Appendix II
Fascism in India: Key Characteristics
In the formative years of the RSS, M S Golwalkar upheld Hitler as a role model, which was no longer possible after the holocaust and the Second World War. Today Narendra Modi, ably aided by the entire Sangh network, has taken upon himself the task of reviving and carrying forward that tradition in ideas and actions. First as Gujarat CM he got Hitler eulogized as a great nationalist leader in school textbooks (Harit Mehta, In Modi’s Gujarat, Hitler is a Textbook Hero, Times of India, 30 September, 2004) and developed the ‘Gujarat Model’ as a pilot project of fascism in India. Now as PM he is rushing full throttle towards the cherished goal of a tyrannical Hindu Rashtra marked by unprecedented levels of corporate domination and closely aligned with Trump’s America.
To give the readers a sense of our assessment of this adaptation of fascism in our peculiar national setting, we reproduce here excerpts from the Resolution on The National Situation adopted at the Tenth All-India Congress of CPI (ML) Liberation. The Congress was held at Mansa, Punjab, from March 23 to 28, 2018 with the central slogan “Defeat Fascism! Fight for a People’s India!”
The resolution contains thirteen sections, each with a few paragraphs. We start from the first section, reproduce the parts we consider most relevant in the context of this booklet, and indicate the gaps with ellipses. The Resolution can be read in full at http://www.cpiml.net/documents/10th-party-congress/resolution-on-the-national-situation.
“Aggressive Fascist Agenda
“India has witnessed a massive political shift in the last four years with the BJP decisively replacing the Congress as the dominant political representative of the ruling classes. …The rise of the BJP as the predominant ruling party of India at both central and provincial levels has enabled the entire Sangh Parivar to unleash its fascist agenda with unprecedented speed and aggression. …
“The BJP ran the 2014 parliamentary election campaign like the Presidential campaign in the US, creating a veritable mythology around Modi and his so-called Gujarat model. The slogans issued by Modi like ‘Congress-mukt Bharat’ and the name of his rallies as ‘Bharat Vijay’ (the conquest of India) conveyed this aggression in no uncertain terms. Ever since, the BJP is treating its 2014 electoral victory (won with a vote share of only 31%) as though it has indeed conquered India and acquired a veritable licence to reshape everything according to the Sangh-BJP ideology and agenda. The BJP has unleashed an open assault on the Constitution and Modi ministers like Anant Hegde have openly emphasised the BJP’s mission to change the Constitution.
“The fascist offensive in India is being unleashed both by the State as well as a whole range of non-State actors, both often working in tandem … . The State has become increasingly authoritarian and intrusive, even as it overtly or covertly patronises the Sangh brigade in enforcing the communal casteist-patriarchal code through mob lynchings, targeted killings of dissenting intellectuals and activists, and a relentless campaign of virulent hate-mongering. From the terms of citizenship to the nature of the republic, the Modi government is trying to subvert the very foundation of constitutional democracy in India.
“Undermining Parliamentary Democracy
“In utter violation of the cabinet system of functioning in a parliamentary democratic system, Modi has been running his government on the American presidential pattern. …the Modi government is all about absolute concentration of power and the unabashed promotion of an unmitigated personality cult.
“Since day one, the Modi government has been systematically bypassing and undermining parliamentary institutions, procedures and conventions. The abolition of the Planning Commission and its replacement by a dubious NITI Aayog which does not even bother to pay lipservice to concerns for people’s welfare while pushing for digitisation of the economy and even advising the Election Commission on simultaneous holding of Lok Sabha and Assembly elections and the fraudulent passage of the Aadhaar and a host of other controversial measures in the guise of Money Bill are just a couple of glaring examples.
“The growing BJP clamour for ‘one nation, one election’ is an attempt to undermine the principles of federalism and political diversity, and use simultaneous elections to enforce greater political homogeneity by restricting the political choices of the people and subordinating the political discourse on every level to the narrative scripted by the ruling party and the big media. …
“The office of the Governor, which is constitutionally designed to give an upper hand to the Centre over the states, is now being brazenly misused by the BJP to promote its partisan interest of power grabbing and turn India into a completely unitary polity by undermining the rights of the states and every aspect of federal balance in our constitutional framework.”
