Dehindutvafication of India and its challenges
Hindutva is a political ideology born as a product of cross breeding between religious militant organizations and opportunistic politicians who use Hindutva for advancement of their political career. Hindutva should not be confused with Hinduism. Hinduism is a religion while Hindutva is a political ideology. Ideology of Hindutva existed since long and can be traced as far back as pre independence. But the entry of Hindutva into mainstream politics happened in 1990s with rise of BJP and its politics of religious populism. This was the time when religious militant organizations found their way into mainstream politics and political parties. By now, Hindutva has deeply infested and corrupted our politics, institutions including our military, our culture, media and significant spectrum of our society. Dehindutvafication means cleansing India's politics, institutions and culture from this toxic political ideology.
Insight into Hindutva - An attempt to present some clarity on Hindutva and the kind of policies needed to permanently terminate and dissolve it - The policies we need calls for paradigm shift in our political thinking
Indian thinkers know about dictatorial nature of Hindutva regime but
they offer little insight on some basic questions about Hindutva - How
it emerged? Why it emerged? What are the solutions and remedies? Some
people say Congress is the alternative, or some coalition govt is the
alternative. People see elections as the way to depose Hindutva
regime and bringing back the liberal democracy. I have a different view
of things. Hindutva is something that is deeply infested into our
politics, institutions, culture and social belief system. Its not
something that can be washed away by an election cycle or merely by change of
govt. Neither there is some political personality that can spin a
magic wand to roll back Hindutva.
The problems of
India are much deep rooted and little they will be solved by merely
changing of politicians. The rise of BJP began with Advani &
Vajpayee, but BJP lost in 2004. BJP came back to power in 2014 under
Modi & Shah with more regressive agenda. Tomorrow Modi maybe gone,
and Yogi will replace him and vicious cycle will continue. Our political
system is in a secular decline and trapped in a vicious cycle where our
political leadership is going from bad to worse.
When a nation goes too far down the road of self destruction and failures, there are no quick fixes that can stop the decline of country. At this stage, nation needs a paradigm shift and monumental changes. The kind of monumental changes I am talking about is similar to what we saw in Europe after second world war. These changes i am talking about are undoubtedly challenging but are the only way to decisively roll back the decline of country. These changes are not something that can be easily implemented and produce instantaneous results. The changes we see seek will take time to fully materialize but we need to start working on implementation of reforms immediately.
What is Hindutva? A fusion of several regimes, ideologies and characteristics
Hindutva is a fusion of several regimes and ideologies. While people only see the political & social aspect of Hindutva, that is belief in majoritarianism ideology, there are several other aspects of Hindutva. The social aspect of Hindutva is very old, can be traced as back as formation of RSS and later the writings of Savarkar. Its an ideology about making India a majoritarian Hindu religion state which is starkly in contradiction of India's secular constitutional identity. This ideology was later groomed by opportunistic politicians like Advani who brought Hindutva into mainstream politics to build their political career. Political aspect of Hindutva is a form of religious populism, dividing population on religious lines and trying to win electoral advantage. Since most of the Indian population is backward, illiterate, lowly educated, superstitious and ignorant, they are easy to be duped by religious populism of Hindutva.
Hindutva has many principle ingredients, fictional theories and prophecies - Ram Temple, Ram Rajya, Hindu Rashtra, cow worship, Manusmriti etc. I find little reason to delve into all the fictional & superstitious theories because they do not have any objective basis of their own except as being an instrument for political control and religious populism. The majoritarian Hindu state is classical divide and rule doctrine - turning majority against minority, pumping fear into population for political advantage. The objective of religious populism is to distract electorate from issues of bread & butter economics, employment, livelihood, standards of living, social security etc.
But there is more to Hindutva apart from religious populism. Crony Capitalism is also an integral part of Hindutva today. The relationship between religious populism of Hindutva and Crony Capitalism is a symbiosis. Neither of them have any philosophical connection with each other but they depend upon each other for their best interests and survival. An oligarch like Adani doesn't have any interest in Cow worship, CAA or Anti-Beef laws. The Oligarch is tied up with Hindutva regime because it gives him more wealth and power. The political government can make laws and policies giving special favors and incentives to Oligarchs which makes them more powerful. The policies of tax cuts, debt relief, deregulation, privatization & govt contracts awarded to companies of oligarchs make them bigger & richer.
Reciprocally, the Oligarchs feed Hindutva regime with money for election campaigns, free media promotion through their news media empires, lucrative incentives to corrupt politicians and their family members. Some of the most corrupted oligarchs have funded Modi's career from Gujarat to New Delhi, financed BJP's election campaigns covertly and overtly. Now with electoral bonds and PMCares fund, a mechanism has been created for Oligarchs to freely finance political ambitions of Hindutva regime. Oligarchs are on a gravy train under present regime.
Another core component of Hindutva is Mafiaraj. Mafiaraj is a hindi slang meaning "Rule of Gangsters". I have mentioned in previous articles about how much of political parties in India are like Organized crime groups & nearly half of our Parliamentarians have criminal records. Situation is no different in our state assemblies. I have in earlier article explained the structural problems in our political system which has lead to the grave problem described as 'criminalization of politics' (read 1 & 2). In Hindutva regime, not all its politicians have religious motivations. I think that a lot of politicians in Hindutva regime have no real religious inclinations despite the public image they have created about themselves. Hindutva is an instrument to dupe the electorate, to gain power and control the population rather than having any genuine devotion towards Cows and Lord Ram.
These Gangsters/criminals/antisocial elements act as local bullies instilling fear in the population under camouflage of Hindutva while they run their criminal enterprises. Its well known that politicians and party members carry out all types of criminal activities. The scandals of politicians committing white collar crimes, extortion rackets, drug trade, murders, rape, prostitution and black marketing are well documented. While only few scandals see the daylight of newspapers, the real extent of criminality in politics is much bigger. The relationship between central Hindutva regime (the most hardened career politicians) and associated gangsters (local & regional leaders) is also for mutual benefit. While the Gangsters get protection from govt by joining the party, the regime gets more financing (Hafta to party HQ) & muscle power to exercise its control. I must say that Mafiaraj is not exclusively a feature of Hindutva regime, its a feature across all political parties and has been a problem that existed since decades. But under Hindutva regime, the Mafia Raj has infested our politics much deeply and widely.
Pathology of Hindutva Regime - Do we have a Pathocracy?
When a regime brazenly commits crimes against humanity, orchestrates violence against its citizens, illegal acts and executes dangerous reckless policies, it warrants a more deeper look into motivations of regime. What drives them? What is the psychology of regime's politicians? Why they do what they do? I am not qualified in the field but i made some observations. My curiosity in this area was evoked by case of Donald Trump's chaotic Presidency and the debate it generated among many Psychologists and Psychiatrists in America about analysis on Trump's personality. Since America is an open society, a more healthy Democracy, such debates and discussion about ruler's personality and behavior can happen.
