious agenda and is convinced that an electoral victory gives it the absolute right to do whatever it wants. And it clearly wants to go after Muslims in every possible way, because that is what the Sangh parivar’s core philosophy has always been. The Citizenship Amendment Act-National Register of Citizens process is one crucial step in that direction.
This is a really worrying prospect for India.
But hope lies in the manner in which people at large have responded – citizens across the land have risen in anger, registering their protest not only against the CAA-NRC but also because the last five years have led to growing polarisation within Indian society in dangerous ways. The readings of the preamble to the Indian constitution at protest marches is not accidental – citizens know that the fight is to save the set of principles and values that have held the country together for 70 years. The BJP and its overlords want to destroy those values – the citizens want to defend them and preserve them.
This spirit must continue and not dissipate as everyone gets busy and protest fatigue sets in. It is evident that the Sangh parivar will not stop its relentless march towards achieving the Hindu rashtra it has always fantasised about. Ninety years of brainwashing has created a vast army of total believers who have a clear-eyed vision of the society they want to create and the clinical determination to not let anything come in their way.
For them, it is not just gaining victory, it is also the total annihilation of everything they detest – starting with secular, liberal democracy.
The citizens have understood that, but what is more important to know is that this year, bolstered by state power, the Sangh machinery will pursue those goals even more aggressively and ruthlessly. There is a sense of urgency in the parivar, as though time is running out.
The first Narendra Modi government was finding its feet; this one has hit the ground running. In 2019, within the first few months of being elected, the new government announced a change of the 70-year-old constitutional arrangement with Kashmir and locked down an entire state. Then, in December, it got the Citizenship Amendment Bill passed. In between, the Supreme Court allowed for the temple to be built in Ayodhya. Every promise on the BJP’s election manifesto is being met; there is unfinished business, such as the Universal Civil Code, and much more, which will be achieved sooner than later.
How will civil society and the citizens of India resist that? That will be the crucial question, because protests have their place and certainly have rattled the government, but they will not be enough. Street pressure focusses attention on an issue, but does not fundamentally change things. It is obvious that the government is on the back foot now – if it has to rely on weak marches by cadre in support of CAA or get endorsements by the likes of Jaggi Vasudev, it must be pretty desperate. But once the demonstrations stop or slow down, the government will push ahead with renewed force.
A wide spectrum of approaches will therefore have to be followed. Building public opinion, countering propaganda, getting support from powerful public voices, even legal measures – all of these will have to be deployed to meet the challenges ahead. The energy of the protest marches comes from the fact that they are spontaneous and without identifiable leaders – everyone has just joined in. Behind the scenes, however, civic activists and political workers have worked hard to motivate people and also provide cadre.
Now leaders will have to emerge, structures will have to be put in place. It is going to be crunch time for all those who want to fight for the idea of India.