DEMOCRACY DERAILED: The Way Forward for India @75
AC Michael
DEMOCRACY DERAILED: The Way Forward for India @75
Edited by P I Jose and P J Antony
A new book with the above title is out. It dwells deep into the reasons, methods and the consequences of majoritarian rule brought in through democratic manipulations. Tracing the history of India post-independence in a short chronological narration of some of the most crucial incidents, the book shows how communal violence and Hindutva politics managed to take over the nation and how the government policies and practices brought India to the 1922 level of economic inequality within a decade from 2014.
Written by various Christian thinkers, it has become very important in the backdrop of the arrest of two nuns on completely false and grave accusations, and then sending them to NIA court for bail like a terrorist. Acknowledgement of Church leaders about the help they were compelled to take from the political parties patronising organisations indulging in mob trial and violence for bail of the nuns raise many questions on present day Indian democracy and rule of law.
How the issue is being played politically for the upcoming Kerala elections raises more questions than answers. The book, though written prior to the incident, deals with all those questions and suggests the way forward. Archbishop Menamparambil writes, ‘Hindutva radicals wish to declare India as a theocratic state (Friedrich 37) where Christians and Muslims would be considered foreigners, internal threats, traitors ….. Do not allow dread and hate to replace reasoned thought leading to destructive social conflict in and around India’.
Professor John Varghese, Principal, St Stephen’s College, Delhi writes, ‘If the Emergency of the 1970s was a dark chapter in Indian history, here and now a darker chapter is being written – the media has been gagged, institutions of justice have been overpowered, communalism is encouraged and educational institutions are being poisoned with systematized indoctrination and a refusal to grant quality education its rightful place.’
I highly recommend the book for it not only raises the issues but also suggests solutions.
Book is available at mediahouse.online
A C MIchael
National Coordinator - UCF
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