Arun Shourie in 2016 said that PM Modi represents a so called Dark Triad Personality - combination of three malevolent personality traits of Psychopathy, Narcissism and Machiavellianism. Modi's grandiosity, lack of empathy, falsehoods, recklessness, dishonesty and manipulative attitude fits well into this concept. However, i have not found any significant analysis from Indian Psychiatrists and Psychologists in publicly elaborating the aspects of our rulers dangerous personalities. I would also say that malevolent personality traits are not limited to our PM Modi but are more widespread in several politicians from top to bottom. While at the top, Psychopathy/Sociopathy looks to be prominent in leaders like Amit Shah & Yogi Adityanath, the problem goes right to the very bottom of party, for example Party spokespersons like Sambit Patra (govt spin doctor) and local Politicians like Kapil Mishra (hate speech monger, one of many in the party) show traits of Sociopathy.
Its difficult to ascertain how many of regime politicians actually believe in fictional religious theories of Hindutva. Yes, many are seriously devoted to it, but i think most see it just as an instrument for political domination and exercising control. Regardless of their inclination to religious beliefs (or not), many of our regime politicians are hardened criminals, likely have personality disorders and anti-social personality. While we do not have access to knowledge about personal life of our politicians, personality traits of regime politicians are reflected in their public policies, behavior and actions. Professionals in the field of Psychology & Psychiatry can better document and explain these traits of our regime leaders.
Dark Triad (Image source)
To give a brief insight on the behavior of regime politicians. They have a strong propensity for violence. Their career is tainted with violent history of riots, communal massacres and mountain of dead bodies. Their grandiosity and exhibitionism is on display every day. The pictures of PM on everything from newspapers, to street posters to vaccine certificates. The media dedicating life documentaries and showering praise of PM all day has become too grotesque. The fate of critics of regime is also well known, they are dealt with intimidation and violence. Amorality, lack of empathy and remorselessness are all too visible.
Falsehoods is another feature of regime politicians. They can say day is night and night is day, the sky is the limit of their falsehoods. Lies like there are were no deaths due to oxygen shortage in pandemic, lies on defense matters - "na koi aaya hai, na koi gaya hai", lies on economy about achieving greatness in 5 years which previous governments could not do in 70 years, lies on Demonetization, on pandemic management, on anything & everything. Their falsehoods and dishonesty defy the most basic notions of reality.
Impulsivity and extreme recklessness is also a hallmark of regime policies. Extinguishing 86% of national currency overnight without thinking about the consequences on livelihood of more than a billion people. Ideas of forcing entire population to prove their citizenship. Changing vaccine policy suddenly in middle of pandemic, reverting back next month after causing chaos. The regime acts without any policy foresight, definitive goals and contemplating the consequences of their actions. While some people suggest that they do these foolhardy things to achieve their own agenda. But i feel, a lot of time they don't have a specific agenda. Policies have become means without an end. The definition of impulsivity is acting without thinking and that's reflective in many policies and day to day affairs of regime. Just for a small pittance and publicity, our leaders put our economy and national security at grave risk.
Pathocracy is a regime lead by politicians with personality disorders like Narcissistic personality and Psychopathy (read 1 & 2). Such political leaders are appealing to population and a section of ruling class. Their impulsiveness is mistaken for decisiveness, narcissism as their confidence, and their recklessness as boldness & determination. While a lot of population fall for such politicians out of ignorance, a section of ruling class favor these leaders for mutual self interest. Oligarchs can back careers of such politicians, in return of policy favors & special treatment from govt. The Pathocracy is entrenching in a sense that it gets more & more extreme with time. Normal people with morality and good conscience gradually leave the government (or they are forced to) leaving the govt full of Yes men & Henchmen. These Yes men & Henchmen are either themselves share common traits with top Pathocratic leaders or just join the regime purely for self interest, for making wealth and getting into power.
Entrenchment in our regime is clearly visible. Bureaucrats, civil servants, politicians and officers with some degree of professionalism and objectivity have left the regime. Either they have voluntarily resigned or have been forced out by the regime. Former finance minister and BJP veteran Yashwant Sinha, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, CBI chief Alok Verma, Central Election commissioner Ashok Lavasa are some of the examples of people who left the regime. A handful of regime appointed people now maintain a tight grip on key positions of institutions. Senior Police Bureaucrat Rakesh Asthana has been in rotation in management of various law enforcement institutions - CBI, Delhi Police, Gujarat Police, NCB etc. The head of Enforcement Directorate, Sanjay Kumar and NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant keeps getting extensions of service after end of tenures (read 1 & 2). After resignation of previous two RBI governors, Modi regime appointed a Governor with no formal education in Economics. Modi's new appointments in cabinet are some of the worst career criminals like Nisith Pramanik.
Another characteristic of Pathocratic leaders is transmission of their traits to rest of the population. Dr Bandy Lee, a forensic psychiatrist who wrote the book on Donald Trump has explained this phenomenon about Trumpism in America (read 1 & 2). A Narcissistic leader can create a brainwashed cult following that can be incited to do violence. The cult followers of leaders like Trump or Modi are mostly economically depressed, lesser educated and ignorant backward people. Unsurprisingly, the cult followers and most hardcore base of BJP is in states like UP, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh etc of North India which are at the bottom of human development index. The Pathocratic leaders are like spiritual Babas that offer a false sense of hope and belonging to their vulnerable ignorant followers. The followers are indoctrinated with ideology, ambition and a purpose which they incline to adopt to fill their emptiness of irrational world view. In case of BJP - the ideology is Hindutva, the ambition is making India a majoritarian Hindu state and the sense of purpose is sworn allegiance to Modi & his messages.
Modi & Shah have malevolent personality traits with violent tendencies. These traits flow down the chain into their followers. The lack of empathy, remorselessness, impulsivity & other traits are inscribed into Modi's cult followers - commonly referred as Bhakts. Bhakts are of various types. While most of them are just repulsive trolls who spew hate and insults on internet, some have propensity for violence. These are mob lynchers, moral policemen, cow vigilantes, communal rioters, members of religious militant organizations etc. They commit violent criminal acts - killing of people, grievously harming minorities, do violent acts of riots & arson and everything that goes with it.
What is Dehindutvafication?
