Today elected government is above board. It cannot be critiqued, its functioning cannot be questioned, much less criticized. For such sacrosanct democratic rights of the people are viewed as anti-national acts and dissenters are implicated under dreaded laws where coming out of jails is very difficult. This devalues people as the sovereign masters of the government they elect and make them subject under a despotic imperial king, herein the PM. Elected government is deified and cannot be scrutinsed. Courts function largely as executive (government) courts, which largely rely on police version of prosecution denying the accused their right to bail, thus incarcerating them indefinitely. In recent times, the Supreme Court acted increasingly as “Executive Court” as can be seen in Zakia Jafry, Himanshu Kumar, Maharashtra Government Shiv Sena MLAs’ buy-out by BJP with money, muscle and misuse of official machinery giving life, may be temporarily, to brazenly illegally formed government, Prevention of Money Laundering Act cases etc. Constitution of India envisages the judiciary as a robust independent institution that stands as a check to the abuse of power by the executive (government). Judges fearing blackmail by agencies and lure for after retirement employment in key posts cave in favour of the government.

India has changed politically, socially and economically under the RSS Pariwar government. Current union government has actively participated and aided communal forces in vitiating the harmony among religious and social groups in the country for the ruling party to reap electoral dividends. One laments how media and the judiciary have also caved in to government pressure, instead of holding the government to account. People are witnessing destructive governance, as they cannot speak out. There is undeclared emergency; people live in fear and insecurity in general and the minorities more so.

Process of consultations and consensus, a hallmark of democratic governance, has been dispensed with. Arbitrariness with authoritarian streak prevails in the decision-making. Democracy and the rule of law are decimated. There is gross abuse of police powers at the instance of ruling RSS Pariwar. People are arrested without qualms, implicated in make-believe and frivolous cases and incarcerated with lower judiciary being complicit. RSS Pariwar union government has undone the tryst with destiny made for a self reliant India in all walks of life with justice, equality, liberty, and fraternity for all citizens equally and alike while downing the union jack and unfurling the national flag by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru at the midnight of August 15, 1947. Public institutions established under the Constitution have been killed. Manned by men of straw, their conscience does not prick when people face discriminations and deprivations, with no checks and balances, although structural facades of all such democratic institutions remain intact.

Prime Minister (PM) has destroyed the very idea of India as envisaged in the Constitution. Democracy and the rule of law-based system of governance are almost dead. People and for that matter the nation are divided as never before. It will take generations to improve the situation. Everything normal till 2014 has since been derailed. People will never forgive the current PM for having destroyed the time-tested unity in diversity, social harmony and coexistence of our people within the frame of oneness of nation and oneness of our people. The so-called much touted Gujarat model of governance has not worked. Communal, divisive politics, religious polarization, hatred, targeted violence against minorities, dalits and women in keeping with the RSS gospel Manusmriti and Bunch of Thoughts have divided the nation. Without unifying the diverse people the country will not progress, nor will there be peace. There is looming darkness all around. Parliament has been made irrelevant. It has failed in its three onerous duties of scrutinizing legislation, holding the government to account, debating and discussing the critical issues of the day.

Country has made strides in infrastructural and educational development by massive expansion. Education has been privatized and higher public education made inaccessible for the bright among the poor with a massive increase in fees and hostel expenditure. At the same time, education has been fully privatized and budgets for the government schools, universities and other specialized institutions of higher learning in businesses, science and technology reduced considerably, a sure route to perdition. Quality of our educational standards has gone down. Employability of India’s graduates is less than 5 per cent, according to official information. India is witnessing massive unemployment, high costs of living and social fissures. Minorities’ livelihood is under attack. There is a sense of deprivation, discriminations, insecurity and fear among them, a recipe for ultimate further partition of the country. India’s 15 per cent Muslims are hurt by the prejudices they face and feel they are ill treated.

As for the economic strides, compared to the rest of the world, India is no richer now than it was before the Independence. Parity between rupee and $ was rupee 1:$1 in 1947 which has gone up to Rs.75:$1 as in 2020 official data. However, India is back in global race. India’s income per capita has risen $2,200. But its global ranking is still 158 out of 205 countries’ per capita income. Still, India has made a significant progress and a big rebound in the 75 years since the Independence. India is still unfree economically compared to other countries. According to the data, the more richer a country is, more is the economic freedom. Unemployment and inflation are all time high. While the new billionaires have gone up, government keeps on losing value. Government ownership of nationalassets has gone down from 15 per cent to 5 per cent in the market following sales/privatization/disinvestment of profit making government assets to select few friendly business houses, resulting in massive unemployment. India’s billionaire boom is the third largest in the world. But high growth story is disappearing. India has slide in hunger index below its neighbours. All labor laws were abrogated and replaced by labour code, which has brought down security of working class with raised working hours and reduced pay.

India has lost its sheen in foreign relations. PM practices democracy and India’s time tested diversity abroad, while at home it is autocracy and arbitrariness with all discriminatory practices on the ground. Foreign media are hostile to the country as they report adversarial anti-democratic practices in the country. Western countries including the UN decry lack of freedom of religious practices and wide scale anti-democratic actions including human rights violations in the country. India’s Ministry of External Affairs makes a mockery of our democracy defending our robust democracy and the Constitution while rebutting foreign criticism. Besides, all our neighbouring countries are hostile to India. India is also below in development indices vis-à-vis its neighbours. All these speak volume of failure of country’s foreign policy, which was consistent based on consensus of entire political class till 2014.

However, all is not lost. Situation can still be retrieved if the government initiates dialogue with the people to avert the all round socio-economic-political class deterioration. India’s future lies in strengthening liberal democracy and its institutions, essential for achieving growth and development. Sri Lanka crisis warns us all how majoritarian religious polarization deflects job and inflation crises by targeting minorities. It also reveals how a nation with misplaced priorities not spending enough on education focuses on physical capital and not human capital with tragic consequences. Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav (75th year/Diamond Jubilee of India’s Independence celebrations) should help all the stakeholders to ponder, introspect and come out jointly to avert the perilous course of communal, divisive, hateful and discriminatory politics to ensure all round development and peace in the country and restore robust democracy, that we are on paper, with attendant social harmony and communal amity within all its diversities!