The second book, written by the great scholar Prof. Govind Sadashiv Ghurye and first published in 1974, gives an eminent sociologist’s views on India’s constitutional, political, and communal problems from 1950–72.  Both books are very relevant in the current scenario too.

A BJP MP from Karnataka, Mr. Anant Kumar Hegde, has said in plain words that his party needs more than 400 seats this time because they need to change the Constitution. So finally, the cat is out of the bag; the real intention behind the mad run to secure 400 seats is to rewrite the Constitution of India according to their whims and fancies. Once they come back to power with this majority, I can foretell that the first thing that is going to happen is removing the existing caste reservation clauses in the Constitution. 

Now, let us look back to the year 2014. What paved the way for the NDA to win elections in 2014? First was the unfortunate Nirbhaya case, in which the BJP used to declare that women are not at all safe in UPA-ruled India. Secondly, it was the so-called Anna Hazare anti-corruption movement. Hazare himself said later that the BJP had misused his Lokpal platform to come to power. Whatever it may be, the real truth is that it was very much a planned movement to overthrow the UPA government, as was very much exposed later. Let us have a glance at what happened.

Safety of Women

Our PM said the other day that he is willing to sacrifice his life for ‘Nari Shakti.’ I wonder how this is going to help any woman. There are enough and more rules here, and the government is supposed to enact and enforce them properly for the safety of women. Somebody sacrificing his life does not do any good to any woman. 

The brutal attack on a pregnant Muslim lady, Bilkis Banu, and her family during the anti-Muslim riots in the state of Gujarat in 2002 can never be forgotten by sane Indians. But the 11 convicts who were in prison were released by an extraordinary order of the Gujarat government. The order and the celebrations as they left prison caused global outrage. Later, they were sent back to jail with the intervention of the apex court. 

A minor nomad girl in Kathua, Jammu and Kashmir, was brutally raped in captivity and later bludgeoned to death on January 10, 2018. All the more shocking was the news about a rally organized in support of the accused. Do you know who addressed the rally? Two BJP ministers! They were shameless in supporting the accused and blaming the police action! To them, the upper-caste accused were more important than the lower-caste victim. The men accused were more important than the women victims. This exactly reflects their attitude towards lower-caste Hindus and women in general.

On April 14, 2020, a 19-year-old Dalit woman was brutally gang-raped in Hathras, UP, by four upper-caste men. She was strangled when she attempted to resist. The poor lady succumbed to death in the hospital, and the police hurriedly cremated her lifeless body in the dead of night. Even now, the girl’s family is forced to lead a very secluded life in her village, which is dominated by upper-caste Thakurs. 

In January 2023, Indian wrestlers began protesting for an investigation into the allegations of sexual harassment of female wrestlers by BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. They were the wrestlers who brought medals to India. Nothing happened; the MP is as scot-free as ever, and the wrestlers were forced to leave their medals in front of the PM’s official residence as a mark of their protest. 

In Manipur, women were paraded naked on May 3, 2023, and the general public came to know of it only in July 2023, when its video leaked out. The whole world was stunned by this atrocious, uncouth incident, but none of the Cabinet members, including the Minister for Women and Children, showed the courtesy to rush to the place or even bothered to utter a word of contempt about this horrendous happening. 

I was just trying to jot down a few typical incidents to show how the government acted upon these cases. If you search the net, you will come to know that raping girls of lower caste is quite common in the state of UP, which is supposed to be the model state of India. Anybody can boast anything, but the above examples show how indifferent India is towards her women. 

Sometime back, the Prime Minister stated that the Uniform Civil Code would be a relief for Muslim women, and they would be thanking him. Let us take it at face value. The upliftment of the suffering women is certainly welcome. But what about the abandoned Hindu widows who are spending their lives in utter misery? Widows living in the Vrindavan, Govardhan, and Radha Kund areas of Mathura Lok Sabha constituency in UP are banished by their families and politicians. They are termed as Radhas. These women hail from states like West Bengal, Odisha, and Jharkhand. They are disowned by the community; and are left alone to struggle for survival. They spend their lives begging, waiting in temple premises for free food, and singing bhajans for hours for just Rs. 20. The detailed article can be read here.  

