India’s character as a secular democratic republic is under severe strain, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said on Tuesday. There is an ongoing effort to transform secular democratic India into a Hindu Rashtra, he added.
He was addressing a seminar on ‘Future of Democratic India’ organised by the Kerala Sasthra Sahitya Parishad (KSSP) in connection with its diamond jubilee celebrations here on Tuesday.
“V.D. Savarkar of the Hindu Mahasabha clearly said that Hindutva has nothing to do with Hindu religion or religious practices. It’s a political project, which advocates that only those whose ‘Mathrubhoomi [motherland], Pithrubhhoomi [fatherland] and Punyabhoomi [sacred land]’ is in India can live in the country. Muslims and Christians have their Punyabhoomi outside the country.”
The attempt to turn India into a Hindu Rashtra was not successful, especially after Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination. However, the RSS didn’t stop at that and is making continuous efforts, he said.
“They are making life impossible for the common people. At the same time, they are building an illusion of a new India being created.”
“This battle is between the effort to retain the secular-democratic values of the country and the effort to create a radically intolerant Hindu Rashtra. Who wins the battle will determine the future of the country.”
“The protesting voices are being suppressed by using Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and investigating agencies. Many human rights activists are languishing in jails,” he said. “National resources had been plundered. Adani issue cannot even be raised in Parliament. You will be either suspended or disqualified. Even the remarks about Adani have been removed from records,” he added.
“Judiciary is under tremendous pressure. Independence of Judiciary has been eroded. That is the case with the Election Commission too. ED and CBI have become political weapon. 95% cases registers by the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation are against Opposition politicians. And the cases against them mysteriously gets dropped when they join the BJP.
The media is under their control. Entire biometric details are under surveillance. Your personal liberty and personal safety are under surveillance, he said.
“Systematically irrationality is replacing rationality, unreason is replacing reason in society. We need to battle them with scientific temper. This is where the KSSP can play a key role,” Mr. Yechury noted.
He hailed the seminal role of the KSSP in popularising science and scientific temper in society through discussions, debates and interventions. He recalled it was the KSSP which raised first time the issue of environment vs economic development in the public domain in the case of the Silent Valley. These discussions led to the norm that any development project should first should get an environment clearance. However, the BJP government is trying to dilute the norm, he said.
At the national level all the secular democratic forces should unite against the BJP by taking up national issues, including communal polarization, loot of national assets and Adani Scandal.
On another level issues of people’s livelihood, growing unemployment and increase of prices should be taken up.
At the state level, the best electoral alliances of secular democratic forces should be formed.
“History is never changed or made by political parties, but by people. If we fail, nobody can be blamed. We cannot afford to fail. If we want to protect the character of secular democratic country, we need to defeat the BJP, Mr. Yechury said.
KSSP president B. Ramesh presided over. Benoy Viswom MP, M. Liju and C. Raveenranath also spoke at the function.
