“If the hunger for votes becomes a cause of people’s death or property destruction, then it implies that the democracy is dying,” these were the words of Bengal governer Jagdeep Dhankar. Lashing at the Bengal TMC workers, who showed a deleterious outrage post winning the elections that caused deaths and rapes of several BJP workers and supporters, he asserted, “post-poll we are in a deep crisis in the state.”
Indeed, the West Bengal assembly witnessed the pernicious elections that destructed the state massively. While the center was busy gaining votes, ignoring the dying citizens of the country, the TMC also did not forget to leave any stones unturned. The inimical violence and harassment of the residents of Bengal for gaining votes have exhibited Mamta Banerjee’s fascist behavior. Article 21 of the Indian Constitution clearly states the protection of the lives and liberty of citizens.
It mentions, “No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law.” Forget about following the constitution the politicians turn barefaced when the citizens ask about their rights and lodge FIRs against them. It is the grim reality of a country where people vote their policymakers out of their religious sentiments instead of considering their educational qualifications.
Instead of being a responsible government and making the people adhere to COVID-19 protocols, the politicians called them in large numbers to attend the rallies. While India was brimming with COVID-19 deaths every day, and people were anguished to get their hands on oxygen cylinders and hospital beds, the PM as always, was busy winning the seats and building his image, instead of winning over the pernicious virus. No matter how many claims our ‘leaders’ make that India has successfully won over the second wave of COVID, but in reality, India has lost the second wave of COVID in every term.
Just a slight reduction in daily cases won’t justify their indistinct claim as millions of people have succumbed to death, cities have turned into graveyards, vaccine hunger continues to exist, and medical health infrastructure has been shattered abruptly. When the government should have been doing the planning for the second wave, arranging beds and medical supplies, they were planning to win over the Bengal elections. Our heart aches to look at the stories and tweets of people, desperate for arranging the medical amenities for their loved ones on social media.
These incapable people have to burn a hole in their pockets just to arrange something basic, which would have cost merely a few hundred if the Bengal government would have arranged the things on time. Why no planning, no time? Do they prefer to ignore the tsunami – the witnessing the surge very consistently? Often, India’s intense inertia paralyzes us from taking any action – it is stopped by morphine inactivity. Let us look at some instances which depict the dying democracy in India.
Freedom of speech slowly losing its steam
In India, liberties, civil rights, and democracy are guaranteed by the constitution, but in reality, the government fails to follow them. Freedom of speech and expression has become scarce and the government is the master of its mind. India passed the first constitutional amendment under the rule of its first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Article 19 (a) of the Indian Constitution states, “every citizen of the country has liberty in expressing their opinions and expressions, right to know about the government’s work, what role do they play.”
Ironically, the government of India lodges and FIR or directly arrest the citizen who questions their work or authority.
In New Delhi, the national capital of India, more than 17 FIRs were lodged against those, who simply put the posters asking the government’s vaccine export to other nations while risking the lives of their own citizens.” The government’s fascism and egocentrism grew more profound and ordered to lodge FIR against them.
Several journalists and celebrities have also been arrested by the government of India for asking questions regarding their actions. In a small village in UP, near Gautum Budh Nagar, FIRs have been lodged against two brothers who raised a concern regarding the COVID-19 treatment of patients there. Patients are treated under the Neem tree, are made to lie on cots, and the glucose bottles are hanged on the branches.
The Bengal vendetta
The bloodbath for gaining votes in Bengal led to the deaths of thousands of people. There is a close consensus among political analysts that the current Bharatiya Janata Party is hungry for winning political power that is not comparable to any other party. Unfortunately, this feud, over the past few years, has often led to a lower disruption of democratic processes.
The idea of this was seen in West Bengal last week as the Central government of the Union Suddenly the Bureau of Investigation arrested two senior ministers, one MLA, and one politician – all from Trinamool Congress – on May 17.
Post-elections blood bath
The BJP asserted its power, money, and sacrificed people’s lives to win the Bengal assembly, but it did not lead to its desired results. The TMC, on the contrary, got very little time to commemorate its victory. The egocentric BJP arrested two of its ministers for seven years in imprisonment for corruption within 2 days of the new cabinet formation. Why did the center not arrest those ministers before? Why did the government took this defeat on their ego and arrested them post elections? The answer is apparent.
Many unrests ensued: shortly after his arrest, Prime Minister Mamata Banerjee rushed to the CBI headquarters in Kolkata where his ministers were detained and dozens of violent Trinamool workers gathered outside. Meanwhile, by beating the BJP, a few hours after his arrest, the CBI special court granted the arrested politicians bail.
The drama was supposed to end there – but not in India of 2021. In a shocking move, the CBI simply ignored court orders and continued to detain suspects. Meanwhile, he wrote to the acting judge of the Calcutta High Court and, during the lightning strike without the defendant being represented, had the opportunity to remain.
Grandiose narcissism of BJP
Irrespective of putting so many efforts, risking the lives of the citizens of India, leaving them agonized, the Bhartiya Janta Party had to taste a nasty defeat. The humiliation, faced at the national level is a big deal, which led to their ego take witless actions in Bengal post-elections. Rather than accepting this defeat, the BJP tried to push institutions to their breaking points, making them weaker and gain some power in Bengal.
After the elections were over, a large number of violent cases were reported in the state. Jagdeep Dhankar, the governor of Bengal accompanied the BJP politicians, went on a state-wide tour to visit the victims of violence.
As it was before the election, it was clear that the BJP expected the governor – not the party wing – to have its main face in Bengal. While the Indian authorities have been playing a political role since the incumbent, Dhankar’s downfall of all hypocrisy and public display of the role of the opposition leader is a new form of democratic malpractice, as that could mean he is a public constitutional head in opposition to the elected government. Pratap Bhanu Mehta, a renowned political scientist wrote, “As BJP continues to lose the political battles, its peaceful transitions will be tested.”
The BJP used CBI’s action as a stick to provoke the TMC in Bengal. BJP also lost the Panchayat Poll elections in UP as it merely won 719 puts of 3050 Zila wards. The vanquishing has started for BJP, and so is the Indian democracy.me to commemorate its victory.
The egocentric BJP arrested two of its ministers for seven years in imprisonment for corruption within 2 days of the new cabinet formation. Why did the center not arrest those ministers before? Why did the government took this defeat on their ego and arrested them post elections? The answer is apparent.
Many unrests ensued: shortly after his arrest, Prime Minister Mamata Banerjee rushed to the CBI headquarters in Kolkata where his ministers were detained and dozens of violent Trinamool workers gathered outside. Meanwhile, by beating the BJP, a few hours after his arrest, the CBI special court granted the arrested politicians bail.
The drama was supposed to end there – but not in India of 2021. In a shocking move, the CBI simply ignored court orders and continued to detain suspects. Meanwhile, he wrote to the acting judge of the Calcutta High Court and, during the lightning strike without the defendant being represented, had the opportunity to remain.
As it was before the election, it was clear that the BJP expected the governor – not the party wing – to have its main face in Bengal. While the Indian authorities have been playing a political role since the incumbent, Dhankar’s downfall of all hypocrisy and public display of the role of the opposition leader is a new form of democratic malpractice, as that could mean he is a public constitutional head in opposition to the elected government.
Pratap Bhanu Mehta, a renowned political scientist wrote, “As BJP continues to lose the political battles, its peaceful transitions will be tested.” The BJP used CBI’s action as a stick to provoke the TMC in Bengal. BJP also lost the Panchayat Poll elections in UP as it merely won 719 puts of 3050 Zila wards. The vanquishing has started for BJP, and so is the Indian democracy.
