India’s Fascistic Government is Biting the Hand That Feeds It
Shabnam Ali / Jan 12 / Domestic Fascism
*Trigger warning: mentions of sexual violence
The recent reformation of Indian farming bills is the latest in a long line of fascist activity from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Fascism: a far-right political philosophy, placing the nation or race, above individuals often with a dictatorial, suppressive, and aggressive, regime of power.
In India, abuse of authority, power and wealth are not unheard of, but PM Modi’s para-military approach to handling societal indifference marks a shift in state-sanctioned oppression. In September of this year, the Indian government announced measures to allow for the corporatist takeover of the farming and agricultural sector, in a move that threatened the lifeline and legacy of millions of Indians. Amidst the uncertainly and death toll of COVID-19, the three new ordinances provoked the largest national protest in history to protect the farmers from big business, united several factions and demographics, and ignited international interest. This piece delivers a comprehensive report on the fight of India’s farmers in 2020.
The new reforms and how deregulation affects India’s farmers
The governmental assent was approved on September 27th, 2020 by PM Modi to reform farming bills in India. The three reforms are Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act. As a result, farmers are living in fear that these new laws will threaten their livelihood as they will allow for a shift from a government-regulated minimum price measure, to a de-regulated market, controlled and at the mercy of private buyers, who could dictate the market price and possibly erase minimum procurement price, making farmers vulnerable to exploitation.
To understand this from an economic perspective, we must analyse the impact of privatisation, deregulation, and minimum price measures on industries such as agriculture. A minimum price measure is a form of government intervention in volatile industries to ensure a legal price whereby prices cannot fall below that level. In turn, these prices will increase incomes for farmers and safeguard the continuity and security of wages. Regarding the Indian farming market, due to differing weather conditions affecting the production of crops, supply in the agricultural field can vary, whilst demand remains price inelastic: a predictable and unchanging demand, as many food items are a necessity within the Indian diet. As such, one good crop could lead to an increase in supply and falling prices, risking putting farmers out of business because low prices lead to low incomes. Before the Modi government’s reforms, the Indian farming market guaranteed a minimum price, by buying the surplus product and stabilising wages.
Yet these new reforms, display a lack of protection for farmers’ wages. In response to such fears the Minister of Agriculture, Narendra Singh Tomar has assured that the “Minimum Support Price mechanism will stay, and adequate protection of land ownership was in place to protect farmer interests.” Nonetheless, farmers are not seeking negotiation, but a complete rollback of said ‘black laws.’ By mid-December 2020, after five talks between the Farmers’ Unions and Modi’s government, there has been no amicable solution and protests continue despite violating social distancing rules due to COVID-19, adding to the death toll.
According to the Modi government, these reforms will “accelerate growth in the sector through private sector investment in building infrastructure and supply chains for farm produce in national and global markets.” Essentially, increasing supply via imports to increase profits. The fear that such private investment will push out local and small farmers, leaving them potentially displaced, with volatile prices and wages or perhaps jobless, is particularly detrimental during times of a global virus. The attempt to compete with global markets comes at the expense of common farmers, who were once the heart and soul of India.
Modi’s overarching tenancy towards fascism
Despite “economic growth” being described as the official incentive from the government, we must contextualise this situation in relation to PM Modi’s history. In politics and power, especially in developing nations shaped by poverty and a lack of liberal thought, there is always a political or personal beneficiary. PM Modi has become famous over the years for his outright dissent toward Indians who are not from the Hindu religion and he wishes for India to be an all-Hindu nation. Race superiority is a fundamental element of the fascism Modi presents: “in the context of the RSS-based BJP ideology, as in the case of the ‘Master race’ in Nazi Germany, Hindus are considered a superior race whereas the other communities of the Subcontinent are to be subordinated to Hindu rule.” In an article for the Guardian, Stanley writes: “For Trump and Modi, ethnic purity is the purpose of power.” By comparing Modi to Trump, this not only reveals their similarity in political opinion on how their nation should be divided but also their personal desire to divide both nations among religious and cultural lines.
