Headlines
CPI-M warns of 'creeping authoritarianism' in India
New Delhi, June 24
India is faced with "a
creeping move towards an authoritarian order" and the correct lessons
must be drawn from the 1975-77 Emergency, the CPI-M said on Wednesday.
Having
got a majority in the Lok Sabha, the Narendra Modi government has shown
increasing contempt for parliament, Communist Party of India-Marxist
journal "People's Democracy" said in an editorial.
"The spate of
ordinances, the attempt to denigrate the Rajya Sabha and the
centralisation of all powers in the hands of the prime minister are part
of the ongoing process under neo-liberalism to restrict democracy and
take away vital decision-making powers and policies out of the purview
of the elected bodies," it said.
"So what we are faced with is a creeping move towards an authoritarian order.
"What is required is a multi-pronged fight against neo-liberalism, Hindutva communalism and authoritarianism.
"They
are all fundamentally linked together. Drawing the correct lessons from
the Emergency of four decades ago will help us in this current
struggle," the editorial said.
June 25 will mark the 40th
anniversary of the internal emergency which then prime minister Indira
Gandhi imposed and which lasted for 19 months.
The editorial
pointed out that the CPI-M was the first party to warn against the
danger of one party authoritarian rule at its ninth party Congress held
in 1972.
It said a question was being debated on whether an
Emergency like situation can recur again in India. "This question is
being posed in the wrong way.
"The issue to be considered is whether authoritarianism can once again threaten the political system.
"Using
Emergency powers to usher in an authoritarian regime is not likely to
happen again. But what is likely is that authoritarianism in other forms
can threaten the democratic system," it said.
It went on:
"Just as the basic causes for the Emergency four decades ago were a
crisis of the political system, problems of stability and economic
discontent, at present too, all the ingredients for the rise of
authoritarianism have matured.
"The consequences of
neo-liberalism, the rise of the Hindutva communal forces, the
degeneration of the political parties and the corrosion of the
institutions of the state have all combined to presage a creeping
authoritarianism."