'Fascist turn of Democratic State': Dr. Hiren Gohain

[Sukla Sen]

Fascist turn of Democratic State

                                Dr. Hiren Gohain

              As far as I understand it, fascism is a methodical caricature of socialism in order to serve the interests of a shadowy ruling class that bides its time to come out into the open.It mimics the socialist programme only to disarm it.Meanwhile it systematically takes up critical demands of social democracy to provide solutions that turn them on their heads.There is discontent among the farmers with the creeping desertification of their life.It expresses  sympathetic noises and goes on to  introduce the menace of farm acts.Ludicrously it gravely upholds the right of troll armies as exercise of the sacred freedom of speech.

And now it is  responding to anxious concern about poisoned messages and trolling on social media that trigger ill-will and violence with elaborate rules on social media posts and intermediaries that aims to throttle them.Ominously it has also targeted  free newsportals  to gag them.

               There is little room for doubt that the looming presence today is fascism in democratic make-up.And Fascism is bent on destroying the birthright of the people:freedom.

               Enemies of freedom fear the free play of the mind too and hasten to strangle it with the watchwords of 'responsibility' and 'control'.And the question is 'responsible to whom and for what'.And they conjure the vision of a high moral good that is allegedly upheld by a band of incorruptible rulers who who can control the danger posed by the spreading venom in the social media.And go on to undermine freedom of expression.

              Law and Communication minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said,according to PTI reports has :"We welcome criticism and dissent......but it is important that users of social media are given a proper forum for resolution of their grievances in a time-bound manner".

             The clever turn in phrasing has transferred the burden from the state to 'the people'.Actually it is the government that is scared and feels threatened by the explosion of anger and discontentment among the people turning into a public indictment.The  venomed posts are by the troll army on its payroll (informally) and these cause them no discomfort,but the genuine expression of anger and bitterness by a disillusioned people and by responsible journalists and public intellectuals upset it.Hence the haste in which it has put up a three-tier structure that allows it to put the primary onus on the public but come in as the final arbiter.

             Who are 'the public' in this case that air 'grievances'? The familiar breed that rushes complaints about alleged offences against the nation,the cow and religious sentiments of a community and are placated by a complicit police with FIRs,arrests and chargesheets. 

         If someone complains that a certain high authority is speaking or acting in a manner contrary to our constitution he or she is likely to see his complaint taken up by a compliant officer of the intermediary platform,and given  the commercial constraints of the platform, dither on a decision,or deliver a toothless verdict.If the latter takes a sharper and gritty decision he is certain to be pulled up short by the officer in the government.On the other hand if the grievance is against a Hindutvadi fanatic,his opinion or message may well  be  judged as innocuous or even positive and given thumbs up 'in a time-bound manner' or in no time at all.

             When the state itself shirks its constitutional  obligations and indeed goes on to subvert it, free speech becomes a serious liability for it.Free speech promotes public discussions of government policies and decisions so that  power overreach or arbitrariness is corrected and public welfare ensues.That results in constant renewal of the Constitution.Sometimes intemperance of language in that cause may upset people in authority.But it only jolts them into a keen sense of their actual constitutional responsibility. Freedom of the citizens is the imperative condition for the health of democracy.And it enhances the citizen's self-esteem and creativity to the general good of all.The opposite is explicit or implicit slavery,demeaning the citizen to a robot without any sense of honour and ultimately leading a country to destruction.

          Freedom in concrete terms means democratic rights enforceable in courts,laws passed by parliaments in accordance with the constitution and media and platforms where public criticism and dissent from a course adopted by the government in power may be voiced.As big corporate houses in cahoots with the ruling party take over the media and public platforms become subject to a 'permission raj' administered by the police,social media and crowd-funded newsportals become the last and perhaps only refuge of the lovers of freedom and democracy.

           For all its abuses,including instigation of communal passion and incitement of violence by vested interests ,which can hardly be controlled by the new rules if  used by the agents  of a vile political power,social media becomes the last bastion of the forces of freedom now besieged on all sides.

           To put it more bluntly the government may use the new rules to silence and devalue any legitimate criticism and dissent and encourage real anti-nationals and anti-socials to go on a rampage to circulate false news and toxic views.This is a prelude to full-blown fascist reign of terror.