India: Dichotomies of Paper Leviathan

by Dr. Smit Gupta    24 November 2023

Recent clashes in India’s Manipur and Nuh districts have revealed BJP’s failing approach to resolving social issues. In both cases Hindu majority groups are the oppressors and in both states, BJP has the rule. It shows how little effort BJP is putting to ensure peace in both states. And besides these two states, BJP has failed to protect religious minorities, especially Muslims. This makes India a Paper Leviathan. On one side it claims to be the world’s largest democracy, while on the other side, it completely fails to deliver on its responsibilities.

The human being, the modern progeny of historically evolved sapiens that lived in self-governed societies, now has more developed governing structures that are meant to ensure peace among them. It needed someone who could hold humanity accountable and from whom it could fear. Hitherto, humans had constructed these supernatural beings, Leviathans- the monster, to avoid any chaos among themselves. But in the post-neolithic revolution time, humans developed walled cities and rulers among themselves who were meant to govern these communities inside these walls, protecting them from external threats from nomads. With the evolution of city-state and the inception of nation-states, different countries emerged that made these communities based on longstanding traditions, obsolete. The nation states or the newly emerged Leviathan is comprised of society and the government. Between these two, the social contract is signed that ensures rights and responsibilities on each other’s end. Someone fulfills his duty, he must be ensured his rights. And the same goes otherwise. Both, society and the government have to keep each other accountable walking in a narrow corridor. If anyone fails in fulfilling its responsibilities both will stumble to fall because both are chained together. The irony is that both, government and society, by nature, want to exploit their position and instead of fulfilling their duties, ask for their rights. The government by no means is willing to give rights to its citizens.

Today, when modernity is reaching its zenith and governing structures, are evolving based on their manifestation for the utmost welfare of people, some societies are doing otherwise. Claiming to be democracies, these countries are by no means up to the mark set by democratic standards. India is one of those countries. Back in 1947, the country was established in the name of democracy and secularism. Its leaders promulgated that in India-the largest democracy in the world, every religious and social minority will enjoy the perks of living in a secular country. It seems good to read if one doesn’t know the reality. What is happening in today’s India is opposite to what the country had claimed 76 years earlier. Minorities are purged severely and suppressed by state-backed organizations.

The current BJP government has turned India into a Paper Leviathan. In the papers, it is a democracy, that claims to ensure every individual’s rights according to the constitution. But in reality, India has proven to be the most insecure country for minorities. Take the case of Christians’ suppression in Manipur, violence by BJP-backed Bajrang Dal against Muslims in Nuh-Haryana, and India’s nefarious politics against Kashmiris, everything makes India a Modi-led totalitarian state. With the agenda of transforming India into a Hindu Rashtra, the current BJP government has neglected all the democratic principles. India is only livable for Hindus. In the recent Nuh violence, Bajrang Dal’s Kulbhushan Bhardwaj said that “There are hundreds of Muslim men working in Gurugram as carpenters, barbers, vegetable vendors, mechanics, and cab drivers, and we have always supported them. But now we will ensure they don’t get any support from anywhere as they are responsible for disrupting peace in the city, Muslims should not be allowed to live or work in the city. We appeal to the people of the city not to rent out apartments or slums to them.” Actions against Sikhs in Punjab are another picture of Modi’s suppression of minorities.

Let’s turn to the other factual aspects of India’s development. On one side when the world acknowledges India as a rapidly growing economic power, it must also take into account the facts on the ground. Aakar Patel in his recent book, The Price of Modi Years has compared the Modi government’s performance on different indexes. The table below shows India’s rank on these indexes.

It shows how the Modi government is just showcasing its performance to the world, but in reality, Indian people are not at the receiving end. As the government in India, for the sake of electoral politics, working for the majority of Hindus, igniting them against the minorities in the name of religion, it will further debilitate India’s social fabric.