Hereafter the resolution discusses the worst maladies the country is suffering under the Modi-Shah Raj in two sections: “Crony Capitalism, Corruption, Economic Devastation” and “Deepening Agrarian Crisis, Massive Unemployment and Rising Inequality”. The remaining six sections are excerpted below.
“Attacks on Minorities, Dalits and All Forms of Dissent
“Accompanying this aggressive pursuit of pro-corporate economic agenda is a shrill rhetoric of hypernationalism. Every dissenting voice, every inconvenient question is sought to be silenced by dubbing it anti-national and pitting it against the sacrifices made by the soldiers guarding the borders of the country. And this hyper-nationalism is just a thin veil for virulent anti-Muslim hate and violence. From consumption of beef and cattle-trade to inter-community marriage termed ‘love jihad’ by the Sangh Parivar, any rumour or wild allegation can trigger lynching of Muslims anywhere anytime. … Even the Supreme Court judgement invalidating the arbitrary practice of instant triple talaq, which came about in the wake of a protracted social and legal battle waged by Muslim women’s organisations themselves, is now being sought to be transformed into a tool of vilification and persecution of Muslim men.
“…The rise of the Sangh brigade to various positions and institutions of power has quite characteristically resulted in a widespread intensification of oppression on Dalits. The intimate links of the Sangh Parivar with the private armies of the landed gentry in Bihar, especially with the most notorious Ranveer Sena which perpetrated serial massacres during the late 1990s and early 2000s, have been well known, and now we see a generalised campaign of violence against Dalits in various spheres from remote rural areas to university campuses in metropolitan cities. …The communal and the casteist are indeed two sides of the same coin in the RSS ideology even as the Sangh brigade is desperate to recruit Dalits as foot soldiers in the campaign of communal aggression against religious minorities, whether Muslims or Christians.
“The intensification of communal and casteist aggression has meant heightened regimentation, moral policing and violence faced by women enforced not just by traditional khap panchayats but also by newly formed vigilante groups who roam the streets as selfstyled anti-Romeo squads with the tacit approval or even open patronage of the law and order machinery. …this misogynistic culture is rooted in the tenets and tradition of Manusmriti, that manual of caste oppression and patriarchal domination which the RSS holds as the ultimate and original constitution of India.
“The hate and violence directed against Muslims, Dalits (and sections of Adivasis targeted as alleged Maoists or as Christians) and women, also extends in the Sangh ideological framework to the communists and the entire range of Left/Liberal intelligentsia or activists. From perpetration and celebration of the serial killings of rationalists and social justice campaigners like Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare, MM Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh to the slapping of sedition charges or National Security Act on student leaders or youth activists, hounding out of journalists seeking to expose the truth and ask inconvenient questions of accountability and the veritable raising of a troll army to abuse and intimidate every dissenting voice on the social media as well as mainstream electronic and print media and increasing attacks on offices, activists and icons/symbols of the communist movement in different parts of the country – examples of cases of brutal suppression of dissent through systematic propagation of hateful lies and a combination of state repression and state-sanctioned privatised violence are galore in every corner of Modi’s India.
“And in a state like Kashmir, where the people are fighting a long-running battle for their right to self-determination in the face of acute state repression, the BJP, now also sharing power right in Srinagar, has shed all pretence of constitutional governance, treating common Kashmiris as virtual prisoners of war.…The BJP Governments in the Centre as well as in J&K, abandoning even a pretence of attempting to address or resolve the issue, instead uses Kashmir to fuel its Islamophobic and hyper-nationalist agenda all over India.
“Core Features of Modi Regime: Unmistakable Rise of Fascism
It is this combination of heightened corporate plunder, unmitigated communal aggression and caste oppression, systematic suppression of dissent and communist-bashing that has emerged as the defining core of the Modi regime. Much of the mainstream Indian media, sections of which are functioning virtually as a propaganda machinery of the Sangh-BJP establishment or spokespersons of the Modi regime, worked overtime to market Modi as a dynamic leader, as a development man and no-nonsense administrator, consigning the memories of Gujarat 2002 to the oblivion. Victory in the 2014 elections was seen as a vindication of this new development avatar of Modi. But after keeping India initially busy with the rhetoric of achchhe din, repatriation of black money and Swachh Bharat, the Modi rule has now effectively exposed its true colours for the whole world to see.
