Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two moves — first, convening the four-day special session of Parliament from September 18 to 22; and second, constituting a committee headed by the former president Ram Nath Kovind to examine the possibility of a ‘One Nation, One Election’ system, under which simultaneous elections would be held for the Lok Sabha and state assemblies — while are fraught with the ominous intentions, have also caused considerable dismay in the political circles.
These two announcements were not made merely with the intention of terrorising or confusing the opposition parties, which have united under the flagpole of I.N.D.I.A., but more than that, these are aimed to protect the autocratic functioning and image of Modi under a flimsy democratic veneer. This is the worst ever spectre India is faced with. Modi is known for his hatred towards democracy and democratic institutions. Obviously, his latest attempt to subvert the democratic structure has not come as a surprise.
An insight into Modi’s latest move would make explicit that it’s aimed at countering the narrative set by Rahul Gandhi. The Prime Minister’s action appears to manifest his contempt and derision towards I.N.D.I.A. However, it is Rahul’s narratives that have been causing the real consternation within the Modi camp. With Rahul in the ‘renunciation of power and post’ mode, the task for Modi has really turned gruelling. He can fight a politician who is in for power. But it is tough to belittle Rahul’s importance in the eyes of the people by insinuating or taking jibes against him, when everyone knows how Rahul shuns power. Modi also knows it well that his earlier jibes like “pappu”, and “shahzada” have completely backfired, now that Rahul has been catapulted as the peoples’ leader, especially after the tremendous success of the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
Modi never imagined that Rahul would emerge as the chief challenger to either the RSS ideology, or his own politics of crony capitalism-funded Hindutva. Significantly, the opposition leaders who earlier used to get panicked at the slightest mention of ED or CBI, are now publicly raring to confront these agencies. They have even mustered courage to openly challenge Modi’s authority and his political hegemony. It is certainly not a difficult task for the RSS and BJP to realize that they were speaking the language of fearlessness, epitomised by Rahul Gandhi. Besides, the deliberation at the three successive opposition meetings and the promise of the leaders to sacrifice their self-interest is the clear pointer for Modi that any confrontation would prove to be detrimental for him.
After the I.N.D.I.A. team was formed, Modi has been trying to show to the people the ‘democratic side’ of his personality. This is a cliché to dispel the public belief that he is an autocrat. Well-placed sources maintain that Modi and his lieutenant are planning to restore the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir, but without reinstating Article 370. The nature of the ongoing proceedings of the Supreme Court on Article 370 has turned the Modi government sceptical. It nurses the feeling that apex court may restore the statehood, if not Article 370. Significantly, the Modi government so far has not succeeded in convincing the apex court about its move to take away the statehood. After the case featured before the apex court, it has attracted the national and international attention. The BJP political ecosystem is also of the view restoring the statehood would bolster the personal image of Modi as of being a true democrat.
It is worth mentioning that a day ahead of announcement about formation of the ‘One Nation, One Election’ committee, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had called on former president Ram Nath Kovind and had a wide range of discussion on the issue. His primary aim was to make Kovind agree to accept the office and undertake the task. Of course, before that the BJP chief J P Nadda had also called on Kovind as the representative of Modi and briefed him about his future move.
In this backdrop, the best course for Modi has been to adopt a liberal approach and try set a new alternate narrative for Rahul. However, the move might have backfired, as constituting the special committee or summoning the special session of the house instead of projecting his image of being a democrat, has simply reiterated peoples’ perception that he is an autocrat and turning the governance into one-man diktat.
The idea of simultaneous elections is not new and has been advocated by BJP and Narendra Modi in the past. This has been integral part of the RSS Hindutva agenda. Indian unity in diversity is a major threat to the existence of RSS and its philosophy. RSS and BJP have been advocating the political line of one language, one nation, one election, one civil code, among others. RSS spread fast in the Hindi heartland as it has Hindi as one common language. But, it is struggling to spread in south India. In case, its theory of ‘one nation, one election’ is implemented, RSS nurses the view that it can exercise its command across the country. There is no other reason for pushing this delinquent concept. It is delinquent because it plans to abolish the diversity of culture and social ethics for which India is known.
The Kovind committee will be the fourth to examine the possibility of simultaneous elections. Earlier, the prospect was discussed by the Law Commission, NITI Aayog, and a Parliamentary Standing Committee. Modi himself has strongly pitched for the idea of simultaneous elections. In his 2019 Independence Day speech, Modi said after the government had achieved ‘one nation, one tax’ through the Goods and Services Tax, “there are now demands of ‘one nation, one election’”. Rahul was politically correct in saying that the idea of “one nation, one election” is an attack on the Indian Union and all its states. In a post on X/Twitter, Gandhi said, “INDIA, that is Bharat, is a Union of States.”
Modi’s haste in executing the ‘one nation, one election’ agenda notwithstanding, it being against the spirit of the federal character of the country, contempt to the provisions of the Indian Constitution and also challenging the basic structure of Republic, is primarily aimed at furthering the cause of RSS and its philosophy of “Bharat” that is a Hindu Rashtra. Noteworthy it is that only a day ahead of Modi’s announcement, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has outright declared that “Bharat is a Hindu Rashtra”.
His assigning Ram Nath Kovind with being the convener of the committee which would formulate the broader framework for ‘one election, one nation’ is being perceived by the people as inflicting insult to the former Constitutional head of the country. He could have chosen someone else. In his design, he even did not deter from showing disrespect to Kovind and in a way to the office of president. This is for the first time in the history of Republic that a person who has retired from the office of President was offered the chair of the committee. Obviously, this he did to let the people comprehend of the importance of the committee and also to demonstrate his invincibility. But in the process he lowered the prestige of Kovind. It is indeed shocking how could Kovind agree to head this committee. But as the phrase goes, “Modi hai to mumkin hai” (everything is possible under Modi).
The Modi government in all probability would also bring in Uniform Civil Code, women’s reservation bill, population control legislation, besides the ‘one nation, one election’ in the Parliament. Even senior BJP leaders hold the view that the session may witness introduction of a motion for dissolution of the Lok Sabha. This would be the precursor for preponing the Lok Sabha election. Modi and his thinktanks are reluctant to give more time to I.N.D.I.A. to intensify its election campaign and consolidate its gains at the ground level. Modi’s move to bring UCC, women’s reservation bill and population control bill are primarily aimed at polarising the Hindu votes. The BJP ecosystem is confident that I.N.D.I.A.’s election agenda based on economic backwardness, unemployment, rising poverty will fail to counter Modi-led NDA’s hardcore communal and emotional agenda. (IPA Service)