The objective of the electoral bonds scheme was to infuse ‘white money’ into the political system. But its provisions, along with other amendments, open up Indian politics to opaque and undetectable influence from the corporate sector, while giving the ruling party undue advantage. There are alternatives.
Posts published in “Politics and Society”
India was not founded as a nation for the majority or the minority, but as a nation for everybody. Read on for visionary ideas from a new generation of Indians, seeking to bring back the spirit of our freedom.
The number of lawmakers facing criminal charges has increased significantly in recent years. The Supreme Court has tried to counter this in many ways, including by asking parties to publicise the criminal records of their candidates. But why do voters actively vote for criminal candidates?
A furtive finger is placed on the lips of dissent in India. The government does this through malicious FIRs for sedition and defamation. In the Supreme Court, the government called its critics "prophets of doom". But such censorship is also done by fellow citizens.
Media reports suggest that there is an outbreak of anti-Muslim hate during the nationwide lockdown. But even in this political season of hate, there are several exemplary stories of human compassion and inter-religious harmony being reported from different states.
Some believe that the migrant crisis unleashed by India's lockdown was inevitable. But the government's own track record proves otherwise. It already has the infrastructure and capacity to respond, including several assets that are not currently being used.
Vilification of the ‘Bangladeshi immigrant’ has triggered claims of nativity and indigeneity from within communities. This has led to multiple iterations of othering, for instance, as indigenous Assamese Muslims seek to differentiate themselves from Bengali Muslims.
The creation of Pakistan was more a secession from India’s multicultural freedom movement than a partition of Indian territory into two states on the basis of religion. The ruling political ideology in India has now pledged allegiance to the ideals of the secession of Pakistan.
Many people from the non-Sikh community made heroic efforts to save the lives of several Sikh men and women during the violence. As the violence of 1984 was an attempt to sabotage the multi-ethnic nature of Delhi, many saw protecting the Sikh population as a way to defy forces of communalism.
There is an urgent need to repair the disenchantment of Kashmiris towards local electoral politics and stem the alarming rise in local radicalisation. The Army can provide the government with law and order solutions under extreme circumstances, but the political establishment must then follow through. That has never happened as yet.
The cause of Indian freedom inspired people around the world because it was a cause of universal values, rather than a struggle for ethnic supremacy or cultural domination. The cause was not the assertion of an ethnic or cultural identity of Indian-ness; it was for the realisation of fundamental human rights.