My idea of De-hindutvafication comes from De-Fascistization and De-Nazification of Europe after the world war 2. Nazism and Fascism weren't just simple political characters of governments in Germany and Italy. These ideologies had deeply infested and corrupted the politics,
institutions, culture and the society. The defeat of Hitler and
Mussolini wasn't enough to get Europe rid off Nazism and Fascism. A much
broader approach was needed to rehabilitate political system in Europe,
reforming of institutions, reform of culture as well as society. The motive behind the idea was that Nazi & Fascist ideology which
had inflicted a great tragedy on Europe and the whole world should be
completely destroyed and never allowed to emerge again. The concept for Denazification was in planning long before the end of world war 2. The allied countries fighting against Nazi Germany planned for post war Europe if and when they manage to defeat the Axis states.
In last three decades in India, Hindutva has caused countless
communal riots, massacres of minorities, crimes against humanity and the
biggest crime of waging war against the Indian state (90s rise of BJP). Political Hindutva also has several parallels with Fascism (more on this in a dedicated article). Such toxic and dangerous ideology has no place in politics and needs to wiped out forever. India is now becoming a failed state without any future. Hindutva is taking India on path to
national suicide, Balkanization and destruction of country. To restore India's future we need many political,
economic and constitutional reforms. A part of these reforms must be
Dehindutvafication of India.
Dehindutvafication of Politics - Outlawing of BJP - Decriminalization of politics - Electoral reforms to rectify failed Democratic system
There is no other way to put it, BJP needs to be banned from politics forever. Needs to be wiped out from politics in totality - from central, state and local level. Ideally BJP Politicians starting from the top should also be put on trial in special courts for crimes against humanity, waging of war against Indian state and conspiracy to subvert constitution. These three indictments cover their actions on various communal riots, massacres of minorities, violating the basic structure of constitution (laws like CAA have no legality), killing and jailing of innocent activists, journalists, students etc. Along with these major crimes, the politicians should also be prosecuted for the corruption and all the scandals like Rafale Jet scam, Pegasus Spygate, Electoral Bonds, various scams in Privatization policies etc. The special fast track courts will dispose these cases diligently and timely within months. The cases won't drag for 30 years.
Members of BJP Party, small or big in stature, who have ever been associated with the party should be banned forever from participating in politics and holding any public office. Members of religious organizations like RSS, VHP etc should also be banned from politics, political activities and holding any public office. Members of religious militant organizations should also be barred from all government employment. A policy for decriminalization of politics needs to be drafted with reforms to keep out criminals from parliament and state assemblies and kicking out those who have crept in. All cases pertaining to politicians should be mandatory tried in special fast track courts and disposed within matter of weeks and months. Some of the ideas on this are already in circulation since long time, but never seriously implemented.
Its controversial to declare a party as Anti-Democratic but we can and we should if we have the 20/20 vision of hindsight. Hindsight is never wrong and we know very well what BJP did to India's Democracy. Hence banning of BJP is fully justified. There's also a contention by some political commentators that the extremist phase of BJP may be temporary. In future, the extremists like Modi & Shah will be replaced by moderates like Gadkari. I don't think so. BJP is degenerating into more and more extreme form and there is no hope for its return to sanity. If BJP is allowed to continue, we will see even more extreme leaders than Modi. Some even say that Modi is now a moderate while Yogi and Shah are the extremists in the party.
Our much bigger problem is failure of our Democratic system as i described in an earlier article. The situation with our Democracy in states like UP and Bihar is Alarming. Ideally, a political system is supposed to be like a filtering system - that helps find the best of the leaders to run the country. Leaders with competence, vision, education, integrity and all the positive traits. But our filtering system in India is working in reverse. Our political system brings the most corrupted, criminal and pathocratic leaders to the top while competent, informed and morally intelligent people are rejected in totality. In a way our political system has kind of perfection that it brings the worst of the scoundrels to power. The answer to this problem is electoral reforms. I have some ideas on this concept which i will articulate in future.
Eradication of Religious militant organizations - Permanent Ban and liquidation of Hindutva organizations - Sardar Patel in 1948 said "The activities of the RSS constituted a clear threat to the existence of the government and the state"
BJP strength comes from religious militant organizations, gangsters and fanatics which it has cultivated to control the streets, mobilize for communal riots, moral policing and to be used for various extralegal activities. These kind of fringe groups have no place in a modern society and a country that runs on rule of law. All these organizations like RSS, VHP, Bajrang Dal etc & their tentacles should be permanently banned and disbanded. Their leaders should be put on trial on similar lines as the politicians of BJP for all their crimes they committed throughout decades.
The approach to outlawing these Hindutva extremist organizations is similar to banning of Sikh and Islamic extremist organizations like Babbar Khalsa and SIMI (Student Islamic movement of India). Banning of Hindutva organizations may sound extraordinary but this has already been several times. After assassination of MK Gandhi, the Indian home ministry banned RSS in 1948 for inciting violence and terrorist activities against the Govt. Ideally, Indian Govt should have completely destroyed and dismantled the organization at that very time. The RSS leaders involved in terrorism and subversion should've been put on trial and organization wiped out permanently for good. But the organization was unbanned one year later. One key sentence from home minister's communique is sufficient to summarize the danger of RSS - "The activities of the RSS constituted a clear threat to the existence of the government and the state."
The crimes of religious militant organizations are well documented and investigated but they never got punished for their crimes. Liberhan commission held RSS & BJP culpable for pogroms of 1992 leading to Babri demolition. But all culprits were exonerated in lengthy trials that lasted almost 3 decades. Banning of Hindutva organization also happened after Babri Demolition but the ban against these organizations has always been farcical. Govt did not prosecute the leaders of these organizations for terrorism and seditious acts which they brazenly committed. Only small fishes of these organizations were prosecuted while top leaders continued to function freely after bans.
Banning and dismantling of religious militant organizations is also part of Defensive Democracy. We have a clear cut case of banning these notorious organizations for various criminals acts like riots, mass murders, subversion, war against union of India and seditious activities. We also need to pursue on dismantling these organizations with full resolve. Apart from prosecution of all their militant leaders, the assets of these organizations should be expropriated and liquidated.
Dismantling and destroying monopolies & empires of pro Hindutva Oligarchs - Nationalization of all their strategic assets - Liquidation of all their non essential corporate assets, stocks, holdings, estate etc - Some examples of our Oligarchs track record - Repealing Electoral Bonds & breaking corporate control over politics
One must not focus only on the public faces of regime, but also look for the forces behind them. A section of Oligarchs have been financing Hindutva regime since long time. Tomorrow if Modi & Shah are gone, these oligarchs will funnel their financing towards new Modis and cycle of corruption and decadence will continue. Some of the replacement to Modi are already in grooming for future leadership roles. Arun Shourie described Modi regime as a Private enterprise, working solely in interests of few oligarchs. A lot of these oligarchs are dynastic and nepotistic in nature and they have been around since decades, financing previous regimes before they settled for Hindutva.