Another component of fascism includes mobilizing the military, to carry out personal and political desire, as seen by Adolf Hitler in the Holocaust during WW2. One key and defining example of Modi’s religious elitism which still polarizes Indian politics today is the 2002 Gujarat Massacre. This massacre saw an inhumane approach to solving ethnic indifference as the military set alight, gang-raped, and slaughtered thousands of Muslims.
Bilkis Bano: they “raped me and butchered my child because we were Muslims.”
Bano, a Muslim-Indian woman gives her first-hand experience of institutional brutality. This is just one gruesome example of thousands whereby human and civil liberties were violated in order to appease the government. Despite a huge non-Hindu population in India and mass diversity, due to his own elitist and supremacist beliefs, PM Modi did nothing to protect these individuals purely because they were not Hindu, and instead “deliberately allowed anti-Muslim riots in the state…[where] more than 1,000 people were killed in the violence in 2002.”
In the current example of the privatisation of India’s agricultural industry, Modi’s fascism is evident as the states of Punjab and Haryana are affected the most. Data from the 2001 Census in India indicates that the Punjab state has the largest population of Sikhs in India: “14,592,387 out of 24,358,000, or 59.9% of the population.” Whilst the state of Haryana has the second highest population of Sikh-Indians: “1,170,662 out of 21,144,564, or 5.5% of the population.” Through this covert attempt at religious cleansing, Modi has deliberately implemented legislation that will directly affect states which have a dominant population of non-Hindus, in this case, the Sikh community, in a new age effort to displace and destabilize non-Hindu communities, for his personal desire of an all-Hindu nation. In November of this year, protesters used Gandhi’s non-violent direct action such as blocking railways and main highways to stand against big business, and as a result, Modi mobilized his military against the Sikh community, using tear gas, water cannons and batons to stop the mass protest, with the famous image displayed above, now-viral. Social media has been significant in pushing the message of protest worldwide, with supporting protests in Birmingham, UK last December.
Wealthy Indian individuals manipulating wealth inequality
Ideas of unity and solidarity among ethnic lines in India, following an attempt at division by the British Empire, are now divided by religion and their own leader’s personal fascist ideology. Handing over authority of the farming industry to the private sector allows friends of PM Modi, such as Mukesh Ambani (India’s richest man, with a real time net worth of $76.5B) to profit from these laws. India’s social and wealth inequality has been inherent for generations, and individuals such as Ambani are manipulating these inequalities for his own gain. Using his power and position, Modi removes political barriers for Ambani. In turn, Ambani gains more wealth and control, Modi places non-Hindu societies at a further disadvantage, to collectively further the Hindu community on the global measure, whilst widening wealth inequality.
In an evident case of ‘biting the hand that feeds it’, the battle between the Farmers’ Union and Modi’s right-wing government continues. Following a government appeal to the farmers to set a date for another discussion at their convenience, a live update on the situation, on the 20th December 2020, is an announcement by protesting farmers to “organise a day-long relay hunger strike Monday and block all toll collection on the national highways in Haryana from December 25-27th” which will affect Christian-Indians on Christmas day, leading to further government discontent.
From a nation where poverty is seen in every state, it seems that when certain Indian individuals have managed to acquire wealth or political power beyond their means, such as Ambani and Modi, allowing them to compete on Western standards like the Forbes magazine, their ethnic roots, and teachings of respect for the common people, are denounced in the face of power. Nonetheless, the oppressed Indian farmers will not retreat until these ‘black laws’ are completely repealed and are determined to protect their livelihood and legacy. Certainly, international unity in the cause is needed, but whether global solidarity will be truly effective in policy change if the criminals are protected by their governmental position or their wealth, is yet to be determined. In 2002, we saw the Muslim-Hindus of India have their human rights violated, and now in 2020, we see the Sikh-Hindu community endure the same as Modi’s fascism is rampant.