Modinama: On How The Modi Regime Ruined India
Akhil K M
Modinama by Subhash Gatade gives a brief account of 5 years of Modi rule in India. Also, it tries to analyse certain factors that actually helped in sustaining the rule for another 5 years. The book reviews the 5 years through 5 key discourses that are relevant when we seek an analysis. Subhash Gatade, a leftist activist and author in the preface of his book tells that the book based on a journey through Modi’s first five years as prime minister is a warning for the next five. The analysis of the Modi era gains importance when the fact exists that it is the first time, a right-wing Hindutva government has been able to return to power.
Importantly, BJP and NDA the ruling party and alliance gained more seats and vote than the last time. The growing strength of the right-wing influence can be identified from this. But what were the ways through which this was worked out? Or specifically how the issues of common people, about their life, health, education and employment was kept out of the discussion? The author tries to have a look at these questions.
The author names the introduction as ‘Ideas as crimes’ may be giving an earlier clue to the answer. Even though the fragmentation of opposition is said to be a reason for the huge victory of Modi, there is also a significant ideological shift happened. The fundamentalist ideology always scares words and ideas. The questions raised, the reasons asked always destabilizes the right-wing logics, So obviously it becomes their enemy.
The author sites that there happened a mass scale suppression over the expression of ideas in South Asia and most importantly in India as well. He points the proliferation in the number of cases charged the people who raise dissent. In 2016, eleven sedition cases were charged against writers, media personalities and activists when it was zero for the last two years. There is also a significant increase in the number of Defamation cases. The threats, attacks and even deaths reported also increased alarmingly. He reminds how people like Narendra Dhabolkar, Govind Pansare, MM Kalburgi, Gauri Lankesh were murdered. Apart from this in Assam state almost near 245 section cases were charged. Many cases occurred were related to hurting religious sentiments, where even people like MS Dhoni happened to fall into an issue once.
The first chapter ‘Under the shadow of the holy book’ can be seen as an extended introduction. It briefly points out some events and facts which substantiate how democracy in India is in trouble and how the rights of people are violated.
The creation of an ‘other’, in majority times, it being Muslim, can be seen. For an example, Modi in one of his initial speeches pointed out about the Slave mentality continuing for 12000 which actually is a narrative of portraying the Rule of Muslim Kingdoms in India similar to the Imperial rule. It is also significant to notice the absence of a single Muslim member in the ruling party.
Gatade also mentions how the people’s names are struck from electoral rolls and the mass removal of Muslims from National citizens Register occurred in Assam.
The withdrawal of the state from welfare economic policies, Introduction of educational qualifications for candidates to contest in election, the policies related to ban of beef, the effort of government to remove the usage ‘Dalit’ from official transactions are also significant examples of how the government was against the ethics of the Constitution of India.
The second chapter ‘Lynchisthan’ is an effort to analyse the lynchings occurred during the period. The case of Junaid, a 15-year boy attacked and killed in a train near Delhi, the death of the Dalit boy in Aligarh, UP, the lynching of Muhammed Akhlaq, Pehlu Khan, Qasim Qureshi, Afrazul Khan, Musrain Abbas are serious examples of this genre.
The similar attacks happened and are happening in other parts of the globe as well. The mob violence happening in the name of ‘blasphemy’ in Pakistan and in other places are instances. Historically, such attacks against a section of people in a community were observed in various forms in many places. The author sites that between 1877 and 1950 white supremacist gangs murdered have 4000 African Americans. The Judgement of Delhi High court, giving bail to people involved in the death of Mohsin Muhammed Sheikh, happened in 2014 remarks that since the reason of killing is alleged to be in the name of religion, it can be taken in favour of the alleged. This makes the depth of the narrative more clear. The judgement was later set aside by the Supreme Court observing that ‘the HC ruling was coloured with a bias for or against a community’.
The chapter clearly mentions that the nature of the killings is not dynamic. The sting operation is done by NDTV where a person involved in a cases says how planned it was.
Lack of evidence and loopholes in law leads to the escape of culprits in many cases. It frightens when we realize that in the case of Junaid who was killed in a busy railway station, nobody actually ‘saw’ the incident, even the CCTV hasn’t, which was disconnected at that time!
The Chapter ‘Sacred Cow’ revolves around how Cow had grown into one of the central points of right-wing politics. At the beginning of the chapter itself, Ambedkar and Vivekananda are quoted to say that how both of them stood against the sanctity of cow. The author also adds VD Savarkar to the list.
He even points out how the decisions like the ban of the slaughter of cattle are potentially against the interest of the lower class and the farmers. One thing is that it denies the opportunity for the poor to get protein at a low cost. On the other hand, it ends an important source earning of the farmer through the sale of them. Also, the increasing number of stray cattle will create issues in the country, as the number of unproductive cattle in India is nearly 27 Crores. And the approximate cost to look after these cows will come to some 5.40 Lakh Crore per year! A good number of cattle die due to starvation, due to accidents in railway tracks and by eating rubbish including plastic covers. But, RSS uses a cow as an important political tool for mobilization. The hypocrisy comes in when they cannot say the same in places like North East where beef is an essential part of their food habit.
The next chapter ‘Silencing cast and sanitising oppression’ is mainly about the relationship between caste and sanitation. Gatade says that the BJP approach to sanitation is deeply rooted in a very conservative nationalist and caste-ridden worldwide. The programmes to clean India was introduced by the government. Here cleanliness is connected to one’s duty. So, what happens is the discourse that we raise through programmes like this, it merely reproduces old hierarchies in a caste-ridden society.
It also points the statistics that, based on a UN study happened in 2014 about 597 million Indians dedicate in the open. Along with that, there are a lot of people who deny using toilets due to norms and practices. A significant number of toilets newly built in rural areas are unused. The chapter tries to depict how the BJP approach turns worthless in solving real issues. The caste hierarchy staying untouched, the social practices continuing the same.
The last chapter ‘fascinated by Manu’ points out how the Manusmriti is admired over the Constitution by RSS. It sites the examples at different moments where this was made clear in different ways by people like Golwalkar, Savarkar and by Mohan Bhagavath recently. The Sangh intellectuals take extra efforts to popularise and glorify Manusmriti.
So, the author says that there is a significant effort to establish ideological supremacy in different sectors. And there is something more than mere arithmetic that makes the second term of Modi a reality. The factors mentioned like politics of cow, suppression of ideas, creation of communal divide, lynchings etc play a vital role in making possible the same.
Modinama is written by Subhash Gatade and published by LeftWord books.
Subhash Gatade is a Left activist and author. He is the author of Charvak ke Vaaris, Ambedkar ani Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Godse’s Children: Hindutva Terror in India, and The Saffron Condition.
Akhil K M is an LLB student at the Faculty of Law, University of Delhi, and a State Committee member at SFI-Delhi.
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