“The enemies of liberty, equality and fraternity want to overturn the constitution of India and reshape the country to fit their Hindi-Hindu-Hindustan framework. The collaborators of British colonialism who betrayed India’s struggle for freedom now want to hijack and rewrite history by inflicting Savarkar over Bhagat Singh, Golwalkar over Ambedkar and Godse over Gandhi.
This design must be defeated. This disaster must be prevented. And it is to this most pressing challenge and urgent task of the hour that we are dedicating this Tenth Congress of the CPI(ML).”
- Dipankar Bhattacharya,
Inaugural Address At the 10th Congress of CPI(ML)
“…The election campaigns of the BJP spearheaded by Modi himself as witnessed in crucial states like Bihar, UP and Gujarat have time and again exposed the absolute centrality of the politics of majoritarian communalism to Brand Modi. While Modi and his senior colleagues from the BJP and RSS maintain a deafening silence in the face of ghastly crimes committed and instigated by the Sangh brigade, others extend open justification and even indulge in gleeful celebration as witnessed after the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh and most recently in the videographed hacking of Mohammad Afrazul ….
“Considering these essential features of the current regime in conjunction with the core ideology and history of the RSS, what we are experiencing in India today is an undeniable rise of fascism. …The Emergency revolved primarily around a repressive state, whereas the Modi regime is all about the convergence of a state-led corporate assault and the campaign of majoritarian tyranny of the Hindu supremacist RSS. The Sangh brigade getting a free hand to unleash its fascist agenda, often with recourse to frenzied mass violence, is what essentially distinguishes the Modi model of autocratic rule from the Emergency era experience of authoritarianism.”
“Communalisation of State Machinery, Regimentation of Education and Thought
“…What distinguishes fascism from authoritarianism is its ability to legitimise state repression and mobilise a section of society in violence against minorities. Mohan Bhagwat’s by now infamous comparison of the RSS with the Indian Army reveals the RSS agenda of militarising Hindu society and communalising/politicizing the Indian Army. This agenda has been underway for a long time: the Bhonsala Military Academy set up in Nagpur in 1937 by Hindu Mahasabha leader BS Moonje (who met and was inspired by Italian fascist leader Mussolini) serves both aspects of the agenda. Bhagwat himself said in 2012 that the Bhonsala Academy serves as a ‘feeder institute to fulfill backlog of military officials’; a serving Army officer accused in the Malegaon blasts also received coaching at the Academy; retired and serving army officers and retired senior IB officers have served as trainers at the Academy, and the Academy also gives arms training to Bajrang Dal cadre, who indulge in organised communal violence against Muslims. The Sangh project of militarizing Hindu youth designates Muslims as ‘Pakistanis’ so as to disguise communal violence as ‘nationalism’ against an ‘internal enemy.’
“Another fascist feature of governance in BJP states is the celebration of staged ‘encounters’ and war crimes as state policy – the open celebration by the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Chauhan of the Bhopal staged encounter of 8 Muslim men and the spate of staged encounters being brazenly defended by UP CM Yogi Adityanath, the Government’s approval for the Army Major who paraded a Kashmiri man tied to a jeep, and the Hindu Ekta Manch rally in defence of Special Police Operations personnel men arrested for rape and murder of an 8-yearold Gujjar Muslim girl in Jammu are prominent instances.
“Such crimes happened in non-BJP regimes as well, but the official policy would usually be to deny rather than openly celebrate the crimes by men in uniform.
“The agenda of subversion and saffronisation of education is also a key part of the Sangh’s fascist project facilitated by BJP Governments. Schools in BJP-run states are saffronising curricula, rewriting history books, and even making Sangh-run camps compulsory for schoolchildren, in a bid to poison the minds of the young. At the same time, institutions of higher education are also in their line of fire – with BJP-appointed heads of such institutions wreaking wholesale destruction on free speech, campus democracy, social justice, and research, and ABVP acting as Sangh storm-troopers to attack all dissenting and progressive voices.
