• Aakash

The people of India dedicate the Constitution of India, curated by the Constituent Assembly after the freedom struggle, to themselves. It was the commitment of our leaders towards their people - A healthy democracy, where all ideologies were respected, people could choose their government in independent India. That is, the public was the focal point of Indian politics. All political parties used to revolve around this public. This is the real definition of ‘Democracy’. Congress is actually the consensus of this country and as such it has a great tradition. There was a long-term strategy and a long-term struggle behind it.

Apart from being an organization, the Congress has evolved into a culture, wherein, there is no competition to take credit. People and democratic institutions are of utmost importance in this. On the contrary, the communal forces, especially the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, have promoted self-indulgence. There is a competition among them to consider themselves, their religion and their caste as the best. According to them, the concept of ‘public’ should be very narrow and limited. Respecting democratic values is not a part of their curriculum. The recent inauguration ceremony of the new Parliament of India testifies to this fact.

Recently, an article by Ram Madhav has been published in the Indian Express. The title of this article is ‘Dharmocracy’ (Theocracy). It is necessary to consider not the article but this title. Here, there is an intention to convert ‘Democracy’ into ‘Dharmocracy’. That is, religion has to be established by removing the public from the centre. But even in the matter of religion, the Sangh Parivar is confused. Jajali was a great sage of the mythological era. He once asked his teacher - what is religion? The answer he got was nobody should be hurt in any way, this is religion. The work in which everyone is benefited, that is religion. The question arises that in the last 5 years, has the Modi government followed these basic principles of religion? There can be a lot of talk on the definition of ‘Religion’ in Hinduism. But it is certain that the definition of RSS-BJP is different from all the definitions of Hindu religion. Because RSS is not a religious organization. It is a communal organization. The people of the present ruling party are students of a school which has always inspired them to be totalitarian and militant. The curriculum of this school has dominated them so much that even after studying subjects like ‘Entire Political Science’, they did not understand that the Parliament consists of the President, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. If it had been understood, then the centre of the inauguration of the new Parliament House would not have been made only and only the Honorable Prime Minister, nor would all efforts be made to project him like a ‘KING’.

In fact, the script from the foundation stone laying to the inauguration of the new Parliament had already been written. The credit for writing this directly goes to the people who believe in a narrow ideology. It is a special kind of political culture, which is a rival to the political culture that emerged from the freedom movement. It is very important to underline that there is a continuous struggle between these two political cultures in India. In this context, we should remember the debates of the Constituent Assembly, where one finds strong opposition to authoritarianism, one-party system and individualistic monarchy.

In fact, the script from the foundation stone laying to the inauguration of the new parliament had already been written. The credit for writing this directly goes to the people who believe in a narrow ideology. It is a special kind of political culture, which is a rival to the political culture that emerged from the freedom movement. It is very important to underline that there is a continuous struggle between these two political cultures in India. In this context, we should remember the debates of the Constituent Assembly, where one finds strong opposition to authoritarianism, one-party system and individualistic monarchy.

It should be remembered that when some non-Congress leaders of the Constituent Assembly proposed that the word ‘Congress’ must be there in the name of the Parliament House to always remember the unforgettable contribution of the Congress to the freedom movement, the Congress leaders themselves opposed it saying that it would promote a one-party system. This is the culmination of democratic values. This is the culture of the freedom movement. This is the culture of the Congress.

On the contrary, you should look at the top leadership of the present government. In his speech at the inauguration of the new Parliament, the Prime Minister’s expression was worth watching when he said, “The interior of the Rajya Sabha is based on the national flower Lotus”. Immediately after this statement, the people of his own cabinet were laughing at this. It should be asked that what was the inherent joke in this statement that the people of the ruling party were laughing so much? In fact, for them, the ‘Lotus flower’ was not the national symbol, but the symbol of their party. This is not a coincidence. This is an example of their ideology and their political behaviour. This is a culture of narcissism. This is RSS culture.

Some important things emerge from the whole process of construction and inauguration of the new Parliament House. It is very important to underline these things. At the end of 2020, the government led by Narendra Modi ji rapidly forwards the work of ‘Central Vista Project’. All this happens while the matter regarding its construction is pending in the Hon’ble Supreme Court. That is, from the very beginning of this project, democratic institutions are ignored. At the time of laying the foundation stone of the new Parliament, the honourable President is not invited and then this process continues till the inauguration ceremony. The Honourable Prime Minister places himself at the centre of this project. Opposition parties boycott the inauguration of the new Parliament in early May 2023 in protest against this attitude. But the absence of all these people does not make any difference to the Honourable Prime Minister.

Was it not the responsibility of the Prime Minister that he should have discussed this with the MPs of the opposition? Was it the inauguration of a party office for him to have only the leaders of his own party? Actually, this was the plan. Those in power may boast that they built and inaugurated the new Parliament, but history will underline how foolish it was to treat the people’s Parliament as a ‘PRIVATE PROPERTY. It is a process of alienation of the people from the institutions of their own country. The formation of a new Parliament is definitely a matter of great joy for every countryman, but the present rulers have deprived us of the right to be proud of it. It would have been better if all this was not person-centred but more and more public-centred.

But not everyone is Nehru. It is true that not everyone is Nehru but everyone tries to be ‘One’. The eagerness to display oneself as a global great man like Nehru ji keeps on motivating some people to do historical things. They want to do something ‘Stormy’. But they have been trained in such a bad school that they always commit ‘historical blunders’ instead. For example, we can see how the establishment of the ‘Sengol’ by the current Prime Minister is constantly being described as a tradition associated with Nehru. How much truth lies in there can be known only by historical research, but the interesting thing is that historians like Vikram Sampat are presenting oral facts on this issue. It is the same historian who rejects the Kapur Commission report set up in 1966 to exonerate Savarkar in Gandhiji’s assassination case and the entire oral history which blames Savarkar.

This is blatant dishonesty and duplicity. A trained historian lays stress not only on the nature of the fact, but also on examining its context and its veracity. But the Sanghi version of history stresses opportunism. The reality is that the greatness of Nehru ji is not related to any symbol or material object, but it is related to his human and democratic values. Those people who have been trained in anti-democratic values, can never match up to Nehru.

In fact, the construction and inauguration of the new Parliament House is a new political phenomenon. Since losing power in big states like Bihar, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka, the anti-democratic forces are filled with frustration. In such a situation, these forces are trying this world. Although the public is not able to connect itself with this world and this is a good sign. It is difficult to say with certainty that when the people of India vote in the first general election after the formation of the new Parliament, who will be their representatives. But till then the public can ask themselves that when the biggest democratic institution of our country was being inaugurated then why were they and their representatives ignored? People can also challenge attempts to separate themselves from their institutions. If it wants, it can also repeat that line of Dinkar that: “Singhasan khaali karo, ki janta aati hai.” (“vacate the throne so that the public comes”).

(The Writer is the Convenor in the ideological wing of the National Movement Front)