Failed 'coup' in US: Vigilantism threatens India too

The storming of the Capitol, America’s Parliament, holds stark lessons for Indian democracy. Mainly led by vigilante groups who wanted to subvert the verdict of the US presidential election, this event has been described as “failed insurrection”, “domestic terrorism”, “sedition” and as an attempted “coup d’état”. One of the groups indicated the long-term political agenda of the rioters by describing the operation as “the beginning of the start of the White Revolution in the United States.”

They reflect the crystallisation of far-right groups and the legitimisation of their agenda in a democratic political system. Despite claims that this could never happen in India, there are alarming similarities with political processes in motion in this country.

It is instructive to see what the groups involved stand for. The “Three Percenters”, get their name from the claim that three percent Americans took up arms against the British during the American Revolution. This right-wing militia largely comprises former and serving officers of the army, police and other law-enforcement agencies. Another paramilitary group, “The Oath Keepers” also draws its membership from former and current military, police and first responders who have taken an oath (which all military and police routinely take in the US)  to “defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” The “Proud Boys” is a men-only neo-fascist group that glorifies political violence. Predictably, it is also Islamophobic, misogynistic, and anti-immigrant. “The Groyper Army”, is a collection of white nationalist activists and internet trolls. Others were affiliated to “National Anarchism” which advocates a nationalism founded on racial segregation, the “National Socialist Club” a neo-Nazi street gang or to Q-Anon who believe that Trump was fighting a nation-wide conspiracy to protect Satan-worshipping paedophiles. These right-wing activists were just the vanguard, as millions of Americans sitting at home cheered them on.

The Indian republic is also threatened by the blooming of Islamophobic nationalism. Constitutional defences have been too weak or have been compromised. India’s ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) its cadre, and die-hard supporters are mesmerised by their current leader, Narendra Modi. They seem to tacitly support or overlook vigilante action against those who dare to question the Hinduisation of India. Like in the US, the attempt is to subdue critics of the larger project by forcibly drowning out their voices in the public sphere.

Far-right vigilantism in India is the direct product of Hindu majoritarian politics which is the project of the proto-Fascist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). This fountainhead of Hindutva ideology in India urges Hindus to defend their interests. While the RSS describes itself as a cultural organisation, it is the flag-bearer of V D Savarkar’s mission to “Hinduise politics and militarise Hinduism”. While the BJP, as the political front of the RSS, attempts to “Hinduise politics”, the vigilante groups attempt to “militarise Hinduism”. The BJP’s efforts are justified as the people’s mandate thanks to the fig-leaf of elections. The militarisation of Hinduism has no equivalent legitimation but it develops when it remains unchecked by laws and legal processes.

Hindutva vigilantism is not new to India. The murder of Graham Staines, the demolition of the Babri Masjid, the 2002 anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat or the bomb-blasts on the Samjhauta Express, at Ajmer Sharif in Rajasthan, Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad and in Malegaon, were carried out by far-right vigilantes. More recently, Hindutva vigilantism has become more pervasive with lynching of those suspected of eating beef or trading in cow products, terrorising youngsters on Valentine’s Day and harassing inter-faith couples in the name of “love-jihad”.

Trump loyalists stormed the US Capitol on Wednesday in an attempt to disrupt the certification of the Electoral College results. The FBI is summoning witnesses of Wednesday’s violence, which left four dead and led to 52 arrests. Photo: Reuters

 

And now as the vigilante agenda is taken on board officially by the State it will become internalised by citizens as the new norm. Thus, when the Telangana police killed a rape accused extra-judicially, it was seen as “swift justice” by most people. When the UP police destroyed the homes and property of protestors against Citizenship Amendment Act, it was seen as “delivering” on the promise of “revenge” by the Chief Minister and celebrated as “tough governance”. Suddenly entering the homes of alleged protestors, destroying their property, detaining their children, arresting youngsters at random, targeting Muslims and torturing those arrested became the new normal. In UP and some other BJP ruled states, the enactment of laws to prevent ‘love-jihad’, overturns earlier protections for inter-faith marriage.

  

As the practitioners of Hindutva ideology go about rearranging the social and political order according to their vision, legal and constitutional means are just one plank of legitimising this process. They cover the government’s actions to amend the Citizenship Act, order the preparation of a National Register of Citizens, and split Jammu and Kashmir to undermine the majority vote of Muslims in the state and to criminalise triple-talaq amongst Muslims.

However, the reshaping of India as a Hindu nation through the legal route is slow. Constitutional methods of achieving consensus for social, political and economic goals appear to be slowing down the implementation of Hindutva’s transformational agenda. This is why its adherents show little faith and commitment to democratic consultative processes and compromises. They tolerate vigilante violence which intimidates and subdues those who question their goals. Street power, loosely organised through shared ideological agendas, supplements their parliamentary majority and is necessary to increase the pace of social transformation.

While a storming of Parliament may not be necessary, vigilantism is not any less of a threat in India. The minorities are already fearful and institutions that could have acted as a check on Hindutva’s march have been rendered dysfunctional by this dual attack on their will to resist majoritarianism. This is a far more dangerous and deeper process undermining democracy in India than a physical assault on Parliament.

Twitter: @Bharatitis