By D Raja, General Secretary CPI
On August 5, 2019, Article 370 of the Constitution was abrogated. Following it the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir was snatched and it was split into two Union territories. Several political leaders and hundreds of political activists have been detained. Even after one year many are still in detention. People of Jammu and Kashmir have lost their genuine democratic rights and communication to the outside world.
On August 5 2020, ‘Bhoomi Poojan’’ for the construction of Ram temple at Ayodhya was done. The RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, Prime Minister Modi, Chief Minister of UP and Governor of UP were in the lead along with Trust members in the ceremony. In fact Prime Minister laid the foundation formally.
Abrogation of Article 370 and Ayodhya temple are part of the RSS agenda. Ever since BJP came to power with Modi as Prime Minister in 2014, the RSS has become very aggressive and occupied the centre stage. RSS has started influencing the political course using the different organs and agencies of the Indian State, undermining the very Constitution of the country.
The Constitution makes it clear that Indian State is a Secular State and India is a Democratic Republic. Indian State must be neutral to all faiths and religions. It should be above all faith and religions. But on August 5, 2020 what country witnessed was a different spectacle.
The participation of the RSS chief and Prime Minister have not only transformed the Bhoomi Poojan as an official ceremony in violation of the Secular principles enshrined in the Constitution but also given a de-facto official religion status to one particular religion.This shows their sinister design to change the character of Indian State into a theocratic one.
RSS and Sangh Pariwar consider that the foundation of Hindu rashtra has been laid. But they claim it in the name of Ram ‘Raj’.
Our Party has been consistently maintaining that BJP is the political arm of RSS whose ideology is sectarian, divisive and communal fascist. The developments of August 5, 2020 are going to have implications on the foundational principles of the Republic of India and its future.
RSS and Sangh Pariwar are taking every step consciously to indoctrinate and intimidate the people who express their descent and question the policies of the government creating an illusion about a new India. They make all efforts to condition the very thinking of the people using social media and others which are at their command. In the new India which they want to create, the working people, the Dalits, Adivasis and the poor will not have voice. They will be treated as just subjects to be ruled. The activists and political Parties will be subjected to repression and their voices will be strangulated.
Only the corporate houses, national and international are jubilant over the developments of India today. Using the pandemic as smoke screen, the Modi government has been handing over the whole economy and resources for their plunder and loot. The working people in both formal and informal sectors are already under attack.
Going by the experience of various countries, the new India of RSS-BJP combine is going to be ruled by corporate capitalist-communal fascist forces.
This is a challenging time for the Left in particular and democratic forces in general. The CPI and Left should be in the forefront in challenging and fighting these right wing fascist forces ideologically and politically. The Republic of India should be saved before it is lost completely.