Ram Puniyani
(Asian independent) The recent Assembly Elections results (May 2026) were eagerly awaited. In Assam the delimitation helped the Himanta Biswa Sarma to win the elections yet again. His main message was about Ghuspatiye, (infiltrators) and other slogans were floated which spread hate. In Bengal the election looked more like an invasion of Bengal, with the fertile ground prepared by the Election Commission and later the presence of nearly 2.5 lakh paramilitary forces. Ironically the place where the forces were required most was Manipur, anyways. In Bengal with BJP’s victory; right under their nose these forces celebratory violence was widespread. What was the role and purpose of these forces in the state, is a matter of conjecture. The central home minister had stationed himself in Bengal for weeks. In Bengal, just before the elections the RSS chief Dr Mohan Bhagwat had a long tour of the state putting all the RSS affiliates to work for Hindu unity. By now selling the slogan ‘Hindu Khatre mein hai’ (Hindus are in danger) has been made part of the ‘social common sense’. Bhagwat’s visit was not very much highlighted but it formed the backdrop of BJP efforts in the state.
The states of Kerala and Tamilnadan did not respond much to BJP propaganda, still our PM, Narendra Modi had many rallies in these states. The importance given to these elections by Modi and company becomes clear from the fact that the ‘18 hour a day working’ prime minister did not attend his office for over a month.
The W Bengal election was the kernel round which the interest of people revolved. Here adding on to the anti-incumbency factor which worked against Trinamul Congress were the machinations of BJP, starting from SIR to presence of huge paramilitary forces. Here the Election commission’s role was crucial for BJP victory. It had deleted over 91 lakh voters, more from the Muslim areas and probably opponents of BJP. Arfa Khanum Sherwani, the journalist of repute, tweeted, “91 lakh voters were deleted, of which 27 lakhs never even got a chance to have their case heard by the tribunal. In at least 50 seats, the SIR deletions are higher than the winning margin.”
Anjali Bhardwaj, an outstanding human rights worker added, “Will we at least NOW see the Supreme Court act on the farcical SIR? During the SIR hearings, Justice Bagchi had raised a pertinent question – What if the winning margin is less than the number of voters who have been denied their right to vote? His apprehension seems to have come true.” Sherwani also reminded us about Justice Bagchi’s comments that if the winning margin is 2% and 15% could not vote the result does look questionable.
While BJP won by a huge margin, it formed the Government. Quite a deviation from democratic norms. This doubt about the democracy deficit here (WB) is supplemented by the happenings in Tamilnadan. Here Joseph Vijay’s arty, a major actor and having sympathies for Dalits and deprived emerged as the single largest party. The Governor of TN, who is a die-hard Hindutva nationalist, refused to entertain Vijay’s two attempts to let him from the Government as is the norm. Later he could garner support of majority in the Assembly, to add to this even a section of a big section of AIDMK, supported him.
In WB and TN, we see the gross violation of democratic values. We call ourselves the largest democracy in the world, but the happenings of the last decade and the actions of BJP as such tell us that this party is out to erode our democratic ethos, hard earned through our freedom struggle. It was no coincidence that RSS, the parent organization of BJP kept aloof from the freedom struggle. Democracy does not drop from the tree, it is earned through the blood and toil of democracy aspiring sections of society, Dalits, Adivasis, OBCs, Workers, women and to some extent the rising industrial class. RSS had a main base among the feudal lords, Brahmins and upper layers of society, so being a part of democratic aspirations was in no way acceptable to RSS.
RSS upheld the Manu smriti as opposed to the Indian Constitution. We know that RSS mouthpiece Organiser did criticise the Indian Constitution as it has no values which are there in Manu smriti. The second and more visible part of RSS agenda, upheld and magnified by Bhartiya Jansangh and BJP has an anti Muslim- Anti Christian core in their agenda. RSS’s second Sarsanghchalak, Golwalkar, in two of his major books underlined it. In ‘We or our nationhood defined’ while appreciating Hitler and Fascism, he writes, in India “non-Hindus must adopt the culture and language of the Hindu nation, learn to hold the Hindu religion in reverence, and abandon any distinct identity. If they fail to do so, they should be treated as foreigners” and they should “…wholly subordinate to the Hindu Nation, claiming nothing, deserving no privilege, far less any preferential treatment—not even citizen’s rights” In bunch of thought he states that Muslims, Christians and Communists are internal threat to the Hindu nation.
It seems the Election Commission is out to achieve what Golwalkar wrote. The BJP is pushing the direction of Hindu Nation in which democratic values are a big obstacle. But RSS combined in a very shrewd manner is trying to remove the citizenship of Muslims to begin with. The targeting of Christians may be next in line. In a way we are gradually following the path of Pakistan, where Muslim Communalism was the dominating force. While Jinnah in his 11 August 1947 speech gave secularism a place of importance. The communal forces gradually took the grip of Pakistan, with the military and Mullahs taking the place of dominance. Democracy is in shambles there.
In India the other markers of democracy , freedom of expression and freedom of faith are also falling very drastically during the last few years. The health of the democracy is gauged by the safety, security and liberty of minorities, and in the last few decades the intimidation of minorities, is visible as the ghettoisation of minorities which is on the rise. Intimidation of Christians on the pretext of conversions and targeting of Muslims through different Jihads is the fate of Muslims.
These Elections have given a good glimpse of further erosion of democracy which is under threat with the current regime.