These Oligarchs should be considered as a threat to Democracy, rule of law and concept of a progressive society. Answer to dealing with these Oligarchs is direct and simple. Govt must liquidate and dismantle their business empires to break their chokehold on our politics and economy. Nationalize all their strategic assets like in areas of energy, Infrastructure, essential services etc and liquidate rest of their assets in open market. Oligarchs have actually acquired these assets through corruption and illicit means, the privatization & PPP scandals etc. These Oligarchs have also piled up huge debts from our national banks and become a parasite on our banking system. These Oligarchs acquire national assets from govt by borrowing money from govt banks. Then they default on their borrowed loans and enjoy evergreening of loans & debt restructuring. Their business model is ludicrous and highly scandalous.
These Oligarchs are also a threat to a healthy functioning capitalism itself. Capitalism is a system where private players compete with each other on a level playing field, well regulated environment and accountability. These oligarchs don't operate on any such principles because they don't have any authentic business model, acumen, innovation and long term sustainability. Only reason these oligarchs have become too big to fail is because of blatant corruption, special favors from political govt and plundering of national assets. Only skills they have is their propensity for corruption. The kind of capitalism they practice is combination of crony capitalism and Anarcho-capitalism - two most perverse forms of capitalism which often leads to destruction of society and economy.
Adani has been known as a long time backer of Modi since his political career in Gujarat. He got all the land for his projects for pennies in Gujarat and policy favors from govt. Several of his ventures are loss making and businesses are laden with high debt and leverage. He enjoys the perpetual ever-greening of loans & debt restructuring whenever needed (read 1, 2, 3, 4). Despite a bad track record, Adani continues to be a favorite player of govt in privatization policies allowing him to establish in monopoly in various sectors (read 1, 2, 3, 4). The wealth of Adani is surging to new records every month while India's human development index continues to slide into the abyss underlining the level of economic disparity in India.
Mukesh Ambani, is another oligarch with close ties to the regime. Ambani's creation of Reliance Jio, India's largest telecom company, was aided by govt favors and tilted regulations. Laws regarding Spectrum licensing, AGR dues, Predatory pricing of services and many other regulatory decisions favored & benefited Reliance Jio while inflicting huge losses to Jio's competitors (read 1, 2, 3, 4) The Oil & Gas business of Ambani hasn't been free of controversies either (read 1, 2, 3). There's a long history of RIL disputes with State PSUs but govt has not pursued cases against RIL with seriousness .
Anil Ambani, younger brother of Mukesh Ambani has ran all his business into ground. His businesses in Telecom, Infrastructure & Power have been bankrupt and resulted in high losses to many national banks, private banks as well as international creditors (read 1, 2, 3, 4). Ambani being a defaulter to Indian & international creditors has been tethering on total bankruptcy. Defense experts have questioned his partnership on Rafale Jet program where govt has given him multi-billion dollar service contract for India's fourth generation fighter Jets.
Baba Ramdev is another example of Oligarch who has built his empire with the blessings of Modi regime. Originally a snake oil salesman, known for peddling magical herbs & Ayurvedic drugs for treatment of all kinds including cancer, Covid-19, infertility, cardiac & Renal diseases etc. Now Ramdev's corporation Patanjali has expanded to full range of FMCG products and nationwide retail chains, becoming a multi-billion dollar empire. Govt has also created a dedicated ministry for legitimization and promotion of snake oil drugs and shamanistic practices of Yoga and Naturopathy etc - Ministry of Ayush. This ministry gives legitimacy to all the unscientific and illegal practices by Ramdev & his ilk. Ramdev has also received land, tax exemptions, policy favors and free promotion for his products from govt. (read 1, 2, 3, 4, 5).
When corrupted people are allowed to progress long enough, they find ways to legalize their corruption and illegal ways. The law on electoral bonds is a prime example of this. Its a legalized system of bribery of govt in power by the Oligarchs and corporations. The electoral bonds should be repealed and election financing should be made completely transparent and open to public scrutiny. The data & information of all electoral bonds sold in the past should also be made available in public domain.
It must be noted that these Oligarchs are not free market players. Without the backhand favors and privileged treatment from the regime, these players cannot run businesses on level playing field. Liquidation and dismantling of the business empires of these Oligarchs is actually a positive step towards open market economy and a healthy private sector.
Revival of institutions and restoring their legitimate functionality and independence - Start by focusing on institutions of accountability - Restoring institutions of accountability will transpire positive effects on rest of the institutions - Some ideas for specific institutions - Firing coterie of corrupt henchmen of Hidutva regime
There are structural problems in judiciary, investigating agencies, military and other central & state institutions that needs to be corrected. Dehindutvafication should be a part of broader reforming of institutions. The reason for infestation of Hindutva elements in institutions is quite simple. When religious populists got power and authority over nation, they started packing of institutions & departments with their ilk of people - what we call as politicization of institutions. Institutions are only seen as instruments to pursue political goals and agendas of oligarchs that finance the regime. In present regime, a small clique of Modi's favorite bureaucrats are managing critical positions in our institutions (read 1, 2, 3).
These special handpicked officers have been with Modi through his political career. If
you continue undermining of institutions, packing them with termites
that eat them from within - 30 years later you get dead institutions which can't exercise their constitutionally mandated function.
This is the stage we are at today. Its said, its easier to destroy institutions than to revive them. I have analyzed the state of our investigating agencies and Justice system in this article. A starting point for cleaning up institution is MRS, a mandatory retirement scheme for regime appointees who have been putrefying in our institutions since long.
A corrupt incompetent minister is like a leech which feeds of the country. Remove the minister, there won't be an impact on ministry's affairs as bureaucrats can continue the management of affairs. The minister on top doesn't really do anything. But removing a Judge or a General can be complicated. While a General maybe corrupt, he still commands infantries which will become headless/brainless without their commanding officer. Its difficult to find a replacement of career military officer who despite being corrupted, understands the military affairs & technicalities. Many of our politicians are so feckless, that any clerk or even a peon can replace them. Same logic doesn't apply to many officers in civil & military institutions and technocrats.
A police chief might be corrupt but he knows how to maintain law and order of city. Chief of intelligence may be a religious hardliner but he may have a better grasp of national security & threat analysis of state due to his long career. Finding replacement of these kind of career bureaucrats can be difficult. Also detecting corrupted officers is even more complicated in the first place. Officers do not wear a tag of political party or their ideology on their sleeves from which they can be identified. Corruption in bureaucracy and institutions is deeply infested and its harder to pinpoint its focal centers.
The problems with our institutions are not linear and homogeneous. Some of the institutional problems are deep rooted while some other problems in institutions are relatively easier to fix provided we have the political will. While restoring of national and state institutions takes time, an easier
thing to do is start by working on institutions of accountability like Judiciary, CIC
(central information commission), CVC
(central vigilance commission), and smaller forums like PGC (public grievance commission) & Human right commission etc. If the institutions of accountability have a healthy standing, it will automatically transpire positive changes into other public institutions.
