It is a matter of shame for independent India that the working class, which successfully accomplished revolutions in many countries in the modern age, and which played its invaluable role in productive growth in India too since the freedom movement, is undergoing such tragic and inhuman suffering today in the days of Corona pandemic.

However, it can’t erase the role of working class from history. Even, in their returning home, the workers have exposed the class cruelty of Modi government. This state of working classes against the fascist politics will give birth to new political equations. These workers had not migrated just to earn their livelihood, but they, too, had their dreams of decent life and modern values.

Workers are not hapless, helpless creatures. They very well recognise those faces and forces that neither made arrangements to send them home, nor provided them economic help to survive. They will definitely punish them politically when the time comes. Even in their worst crisis, the workers are not dependent on anybody’s mercy; rather they are exhibiting indomitable courage and determination.

Working class, even today, has infinite ability to register political protest and it is capable of providing a new democratic political system to the country. What is needed is its education and organisation.

Their returning back to homes is not their nature but they are forced for it.

Compelled by the circumstances they, along with their families and children, have set out for a long journey to their homes on foot. To hold them responsible for it and their harassment by police on the way is barbaric. There is still time, the government must ensure to send them home safely. The government has no dearth of resources.

It is also true that if the government had made arrangements to send migrant workers and others to their native places before declaration of lockdown, it would have helped in containing the spread of Covid.

Now, it is incontrovertible that the government of the ‘superman’ has miserably failed not only in dealing with the Corona pandemic but also the devastated economy. Modi government’s economic package of 20 lakh crore or 10% of GDP (as claimed) in the name of bringing back the economy on track is a hoax.

Most of the economists are of the view that to stimulate economy and deal with the rising unemployment, there is need of direct cash transfer instead of loan fair so that demand increases in the economy.

According to the economists, out of this declared 20 lakh crore, the government has given only around 2 lakh crore from its treasury which is less than even 1% of GDP.

It is well known that many countries are transferring substantial amount of cash to their people from the government exchequer. Modi government’s slogan is ‘local to global’ but in practice, the government is handing over all public property to the foreign forces. Jokingly, people say that self-

reliance of Modi government means self-protection and serving the Reliance.

Its propagandists may call it the government of ‘superman’, but the reality is that this government is scared and extremely weak. It may be putting into jails those who are raising people’s issues and are active in democratic movements, but it is completely helpless before its corporate friends and cronies. Let alone impose inheritance tax and wealth tax on the corporate houses, this government is even scared of increasing the limit of fiscal deficit which is urgently needed today. It is afraid that it will weaken India’s global economic rating and result in flight of foreign capital.

How can the foreign capital fly away if Modi government dares to decide that no capital can fly away for 5 years? It is also afraid that if the deficit increases, then the corporate houses would be annoyed because then they would be forced to repay more against their foreign borrowing from international market.

However, economists are of the view that one need not worry about the devaluation of rupee as it will enhance our export. Let the economy of the country be destroyed, but the corporate houses must not repay more- this is the policy of Modi government which urgently needs to be reversed today.

To meet the challenge of demand and make economy self-reliant, agricultural investment must be increased, remunerative prices to the tune of 150% of the cost price must be given to the farmers, investment must be made for cooperative farming of the small land- holdings, agro-based industries must be encouraged for job creation, government must directly spend for MSME sector, concession should be given for the loans they are given , they must have control over the market and there should be complete ban on the import of the items produced by the MSMEs. Cooperatives of workers and entrepreneurs should be formed and workers participation must be ensured in running the enterprises.

In these days of Corona pandemic, cash must be transferred to the workers, they must be given jobs. There should be expansion of MNREGA in cities. There must be complete loan-waiver for peasants and the poor. With direct investment in poultry, fisheries, dairy etc. people should be encouraged for production and market must be assured for them. Import in these sectors also should be stopped. The unemployed must be given unemployment allowance. Expenditure must be increased on health and education, and government health services must be expanded from towns to village levels.

Government must bear the full expenditure of the treatment of Covid-19 patients. Health employees and Corona warriors must be given life saving PPE kits. Those dead and injured in the pandemic related accidents must be given proper compensation. The Vista project for new Parliament complex, involving expenditure to the tune of 20 thousand crores must be stopped with immediate effect.

