Editorial

The arrest of Disha Ravi, a 21-year-old activist working for environmental and social justice, is evidence that the Modi regime has all but thrown away democratic pretences and has openly embraced authoritarianism. Disha and other young women are the victims of a Delhi Police witch-hunt because they sought to mobilise domestic and international opinion in favour of India’s farmers protesting Modi’s three pro-corporate farm laws.

The farmers’ tractor parade on India’s Republic Day saw lakhs of farmers on Delhi’s streets, peacefully highlighting their demand for repeal of the three anti-farm laws, and being greeted with open arms by Delhi residents. The Modi regime, however, used a single aberrant incident at the Red Fort (an incident which has all the hallmarks of being orchestrated by the Government itself) to unleash all-out repression on the movement.

As Americans continue to deal with the aftermath of the failed coup attempt by the Trump Presidency, warning bells ring loud for the whole world as the threat to parliamentary democracy becomes a universal companion of the growing crisis of global capitalism, especially with the pandemic currently haunting the world for the second successive year.

The seventh round of talks between the protesting farmers and the Modi regime have failed. The farmers, who continue to camp at Delhi’s borders in the bitter winter cold, braving thunderstorms and rain showers, have told the Government that nothing short of an outright repeal of the Three Anti-Farmer Laws is acceptable to them. The Modi regime remains adamant in its refusal to roll back these three laws.