How fascists win over people
Two weeks before this blog was written, someone on Medium had written about how Yogi Adityanath, the Chief Minister of India’s Uttar Pradesh province had made it better under his regime. She gave countless examples how this province was falling under shambles prior to this Chief Minister thanks to politicians who didn’t gave a damn and the people who had fallen prey to evil. She hails Yogi Adityanath’s efforts for making Uttar Pradesh a ‘better’ province.
The problem was, she failed to acknowledge Yogi Adityanath’s fascist side. A man who is a member of Bharatiya Janata Party under Narendra Modi under whose reign in the Gujarat province, the Gujarat Massacre occurred. Adityanath himself is a fascist and very anti-Muslim. Yet, the person who wrote the blog hailing him bringing law and order and stability to Uttar Pradesh failed to acknowledge any of his downsides.
While it is good to acknowledge the positives of a person even as controversial as Yogi Adityanath as it explains why they are gaining support, it is also important to highlight their negatives as it removes the element of ‘hero-worship’ and idealization. Pakistan and India have been bombarded with content hailing Jinnah, Gandhi and Nehru as heroes without any flaws. Until recently, India has begun to acknowledge the cons of Mahatma Gandhi like his racist views towards Africans and his ‘experimentation’ of sleeping with underage girls towards the end of his life.
Jinnah is already misunderstood in both Pakistan and India. In the former, he is a Muslim hero who saved the Muslims of India from Hindu tyranny. According to Ayesha Jalal’s The Sole Spokesman, Pakistan was only a bluff and his main goal was to ensure fundamental and constitutional rights of Muslims and people of all faiths in a united India. In India, he is known as the man who broke the country. Historically, India was never a united geographical entity. It was only under Ashoka and almost under Aurangzeb India achieved that unity (Jinnah: A Life written by Yasser Latif Hamdani).
Coming to the argument I had with this person, it didn’t go heated as what it mostly goes with Pakistan-India socio-political-historical debates. However, both of us presented our point of views which obviously went in the direction where the other country is the problem. After I commented that she failed to acknowledge Yogi Adityanath’s controversial side and how his and BJP’s reign could be detrimental to India in the long run, she went on to say that Pakistan mistreats its minorities, how Hindus of Pakistan are fleeing the country and Muslim artists of India are part of Bollywood mainstream.
She is right in her analysis. Pakistan has declared a particular sect non-Muslim, only a Muslim can become Prime Minister and a new Hindu temple cannot be constructed in the State of Pakistan. The Jaranwala Massacre is a testament that Pakistan is nowhere near Quaid e Azam’s vision of his country where people of all faiths are equal in the state’s eye. However, it is important to mention the increasing violence that is happening in Modi’s regime against all minorities and Muslims. The Delhi Riots and the stripping of Article 370 of Jammu and Kashmir are examples. Muslim actors like Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Aamir Khan have no doubt gain a lot of recognition in Bollywood. The problem is, how many Muslim roles they have played in their movies?
Is India moving towards fascism? Absolutely.
Does this concern India? Depends on who you talk to. If you are a die-hard Modi supporter who is reaping the benefits the BJP is providing, probably not as you are getting what you want. The Ayodhya Temple, Kashmir officially under India, the IT boom, Chandrayaan-III, Modi’s grand welcome in the White House, what more do you want? It might be concerning if you are a Muslim or part of another minority group or a Hindu who wants a peaceful India. Where is the country headed?
Coming to the crux of this blog of how fascists win over people and especially how Narendra Modi, Yogi Adityanath and the BJP have cemented their position in India.
- Food, shelter, clothing
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs explains that there are five stages of needs for a human. The first is food, shelter and clothing, the basics. Since the economy is getting better under Modi’s India, a lot of people are able to afford these basic needs. Plus, to a common person, fundamental or constitutional rights do not come into mind as much as food, shelter and clothing.
2. Nationalism
“India first” is Modi’s mantra. He is doing everything he can to make India a global superpower. From India’s IT boom to Chandrayaan-III, the country is getting attention from all over the world. Since India’s largest religious population is Hindu and Modi being a right-wing Hindu, he is using that power to bring the India’s Hindu masses in his favor. Bharat is for them and Muslims are the invaders. Muhammad bin Qasim, Mahmud Ghaznavid, Muhammad Ghauri, Baber, Aurangzeb, Quaid e Azam are evil to Bharat.
3. Development over Rights
Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had built one metrobus line in Lahore to win votes and project himself as a leader of economic and developmental progress to win the 2013 Elections in Pakistan. He continued by building an Orange Line Train in Lahore and a metrobus in Islamabad-Rawalpindi. This was overshadowed with his party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s sins of opening fire on families of opposition party in 2014, the Model Town Massacre in Lahore.
The BJP is no different by projecting India’s economic growth and infrastructure development at the expense of trampling fundamental and constitutional rights of ‘others.’ Yogi Adityanath has applied this strategy in the BJP. To the person who hailed this Chief Minister, his ‘developments’ was more important to her than openly making anti-Muslim speeches and spreading cow vigilantes in Uttar Pradesh.
While my conversation with the person who praised Yogi Adityanath ended in a positive note with both of us putting our point of views and her agreeing to my counter-arguments, the problem I am having is that the current generation of India is not seeing the ugly direction India is heading towards. As a Pakistani, my country officially took the ugly turn under Zia ul Haq’s regime (1977–1988). The Soviet War in Afghanistan brought huge influx of aid to Pakistan from the US and Saudi Arabia. The downside was that most of the aid went on the war effort. Plus, Zia’s Islamization had brought religious extremism on the state level.
Modi’s regime is no different than Zia’s regime. Religious extremism is at the state level. The media is sold to support the BJP regime. Right-wing nationalists have been granted the opportunity to harass ‘others’ who do not fit in the BJP-Bharat tribe. These major underlying problems are not coming into mind for India’s current generation who are blindly putting their trust on Narendra Modi and the BJP.
India’s legacy as a secular democracy is tattering at a steady pace. While there are folks who don’t believe India will never fall prey to fascism or worse, become Pakistan, the sad reality is that fascism is already happening. Kashmir was under martial law under the BJP regime. Muslims and Dalits are being harassed and assassination have and are being attempted on Sikh separatists. If your point of view is to focus on the good things that are happening under BJP then you have already fallen prey. Same thing happened in Pakistan where people failed to acknowledge Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf’s (PTI) shortcomings. The result was that many PTI members including those that were close to Imran Khan were controversial and betrayed him as his government collapsed in 2022.
While it is good to acknowledge progress India is making towards economic and infrastructure development and its attempts of becoming a global superpower, it is also important to note all of this is coming at what cost. The BJP has asserted itself on India thanks to the Congress’ lack of progress. They had fallen prey to ‘Nehru-Gandhi family politics’ where you can only grasp Congress leadership if you are related to Jawaharlal Nehru’s offspring. Clearly, Congress had misread that projecting India as a secular democracy does not resonate with the masses who cannot get water in their pipes or 24/7 electricity.
Jamhooriat door kee baat. Pehlay pani tuo millay.
Democracy comes to mind later. First I need water.
Those who endorse the BJP whole-heartedly are not aware where India is headed. History tells us fascism gives short-term benefits but long-term problems. Germany got short-term benefits under Adolf Hitler but long-term problems like the Holocaust and World War II. Only time will tell how the BJP’s legacy will unfold.
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