All this is possible if Modi government is ready for increasing expenditure by transcending the limit of fiscal deficit in this hour of crisis. Economists are of the firm view that if the government directly spends 7- 8 lakh crores and makes cash available for the people, then the crisis of pandemic as well as economic depression can be successfully dealt with and demand can be revived in the economy.

Today country needs a mass movement, a new political discourse. For this, the workers peasants, small-medium entrepreneurs who are facing the crisis today must be organised for political protest. In fact, this is the era of political protests. There is urgent need to mobilise all exploited and oppressed classes, sections and communities in political protest and develop leadership among them.

The socialist countries which stopped direct political participation of the masses and even deprived the workers from political activities and right to unionise, had to pay its price and today also, the socialist countries which have isolated the masses from political process will pay its price sooner or later.

So those who want to confine workers only to trade union activities and are unwilling to mobilise workers directly in political action, must learn from the mistakes of socialist countries and must mobilise the crores and crores of workers hitting the streets in political action against Modi government. The mistrust generated among workers because of the failure of Modi government in dealing with the Corona pandemic and their alienation from it must be given political voice because Modi government is losing its moral authority to rule. This is the political dharma of the opposition today.

One thing more, today, there is concerted move to divide the people and impose divisive political, cultural agenda upon them. There is urgent need to combat it. This is organised, institutionalised effort of divisive forces with full state patronage. So, there is urgent need to combat it socially, culturally and politically.

Constitution is the basis of our citizenship and modernity. It is needed that the values of citizenship percolate down to the lower levels. This is our task, today, to help people stand in their role as citizen and play their human role as a citizen. We must remember that social, political and economic movements are parts of one integral whole and complementary to each other. So, the movements must be conducted in a holistic manner.

* This is a guest blog by a member of the Swaraj Abhiyan. Opinions expressed belong to the author.

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Opposition parties started saying that they were proud of Air Force and stood firmly with Modi government on the issue of national security. Some well meaning people have started saying that there should be national consensus on national security, this has been our tradition and there should be no politics on it. However, the fact is , that it is either the issue of national security or war against other nation, it can’t be without politics. The famous saying goes that “war is continuation of politics by other means.” The opposition parties alleged that BJP and Modi are doing politics on the martyrdom of soldiers.

It is natural on the eve of  Lok Sabha election what BJP will do except the politics. It is the opposition, particularly Congress should tell the nation what is its conception of national security, on issue of Pakistan and Kashmir. How it is different with the politics of Hindutva on these issues? How is It possible that RSS- BJP will practise authoritarian Hindutva politics internally and they would support a democratic policy in external affairs. Foreign policy of a country is only extension of its domestic policies. Had there been a national consensus on national security after independence, Gandhiji would not have been killed. After all he was killed, being declared an agent of Pakistan. For RSS, India is only a map, where people and their will does not matter. They wish to own and control the territory of Kashmir even at the cost of sacrifice of any number of soldiers or the people of Kashmir. Even, they don’t bother about the views of Mahbooba Mufti who was their partner in government for about 3 years. They are not prepared to listen the voice of Shah Faizal on Kashmir, who was IAS topper in 2009. They are adamant on removing 35 A and Section 370 of the Constitution. They never bothered to talk to all stakeholders in Kashmir in the last 4 years nor do they find it necessary even today.

It is their habit to destroy the democratic institutions in the country. It is their nature to suppress pluralism and dissent. RSS, ideologically and politically, never accepted Pakistan as a nation. It is not only war cry of some war mongers, journalists of media houses,  of weapon merchants and others to eliminate Pakistan from the world map; in fact, it is concrete ideological understanding of RSS that Pakistan should be balkanized and annexed to India, thus giving birth to Akhand Bharat .

