“Financial crisis-induced misery boosted far-right-wing voting in Germany. In towns and cities where many firms were exposed to failing banks, Nazi votes surged.”
In the Indian context, we have seen a sharp increase in extremism and the entrance of RSS ideologies in mainstream Indian politics through the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Demonetization, GST that broke the backbone of the middle class, Small and Medium Enterprises now seems like a systematic move on the part of the government to weaken the economy for political benefit.
We have all seen how the party had a come back in its second term spreading hate and communal differences further.
A weakened economy is conducive for extremism to foster. We have been witnessing the economy fall to its lowest in its recent past, with it’s GDP growth falling to 5%. The slowdown has been across most segments — mining, manufacturing, construction, financial, real estate, professional service etc. Unemployment has been highest in 4 decades the youth is left fending for themselves. India being predominantly an agricultural economy, the severe effect in the agrarian sector, has led to an increase in the rate of farmer suicide, (being the highest in a decade), with an average of 10 deaths daily.
As the country witnessed the ‘Long March’ of 12 March 2018 in Mumbai where more than 1lakh farmers marched from Nashik to Mumbai to protest the “consistent betrayals” by the central and state governments, which is even more acute in the years of Bharatiya Janata Party rule.
The automotive industry was hit equally hard due to slowdown, caused by factors such as GST rate, liquidity crunch, stagnant wages leading to a job loss of around 2 lakh, in turn affecting the ancillary industries which were mostly SMEs.
Similarly, in the textile industry, companies were forced to cut down their production and shut down their mills, resulting in huge job loss of more than 1.2 lakh employees.
How can a government be so clueless in controlling the economy?
Or is this a part of a bigger puzzle we are unable to see.
The government with all its impractical financial decisions and change in nomenclatures have set a path for the complete destruction of the economy by a threat of impending recession, seem to have realized they have bitten more than they can chew. Coming to the new Citizenship Amendment Act.
When the Delhi police entered and brutally beat up the students from Jamia and Aligarh universities for peacefully protesting in their campuses, the nation saw it’s the first uproar of protest against the discriminatory act. BJP might not have expected such an outcry from all sections of society, coming from diverse religious backgrounds, and social strata.
The protests spread like wildfire throughout the nation. We saw the barbarity of the UP police which acted no less than state-sponsored cartels.
Taking you back to 1938-39 Germany, let’s see how it relates to the present-day Indian scenario.
Reading an extract from the article “The failure of the law to protect their property was one of the first steps toward the erasure of both the present and future identities of Austrian Jews.”
According to Hayes, in the national budget for 1938-1939, an entire 5 per cent came solely from wealth confiscated from Jews. The rest of the assets went to non-Jewish citizens, in the form of houses, businesses and goods sold for vastly less than their value.
And ordinary citizens were more than willing to participate in the looting of Jewish property. “When the Nazis wipe out the Jewish inhabitants of a village in eastern Poland [later in the war], one of the first things they would do is distribute all the property to the locals,” Hayes says. “This was a way of winning popular support. It created complicity between the occupiers and the occupied, and common interest, and the Nazis exploited that.”
We can see clearly why the government thought it was necessary to implement CAA and in what ways it will help placate the anger in people as well as lead them closer to their ultimate goal of having a Hindu Rashtra.
In comparison to the present day, Uttar Pradesh’s Bijnor district of Nehtaur, the police along with the cadres of RSS have been looting, vandalising houses, assaulting women and men with rifles, not even leaving children behind in their brutality.
UP has made a prime example of the evil agenda that BJP RSS has planned.
Redistribution of wealth from the minority and other weaker section of society to the majoritarian counterpart in an attempt of mass appeasement.
Recently upon reading that Indian banks can now ask their customers to state the religion they belong to, I can’t help but wonder if the government has been copying word for word, the history of Nazi Germany, where banks were asked to estimate the Jewish wealth share in the economy.
Like we all know history repeats itself, the once-powerful fascist state in all its glory burned right down to ashes with all its hatred and intolerance. The once Undefeatable leaders dying a piteous death hanging in a bunker.
In today’s world where there’s a rise in extremism everywhere, we have people, common people standing side by side, standing tall in the face of fascism, working relentlessly to make the world a better place. A place where love prevails over hatred.
A place where Hindu brothers are standing in queue guarding their Muslim friends from the stones pelted by police, while they’re offering namaz.
A place where Muslim mothers and aunts are feeding snack to the youth who are raising their voices and protesting against CAA saying they need strength to continue their fight.
A place where we see skullcapped people stand side by side with the bandana pride shouting slogans of Azadi.
Where people from ALL communities replying to the call of ‘awaaz do’ (shout loud) “hum Ek hai” (We are all one)
This generation gives me hope.
This generation, unlike the rest, are cutting the bullshit and fighting for the change they want to see.
This world will change because of the power of ‘Us’.
Also Checkout: Arvind Kejriwal makes free electricity optional
