ics,buttheIndianstatecontinues to liveby theliberal
playbook,no matter howhollowthe Indianliberalinsti-
tutions mayhavebecome.He anchorsthispropositionin
a distinctivetheoreticalposition.
AijazAhmadbelievesthatthereis a fundamental
contradictionbetween democracyandliberalismbut
saysthatno suchcontradictionobtainsbetweenthe rule
of the FarRightandthe liberalinstitutional formof the
state. Liberalism undermines democracy and
strengthensthe FarRight.Thatis whyforcesof the Far
Rightin a whole rangeof countries—theU.S.,Israel,
Turkey,India, andso on—are ableto rulethroughliberal
institutions.
He alsobelievesthatthe questionof fascismneeds to
be viewed in twoverydifferent framesthatareoften
confused. In oneof these theoreticalframes,fascismcan
be viewedas a generictendencythatis permanent and
immanentin all forms of thepoliticsof thecapitalist
bourgeoisiethroughouttheepochof imperialism.Nu-
merous politicalpartiesthat displayfascistictendencies
function happilywithintheruleof liberal/neoliberal
capitalism,all overEurope for instance.
In the narrowerframeof reference, however,the fully
fascistmovements andstates suchas thoseof Germany,
Italyor Spainaroseduring theinterwarperiodin very
special circumstances.Thebalance of classforcesin
thosecountries wassuchthatabrogation of theliberal
formof thestatewasessentialbeforewarlike violence
couldbe unleashedagainstthe verypowerfulrevolution-
ary movements of the workingclassthatthreatened the
ruleof capitalas such.Working-classmovementsare
weaker todaythanat anyother pointin virtuallya cen-
tury.A fascistorderis unnecessary.TheFarRightand
theliberalmachinecancoexist happilyin an infernal
embrace.
AijazAhmadwritesin Englishandin Urdu.Hiswork
hasbeentranslatedintoChinese,Turkish,Portuguese,
Korean, FrenchandArabic.Someof his booksin English
areGhazalsof Ghalib(NewYork,1971;NewDelhi,
1994 ),In Theory:Classes,Nations,Literatures(London,
1992 ; NewDelhi, 1995 ),Lineagesof thePresent(New
Delhi,1996;London,2000),Globalization andCulture:
Offensivesof theFarRight(NewDelhi,2004)andAfgh-
anistan,Iraq, andTheImperialismof OurTime(New
Delhi,2004).NarendraModiagainwon the people’smandatein May
2019.How do you look at his comeback?Whatare the
mainfactorsthat contributedto the BJP’sreturnto
powerwith a historicalmandate?How do you foresee
India’sfutureunderthe RSS-BJP’ssecondtermin
office?
Ledby Narendra Modi,the BJPhascertainlyscored
an electoral landslide.Whetherthiscanbe calleda
“people’smandate”is verydoubtful. In orderto givetheir
mandate,peoplehaveto havethebenefit of a rational
politicaldebatebasedon strictrespectfor facts,notto
speak of calmandclear enunciationof alternative
policies by the contendingpoliticalparties.Evenif polit-
icalpartiesare ableto offerrationalalternatives basedon
facts,the peopletodayno longerhaveaccessto anyof that
because the corporatemedia in Indiaare alignedalmost
exclusively withtheSanghmachine andareno longer
committed to public civilityandunbiasedreportingof
factsandpolicies.A democratic exercisethroughwhich
the peoplecangivetheir mandatefurtherrequiresstrict
observanceof ethical,constitutional andlegalnormsby
all theinstitutionsinvolved, notablytheElectionCom-
mission,thehighestjudiciary,lawenforcementagen-
cies—whichis no longerthe case.There oncewasa time
whenthe Indianpolityobservedthesedemocraticnorms
to a veryremarkabledegree.Buta civilcompactof that
kindhasbeenfrayingin Indiafor somedecades now,
gettingincreasingly morecorruptedas yearsgo by. By
“corrupted”, I don’tmean justthe massiveuse of money,
which is itselfa big factor in determiningelectoralout-
come.I meanan all-encompassing erosion of what could
reasonablybe called a democraticprocess. 2019seemsto
havebeen the point whenanyrelationbetweenthe sizeof
theelectoral victoryandthebasicsof thedemocratic
normhasdisappeared altogether.
Indianpoliticshas beenAmericanisedto an astonish-
ing degree.Thecultof the greatleader—themessiah, the
saviour—onthe onehand,andthe systematic production
of fearandhysteriaon the other,havebecomequitethe
norm. Politicsarenowdrivenby 24x7TVchannels,
opinionpolls,andimmensecampaign extravaganzas
staged withbillionsof [rupeesof] corporatefinancing,
much of it secretanduntraceable. Theescalating hysteria
about citizensandnon-citizens, whichis likelyto reach
hystericalproportionswithAmitShahas HomeMinis-
ter,is itselfa carboncopyof [U.S.President Donald]
Trump’sracist,virtually genocidalpoliciestowardthe
South Americaneconomicrefugeescrossing intothe U.S.MODIWITHTHEINDUSTRIALISTGautamAdani.
Modiwas thefirst Indian PrimeMinister who gained
virtually the total supportof the capitalistmagnates well
beforethe generalelectionof 2014 got going.
PTI