The year that was 2015, was a mixed bag as for as the Political process in the country is concerned. The advent of the Right Wing forces led by BJP-RSS combine which has installed Narendra Modi administration in May 2014, while undoubtedly cheered by the Capitalists, Feudal lords, Mercantile Class and most of the Corporate driven Electronic & Print Media, but the ordinary working people including the socially volatile salaried Middle Classes and the rural masses have begun to steer out of the initial awe & paralysis of sorts.
The recent November 2015, electoral drubbing that the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in BIHAR has clearly shown and drawn the limits to the right wing communal rhetoric and the practice of majoritarian sectarianism by the Hindu supremacist agenda laid out by Rashtriya Swayam-Sevak Sangh (RSS). (See: Is Modimania On The Vane)
While it is still the case that MNC’s and by and large the Indian Corporates continue to put their faith in Modi driven aggressive economic agenda, but the social bickering and the divisive agenda that the BJP backed right wing goons are causing in the country is increasing the worries of certain Corporate giants such as INFOSYS who have openly raised their concerns. The Reserve Bank of India, Governor too has raised alarm over the INTOLERANCE issue which is hurting the profits.
While at this stage, as no State assemblies are going into polls at least until the second quarter of 2016, the Hindutva (this term is coined to explain the right-wing majoritarian – supremacist agenda) goons have been put on leash, but as the above article (link provided) explains the modus operandi of the RSS-BJP combine to force a polarisation along communal lines.
Though the World Bank and the IMF have termed India being the fastest growing economy, and to a limited extent it is attracting FDI in many sectors of the economy which are speedily getting privatised by the Modi administration, nevertheless all the hard facts and figures relating to the health of the economy speaks otherwise.
While Modi and BJP came to power on a misleading popular slogan of “Achche Din” (Good Days are Ahead!) as for as the larger society of working people is concerned, it has been a slippery slope in their incomes and spending, as factory outputs contracted to3.2% in November, retail inflation climbed to 5.61% in December.
The Indian Rupee slipped to its 28th month low (14/1/2016) of 67.20 against the US dollar, along with other Asian Currencies. Moreover, the crisis in the Chinese economy is surely having ripple effect on its giant neighbour: India. All the tall talk of “Make In India” sloganeering has come to a naught, increasingly the economic model that Modi professed is being ridiculed in the social media, as students, peasants/farmers and the urban working people are feeling the crunch.
The opposition to Modi & BJP’s socially divisive and economically anti-poor agenda has been sporadic and scattered. The Right Wing forces led by RSS have been successful in keeping the oppositional forces divided, by appropriating some of their strategies. Caste-sm is one issue, that BJP has been able to utilise to its advantage by promoting One Nation-One India concept, by creating an illusion among the lower rung of the population by putting forward the concept of Hindu Rashtra (Hindu Nation).
The failure of the Big Capitalist class represented by Congress Party in the past, to solve any of the fundamental questions faced by the masses has led to a quagmire situation which the BJP/RSS have been able to take advantage and create a very volatile situation, which is bound to have far reaching political effect in the entire region.
The recent attack on India’s Pathankot Air Base by Jaish-e Mohammed (JeM) from Pakistan, suddenly increased the temperatures on both sides of the border. Not withstanding the Tea and Birthday diplomacy of Modi-Sheriff administrations, the question of Military Pursuit was discussed alarming the US administration to intervene to instruct Pakistan administration to act against JeM immediately.
The Working Class given any leadership has time and again proved that it will move forward to struggle, the historic General Strike of September 2 where more than 100 million struck against the Modi administration has proved that point emphatically. But it is the leadership that is wanting to take advantage of that enormous class anger to challenge the communal, casteist and capitalist forces that are presently holding the reigns of administration. While there is a Business as Usual among the main communist parties conducting the jamborees of Conferences and Rallies, change of Party bosses, but on the ground the right wing is having its sway.
Editorial, Dudiyora Horaata (Jan-Feb 2016)