{"id":29957,"date":"2014-05-23T22:51:11","date_gmt":"2014-05-24T02:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=29957"},"modified":"2014-05-24T07:31:18","modified_gmt":"2014-05-24T11:31:18","slug":"india-has-a-democratically-elected-totalitarian-govt-nowsays-arundhati-roy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=29957","title":{"rendered":"“India has a Democratically Elected Totalitarian Govt Now” Says Arundhati Roy"},"content":{"rendered":"

by<\/p>\n

Tahir Mehdi<\/strong><\/p>\n

In Pakistan, apprehensions are rife about Narendra Modi\u2019s flamboyant success. But fervent Modi supporters in the Indian middle classes prefer to place him in the economic governance arena. Dawn recently talked to renowned Indian writer, Arundhati Roy, in Delhi to explore what Modi\u2019s rise means for India.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u201cThe massive, steeply climbing GDP of India dropped rather suddenly and millions of middle-class people sitting in the aircraft, waiting for it to take off, suddenly found it freezing in mid-air,\u201d says Ms Roy. \u201cTheir exhilaration turned to panic and then into anger. Modi and his party have mopped up this anger.\u201d
\n
\nIndia was known for its quasi-socialist economy before it unfettered its private sector in 1991. India soon became global capital\u2019s favourite hangout, sending its economy on a high. The neo-liberal roller coaster ride, however, hit snags. The Indian economy, after touching a peak of over 10pc growth in 2010, tapered down to below 5pc in the last three years. The Indian corporate class blames this lapse solely on the ruling Congress party\u2019s \u2018policy paralysis\u2019. Its \u2018meek\u2019 prime minister, Manmohan Singh, was now identified as a hurdle. The aggressive Modi thus provided the ultimate contrast.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat he [Modi] will be called upon to do is not to attack Muslims, it will be to sort out what is going on in the forests, to sweep out the resistance and hand over land to the mining and infrastructure corporations,\u201d explains Ms Roy. \u201cThe contracts are all signed and the companies have been waiting for years. He has been chosen as the man who does not blink in the face of bloodshed, not just Muslim bloodshed but any bloodshed.\u201d India\u2019s largest mining and energy projects are in areas that are inhabited by its poorest tribal population who are resisting the forcible takeover of their livelihood resources. Maoist militants champion the cause of these adivasis and have established virtual rule in many pockets.<\/p>\n

\u201cBloodshed is inherent to this model of development. There are already thousands of people in jails,\u201d she says. \u201cBut that is not enough any longer. The resistance has to be crushed and eradicated. Big money now needs the man who can walk the last mile. That is why big industry poured millions into Modi\u2019s election campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Roy believes that India\u2019s chosen development model has a genocidal core to it. \u201cHow have the other \u2018developed\u2019 countries progressed? Through wars and by colonising and usurping the resources of other countries and societies,\u201d she says. \u201cIndia has no option but to colonise itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

India\u2019s demographic dynamics are such that even mundane projects, such as constructing a road, displace thousands of people, never mind large dams and massive mining projects. The country has a thriving civil society, labour unions and polity that channel this resistance. The resistance frustrates corporate ambitions. \u201cThey now want to militarise it and quell it through military means,\u201d she says. Ms Roy thinks that the quelling \u201cdoes not necessarily mean one has to massacre people, it can also be achieved by putting them under siege, starving them out, killing and putting those who are seen to be \u2018leaders\u2019 or\u2019 \u2018instigators\u2019 into prison.\u201d Also, the hyper Hindu-nationalist discourse which has been given popular affirmation will allow those resisting \u2018development\u2019 to be called anti-nationals. She narrates the example of destitute small farmers who had to abandon their old ways of subsistence and plug in to the market economy.<\/p>\n

In 2012 alone, around 14,000 hapless farmers committed suicide in India. \u201cThese villages are completely resourceless, barren and dry as dust. The people are mostly Dalits. There is no politics there. They are pushed into the polling booths by power brokers who have promised their overlords some votes,\u201d she adds, citing her recent visit to villages in Maharashtra that has the highest rate of farmer suicides in India.<\/p>\n

So is there no democracy in India then? \u201cIt would be too sweeping to say that,\u201d she retorts. \u201cThere is some amount of democracy. But you also can\u2019t deny that India has the largest population of the poor in the world. Then, there hasn\u2019t been a single day since independence when the state has not deployed the armed forces to quash insurgencies within its boundaries. The number of people who had been killed and tortured is incredible. It is a state that is continuously at war with its people. If you look at what is happening in places like Chhattisgarh or Odisha, it will be an insult to call it a democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Roy believes that elections have become a massive corporate project and the media is owned and operated by the same corporations too. She opines that \u201csome amount of democracy\u201d in India is reserved for its middle classes alone and through that they are co-opted by the state and become loyal consumers of the state narrative of people\u2019s resistances.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 2014 elections have thrown up some strange conundrums,\u201d she muses. \u201cFor eg, the BSP, Mayawati\u2019s party, which got the third largest vote share in the country, has won no seats. The mathematics of elections are such that even if every Dalit in India voted for her, she could have still not won a single seat.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, we have a democratically elected totalitarian government,\u201d she continues. \u201cTechnically and legally, there is no party with enough seats to constitute an opposition. But many of us have maintained for several years that there never was a real opposition. The two main parties agreed on most policies, and each had the skeleton of a mass pogrom against a minority community in its cupboard. So now, it\u2019s all out in the open. The system lies exposed.\u201d<\/p>\n

India\u2019s voters have given their verdict. But the blunt question that Ms Roy raises remains unanswered: where will India\u2019s poor go?<\/p>\n

COURTESY:DAWN<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Tahir Mehdi In Pakistan, apprehensions are rife about Narendra Modi\u2019s flamboyant success. But fervent Modi supporters in the Indian middle classes prefer to place him in the economic governance arena. Dawn recently talked to renowned Indian writer, Arundhati Roy, in Delhi to explore what Modi\u2019s rise means for India. \u201cThe massive, steeply climbing GDP …<\/p>\n

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