“Fascist Ideology and the Rise of RSS
“… since its inception in the 1920s, the RSS has historically sought to model itself on the ideology of militarist masculinist hypernationalism epitomised by Mussolini and Hitler. The centrality of hate and violence against the internal enemy (Jews and other minorities and communists in Nazi Germany, Muslims, Dalits and all shades of ideological opponents in Modi’s India), cynical exploitation of mass sentiment to promote a personality cult around a supreme leader, constant propaganda of falsehood and rumour – the similarities between Nazi Germany and today’s BJP-ruled India are all too striking and real. …
“…Fascism in 21st century India will obviously have its own distinct characteristics as compared to early 20th century Europe, but that does not make the threat of fascism any less real and its devastating potential any less lethal. The international economic and socio-political climate today is once again proving conducive to the rise of fascist tendencies as we can see in large parts of the world. The sustained economic depression, growing unemployment and economic insecurity, Islamophobia and anti-immigrant hysteria are all providing a fertile ground for the resurgence of fascist and racist politics in the US and many European countries. India’s growing integration with this crisis-ridden global capitalist order and especially the increasingly close strategic ties with US imperialism and Israel only reinforce the fascist trend in India.
“Communalism is a key factor in the rise and development of fascism in India. In this context, we must note that just as the rise of communal politics during India’s freedom movement, which eventually led to the partition of India amidst massive bloodbath and human migration, was very much aided by British colonialism, today the attempted transformation of India’s national identity from a secular pluralist framework to a Hindu supremacist majoritarian monolith is perfectly in sync with the American imperialist thesis of clash of civilizations wherein Hindu India is treated as a key ally in the US-led West’s battle with the Islamic Arab world and Confucian China!
“Caste as a marker of graded social inequality and a tool of exclusion and oppression is equally central to the fascist project in India. And more often than not, it is women who have to bear the brunt of this casteist order. …Indian fascism draws on, reinforces and extends the injustice and violence embedded in Indian society, with the RSS today epitomising all that is anti-democratic in Indian history and traditions.
“The fascist ideology of RSS had few takers during the first fifty years of its existence. It remained isolated from the freedom struggle and even advocated a general policy of collaboration with British colonialism in various spheres, especially to weaken the stature of Muslims as a major community in modern India. Following the assassination of Gandhi, the RSS not only suffered a legal ban but became thoroughly discredited in the eyes of the common people. The vacillation of the Congress on the question of communalism and its betrayal on the promises and aspirations of the freedom movement however enabled the RSS to regroup and accumulate strength and legitimacy. Most notably, the RSS was rehabilitated in the early 1960s as jingoistic nationalism gained currency during India’s decade of successive wars, first with China in 1962 and then with Pakistan in 1965 and 1971. The proclamation of the Emergency gave it the opportunity to further expand its network and influence through the popular movement for restoration of democracy. With the adoption of the policies of economic liberalisation and the shift towards pro-US foreign policy, as the Congress decisively moved away from the legacy of the freedom movement, the ideological and policy differences between the BJP and the Congress started getting blurred and the BJP did not find it difficult to expand its reach by making little pragmatic adjustments here and there to find new allies from various regions and social groups.
“…The crisis caused by the aggressive pursuit of the policies of liberalization, privatization and globalization has coincided in India with a major political vacuum resulting from the discrediting of the Congress and a whole range of other regional ruling parties. While the BJP is aggressively seeking to capture this political vacuum, the RSS is seeking to use this juncture to replace India’s historic and political imagination with its own. …In the process, they try to vilify Nehru, cleanse Gandhi, distort Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh, and demonise all Muslim figures and monuments in history including Akbar and the Taj Mahal as ‘anti-national’, and project caste and gender hierarchies, obscurantist and abhorrent social practices, and communal prejudices as the ‘essence of Indian culture’!