There are two fundamental problems in our Judiciary. First being that our judicial system is severely under resourced - acute shortage of judicial officers, court houses and infrastructure across the country and more so in rural areas. This has brought our justice system to a halt, clogged with millions of court cases with no end in sight. As justice system has come to a halt, the concept of accountability has vanished. A modern state cannot work without any justice system and govt accountability. Our spending on Judicial system is abysmally low which reflects the priorities of our regime (read 1 & 2). The very first thing we need is increasing our investment on Judicial system by manifold - Filling all vacancies in our judicial system with competent people, creating more vacancies to adequate level of Judge/population ratio, building more court houses and programs of legal assistance infrastructure for poor people.
Second thing we need is transparency in our judicial appointments. I am not talking about NJAC and putting Judicial appointments in hands of politicians which under present dysfunctional political system will only undermine our judicial system further. I do believe that political government needs to be more participative in judicial appointments but for that we need a healthy political system in first place. The process of judicial appointments, need to be more transparent. I would like to know our appointees, their belief systems and what they stand for. The kind of parliamentary hearing system we have in developed nations like United States on appointment of Justices. Once we can create a healthy political system, we can move towards creating a more transparent Judicial appointment system.
The problems with Judiciary and investigating agencies are complex because of the long history of institutions and inertia of bad things they have accumulated throughout decades. But some other institutions are easier to fix like Central Information Commission. Created in 2005 for governance of Right to Information Act, the institution was a big difference maker in providing transparency and accountability to other institutions across the country. The institution empowered ordinary citizens at the most basic level and through the simplest of mechanism. Unsurprisingly, the institution was seen as a threat by corrupted regimes of both present & past, was hence undermined and paralyzed. We need to restore CIC and roll back regressive amendments to RTI Act which diluted the original vision of law. Just like Judiciary, a basic problem with CIC is that its greatly understaffed & under resourced. Just two things can help put CIC back on track pretty fast - filling vacancies of information commissioners with credible competent appointments and repealing the regressive amendments of RTI act .
Much of the problems with institutions are a result of bad influence of corrupted regimes on them. A healthy functioning regime will automatically bring improvement in working of institutions. The vigilance commissions in states and center are presently just showpieces. Most of the corruption in Govt departments & institutions are overlooked, and little of which that gets the scrutiny of vigilance commissions is marred by long endless proceedings. To deal with tainted, corrupt and scandalous officers in govt that have
accumulated through years, we need a fast track & diligent
mechanism for their removal. Vigilance commissions, under leadership of competent people, if made to work on their mandates can bring positive changes fairly quickly.
Rehabilitation of population - Giving hope and opportunities to people to pull them away from extremism & religious populism - Policies to achieve socioeconomic progress and class equality, improving standards of living, poverty alleviation and opening windows of opportunities for young generation - Rebuilding middle class of India
In 20th century, the extremist ideologies like Fascism and Nazism emerged out of the recessions and great depression in early part of 20th century. This was the time when Europe was in long series of endless recessions, unemployment was rampant, living standards had collapsed and people's savings had been wiped out. Overall it was a time of great social upheaval and human tragedy - society was depressed, exhausted and decimated. These factors are the ground zero and breeding grounds of dangerous extremist political ideologies. I will discuss the parallels between Fascism and Hindutva in a dedicated article.
To pull away society from extremist ideologies, religious populism and irrationality, we need to create conducive socioeconomic environment that gives security, hope and opportunities to people. We need to give free education up to college to all people and job opportunities for everyone. We need jobs guarantee program so that people who don't find jobs in free market can have a last resort. We need healthy labor regulations, decent wages and strong govt funded healthcare system. We need upward social mobility so that people can climb the social ladders and realize their true potential. All these things will give hope and security to people. Hopeless, depressed and desperate population becomes the cannon fodder of extremist ideologies. Rehabilitating the population means giving people something to stand upon and moving away from extremist ideologies.
In India, the birth of political Hindutva in 90s happened out of social, political and economic instability. The economic stagnation of 80s, rising unemployment and inequality, failure of govt economic policies, balance of payment crisis and assassination of two prime ministers were some of the highlights that preceded the marches of Hindutva. Looking at economy today, much of the population is unemployed in sense that half of the labor force is in farming which pays meager income. I have described this as among the principle structural problems of our economy. There are no jobs in economy which has pushed people into farming & other unorganized areas which only pays hand to mouth income. The organized sectors, industrial manufacturing, the services, modern sectors in technology etc are small and employ only a small part of workforce. While there is severe shortage of jobs in economy, the Govt austerity has caused millions of vacancies in Govt institutions and departments. Job to applicant ratio for Govt jobs can be between 1:200 or 1:1000 in many cases (read 1, 2, 3).
While Indian economy always had weaknesses and severe socioeconomic disparity since several decades, now the bottom has fell off the economy due to Covid induced depression pushing millions of middle class Indians into poverty and pushing lower income people further into the abyss of poverty. A Democracy requires electorate with healthy and rational thinking to exercise their voting rights in meaningful way. A Democracy needs a strong middle class which unfortunately has greatly shrunk in last few decades.
Looking at the scale of poverty, inequality, hunger and dismal standards of living, a Democracy cannot function in such environment. We are now at 101 ranking of global hunger index, even behind some failed states that are wrecked by conflicts and civil war. Similarly we are at 131 ranking at human development index which reflects the collapse of living standards of general population. Indian Govt tries to hide poverty with innovative ways of defining poverty line.
I have outlined general problems in our economy in earlier articles and how our unsound economic policies have damaged the economy, industry, human resources development and impacted our socioeconomic parity (read 1 & 2). Primarily the damage to our economy is by nonsensical, ill planned and directionless economic policies. Much of our policies are Neoliberal in nature - things like Fiscal austerity, privatization, deregulation, withdrawing govt participation in the economy have been a trend in last several decades, much before Modi came to power. We need aggressive and elastic fiscal policy to address the needs of economy.
We need to greatly expand direct fiscal spending on Infrastructure, human resources development, Research & development (academic & industrial sectors), institutional overhaul (like more investment on our Justice system) and social security. That means more spending on Roads, Highways, Flood prevention infrastructure, Nuclear power plants, alternate energy areas, schools, colleges, hospitals, court houses, filling vacancies of Govt departments & institutions, poverty alleviation programs, food aid, affordable housing, expansion of govt healthcare etc. We also need to bring down indirect taxes which are curtailing growth of our economy like regressive rates of GST tax, exorbitantly high taxes on Gas/Petrol/Diesel which is transpiring into inflation on other levels etc.