Corruption

Corruption-free government was the buzzphrase before the elections in 2014. But what is the ground reality now? The latest data on electoral bonds reveals a case of organized looting and legalized plunder. All the organs, like the ED, CBI, NIA, etc., of the Union Government have been used as agencies to extort money from various companies. The most disturbing of all was that of pharma companies, which donated crores to the BJP as bonds. It was shocking that seven pharma companies that failed drug quality tests have also donated to the BJP through electoral bonds. Why did they donate if not for some unscrupulous favours received or to be received, which are at the cost of our health?

Let us look into some other facts that establish the ‘all preach and no practice’ policy followed by the main ruling party.

Dynasty rule

The INC was always blamed for its dynasty rule, which was very much true as well. There are examples even in Kerala. The INC, which could not think of its existence without the Nehru family, dragged the reluctant Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi into politics. But the BJP, which had great contempt for dynasty rule, has also followed suit. The wire says that since 1999, INC had 36 dynastic MPs while BJP had 31. The numbers must have increased since the wire report is from March 2019. So, nepotism is very prevalent in the BJP, just like in the INC. 

Freedom of the Press 

Our PM always boasts that India is the largest democracy in the world. Fine, it was, but not now. He was eloquent about freedom of speech in Germany, where the G7 summit was held. On the very same day, while he was boasting there, Teesta Setalvad, an Indian civil rights activist and journalist, and Muhammad Zubair of Alt News were arrested! This shows words do not match with deeds, or rather, deeds are just the opposite of words! 

Hindu khatre me hey! Hindus are in danger. India has 80% Hindus, but the party was successful in creating fear among the Hindus that their very existence in India is at stake due to minorities, especially Muslims! What have they done to protect Hindus so far? Is lynching Muslims enough to save Hindus? Did they save Hindus from the enormous fuel costs? No, but those who fall into the trap of the slogan never think rationally about these things. 

Casteism

Are you familiar with names like OBC Morcha, SC Morcha, ST Morcha, etc.? Those are the main ruling party’s various organs! I wonder how people could join these wings, accepting the rude caste system of India. Many of the veteran leaders of India fought to save our country from these rude and uncivilized customs, which divide its people into various castes, including the untouchables. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar had written volumes about this horrendous caste system, which should be eliminated for our society to thrive. His autobiography, ‘Waiting for a Visa’ was taught at the prestigious Colombia University of New York, where he was an old student. 

Now let us take a cursory look into some other relevant factors too. India is very familiar with states and centers having different political ruling parties. But with this new regime, governors are sent to non-BJP states to create a ruckus and an administrative stalemate. Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka governments have been struggling a lot to get things done. They were even forced to file legal suits. This is the kind of enmity that they have in their minds. If not for us, you suffer from this attitude. During the election campaign in Kerala, the PM has very specifically told Keralites that, if they don’t elect us, they won’t have any of Modi’s guarantees! 

The global hunger index of India stands at 111 out of 125, and the PM himself said 80 crores, or more than half of the population, are being served free rations. In other words, more than half of India’s population survives on a free weekly ration and many are jobless. 

People need food, shelter, and clothes and not mandirs. Before 2014, Indians were not used to creating religious rifts to secure votes. But now many have gotten tuned to it, and they act accordingly. Governing is different from cheap gimmicks. To put it briefly, all sorts of unparliamentary methods like extortion, freezing bank accounts of opposition parties, and jailing opposition leaders are being tried now to win elections. With the election being declared, there is something called the Model Code of Conduct, which seems to be neglected. No rules of India apply to BJP leaders. 

So, if it is not now, when are we going to ask WHITHER INDIA and act accordingly? 

I apologize to the readers for being slightly pessimistic, but it is like calling a spade a spade. We should feel the graveness and hence the sour truths. But let us be positive and take oaths to use our power to vote wisely to redeem our democracy!