Guest post by BARNALI MUKHERJI
[In this post Barnali Mukherjee looks back at a moment of history in the politics of the Hindutva Right and its enablers – and draws parallels with the current state of the TMC rebels and discusses what this might mean for the antifascist struggle.]
At a time when 14/15 crore citizens of this country stand on the brink of losing their voting rights, the opposition is yet to call a nationwide general strike or coordinated action. The RSS wants to bring back the British-era rule where one could remain a “citizen” without enjoying the right to vote. But the question is, how meaningful can the struggle against fascism be if the opposition fails to also vocalize a demand for the legal immunity of public representatives?
Fascism is, by definition, an anti-vote ideology. To enforce a policy centered around “one country, one-two-or at best three industrialists,” the fascists must reduce its reliance on the masses. Thus, they are anti-vote and anti-peoples-representation. Exploiting the inherent limitations of parliamentary democracy, the fascists aim to establish a system that is effectively voteless and parliament-less. Rendering public representation irrelevant is embedded within our country’s Constitution itself—an advantage the BJP is exploiting.
KAFILA - COLLECTIVE EXPLORATIONS SINCE 2006 