A sound economy policy for rebuilding the country and improving lives of population will be the center of anti-Hindutva politics. In fact, the single most critical ingredient to counter Hindutva is deliverance on economic development, socioeconomic progress, upwards social mobility and poverty alleviation.
Expansion of public education system - Building more schools and colleges - Free universal education up to college - Nurturing Intelligentsia of society - Ideologies like Hindutva thrive on ignorance, illiteracy and lack of education in society - A more informed society will shun irrational ideologies like Hindutva - Secularization of Education system
Ideologies like Hindutva thrive on illiteracy, ignorance and lack of educated thinking in society. Education is essential to develop intellect and rational thinking process of our population. Since most of the population is socioeconomically backward, public education and govt investment in human resources development is the way to advance our society. We need to greatly expand and modernize our public education system We need more public schools, colleges, universities, skill development and training centers across India, and with strong focus in rural India where education infrastructure is greatly lagging.
Regime's policy of austerity and privatization of education has ruined the young generation and specially the poor class of population (read 1, 2, 3). Education has become a luxury for upper class who can afford to send their children to expensive private schools and universities. The middle class shell out big money of their income to try to keep their children in exorbitant private education system in hope of their better future.A cost of graduation in private colleges easily run into lakhs and even tens of lakhs in case of medical & engineering degrees. Then there are Govt colleges which you can go into if you meet the 90% or 95% cutoffs for popular academic courses or stiff entrance tests that are even more breakneck competition. Due to Govt austerity, the education system is greatly under resourced. There are not enough seats in colleges, not enough colleges, not enough teachers & professors and faculty that can serve the needs of our population.
An educated society is a threat to dictatorial regime. Its no surprise that regime has strangulated our education system to make the population dumb and ignorant. The statistics on our country's education system are dismal - Vacancies of lakhs of teachers in govt schools and colleges, nearly a lakh of our schools run only by a single teacher, the quality of education is poor, only a small fraction of population attain higher education, poor cognitive skills of students in our badly run govt schools (read 1, 2, 3, 4). These shortcomings in education system directly lead to braindead electorate. An electorate without education or with poor level of education doesn't have intelligence to make sound political choices.
Level of education reflects the health of Democracy of a country. An educated society exercises its political choices more objectively. Roughly 8.2% of India's adult population is classified as Graduate & above, compared to nearly 23.7% of population in European Union (data as per 2011, for Age 15-64 age group). In last 4 decades, India did focused on improving the literacy rates but there was little focus to scale up higher education. After 1991 economic crisis, the Govt withdrawal from investment in higher education due to Neoliberal spending constraints further aggravated the dismal level of higher education in country. This over the long term created the problem of 'lack of intelligentsia' in society. A section of society which is critical part of any Democratic state, helping create a healthy sociopolitical course for country. We need to put a larger section of our society into higher education to lift the standards of our Democracy.
50 years ago, literacy alone was regarded as the parameter for measuring socioeconomic progress but this is not sufficient today by any means. In today's modern world, a university education & a college degree is the parameter for measuring socioeconomic progress and also political health of country. Keeping aside the Neoliberal doctrines of fiscal prudence, Education is the area where we need to spend audaciously. From schools to universities, classrooms to research labs, from school lunch programs to scholarships, from fields of humanities to Biotechnology - govt should fund everything. Fill all vacancies from schools to universities and create more jobs to adequately resource our education system. Build more colleges and create more seats to accommodate aspiring students that are presently crushed by senseless & suicidal breakneck competition (read 1 & 2). By end of the decade, we should make our education system developed and resourceful enough to provide free education up to university to all citizens.
Religion attacks brain when humans are most vulnerable - that is their childhood when human thinking process is not fully developed. Religious indoctrination at young age corrupts and diminishes the thinking of children as they grow into adults. Its essential to stop this indoctrination at early age and preserve the healthy thinking and mental development of children. All educational curriculum, from schools to universities, should be cleansed from all religious, superstitious and historically inaccurate content (read 1, 2, 3, 4). Not just Hindu mythological tales but also content on other religions including Sikhism, Islam & Christianity should be removed. There should be no religious school prayers and religious practices or any other rituals. The mythological tales of Mahabharata, Ramayana and similar things should be completely removed from syllabus.
India is not an advanced society like France, so our education system should not suppress religious identity of students like turbans or head scarves. Our education system should let students retain their religious identity but should withdraw itself from imparting any religious education and participation in their religious culture. Let religious education be confined to the personal life of children & their homes. Its essential for our education system to steer young generation clear from superstition and irrational belief system which corrupts their thinking process.
Historically, students and academicians have resisted dictatorships and autocracies. Students and young generation have always contributed their part as "conscience of society" and academicians always provided a reality check of national identity. While our regime is trying hard to subvert our education system,
Hindutva organizations have also now infested our colleges and
universities. Such organizations function under various names like ABVP
with political agenda of maintaining control over academic institutions and instilling fear into regime critics. All these organizations connected to BJP or other religious organizations should also be outlawed and suspended just like their parent ideological organizations.
After world war 2, German population was subjected to a reality check of Nazi crimes against humanity. There were various publications, documentaries and extensive press coverage to make German population aware about Nazi crimes. The goal was to shook the consciousness of German society and making them to accept their role and responsibility in the crimes against humanity. Today in most European countries, the education about Holocaust is mandated by national curriculum. We need a similar approach in India to educate people about crimes of Hindutva regime. The crimes against humanity perpetrated by Hindutva regime should be part of educational curriculum and discussed openly in academic fields. Instead of burying the tragic history of Hindutva politics, we need to accept it, learn from it and rebuild our society so that it can be better prepared against it. We need education about religious populism, the true history of RSS & Savarkar, the pogroms of 90s, Gujarat communal massacres etc.
Other flavors of Hindutva - Soft Hindutva or Hindutva-lite - Bankrupt political parties co-opting Hindutva under new brand to stay relevant in politics - Soft hindutva is projected as ideology without extremism
With rise of BJP based on Hindutva ideology, the future of other political parties is in disarray. Failing to stand firmly on secular ideology, some opposition political parties are drifting towards BJP's right wing politics of Hindutva. This is the phenomenon which is giving rise to Soft Hindutva (read 1, 2 & 3). Soft Hindutva is a devotion towards principles of Ram Rajya, Ram Temple, Nationalistic politics, superstition and social backwardness, while at the same time distancing from communal violence, religious disharmony and hatred.
Soft Hindutva is about believing most of the elements of Hard-Hindutva but without practice of violence and extremist acts. I don't know how its possible because one automatically precedes the other. Its like thinking that one should have full devotion towards building Ram Temple in Ayodhya but he should not have a yearning to demolish Babri Masjid. Its like believing one should have full devotion towards cow worship but he should not have yearning to punish beef eaters. Irrational, unscientific and illogical beliefs will automatically lead to undesired and unintended consequences, and often violence.
