EDITORIAL

APRIL 2024

India, our beloved nation is moving towards one of the most important elections in its history. At the stroke of the midnight hour, 77 years ago, when the world was sleeping, we stepped out from the old to new, the soul of a nation, long suppressed was finding its utterance. And we continued that journey amidst all the threats and shortcomings. But now as we participate in another election, we are facing a bigger threat than what we have seen ever before.

All the institutions of our country are facing existential threat. Whether it is the legislature, that passes bills without any debate, the judicial institutions that deliver irrational judgments, the executive that is completely subordinated and willing to break any rule to please the masters, or the media, the fourth pillar of the democracy, that is fully bought out and willing to crawl in fear of annihilation if it stands upright. The fundamental building blocks of our nation are being dismantled, be it the ideal of plurality as expressed in “unity in diversity”, the federal structure that maintains the power equilibrium of “union of states” or secularism that allowed cultures to co-exist in spite of their differences. These threats corrode the constitution and the democratic system, which imbibed the ideals of the national movement and motivated us to work towards progress. There is a constant attempt to spread an atmosphere of fear and establish medieval values instead of modernity and scientific temper. This, if allowed to continue, will degrade us from being citizens of an independent nation to subjects of a despotic regime.

It is the duty of each one of us to resist this backsliding at any cost. It is extremely important to preserve the values of our country, which stood proudly before the world despite all its deficiencies. That is why ‘Darsana’ and the editorial board of ‘The Eye’ have decided to transform this edition of The Eye Magazine to a special one focussed on issues facing the nation. India’s most notable writers have contributed to this edition, making it a real eye opener about the challenges facing the country. The editorial board of The Eye expresses its gratitude to each one of them.

We have also included articles based on data and fact sheets to illuminate the actual situation and the direction we have taken in the last 10 years. Our objective in doing so is to invite an open discussion on the ‘claims versus reality’ and not blindly celebrate the myth about the transformation of the nation after 2014.

Your suggestions and feedbacks are welcome as always.

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The cover page image is from ‘Subarnarekha’, the last of Ritwik Ghatak’s Partition ‘Trilogy’, his masterpiece portraying the pain and perils of the Partition. The child’s gaze extends to our times when the divisive agenda of Hindutva fascism, including CAA, is looming over the destiny of many