“An important aspect of anti-fascist resistance must be to resist this process of appropriation and rewriting of history. While being historically isolated from, and even opposed to, the anti-colonial awakening of the Indian people and the actual struggles for freedom from British rule, the RSS has always created its own fictional narrative of what it calls civilizational or cultural nationalism. It indulges in constant invocation of mythology, even passing it off as history, and falsification and misappropriation of actual history to suit its false narrative of communal nationalism. History has thus emerged as an important arena of the ongoing struggle to define and develop India.
“ … While resisting the RSS attempt to distort, falsify and hijack history we must uphold the people’s history of India, the great historical legacy of the battle for democracy, social justice and human emancipation. All that is progressive and emancipatory in our historical traditions must be upheld, nurtured and harnessed to energise and strengthen the battle for a great democratic and socialist future for our country.
“Economic and Foreign Policy Aspects
“The direction of the economic and foreign policies of the Modi government is more or less the same as the policy paradigm introduced by the Congress in the early 1990s. But the accelerated speed and the aggressive and arbitrary manner with which the present regime is proceeding in this direction sets it apart from the previous governments including the NDA governments headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The focus on foreign investment, financial integration and digitisation, privatisation and regimentation of labour laws has never been as sharp and strong under the previous governments. The abdication of the welfare responsibilities of the government has never been as complete and unabashed what with the abolition of the planning commission, systematic violation of food security and rural employment guarantee legislations, the shift from the public health system to insurance-based private healthcare and trivialisation of the agenda of employment by shifting the focus to selfemployment and now the projection of pakoda-selling, a symbol of precarious livelihood, as an example of gainful employment.
“In the arena of foreign policy, the Modi government has taken the policy of strategic subservience to the US to a new level, … to the point of keeping quiet on the growing incidence of attacks on Indian immigrants in the US. Hindutva organisations in the US are openly endorsing the White supremacist agenda of Trump. … But nearer home, Modi’s big brother attitude has isolated India from all her immediate neighbours.
“ … The Modi Government is also seeking to amend the definition of Indian citizenship with its Citizenship Amendment Bill, which proposes that Hindus from Bangladesh, Pakistan, or Afghanistan can be granted Indian citizenship. This proposal, by discriminating between persecuted minorities from neighbouring countries on religious grounds and privileging non-Muslim citizenship-seekers, tacitly tries to project India as a Hindu nation much on the model of Israel as a “Jewish Homeland”. This move has also created unrest and protest in Assam, which anticipates an attempt by the BJP to use this amendment to negate the Assam Accord which would render the cutoff date of 24 March 1971 superfluous.
Meanwhile there are concerns being voiced in Assam about the ongoing process of preparing a National Register of Citizens under the supervision of the Supreme Court. Statements by the Assam Government’s leaders suggesting a mass deportation of lakhs of people who are excluded from the NRC, if implemented, would result in a massive humanitarian crisis. In order to avert this crisis, the Central Government must explore an agreement with the Bangladesh Government as well as the possibility of work permits for those whose names are excluded by the NRC.
“Key Factors Propelling the Sangh-BJP Offensive
“What has enabled the Sangh-BJP establishment to grab power and systematically unleash its total agenda?
“Four factors that have clearly worked in its favour in the present juncture merit close attention. In 2014 the BJP did not just win an election, it exploited a veritable political vacuum to the hilt. While the Congress was clearly reeling under its worst crisis of credibility and leadership, almost all non-BJP political currents – the regional parties, the so-called ‘social justice’ camp and the Left – also appeared to have simultaneously hit their lowest points in terms of electoral strength. With the emphatic 2014 victory of Modi, the political balance began to tilt increasingly in favour of the BJP …
“Secondly, over the last three decades we have seen a veritable consensus emerge among almost all the ruling class parties on issues of economic policy and domestic governance as well as foreign policy. In the face of lack of policy differences, the BJP manages to present itself as the most aggressive and determined champion of these policies.
“Third, around this policy consensus we can also see the manufacturing of a common sense reinforced daily by the mainstream corporate media that sees mass eviction as a necessary price for development, human rights as eminently dispensable and draconian laws as urgently necessary for national unity, privatisation as the panacea for economic efficiency and so on and so forth.
