The people of India have learnt that when it comes to understanding today’s situation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s actions speak far louder than his words. His statements — when he is not venting anger on the Opposition or blaming past leaders for today’s ills — either ignore the most pressing, vital issues of the day, or are platitudes and verbal gymnastics to gloss over or distract from these issues. His actions, on the other hand, leave little to the imagination on the government’s true intentions.
Over the past months, we have witnessed the Prime Minister and his government systematically dismantling all three pillars of India’s democracy — the legislature, the executive and the judiciary, with their actions demonstrating a deep-rooted disdain for democracy and democratic accountability. Consider first recent goings-on in Parliament. In the last session, we saw a government-led strategy to disrupt Parliament and prevent the Opposition from raising issues of grave concern to the country and its people, such as unemployment, inflation and social divisions, and discussing the year’s Budget and the Adani scam among other vital issues. Faced with a determined Opposition, the Narendra Modi government resorted to unprecedented measures — expunging speeches, preventing discussion, attacking Members of Parliament and, finally, disqualifying a Congress Member of Parliament at lightning speed. As a result, the Budget of 45 lakh crore of rupees of people’s money was passed without any debate. In fact, the Prime Minister was busy inaugurating projects in his constituency with widespread media coverage when the Finance Bill was rammed through the Lok Sabha.