Modi told about the completion of Pilot Project but he didn’t enlighten the nation about the role played in it by US and Saudi Arabia. But it is in public domain that the US President had already promised about good news of de-escalation between India and Pakistan, much before Pakistan PM’s declaration about releasing the Indian pilot. The warmongers and the Sangh are happy that Pakistan is now globally isolated, even the countries of OIC (Organisation of Islamic Co-operation) are not with them. Rather they invited India as a guest of honour and our Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj expressed her views there. But, instead of celebrations, here too, one needs to learn something. In 1991, India, too, did not have money for repayment of foreign bills. And we had to go into the lap of World Bank and IMF. As a result, foreigners gradually captured Indian market.

Suicides of farmers deprived of resources and market as well as joblessness of youth are well known facts. Today, the prosperity in India is based on the loot of tribals, toiling masses, youth and workers of unorganized sector. There is no need to boast on its sustainability.

India, too, is undergoing deeper economic crisis. The politics of war may benefit the arm’s merchants, but it will ruin the common man. India’s strength lies in its market given to Corporates and multi nationals. The day we reclaim our markets and assert independently in world politics, coming out of the US influence, the hollowness of our so-called emerging friendship with US, Europe and Saudi Arabia like countries will be exposed.

Certainly, Modi government is free not to talk to the Pakistan government, if it so wishes. But, it must enlighten the countrymen as to how, without taking Kashmiri people into confidence, it proposes to deal with Pak diplomacy and the terror outfits. Treading the path shown by Israel, Modi government does know that despite all barbaric aggressions of Israel, Palestine, still exists. Summing up, one can say that there is need of consensus in the country, not for war politics of Hindutva but for people’s politics against it.

Akhilendra Pratap Singh, Member, National Executive,Swaraj Abhiyan

Courtesy: Counter Currents

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Fascism is recognised as an open terrorist dictatorship of corporate- political rule. It glorifies the Race and Nation and represents chauvinistic nationalism. While constantly making a leftist oriented 'appeal to the people', it serves only the interest of corporate and imperialist elements of finance capital. It nurtures a corporate economy and actually destroys the economy of petty producers.

Fascism in Europe tried to secure a mass base for monopoly capital among the lower classes, petty producers, peasantry, artisan, office employees, civil servants etc. Fascism in Europe also neglected the entire heritage of the 18th Century Enlightenment. It rejected not only Marx but Voltaire and John Stuart Mill too. It rejected not only communism but all forms of liberalism. A Popular Front of liberals, socialist, communists, academicians, individuals fought back this fascism. The Soviet Union and Western Allies gave a crushing defeat to the fascists, though documents recently released from the United Nations archives holds that there was a systematic collusion between American and British governments on the one hand and the Nazis during second world war. After his defeat in the war, Hitler committed suicide and Mussolini was executed by partisans.

In India from RSS to a section of indigenist social scientist view fascism as a phenomenon of western origin, arguing that there is no scope of fascist political rule in India. Recently among communists circles a debate has surfaced on whether in India, authoritarian political rule or fascism is creeping and capturing the state.

Miliband has been quoted as saying that after the universal revulsion caused by the horrors of fascism in Nazi Germany, it is difficult for the bourgeoisie to consider fascism as an option even in a situation of extreme crisis. Hence, authoritarianism thrust emanating out of the neo-liberal process has found expression in the demand to change the features of the political system by amending the Constitution.
‘Stability and strong government’ have become major pre occupations of the bourgeoise. The example of Turkey is quoted, where to further political Islam an executive presidency has taken over the parliamentary system. According to holders of this view, therefore in India too, it is not fascism but authoritarianism that has us in it's grip. It is said that Rastriya Swayam Sevak Sangh(RSS) believes in an authoritarian Hindu Rashtra.

I n actual fact, as the recent history of India reveals, the very political idea and goal of Hindutva arose out of the wider inclusive national movement in India (against the colonial British). To this date, since 1925, the RSS openly aspires and has been working continually towards the creation (formation) of a Hindu rashtra which is nothing else but the Indian version of fascism.

Fascism is much more than politics. Political ideology no doubt operates on the terrain of economy but also has its own autonomy. Aijaz Ahmad has rightly said that experience of Itlay, the classic home of fascism, shows that big bourgeoisie neither created fascism nor played any significant role in its capture or consolidation of power meant that Musolini regime remained relatively autonomous of the bourgeoisie even after it made common cause with it.

