Yes, that is a genuine possibility. And it would be devastating for the nation. It would lead the nation towards religion-based autocratic rule which has the potential to destroy the nation in all parameters. People who feel religious fanatism is good should look at Afghanistan, Pakistan Syria, etc. These are Muslim-majority nations, despite that their own people suffered the most. The growth of fundamentalism hasn’t helped any of these nations in any manner. They have moved towards decay.
People may argue that some of the Muslim nations were practically under dictatorship earlier also. Let's take the example of Iraq and Afghanistan. Under President Saddam Hussain Iraq was possibly the most peaceful and developed nation in comparison to what it is today. Afghanistan was much better off under President Najibullah. Afghanistan was much more liberal. The same with Lybia under Muammar Gaddafi. Libya has a Gender Inequality Index (GII) value of 0.172 (on a scale from 0 to 1), ranking it 41 out of 162 countries in 2018. To draw a comparison on the Gender Inequality Index (GII) 2022, India stood at rank 108 out of 193 countries with a score of 0.437.
You can see that gender inequality in Lybia is much lower in Lybia. I have shown a comparative graph of the combined World average, India, Afghanistan, and Lybia. Dictatorship or autocracy is bad but a religion-based dictatorship or autocracy is the worst. 400+ seats in Lok Sabha for BJP would be a perfect recipe to lead the nation towards complete destruction. Alteration of the Constitution is a highly possible outcome that could lead to curtailment of fundamental rights and further downgrading of democracy. Nehru was a strong advocate of democracy. He never felt the need for extra power or to undermine the Constitution. He was the principal proponent of the fundamental right.
People may speak about the emergency period. What happened almost fifty years ago can not be any benchmark in today's world. Secondly, Indira Gandhi never spoke of one nation one election, or the presidential form of government. Nor did she try to change the democratic foundation of the nation. And what she did was from the front end not through the back door. Modi Ji has brought down government after government through the back door.
400+ seats in Lok Sabha for BJP will be the death nail on the democratic foundation of the nation. The most disturbing thing will be that it would lead to religion-based autocracy which will push the nation towards fundamentalism. And we do not have any example of prosperity under religious fundamentalist rule. BJP is already talking about one nation one election that will be a constitutional change. It is not about simply holding all elections at one go but it will require so many other structural changes in the constitution and governance that could have a far-reaching negative impact on democracy. This could be the prelude to establishing a presidential form of government. They have already changed the CrPc.
So people need to think carefully before casting their vote. People need to vote intelligently and not allow division of votes by voting for the fringe parties or the marginal parties in each state. If we want a decisive and clear-cut mandate then we need to avoid voting for parties or candidates of the small-time regional parties who at best are expected to win 5% or less votes. That is a waste of votes. In each constituency, you will find 10–12 candidates, most of them are dummies, just to confuse us and divide votes.
No comments:
Post a Comment