Asad Ali
India is celebrating Republic Day today. Every year it is celebrated on 26th January. The history of the day is connected to the same day when in 1950, the Indian Constitution was implemented by removing British designed Government of India Act 1935.
The Indian constitution is an elaborate document to provide the people of India with liberal democracy. The constitution was implemented to adopt a democratic government system. However, those democratic values are nowhere to be seen under the incumbent nationalist government in New Delhi led by Hindu fanatics.
Clearly, the concept of Nehruvian secular India has vanished from Indian society under the ultra-nationalist Hindu establishment. The Republic Day was meant to demonstrate the true spirit of Indian democratic values.
But, Hindu zealots have destroyed the true spirit of democracy. The prevalent Hindu-driven policies of Premier Modi are totally in contradiction with the democratic principles introduced by Nehru and Gandhi.
Furthermore, instead of demonstrating true democratic and political values of the democracy, Bhartiya Janta Party’s (BJP) government has been using Republic Day to show its military might which jeopardize regional peace as well as the geostrategic environment of the region.
India’s offensive postures and quest to attain a more strategic pivot along with military modernization have completely undermined the balance of power in the region. The sole objective to display military might on this Democratic Day is the manifestation of Indian aspirations.
India aspires to be the hegemon of the South Asian region. As a result, instability has significantly increased under the hawkish and warmongering government of Premier Modi. Likewise, the recent Hindu-centric policies of Premier Modi have made the lives of minorities miserable within the country.
With Narendra Modi at the helm of affairs, India has become a country where minorities cannot perform their religious duties, and cannot celebrate their religious festivals. They even cannot offer prayers openly. All this is happening in India due to the sheer support of the BJP to ultranationalist Hindus across the country.
These ultranationalist Hindus are carrying out bloodbaths of minorities while openly calling for Muslim genocide. The silence of the international community and Human Rights watchdogs on these genocide calls is a worrisome phenomenon.
Despite charging Indian Hindu leaders under terrorist protocols, they are viewing New Delhi through the prism of the economic and defense market.
Every year India invites international leaders to grace the event of celebrating Republic Day, as a chief guest. From former US President Obama to Brazilian President, world leaders have been visiting India to attend the event as special guests. Unfortunately, they have failed to address the concerns regarding the persecution of minorities under the ambit of the state.
This injustice is being done collectively by the international community. Instead of praising Indian military might, they must raise their voices and press the Indian administration to respect the basic and fundamental rights of the people. These basic rights are given to them by the secular constitution of India. The collective approach by the international community including global organizations can stop India from the persecution of minorities.
The Incumbent Indian establishment has itself exposed all that is ugly, awful, and horrifying within the Indian State. Its criminal justice system and the devious means through which justice is denied to minorities and the underprivileged have become evident.
Indian constitution has, in fact, been ‘weaponized’ by hawkish/ nationalist government as the most preferred tool of persecution of all those who dissent—abuse of sedition law is most rampant. Constitutional values are being violated by an abuse of the law, especially by Hindu fanatics.
In a Police State, Central as well as Regional governments’ abuse their legal. India has, however, become worse than a Police State as legal powers are used to selectively target and persecute a part of the citizenry, i.e. the minorities and the underprivileged.
This is the right time for the international community to ensure the provision of fundamental rights to Indian minorities. The state-sponsored persecution must be stopped at any cost otherwise it will have negative repercussions for other regional countries as well.
Lastly, to sum up the illegitimate actions by the Indian government, the incumbent Modi government is manipulating law at its will for its own benefit and power. Indian laws are defined in a large number of bold judgments of the country’s Supreme Court. The State and the police are supposed to follow them.
Nevertheless, there is a huge and frustrating gap between what is lawfully expected of the State and what it delivers to its citizens. Fortunately, the only optimistic sign is that the remaining liberal class in India has increased its resistance against the violent and divisive politics of Hindu nationalists.
*The author is an Islamabad based analyst on Indian political affairs
*The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not necessarily represent the position of the institutions.
