Since the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s era, populism and its twin, authoritarianism, have found their feet in what has become the present Hindu fundamentalist dispensation.

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INDIA was a successor state to the British Raj. For a post-colonial State, it had a design fault. From day one, it did little to democratise the repressive apparatus of the colonial State it inherited.

Preventive detention was retained and strengthened. Due process of law was given the heave-ho. The intelligence agencies who had served the colonial masters so well continued to do so under their Congress masters with no parliamentary accountability.

Institutional impunity for human rights violations and the calls for mandatory compensation were met with classic stonewalling.

On the economic front, the new Nehru government scuppered land reform, the one major issue that would have brought a degree of equity to rural India, where most of India lived then as now.

In spite of professed claims, no real effort was made to create a welfare State on the western social democratic model. Universal healthcare and education were not priorities. Employment generation was in the realm of ether.

Since then, populism and its twin, authoritarianism, have found their feet in what has become the present Hindu fundamentalist dispensation.

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India: Cementing the building blocks of populism, authoritarianism and majoritarianismRead More »

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“My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;

Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!

Nothing, beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare,

The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

(Ozymandias— Percy Bysshe Shelley)

THE major theme behind Ozymandias is that no matter how arrogant or tyrannical a ruler may be, all power is temporary. Even the most powerful will eventually be brought low, their name nearly forgotten and monuments to their power becoming buried in the sand.

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Modi and his new Parliament: A few lessonsRead More »

The Asia–Pacific regional national human rights institutions network is represented by India’s National Human Rights Commission on the management committee of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions. This, despite the membership of the commission to the alliance having recently been deferred for a year.  

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THE Sub-Committee of Accreditation (SCA) of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI), at its meeting from March 20 to 24, deferred the re-accreditation application of the National Human Rights Commission of India (NHRC) for twelve months (or two sessions). This was done pursuant to Article 15 of the GANHRI Statute.

The SCA considered applications for re-accreditation from the national human rights institutions (NHRIs) of India and eight other countries.

Shh! Silence does not beget transparency

The silence of the NHRC, the Union government, most Indian non-government organisations (NGOs), the overwhelming genuflecting Indian news media, the Asia–Pacific Forum (the Asia–Pacific regional NHRI network), and the GANHRI has been curious, to say the least.

Pursuant to Article 14.1 of the GANHRI Statute, the SCA took a decision regarding the re-accreditation of the NHRIs of India, and two other countries.

The NHRC surprisingly enjoyed ‘A’ status at GANHRI. This, in spite of the same recommendations in 2017. The process of re-accreditation is done every five years.

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NHRC’s international accreditation deferred: No one batting with a straight batRead More »

The Hindutva juggernaut has stumbled quite a few times, and it can and will be stopped by the will of the Indian peoples exercised through the ballot. 2024 is D-Day. This is not a pious hope but an assertion of faith in the common Indian.

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INDIAN National Congress parliamentarian and United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, in a thoughtful piece in The Hindu published on April 11, 2023 has sketched out some of the issues that confront the nation as the Hindutva juggernaut moves on, seemingly invincible.

All messianic political movements think they can go on forever. Myth and myth building, rather than an appreciation of history, is their forte. Hindutva is no different. They have stumbled quite a few times, and they can and will be stopped by the will of the Indian peoples exercised through the ballot. 2024 is D-Day. This is not a pious hope but an assertion of faith in the common Indian. A rider, of course, if we get out of our comfort zones and hit the dusty lanes of rural India.

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An agenda for change in 2024Read More »