“Finally, along with this armoury of policy consensus and manufactured common sense, the BJP has the secretive organisation of RSS with its own ammunition of hate, lies and rumour and network of privatised terror.”
The three concluding sections – “People’s Resistance Against Fascist Onslaught”, “Left Unity and Cooperation Among All Fighting Forces” and “Defeat Fascism! Onward to a People’s India!” -- deal with various aspects and tasks of resistance against Fascism. Here we reproduce the last two sections almost in full.
“Left Unity and Cooperation among All Fighting Forces
“From Gujarat to Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra to Bihar, we have seen inspiring instances of Dalit resistance and new potential of radical political mobilisation on the basic issues of land, education, jobs and dignity. In the face of the intensified RSS-backed offensive against Dalits, a new generation of Dalit movements led by young Dalit leaders has emerged. A welcome feature has been the determination of the Dalit movement to stand firm by the vulnerable Muslim community as well as resist attempts to co-opt Dalits to commit communal violence. The Dalit movement in the wake of Rohith Vemula’s institutional murder and the Una atrocity has started breaking the ‘Chinese wall’ between struggles for economic/material rights and struggles for dignity. The Una movement has not only offered a powerful Dalit challenge to the Sangh symbolism of ‘cow as mother’, but also championed Dalits’ struggles against demeaning and exploitative forms of labour and for allotment of land and a guarantee of dignified jobs. Such struggles have opened up welcome avenues for unity between Ambedkarite-led and Left-led struggles for the dignity and rights of Dalits and other oppressed sections around the core agenda of annihilation of caste and transformation of the society. Strengthening of each of these basic struggles and forging of closer links of unity, cooperation and solidarity among these diverse points of resistance holds the key to building a vibrant anti-fascist front of popular resistance. …
“The Constitution and the vote clearly remain two potent weapons in the hands of the people to resist and defeat the fascist forces. We can therefore see the desperate ongoing attempts to subvert these two weapons. During the Vajpayee era itself, the BJP had set up a committee to review the Constitution, today we often hear BJP ministers talking about changing the Constitution and the government contemplating several legislative measures that would fundamentally redefine and reshape the Constitution. The proposed amendment to the Citizenship Act smuggles in religion as a discriminatory criterion in determining Indian citizenship and deciding India’s official treatment of refugees. In the name of rationalisation of laws democratic rights are being sought to be heavily restricted and curtailed on all fronts especially in the arena of trade union rights, collective bargaining and workplace democracy. The federal framework is also being systematically overruled and subverted to subordinate the pluralism and diversity that is central to the unity of India to the Hindi-Hindu-Hindustan paradigm of the RSS.
“The electoral arena is also witnessing constant attempts to redefine the rules of the game. From the changing rules of electoral funding meant to promote anonymous corporate funding of big parties to the growing BJP clamour for simultaneous holding of Lok Sabha and Assembly elections so decentralised regional or social priorities and perspectives could be subordinated to the dominant central political narrative of the day thus compressing a diverse multi-party democracy into an increasingly bipolar framework, the conditions of electoral competition are being relentlessly sought to be redefined.
“Growing complaints of EVM malfunctioning and anomalies in booth-level vote counts have raised serious doubts about the transparency and credibility of the election process itself. …
“Indeed, the Gujarat elections have exposed the vulnerability of the Modi regime right in its own bastion. Even without the presence of a powerful opposition within the state, a series of successive agitations of various sections of the people created an environment that almost managed to vote the BJP out of power. … While strengthening the unity and assertion of the Left and other fighting forces, revolutionary communists must devise a strategy of effective intervention in the electoral arena to challenge and defeat the fascist forces. Without in any way compromising the political independence of the communist movement, wherever necessary we must remain open to the idea of joining hands with forces of the non-Left opposition against the fascist BJP and its allies.
“Defeat Fascism! Onward to a People’s India!
“The challenge of defeating fascism cannot and must not however be reduced to an electoral challenge.
