Editorial

Mohan Bhagwat's statement describing the state-sponsored consecration of a Ram temple in the place of the demolished Babri Masjid as the defining moment of India's 'true independence' once again reminds us that the RSS view of nationalism and independence remains absolutely antithetical to the actual history and aspiration of India's freedom movement. Given the history and ideology of the RSS, such a statement by the chief of the organisation is perhaps only to be expected.

Over the last three decades Indian foreign policy has increasingly converged with American priorities in what is commonly characterised as Indo-US strategic partnership. The collapse of the Soviet Union had signalled the end of the Nehruvian era of non-alignment and heralded a new phase of alliance between India and the United States of America.

2024 became a year of change of the guard for several countries, even as the genocide of Palestinians by Israel continued unabated in Gaza. In our region, Sri Lanka ushered in a left-leaning regime for the first time in the island's history. A popular upheaval in Bangladesh compelled former PM Sheikh Hasina to flee the country and seek refuge in India, but the prospect of restoration of democracy remains rather uncertain in the face of the consolidation of reactionary Jamaat-aligned forces.

The Sangh brigade always wanted India to become a Hindu Rashtra with Manusmriti as India's Constitution. Ambedkar not only chaired the drafting committee which gave India a Constitution that declared India as a sovereign socialist secular democratic republic with the resolve to secure for all its citizens justice, liberty, equality and fraternity, but two decades before finalising the Constitution, he had publicly denounced the Manusmriti as India's code of social slavery and burned it.

On the eve of the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution of India, the Supreme Court rejected the appeal by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy to remove the words secular and socialist from the Preamble which had been inserted through an amendment in 1976. On the face of it, this categorical clarification from the apex court should have put an end to the relentless campaign against the Constitution, but within a few days we heard a most virulently majoritarian statement by a sitting judge of the Allahabad High Court.

December 6, 2024 marks 32 years of the tearing down of the Babri Masjid by a Hindutva mob cheered on by top BJP leaders, becoming that one defining moment of communal fascism in the country. This demolition took place despite the assurance to the National Integration Council by Kalyan Singh, the then chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, that his government will “hold itself fully responsible for the protection of the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid structures”.

The indictment of the Adani group in a multi-billion-dollar bribery scam and the arrest warrants issued consequently against Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani by the US Department of Justice mark the most serious blow to Adani's corrupt corporate empire to date. In January 2023, the Hindenburg disclosures had shocked the entire business world with details of the Adani group's monumental corporate fraud underpinning the phenomenal rise of the group in the Modi era.

Even as the BJP propagates the paradigm of 'bulldozer raj' as a sign of 'justice' and 'strong governance', two recent judgments of the Supreme Court have come down heavily on this state-sponsored lawlessness. On 6 November a three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra imposed a punitive fine of Rs 25 lakh on the UP government for illegally demolishing the house of journalist Manoj Tibrewal Aakash in Maharajganj district in 2019.

After a failed coup attempt following his defeat four years ago, Donald Trump has now staged a dramatic comeback in the US presidential election with the biggest ever Republican victory in last two decades. He has also become the first Republican President to win in terms of the popular vote too. Coupled with the Republican control over the Senate and the Congress, this will make Trump 2.0 much stronger than Trump 1.0, putting him in a more advantageous position to aggressively pursue his rabidly racist and imperialist rightwing agenda.

Bolstered by the surprising Haryana victory for a third successive term, the Sangh brigade is going all out to retain power in Maharashtra and conquer Jharkhand. For public consumption, the BJP's pet slogan in every Assembly election is ensuring 'double engine' government for 'development', but the party is keenly aware that the double engine rhetoric no longer has many takers.