The second and final day of the Bangalore Literature Festival (BLF) on Sunday saw an eclectic selection of panels and discussions covering history, the many languages of Karnataka, and current affairs.
Senior journalist and author Josy Joseph discussed his recent work, The Silent Coup: A History of India’s Deep State , in one of the sessions.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said, is perhaps the PM after P.V. Narasimha Rao to extensively misuse agencies towards political ends. Mr. Joseph was of the view that the Mr. Modi had perhaps internalised the potential of the misuse of the non-military agencies of the State so well, it was frightening. “After Mr. Rao, the coalition era provided for some checks and balances against the misuse of agencies. The UPA Governments ushered in an era of transparency and agencies seemed to be moving towards professionalisation. But all that work has been undone under this regime,” he said.
He cited a recent Income Tax department raid on Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav's aides in the run up to the elections in Uttar Pradesh. “....You are seeing just one tentacle of the deep State in action. The combined effect of the misuse of various agencies on any dissent is chilling. When the Government picks a girl like Disha Ravi from Bengaluru to Delhi, we tell our children to keep off politics on social media,” he said.
He acknowledged that it would be unfair to say this started with the incumbent regime. “Bureaucrats who were notorious for their role during the Emergency went on to have flourishing careers later. The officers whose roles were called to question during Mr. Modi’s Chief Ministership in Gujarat head several constitutional institutions today. While political forces have misused agencies, there are officers in the deep State willing to play the game and they are rewarded for it. In such an environment, the converse is also true. Several good officers have been victimised,” Mr. Joseph said.
In many ways, what is happening now is more insidious than during the Emergency, he argued. “What was qualitatively different, apart from it being legally declared an emergency, was the quality of opposition. There was still a generation of people from the freedom movement and we saw it in the opposition. That is what is missing today,” he added.
