Modi’s Nationalist Governance: Tampering Constitutional Bodies, Eroding Public Accountability

As we move towards 15 August and the observing of our independence from colonial rule, we need to remind ourselves of a sobering fact that India is currently witnessing a hollowing out of our Constitutional and democratic structures, a fascist takeover of our institutions and silencing of all dissent and opposition.

The authors of our Constitution, while they envisioned political democracy in the country, recognised the need to foster multiple structures – an accountable legislature and executive, an independent judiciary, a vigilant media – capable of acting as a competent watchdog on the government.

But for the RSS – the BJP’s ideological mentor – the Indian constitution and the principles it was based on was anathema. The RSS mouthpiece Organiser, in its Editorial on 30 November 1949 wrote:

“But in our constitution, there is no mention of that unique constitutional development in ancient Bharat… To this day his laws as enunciated in the Manusmriti excite the admiration of the world and elicit spontaneous obedience and conformity. But to our constitutional pundits that means nothing”

RSS chief MS Golwarkar had this to say about India’s Constitution (in his book Bunch of Thoughts, 1966): “Our Constitution … has absolutely nothing, which can be called our own. Is there a single word of reference in its guiding principles as to what our national mission is and what our keynote in life is? No!” 

Indeed, for the RSS and the BJP, the anti-democratic, anti-dalit, anti-women Manusmriti should have been India’s ideal “constitution”, rather than a book based on the principles of liberty, equality and fraternity. Let us remember that Prime Minister Modi has publicly acknowledged his allegiance to Golwalkar’s ideas. In 2008, he wrote a book in Gujarati titled ‘Jyotipunj’, where he speaks glowingly of “Pujniya Sri Guruji” Golwarkar. It is thus not surprising that Modi govt is working overtime to weaken the institutions and ideas stemming from the Constitution.

Let’s take a quick look at the Modi govt’s various attempts to tamper with constitutional & democratic institutions in India:

Rule by Loyalists, Not By Law – Filling KEY Institutions with BJP-RSS Members and Loyalists:

Right from Day 1, the Modi government has been bending rules to ensure that all key posts in the country are filled by RSS/BJP leaders and ideologues. In its very first Cabinet meeting on 27 May 2016, the government cleared an ordinance to change the TRAI Act 1997 so as to ensure the appointment of former TRAI Chairman (2006-09) Nirpendra Misra as the Principal Secretary to Prime Minister. Since then, Modi govt has made a spate of appointments of BJP leaders as ‘independent’ directors in key Central PSUs, that too without any domain expertise!

BJP Leaders as ‘Independent’ Directors In Top PSUs

And what is happening to these companies under BJP’s leadership? The profitable ONGC is being forced into bailing out the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) through a disastrous deal. Again, rules were rewritten to force LIC, India’s biggest public sector insurer, to bail out the IDBI !!!

Muzzling and ‘Managing’ the Media:

Over the past few years, India has slipped in the World Press Freedom index, compiled by the Reporters Without Borders and calculated on parameters such as level of pluralism, media independence, environment and self-censorship and transparency. This rating apart, we have been witnessing multiple attempts of the Modi government and BJP leaders/supporters to control media coverage and ensure that nothing critical of the BJP is seriously discussed. Defamation cases are filed, editors are pushed around, phone calls are made to editors to “encourage” them to drop stories, offices of dissenting media houses are raided, reporters and dissenters such as Gauri Lankesh, Kalburgi and Pansare are threatened, jailed, charged with sedition and even murdered. Recently, two senior journalists at the ABP network – editor-in-chief Milind Khandekar and anchor Punya Prasun Bajpai – resigned, stating that they were told NOT to ever run stories critical of Narendra Modi.

The modus operandi is clear. As per a report in the Wire, the Modi government has a 200-strong team to monitor media coverage: “150 members were involved only in monitoring the channels; 25 members gave it the shape the government wanted; and the remaining 25 reviewed the final content… officials at the PMO would get activated and send their directives to the editors of the news channels about what was to be done and how” (https://thewire.in/media/punya-prasun-bajpai-abp-news-narendra-modi). The Modi govt is thus managing media content and effectively destroying the very idea of an independent media!

‘Surveillance Hub’ and Social Media Control:

The Modi govt had plans to monitor, control and manage individual messages and conversations on social media (Facebook, Whatsaap).  Money had been allotted to institute this “surveillance hub”! This plan was dropped only after a huge furore.

‘Molding’ the Judiciary:

In January this year, four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court after the CJI held an unprecedented press conference. The implication of their statements was that the CJI was constituting benches for crucial cases so as to guarantee a verdict favourable to the powers-that-be. Overall, whether it is the case of Judge Loya’s suspicious death or the case of Sahara Birla papers,  a pattern has emerged where the judiciary is NOT ALLOWING EVEN A PROBE to happen when the politically powerful are involved! 

Since 2014 in fact, the Modi government has been hell-bent on trying to change the composition of the judiciary. It has tried its level best to stall the appointment of judges in the SC who happened to have ruled against the BJP in high profile cases (such as KM Joseph); for years now, it has been stalling the appointment of Harnaresh Singh Gill and Mohammed Nizamuddin to High Courts in the country despite SC collegium’s recommendation.

