Dr I John Mohan Razu
Professor of Social Ethics
Media both print and visual keep projecting the achievements of India in the last 80-years. I’m not discounting or minimalizing India has made. Our nation has made significant breakthroughs in technology, industry, innovation, and many aspects. The progress it made is phenomenal. Being a young nation with a population of more than a billion spread widely in all directions manages keeping the diverse populations intact without any divisions and breakups. Despite ideologies that whips skewed nationalism and patriotism and promotes binaries—majoritarianism and minoritarianism,I Vs You, We Vs They by instilling the poison of polarisation that divides the society and community in all directions.
Since Independence we have been witnessing the assembly and parliamentary elections. During the election campaigns political leaders and contestants promise all kinds of things to lure the voters. The electorates having no other options the electorates vote for parties they belong to. After the elections the elected members don’t care for five-years, but hardly have we seen those promises being fulfilled. As citizens we somehow manage to live with the problems. By then five-years may have been over.
Memory of the masses is short except a few who remembers. By then the politicians visit the masses and, in their campaigns, keep promising by playing ‘blame-game’ pointing to the opposition parties by cleverly justifying their ‘non-performance’ pointing to cooked up factors that deterred them. Then these leaders once again ‘fool the electorates’ with more promises. This drama has been going on for the past eight decades. After independence, India also during these years resurgence of far-right political parties that are opposed to secularism.
For the past fifteen years majority of the Indians have been facing onslaughts from these parties that question the identity,citizens, and constitutional rights. Opposition political parties could not do through the electoral and parliamentary processes. By virtue of having majority in the parliament and other major states which the BJP rules. A number of stringent laws have been passed that are anti-democratic and anti-people. Law enforcing agencies acted with full freedom and non-accountability. They have taken laws into their own hands.
The ruling castes and class went ahead enforcing whatever they wanted. Political parties meaning the oppositions were fraught and thus having no creative ideas emerged to binding the strong political power. It was not a stale-mate, but total surrender since nothing seem to be working or affecting the ruling regime. Not at all bothered or concerned about anything. They carried on whatever the status quo wanted. A move without any resistance keeps moving on. It was like this: No power on earther could shake them. With such confidence the ruling power devised its strategies and tactics to make India as Hindu Rashtra.
In such desperate climate a party with a name Cockroach Jana Party (CJP) was born out of remark carried out by none other than the Chief Justice of India Surya Kant metamorphically means ‘there are some individual youths engaging in fake degrees and online attacks. The young minds used the metaphor formed a party of those youth without employment, any job to and loitering became part of the party. The young India used the social media so effectively and thus started their first struggle on an issue that concern NEET.
The ruling regime thought like other citizens the young India would also forget, but the growing disillusionment on the system of education and other loopholes pushed them to take on the ruling government head-on by assembling at Jantar Mantar. Young India came in thousands and millions completely occupying the public space. The Government of India was in jitters during the winter session of the parliament was going on. The opposition parties pushed the issue further disrupting the sessions by asking the education minister to resign and went on adding Amit shah the Home Minister to resign and pressuring PM Modi to ask apology.
The struggle went on for 36-days during which the minister of education resigned and the home minister did not attend the sessions. Jantar Mantar has not witnessed such a massive protest by the young India since Independence. People at last came to realise that there is no democracy without a right to dissent. And right to dissent is not a five-yearly concession available only on voting day. Citizens may disagree with government on any issue, at any time. But how? Not by grumbling at dinner tables or in a cozy setting. This is why freedom to protest publicly without harming others or going beyond the democratic frames. It has been described as a pressure valve that prevents violent upheavals.
Article 19 of our Constitution guarantees it, although imperfectly, through freedom of speech and f expression. But police, across states, have been showing a rising tendency to suppress it. That is why Bombay HC judge, Madhav Jandar’s remarks, while quashing an order to “extern” a citizen, are timely and significant. The judge reminded Maharashtra police that “mere opposition to a govt decision” can’t be grounds for punishment. Because if protest is criminalised the question arises: “Are all citizens being made slaves?”
Independent India is a nation born of sustained nonviolent protest. Unlike America, which is celebrating its 250th Independence Day, we did not go to war against the British. So protests should have greater sanctity in our public life. If it doesn’t any more, we should ask why. Is the contract between electors and elected broken? Is accountability off the table? While suppression of dissenters by police is disturbing, all political parties’ failure to correct. Iat is the real cause for concern. Because it signals that such clampdowns are alright.
As a nation, we are lucky to have tradition of dharna, morcha, and other forms of peaceful protests. Research by Harvard Kennedy School professor Erica Chenoweth shows peaceful protests have been twice as effective as violent struggles. In fact, no peaceful protest support by 3.5% of the population has failed in history. Clearly protest is one of society’ intelligent regulatory mechanism. We can learn and use more of lit in our struggles. For me this is the only take away that the nation is in the safe hands of young, defiant, unstoppable Indians who shall never allow them to be fooled or taken for granted.
