2024 saw BJP erect political oligarchy as INDIA bloc remained nebulous

A PM sans self-publicity

‘Doctor Saheb’, as Singh was commonly addressed, was valued for his policies that brought prosperity with stability and reduced poverty – all accomplished without self-publicity or trumpeted propaganda for his government, which enjoyed two clear five-year terms.

Watch | How India’s two-term PM Manmohan Singh’s policies shaped a billion lives

Besides, he promoted humanist ideals and public decencies, and practised in his own life integrity, probity and humility of a high order – all the while looking ahead for India and looking out for India, and anticipating pitfalls and problems and pre-empting them as he went along, as in his government’s dealings with China and Pakistan.

Governance at nadir today

Now the trend has set in to look out for ultra-capitalist cronies and for self-aggrandisement through means that end up looking suspicious.

Without labouring the point, it is sufficient to say that governance today is at its nadir. Unemployment has touched unprecedented levels, the national economy has shrunk, the prices of essentials have remained stubbornly high for long, the country is in the grip of worrying income inequality as wages contract, and super profits for a select few clear the boundary via the aerial route.

Also read: 2024, a year when the world went adrift amid war, mass killings

The national economy lies supine before big capital – the GDP shrunk to 5.4 per cent in the July-September quarter despite a forecast of 7 per cent growth. This is typically a worrying symptom that has historically been known to foster fascist-oriented methods by the ruling elite and the government they have helped bring into being.

Religious wars, parroting media

On the social side, regime-encouraged uncivil civil society organisations as well as states governed by the ruling party appear to promote policies and give impetus to tendencies aimed at a religious war.

The leading institutions of the state are all too evidently in a state of existential crisis. The mainstream media has been brought to its knees and has been reduced to a platform for official propaganda in large measure.

This drives ordinary Indians into a state of un-knowing and relative ignorance about the sorry state of affairs the country finds itself in.

‘Dharm Sansad’ over Parliament

Earlier in December, when Parliament was in session for the last time this calendar year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was busy addressing a so-called ‘Dharm Sansad’, or religious parliament, in Allahabad (now described only as 'Prayagraj' in a government-led push), where he noted that such valued gatherings bolstered the “national” sentiment.

And, for Narendra Damodardas Modi, we know the expression “national” connotes narrow religious nationalism of the majority, and not a comprehensive nationalism of all Indians that was forged in the anti-colonial movement.

Also read: Ensure 'dharam sansads' do not spread hate for Muslims: Supreme Court

A Prime Minister skipping Parliament in the routine course was unheard of before Modi and, to bring the point home, he chose to give primacy to a ridiculously named “religious parliament” over the duly elected House of the People.

That exposes his true priorities, of course. In India’s real Parliament, he would be hooted for the things he said amidst saffron-robed religious politicians

The year also saw Opposition party leaders and dissidents being set upon by investigating agencies, and, when vulnerable, strong-armed to switch to the ruling BJP.

Superior courts give judgments that are baffling and embarrassingly pro-regime in sensitive cases.

Watch | 26,500 votes manipulated in each Maharashtra seat: Pyarelal Garg

Oligarchy in the making?

The very integrity of the Election Commission of India and its constitutional value as an entity that will ensure fair play in the conduct of national and state polls has been thrown into serious doubt, and with greater regularity more votes are counted than were polled.

In the circumstances, the idea of ‘One Nation, One Election’, touted assiduously over the years by the Prime Minister, appears designed to capture state power across the board through unfair means – and then give it the veneer of a legitimate exercise.

The fascinating thing is that the Modi regime is able to achieve and accelerate this high-order all-round negativity with elan although, under Modi, the ruling party lost its majority in Parliament in the national election this year, and has to depend for survival on a regional party each from Bihar and Andhra Pradesh.

A political oligarchy under the BJP looks to be in the process of being formed because the ruling party is under strain and cannot handle things alone. It is all too aware that it lacks national reach but nurtures the ambition to govern without obstacles across the land.

Three trends of 2024

No doubt, before long, the small fry will be eventually absorbed or squeezed out. The experiment is approaching success in Maharashtra. This is the first of three trends that have emerged this year.

The second concerns the shabby state of a nebulous front of opposition parties called INDIA Bloc that surfaced shortly before the Lok Sabha election but has since gone flaccid or practically into disintegration mode.