‘Molding’ the Bureaucracy:

The Modi government is changing the rules of cadre allotment (IAS, IFS, IPS, IRS etc) in the UPSC, whereby cadres will be allotted not as per the existing rule of performance in the UPSC exam, but on the basis of the ‘assessment’ of the candidates during the initial orientation programme!!! These changes essentially meant that the government can ensure that crucial posts are appointed on the basis of political allegiance. Moreover, it introduced ‘lateral entry’ into UPSC with the same end in mind.

Who will probe cases of corruption? Tainted Officers in CBI:

In July 2018, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has taken the unprecedented step of writing to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) suggesting that the Bureau is being asked to induct officers who are tainted and “under examination by the CBI as suspects/accused in criminal cases under investigation with the Bureau”! The CBI has pointed out that its second most senior officer, Special Director Rakesh Asthana is himself under the scanner in several cases and therefore “cannot be consulted for inducting officers into CBI” in the absence of the Director Alok Verma. (Indian Express, 16 July 2018). The Supreme Court, in a controversial judgment, upheld Asthana’s appointment. The question is – why is the Government keen to make the CBI induct officers who are suspected and are under investigation?

No Lokpal after 4 years, Dilution of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Whistle Blowers Protection Act:

Moreover, the Modi government’s claims of ‘fighting corruption’ also fall flat when one realizes that NO Lokpal has been set up in four years, and the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Whistle Blowers Protection Act has been diluted. Essentially, the legislature, the judiciary and the CBI is being structurally tampered with to ensure that corruption will never be seriously investigated.

Burial of Transparency and Public Scrutiny – Floodgate Opened for Unlimited, Anonymous Political/Electoral Funding and Stifling of Electoral Opposition:

The Companies Act has been amended to completely remove the ceiling (7.5% of company’s average net profits in the past three financial years) on political donations and the requirement for a company to disclose the name of political parties to which they donate. Further, a system of non-transparent Electoral Bonds to ensure anonymity of donors/ donees has been introduced. While the names of the donor and donee will remain unknown to the public, the govt will get to know the same through the clever trick (discovered by the Quint) of a secret number embedded on Electoral bonds! Through these changes, not only will political parties be officially more strongly funded by corporations with vested interests, the ruling government will be able to keep a tab on their rivals’ funding. ONLY the government will have access to data on political funding, while ordinary people, civil society and even opposition parties will not have this information. The Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA) has also been amended in March 2018 to clear the way for foreign donations to political parties without any scrutiny, and that too retrospectively since 1976 !!!

‘Managing’ the Election Commission:

The Election Commission suffered damaging ill-repute under CEC Achal Kumar Joti, a Gujarat cadre IAS who earlier served as Gujarat’s chief secretary under Narendra Modi as the CM. Joti’s undue delay in announcing Gujarat poll dates allowed the Gujarat BJP government to announce sops to the tune of Rs 11,000 crore, by delaying the model code of conduct! In another questionable move, A K Joti, on his last day in office, announced the disqualification of 20 AAP MLAs for holding an ‘office of profit’. The move was widely seen as Joti’s “parting gift to the BJP!” We all know now, how this action of the CEC was stoutly rejected by the Delhi High Court!

Rafale Deal – Violating Statutory Rules of Defence Procurement, Cronyism and Undermining National Security:

As the Rafale deal has amply shown, the Modi government’s penchant to scuttle institutional procedures and safeguards is now impacting defence deals and national security! Modi government unashamedly violated procedures for defence procurement – NO prior sanction was taken from the Cabinet Committee of Security (CCS) for the higher cost-no technology transfer 36 Rafale aircrafts!  Further, for the  Offset Contracts allotment, Defence Ministry’s own mandated guidelines were summarily violated to favour Anil Ambani’s two week old Company (with NO experience in defence manufacturing) over country’s reputed public sector unit HAL!

Suppressing All Inconvenient Data:

Blocking inconvenient data and scuttling transparency is the Modi govt’s modus operandi to deal with all tough questions. India does not have a Chief Statistician since January 2018- the government wants to leave this crucial information-generating office headless and rudderless. Since 2016, the NCRB has stopped publishing data on farmer suicides in the country. Since 2016, the Labour Bureau has simply stopped carrying out employment-unemployment surveys. Instead, the government is resorting to fudging data to whitewash its dismal employment generation track record! Govt told the Parliament that there exists NO data on mob lynchings! The RBI has yet to submit its final report on the macroeconomic impact of demonetisation.

Amending the RTI Act to Bring RTI Under Government Control:

The Modi government is desperately trying to dilute the RTI Act 2005.The amendments want to empower the Central govt to control the salary as well as the tenure of State Information Commissioners and the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC). Right now, the CIC enjoys the same rank as the Chief Election Commissioner and has a tenure of 5 years. Now, if the tenure is subject to the Centre’s whims, chances are information commissioners will be sacked for passing inconvenient orders. The government wants to ensure its complete political control over state and central RTI offices, and hence wants the tenure and salary of various RTI officers to remain subject to its own whims and political interests.

Overall, the Modi government has clearly been working on hollowing out our democratic institutions in multiple ways. From the media to the executive and the judiciary, all institutions are under tremendous stress today. If the 1970s saw official Emergency, what we are witnessing today is a far more widespread and insidious ‘emergency’- which is undeclared and hence without any accountability either- where all those in ‘responsible’ positions are crawling before the “government of two and a half men”.

As 15 August approaches, we need to pledge to safeguard our threatened democracy and our embattled institutions from the ongoing fascist takeover.

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