Noted poet K. Satchidanandan has cautioned against the increasing influence of right-wing fascism that led to shrinking democratic space in the country.
He was speaking at a lecture on ‘Indian democracy at a crossroads’ organised on Monday in connection with the ongoing golden jubilee celebrations of the State Institute of Languages.
Dr. Satchidanandan said that the country was in the midst of an alarming period that posed a far greater challenge than the Emergency of the 1970s.
“While the Emergency had been brought about by muffling democratic powers using the Constitution, the ‘Emergency’ we witness today is marked by efforts to silence the Constitution using the power gained through democracy. With the situation being facilitated by the civil society and organisations through politics, we are staring at a bleak and uncertain future,” he said.
According to him, efforts were being made by those endangered by democratic values to govern democratic institutions. Such sections yearned to dilute environmental laws, labour norms, and feared the citizens’ right to question decisions, freedom of expression and a free press. The society has been witnessing efforts made to narrow down the confines of politics.
“While the Constitution aimed for the establishment of the country as a sovereign, secular, socialist and democratic republic, there is apprehension among many independent thinkers that we were headed in the opposite direction. We could describe the country as a servile, theocratic, pro-corporate, proto-fascist nation State under the existing circumstances,” he said.
He was critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s radio broadcast ‘Mann ki Baat’, which he claimed was rhetoric. He cautioned against attempts to portray vested interests as the general will of the public.
The poet formally released a book ‘Hindutva Fascism: History and Ideology,’ authored by J. Radhu, by presenting the first copy to literary critic B. Rajeevan. State Institute of Languages director V. Karthikeyan Nair also spoke on the occasion.