We can see the ridiculousness of soft hindutva, and in fact irrationality of all religions & their ideologies. But political parties aren't motivated by rational or reasonable thinking, their main objective is to capture electoral base whichever way they can. If co-opting an extremist ideology is a way to go, then so be it. Don't be surprised with Kejriwal's "Desh Bhakti" curriculum for Delhi schools, Sisodia & AAP politicians taking blessings of seers at Ayodhya or Gandhi siblings visiting Hindu temples trying to emulate BJP leaders. While its unsurprising to see barbarians like Modi & Shah walking on Hindutva ideology, its embarrassing to see liberal leaders wasting their energy in pouring their intellect in writing books like ' Why I am a Hindu'.
The problem of soft hindutva is that it will naturally transpire into hard hindutva down the road. Religion by definition is an irrational, illogical and backward ideology and those who believe it are bound to be manipulated and misled. While soft hindutva looks appealing but eventually someone like Advani, Modi or Yogi Adityanath will emerge who will capture the followers of soft hindutva and drag them towards extremism. Same entrenchment can happen with other religions as well. Playing politics on Soft Hindutva is illogical considering that it can never outmatch the toxic demagogy and ambitious appeal of mainstream Hard Hindutva. Religion is like Opium and its addicts gravitate towards its purer and more lethal forms. Hence Hard Hindutva will always Trump Soft Hindutva.
What is secularism? Religion run wild in India - Time to review our stand on religion in light of Scientific objectivity and social progress of last two centuries - A truly secular govt shall put religion on path to its slow natural demise
While India is a secular republic as defined by the constitution, politicians either have no idea what secularism means or in case of BJP, they simply don't believe in secularism. The concept of Hindutva is completely in contempt of constitution but most liberals (many of them believer of soft-Hindutva) also have confusions about secularism. Secularism is a concept of keeping religion out of the govt - keeping a govt 'areligious'. But that's not it, concept of secularism goes further in today's modern world. Religion is an obsolete relic of an old era when society was not developed scientifically, politically and intellectually. Religion has no place in politics anymore and role of religion also has to reevaluated in social life.
A responsibility of a truly secular govt in present age is not just to keep religion out of govt and out of politics, but also minimize religion in society and public life. Religion should be one's private affair, something you practice in your home or on some occasion in a community by way of festivals. But today the religion has spread much beyond that. There are religious organizations & institutions, some even bigger than many multinational corporations. There are religious militant organizations (some of them are actually terror organizations) spreading like cancer. There are countless religious Gurus, Babas, clerics & Godman who have millions of followers. And by making religion a tax exemptions business, govt has itself become a promoter of all religions. Not to mention that making religion a tax free business has made it a perfect place for illegal financial activities and tax evasion. A dumb politician, claiming to be secular, will say that people are free to practice, promote & propagate religion. This is a typical mindset of our intellectually bankrupt liberal politicians who have allowed this country to be swallowed by Hindutva.
Irrationality of religion caused mass deaths - Super Spreader events during 2nd wave of Covid pandemic Millions of people took Holy dip in Ganga during Kumbh Mela (Left), Thousands of people attending funeral of Islamic Cleric in UP (right).
Religion is opium for masses. It keeps people addicted to irrational thinking while suppressing their emotional sufferings and emptiness. The society is depressed because of poverty, hunger, joblessness, lack of future prospects and various kinds of insecurities. In state of depression, desperation and ignorance, society tries to find something to hang onto. This is where the opium comes into play. The religion traps them into irrational and backward thinking by offering people false sense of hope and tranquility. If religion is opium, then religious institutions are like opium dens which feeds the addicted population with regular dosage of religion and keep them tranquilized. Shutting down these dens is not possible as addicts will revolt and turn against the govt. Best thing to break control of this opium over society is slow & steady erosion of religious institutions over time (the militant & extremist ones need to be shutdown straight away). Make religion a private affair which people consume at home and not in community.
An Opium Den in Singapore. Religious institutions can be figuratively compared to opium dens feeding the addiction of religious followers.
A truly secular govt shall put religion on the path to its slow natural demise. Trying to put religion to a fast sudden death is not possible as population is hooked onto this opium and can't survive its sudden withdrawal. We need slow demise of religion, while we have rehabilitation of population. This is where where our investment on education, poverty alleviation, upward social mobility, opportunities for employment and building a better life comes into play. This is a kind of rehab program that will help population slowly get off the opium.
It makes no sense for giving tax exemptions to Opium trade. Religious institutions and organizations are also sitting on thousands of acres of public land & other assets across India. A process needs to formulated to recover all this land & other assets of these institutions. The empires of Godman and spiritual gurus who have cult following of millions of people needs to be shutdown & liquidated. These Godmen are clones of their depraved predecessors like Asaram, Gurmeet Ram Rahim and Chandraswami etc. These Babas are extension of regime, used for mobilizing electoral votes of their cult followers in elections.
Shutting down and Permanent ban of hateful, corrupted and subversive news media - Present corporate media owned by few oligarchs has degenerated into most perverse form
We don't really have a news media anymore in India. What we have today is some concoction of North Korean State TV, Fox News, Infowars and Radio Rwanda which is sold to people as news media. Job of our today's news media (if we can call it that) is little do with news reporting and reporting on factual reality of country. Most media channels are now speaking tubes and loudspeakers of BJP and its ideology. Entire news channels like Republic are created just for that purpose.
Left - Julius Streicher, Nazi Politician and newspaper publisher executed after Nuremberg Trials for incitement of Genocide of Jews, Right - Hassan Ngeze, Rwanda newspaper editor prosecuted and sentenced to life imprisonment for inciting Tutsi community Genocide in Rwanda
These news channels pump hate, fear and misinformation into the minds of citizens everyday. These news channels should be permanently suspended and taken off the air. The owners of news channels and anchors, which have been inciting crimes against humanity, communal riots and social disharmony, should be put on trial and punished accordingly. The idea is similar to prosecution and imprisonment of journalists who incited genocide in Rwanda (1 & 2). At the end of world war 2, among those found guilty of crime against humanity at the Nuremberg Trials was also the owner of newspaper who promoted Nazi ideology and incited Genocide against Jews. He was executed for his hateful propaganda that caused tremendous humanitarian tragedy in Europe.
Like revival of dead institutions, revival of media will be a long process. The present corporate media model has degenerated into its most perverse form. The problem of private corporatization of news industry throughout the years and ownership of news industry going into hands of small number of oligarchs that own large conglomerates has eroded the sanctity of news industry & credibility of profession (read 1, 2, 3, 4). What kind of news media model can replace the present cancerous corporate media? Its difficult to say right now but new model can only emerge after the demise of present model. We need a free, fair and objective news industry in India and govt regulations to nurture it. I have little insight on this subject but there are industry veterans who can offer better insight and ideas on it.
