Pratap Bhanu Mehta: 'Colloquially Speaking, BJP is Fascist. And More Insidious Than Indira's Emergency'

[Sukla Sen]

[Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Jan. 7 2020:

《The current political regime cannot exist unless it finds a new enemy. It now legitimises itself, not by its positive accomplishments, but by using the enemy as a rallying point. The targeting of enemies — minorities, liberals, secularists, leftists, urban naxals, intellectuals, assorted protestors — is not driven by a calculus of ordinary politics. It is driven by will, ideology and hate, pure and simple...
...
This violence is apocalyptic in another sense: Its purpose is to foment more violence, so that targeting enemies becomes self-fulfilling...》

(Ref.: <https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/jnu-delhi-violence-abvp-bjp-jnusu-6203243/>.)

Compare this with the following extract from a monograph dtd. September 28 2003:

《...But before trying to plot the trajectory of Hindutva, it is imperative to keep in mind that the project of ’Hindutva’ is, in its essence, one of building up mass mobilisation, geared to the task of forging a new “Hindu” nation-state - out of the extant one through its appropriation and negation, around a core ’majority’, propelled by whipped up feelings of ’insecurity, paranoia, hatred and aggression’ against an array of ’adversarial and menacing others’, both internal and external, by making extensive and manipulative use of real and imaginary, past and contemporary ’history’ of fissures and conflicts. While religion is put to extensive and intensive instrumentalist use in this task of militant, exclusionist, majoritarian mobilisation, elements of (ultra)nationalism are also put to good use by borrowing and (mis)appropriating the idioms and icons of (widely accepted) mainstream (secular) nationalism, particularly (though not exclusively) of its rightwing variety.》

(Ref.: Indian Nationalism, Hindutva and the Bomb' at <http://www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?article10225>.)

Also:

<<The RSS, founded in 1925, had nothing to do with this epic struggle nor did (or does) it accept the evolving concept of pluralistic nationalism that inspired and informed the Indian independence movement. Its project of establishment of the Hindu rashtra is essentially based on the (redefinition - and thereby (reconstruction - of the ’Hindu’, not so much with reference to itself but more as contrasted with "the evil and the threatening ’other’ situated outside" and consequent building up of an ambience of mass frenzy and civil war, which is so very necessary to mobilise the amorphous masses of the Hindu as ’Hindu’ in a country where they not only constitute the overwhelming numerical majority but also occupy the commanding heights in all walks of life. And this is carried out with the tacit (or, if possible, explicit) patronage of the state machinery. In fact the RSS has evolved and pursues an elaborate programme to infiltrate/ permeate into and influence/manipulate the various organs of the state, e g, the bureaucracy, the judiciary, the police, and the army apart from the elected legislative (and executive) bodies (and also vital segments of the civil society)....
...
Capturing state power, however, as has been proclaimed time and again by various functionaries of the RSS, including the sarsanghachalak, is only a means to attain the ultimate goal of national reconstruction (i e. establishment of the Hindu rashtra). And that is precisely why the erstwhile Janasanghis walked out of the Janata Party (and the government led by it) when pressurised to sever their ties with the RSS (a self-proclaimed cultural organisation) by the other constituents.
...
Once they gain radically increased access to the levers of state power the real game will start. Not only will Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura start picking up new momentum, it is quite possible, or rather likely, that from their bag of tricks even more unorthodox ones will start popping out. Prom that point onwards, the script would be pretty predictable. Passions will be aroused. Khaki shorts and black caps will be out on the streets. The armed might of the state will back them up to the hilt. The BJP juggernaut will roll on, unstoppable. National ’reconstruction’, RSS style, will commence. And the death warrant for the concept, the dream, called India, which was shaped out of one of the most gigantic anti-imperial popular struggles of the 20th century, will be issued.>>

(Ref.: 'BJP’s Real Agenda', February 7 1998, at <http://sacw.net/article768.html> or <https://www.epw.in/journal/1998/6/discussion/bjp-s-real-agenda.html>.)]

In an outspoken and hard-hitting interview, Pratap Bhanu Mehta, former Vice-Chancellor of Ashoka University and one of contemporary India’s most highly regarded political thinkers have said the Modi government is “colloquially speaking fascist”. He says even though the government is committed to winning elections to secure power “in every other way it ticks the checklist of fascist qualities”. After specifying in detail what these are, Mr Mehta concludes that “colloquially speaking this is a fascist government and it is, therefore, not incorrect to use that term”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hiDcd2GiDA&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR2X6-iLYE7a_Qyi3jib0aQ3kzA2YMD_eZJqron9TP7g1fn1Fyn2TD5WzKI