Also read: INDIA bloc stares at uncertain future as conflicting ambitions hit unity

It is time the short-term experiment was recognised for what it was. Nothing is left of it. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who was the first to see himself as the so-called convenor of the INDIA Bloc, switched sides to join the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) not long after the formation of the Opposition front.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who regards herself as the natural leader of a viable Opposition front, nurtures nothing but her own interest and takes steps that likely gladden the BJP.

About some of the others, the less said the better. One of them, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), recently announced that it plans to hold consultations with INDIA Bloc partners to 'expel' the Congress, the largest Opposition party which is now in a comatose state, from the alliance. It is not difficult to see who would be comforted by such immature antics.

Regional parties, rise!

The Congress is the lone party in the country that stands in opposition to the BJP both politically and ideologically on a national basis. The Left and the DMK do, too, but they have politically associated themselves with the BJP at various points.

But, in the atmosphere that prevails today, their opposition is likely to be as solid as the Congress's, although the latter is organisationally emaciated.

It is time such parties went past INDIA and entered into a new compact of a different kind where they not only come together to fight elections but also cohere as a common federated political entity for the long term — if their ambition is to take on the BJP-led political oligarchy backed by moneybags and state power.

The RJD in Bihar is a natural ally in such a venture, but could possibly act in a shortsighted fashion, and today’s Samajwadi Party (SP) in Uttar Pradesh can also easily be dovetailed as a part of a common ambition.

Rebuilt Congress, need of hour

Establishing a front rather than a pre-election convenient forum of a short-term variety is far from being a matter of only holding a padyatra (foot march) as the Congress proposes, riding on the success of the Bharat Jodo Yatra.

The Congress needs to take sharp, calibrated and sustained steps to rebuild its organisation. In the absence of this, a front of likeminded opposition parties cannot have a nucleus and firm ideological grid.

Also read: Rahul is right; caste reform is only viable path for Congress' future

Should such an entity take shape, the New Year can be one of intense political struggles since Modi and his associates will also need to throw their energies into deepen their political oligarchy.

Saffron fissures

The third and last noteworthy trend of the present year is the open revolt in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) against its head, Mohan Bhagwat. Does it point to a RSS-BJP schism, an intra-RSS schism, or a weakening of the political right in the country?

This seems a doubtful proposition. The first assault on Bhagwat came from BJP president JP Nadda around the time of the Lok Sabha election although the fusillade was sprayed broadly as if directed at the RSS as a whole. The BJP looked chastened after its relatively poor results, although it managed to form and lead the government once again under Modi’s leadership.

Being neither a tactician nor a strategist, Bhagwat let matters lie while there was expectation in sections of the BJP that there might be opposition to naming Modi as prime minister after the Lok Sabha poll result. Modi has now strengthened himself by achieving wins in Haryana and Maharashtra, and the attack on the RSS chief has been renewed.

Mosque-temple row new flashpoint

The latest to go on the attack is the editor of Organiser, the RSS mouthpiece. Before him, some Hindu religious leaders directed a sharp volley against Bhagwat. But preceding that, in open partisanship with the Prime Minister and his government, a long-time RSS adherent and Hindi language journalist shockingly opened a low-grade, but high-velocity broadside against the RSS chief, leaving little doubt that he was doing so at the behest of the powers that be.

Also read: Another blunt talk by Mohan Bhagwat, but is he really walking the talk?

The warfare is now out in the open in a manner not seen in the 99-year history of the RSS, which has spawned the BJP and other elements of the so-called Sangh Parivar or Hindutva forum that boasts around 30 outfits devoted to various social, political and cultural causes with the aim of establishing Hindu supremacism.

The focal point of attack has been the RSS leader’s plea in recent times that Hindutva forces, in order to regenerate themselves for a national cause, should not go about looking for a Hindu temple under every mosque.

This is a clear pointer of the direction in which the Modi-Shah BJP prefers to go in order to establish its absolutist agenda. This communalist putsch could just dominate the political agenda in the 100th year of the RSS’ establishment, courtesy the Modi establishment.

Do the key Opposition parties – it is too early to describe them as a meaningful force – appreciate what is afoot, and what they are up against? They had better quickly make up their minds about the meaning of life.

(The Federal seeks to present views and opinions from all sides of the spectrum. The information, ideas or opinions in the article are of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Federal.)