Dehindutvafication will help resolve some long standing social and cultural challenges - Will help achieve Caste equality, gender equality and social progress that has been elusive through indirect approaches of affirmative action
The concepts of Hindutva are also strongly connected with Casteism and Manusmriti. Manusmriti is a radical Hindu doctrine of suppression of lower caste people, castes which are designated in doctrine to be inferior and untouchable. The Manusmriti doctrine at its core is an instrument for establishing feudal domination and class suppression. Its not really about castes, its about class. Manusmriti specifically mentions the professions of inferior caste as those who are at the bottom of socioeconomic scale - Laborers, cleaners, tannery workers, low level farmers, menial workers, artisans etc.
The radical Manusmriti followers have an ideology called Brahminism. Its well known that this ideology is integral within Hindutva religious militant organizations and BJP. Destroying the BJP and Hindutva organizations will cut hands and feet of Brahminism as well. The underlying problem with caste discrimination is that we could not articulate our national identity even after all these decades. Our confusions on religion, secularism and the rise of Hindutva has contributed a major part in social backwardness. Destroying and dismantling of Hindutva will help in destruction of Brahminism ideology.
Religious militant organizations like RSS have not made its beliefs about women any secret. The lectures and literature of RSS leaders & regime politicians publicize their misogynistic views openly (read 1, 2, 3, 4). Regime politicians and religious organizations have insecurity about liberal, educated and independent women. Regime's antics about women are not just limited to speeches but also reflected in violent actions against women and oppression of women activists (read 1 & 2). Sexual assault on women activists and students by Police reflects a disturbed mindset of regime (read 1 & 2). The discrimination of women has also been a long standing cultural problem in India - a problem connected to illiteracy, lack of education, social backwardness and a pathetic justice system which fails to protect the rights of women.
The hindutva regime's economic policies and undermining of institutions are a strong contributor to gender inequality. Austerity and Privatization of education has left out much of our socially backward young generation from our education system. This has impacted women and backward classes in the worst ways. The weaknesses of institutions, judiciary and law enforcement agencies have far reaching ripple effect which impacts women rights greatly. The courts don't function, there is huge backlog of cases, the Police has been corrupted, there is little regard to due process and rule of law - entire apparatus of Justice and accountability has come to a halt. A system without accountability exacerbate the problems of Crimes against women and discrimination.
We have habit of wanting easy solutions. Why system is not working? What are its structural problems? How can we get to these root causes? This we don't want to think about or care about. We want tepid parochial solutions like reservation. The idea of reservation of women in politics and judiciary has been going around since quite a while, interestingly also embraced by reactionary regime politicians. The problem with our political system is not really that its keeping out women, the problem is that the entire system is completely broken and dysfunctional as i described above. The regime politicians in power have absolutely no interest in reforming the system because its their bread & butter, so they offer some cosmetic superficial solutions to appease the public.
India has tried various approaches for reservation of minorities etc for addressing caste injustice. The structural problems of state cannot be solved by affirmative action alone. The whole range of things that i described above are needed to reform the country. Doing these reforms will automatically solve many problems that have been long difficult to address in their specificity. People often complain that top positions in institutions and bureaucracy are captured by higher caste privileged people. If that is the case, then reservation won't really solve much because the privileged caste will always find ways to block entry of lower caste in positions of authority & power, defeating the whole purpose of reservation. However, if you can bring monumental changes in institutions and political system, that includes kicking out the worst of incumbents. This will mean breaking control of privileged class from position of power & authority and resetting the whole system to fresh point of start.
Is Dehindutvafication possible or is it just a day dream? What cost will it entail?
With everything said, the most important question is - whether Dehindutvafication is possible? Some things are irreversible, its almost impossible to go back to previous state of things. Its like making a duck soup, then trying to make soup back into a living duck. Some shifts in political course of country can be one way street - like its easier to destroy a state and its institutions, it can be impossible to revive and rebuild it. The kinds of decisions, policies and sacrifices needed to reform the country will be extraordinary. Its obvious that to take the necessary decisions, a highly competent, visionary and capable political leadership will be needed. Something that doesn't exist in any of the parties right now. I don't know how such leadership can emerge or if it ever will emerge. What kind of public mandate it will have? Who will be its faces? These are the kind of questions synonymous to "egg or a chicken" problem. They can't be answered from present viewpoint of our political & social landscape.
Getting right to the challenges. The politicians, the criminals, the deranged rulers and the whole setup they created from top to bottom will fight tooth and nail to resist any effort for reforms. For them its also a matter of survival as many of the regime's rulers have committed crimes against humanity. They don't have the option to ever step down from power because if they do, they will be eventually brought to justice down the road. The rulers have immense power - the power of entire govt machinery plus the extralegal forces like religious militant organizations. Due to their pathocratic nature, they exercise power ruthlessly without any remorse. What kind of opposition forces can outmaneuver them is difficult to answer.
If Hindutva regime sees a threat to itself, it will go to any extent to maintain its power. Hindutva regime came to power in 90s by taking India to the brink of civil war. They will do it again if they get cornered, using all the state power to destroy their opposition. They will mobilize their base of religious militants and gangsters to unleash chaos. Denazification in Europe was only possible after military defeat of Fascist and Nazi regimes. The central problem of reforming a Fascist state is that its not possible to do it by normal political process like elections etc. When Fascism consolidates full power, it subverts the entire state & govt structure. Political opposition is destroyed, institutions are converted into instruments of regime and population is turned into slaves. At that point, elections can't bring any changes in Fascist state.
Finally, i would again emphasize that India's problems is not just personalities like Modi & Shah. They are symptoms of broader problem - a failed dysfunctional political system. A system which culminated into Advani, then to Modi & Shah and maybe to likes of Yogi in future. So what we need is broad reforms of our political and electoral system. Any govt that replaces the present regime should have answers to our structural problems and challenges. How to revive our institutions? How to rebuild and recover the economy? What should be our foreign policy? What should be our industrial policy? And most importantly how address problems of socioeconomic inequality? We need a new govt that has solutions for these things. Otherwise, replacing Hindutva regime with some other non performing govt will not solve anything and we will relapse into someone like Modi in the future.
References
India at Crossroads - Time to rethink our Political system (link)
India's Economic Policy in last Decade - From Neoliberalism to Modinomics (link)
How does Police, Courts and public institutions function in Oppressive States? (link)
India becoming a failed State (link)
Indian economy needs major spending & investment from Government (link)
India's Political opposition and its power struggle (link)
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