Hindutva got theoretical clarification by Savarkar in his book, ‘‘Hindutva or who is Hindu’’, Sarvarkar coined the term ‘Hindutva’ with certain specific purposes. He said ‘‘ The Aryans who settled in India at the dawn of the history already formed a nation, now embodied in the Hindus.’’ To further this theoretization, the ‘Two Nation theory’ was propounded by Sarvarkar. Hindutva has always been the guiding principle of RSS. This fundamental vision of the RSS is based on the superiority and predominance of the Aryan Race. MS Golwalkar, the RSS ideologue and second Sarsangh sanchalak of the RSS makes distinction between cultural nationalism and the territorial nationalism of the Congress led by Gandhi.

Golwalkar wrote in ‘We or nationhood defined’ ‘from this stand point sanctioned by shrewd old Nations(Nazi Germany and Fascist Itlay). The foreign races in Hindustan must either adopt the Hindu culture and language must learn to respect and hold reverence to Hindu religion, must entertain no idea but those of glorification of Hindu race and culture i.e, of Hindu Nation, must loose their separate existence to merge in the Hindu Race or may stay in the country wholly subordinated to Hindu Nation clamming nothing, deserving no privileges, for less any preferential treatment not even citizen’s rights’. He advanced the theory of PITRIBHUMI (father land), PUNYA BHUMI (spiritual land). For him only members of the Hindu Race are the only ones entitled to be Indian because India for them is both PITRIBHUMI and PUNYA BHUMI.
 
The BJP take over of the national government has allowed the Sangh Pariwar to entrench itself in all institutions of state power. The institution is being defined while  difference and dissent is treated as anti national. Street violence is being organized against minorities, Dalits and Adivasis. Any one who speaks against the government and it's corruption faces violence.

Like Sarvarkar and Golwalkar, Mohan Bhagvat openly affirmed that ‘India is a Hindu state and citizens of Hindustan shoud be known as Hindu.’ Modi has so far succeeded in projecting himself as pro-poor, and a strong leader of world stature. This manufactured image of him has percolated to the grass root level.

In absence of any credible political opposition and no national movement, the Modi influence is spreading. It is in this political vacuum that he exists when otherwise there is nothing concrete which his (Modi's) government has given to the people of the country in the past three years of his governance. Neo-liberal and post modernist prescriptions of opposition are making space for the forces of Hindutva to flourish.

In actual fact, the informal sector of the economy is suffering badly, unemployment is rising, instances of suicide among the peasantry are also growing. Kashmir and other border issues are still unresolved.

Any objective assessment of the Indian polity indicates that the ruling establishment is in serious crisis; the crisis is not only economic and political, it is moral too. A vibrant policy and program is needed to combat this march of India towards the Hindu Rashtra.

To meet the challenge posed by the Modi government, a possible coalition of the forces of movements, ideas, sectors, individuals, should be realised. A popular front is the need of the hour.

This united front will not only meet challenge of impending majoritarian corporate fascism but will also work for a complete democratization of Indian society and polity.
This Front should arouse patriotism of 1857 nationalism and will then show up parochial nature of nationalism of Hindutva.

Apart from the clarity and commitment of the secularism of the atheist Bhagat Singh, Gandhi ji was a also great secularist while even being an orthodox Hindu.

This Front should concentrate to expose the Modi government-corporate nexus and should link itself with movements like ‘Bhrastachar se Azadi’ which is going on. This Front should also intervene in the day to day problems of the youth, peasant and on issues of the informal sector. To meet the street violence of Sangh Parivar goons, criminals and lumpens, the Front needs a;sp to develop militant mass resistance at all level. This should be most important ingredient part of movement.

The relation of such a United Front to the ruling opposition is a matter of strategy and tactics. In response to the needs of the situation, we can then decide which party can and cannot be part of such a Front. This is a tactical question and it should be dealt with at the tactical level.

(The author is former President of the Allahabad University Student Union and also member of the National Working Committee of the Swaraj Abhiyan; this is an edited version of a paper presented at a workshop organised by the Swaraj Abhiyan in New Delhi recently)

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