“The experience of Bihar shows the inherent fragility and hollowness of the so-called grand alliance which had managed to hand over a decisive defeat to the BJP only to subsequently crumble and let the BJP in through the backdoor. In Gujarat, a weak Congress came so close to defeating the BJP by attracting broader social and political support from various movements, but we already see the Congress trying to compete with the BJP on religio-cultural terms dictated by the latter. Recent history in India is replete with instances where the Congress attempt to take the wind out of the BJP’s Hindutva sail through competitive invocation of the BJP’s slogans and icons has only played into the BJP’s hand, strengthening and legitimising its aggressive majoritarianism. To take another example, the TMC in West Bengal, may appear to be offering a powerful opposition to the BJP but its reign of terror, corruption, and outright assault on democracy is actually helping the BJP grow in the state. We must therefore never lose sight of the basic task of building a powerful ideological-political counterpoint against fascism.
“While addressing the basic issues of the people, it is important to not let the fascists get away with their twin weapons of hate propaganda and hate crimes.
“Experience shows that potential communal violence can often be neutralised if local organisations of the people can stay alert and dare to take the fascist bull by its horns.
“Neighbourhood-based militant solidarity among the fighting people can nip many a fascist conspiracy in the bud. Alertness and preparedness to prevent communal/caste violence and prompt and bold resistance from local activists and community elders in the event of any such violent outbreak have been of proven value in many such cases. It is also equally important to expose and challenge the hate propaganda of the communal fascists by arming people with real facts and rational analysis. …
“We must actively support and champion people’s resistance of all vulnerable sections – workers; peasants; women; Dalits; adivasis; students and youth; LGBTQ people; inter-faith, inter-caste and same sex couples; Kashmiris – against anti-people economic and environmental policies, as well as attacks on their Constitutional rights, dignity, and lives. We must be especially alert to any attempt to use ‘nationalist’ slogans and symbols to disguise and cover-up communal bullying and violence. We must make every effort to rally people to understand and defend Constitutional, democratic and progressive values, as well as to intensify struggles to achieve a better, more egalitarian and democratic India.
“The vacuum that has enabled the fascist forces to present themselves as the ‘saviour’ in a chaotic and crisis-ridden present needs to be filled with the vision and struggle for a better tomorrow, a vision of a prosperous, pluralist and egalitarian India that can guarantee a better life and broader rights to the Indian people. If the momentum generated during the freedom movement and the formative years of post-Independence nationbuilding has worn itself out, we need the energy of a second freedom movement that can bolster our political independence by guaranteeing full social and economic freedom to the people. If growing social and economic inequality is making a mockery of the notion of political equality of ‘one person one vote’ then we need a social transformation to overcome the structures of inequality. If the undemocratic Indian soil is constantly undermining the top dressing of democracy, and fascism is threatening to completely subordinate our constitutional democracy to the undemocratic soil, we need to democratise that soil to achieve real power in the hands of the people. Fascism shall not be allowed to pass and crush the people. The people united will overcome the fascist offensive and secure a stronger and deeper democracy for themselves.”
“We know we in the Left have lost a few crucial electoral battles, but these electoral setbacks are not going to decide the outcome of the ongoing war between fascism and democracy. The communists have always drawn their strength from the courage and determination of the people as they have fought heroically for their freedom and rights. Today as India once again witnesses a very powerful and inspiring wave of people’s resistance spearheaded by the workers and peasants, Dalits and Adivasis, students, youth and women, this growing resistance will only further galvanise the Left against the onslaught of fascism. Growing unity in action among various sections of the Left and dialogue and cooperation with every broader stream of resistance will enable us to halt the marauding march of the fascist forces. The unity of the people in struggles for livelihood, dignity and democracy will prevail over the polarising frenzy of communal hate.”
- Dipankar Bhattacharya,
Inaugural Address At the 10th Congress of CPI(ML)
First They Came for the Jews
by Martin Niemöller
First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.
First They Came for the Muslims
by Michael R. Burch
First they came for the Muslims
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Muslim.
Then they came for the homosexuals
and I did not speak out
because I was not a homosexual.
Then they came for the feminists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a feminist.
Now when will they come for me
because I was too busy and too apathetic
to defend my sisters and brothers?