India on 80th Independence Day 2026!

By M.Y.Siddiqui

India on 80th Independence Day (August 15, 2026) is witnessing despondency and darkness all around resulting from the misrule of RSS Pariwar union government with thriving fascism, law enforcing agencies conducting as forces of colonial repression bereft of the sensivity to the people the sovereign masters of the elected government, communalism, toxic religious polarization, massively rigged elections, partisan state organs (public institutions), discriminatory polity, minorities’ bashings, fractious fraternity, ill-treatment of people as slaves, breakdown of education, massive unemployment, no perceptible checks on ever rising costs of living, weaponisation of dissents, full capture of corporate media singing paean to the dictator, people getting restive as never before, above all, breakdown of rule of law based constitutional democratic governance etc. People now talk, is India still a democracy?

The nation presents a grim picture of democratic backsliding or de-democratization or dismantling of constitutional democracy, while maintaining the formal structural façade of the republican India since 2014. Major international watchdogs like V-Dem (Varieties of Democracy) classified India as an “electoral autocracy” and Freedom House downgraded India’s status from “Free” to “Partly Free”. Major policy decisions, such as 2016 demonetization and 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns, are examples of top-down executive actions implemented with little or nil parliamentary debate or consultation with state governments.

Federalism has been dented so badly that states are not consulted while affecting the well-settled principles of cooperative federalism under a constitutional frame that India is a union of states. For instance, the 2019 revocation of Article 370, which dismantled the special autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir and split it into union territories under central control, the state was not consulted. Besides, executive power has been concentrated in one man (Prime Minister), who is deified with council of ministers rendered inconsequential, with no collective responsibility, whatsoever.

Parliamentary oversight has been weakened. Passing critical bills with voice votes or as “Money Bills” to bypass the upper house, and without debate/scrutiny. There is Ordinance Raj with increased reliance to implement laws without prior parliamentary scrutiny. Presiding officers of both the Houses of Parliament are out and out partisan, as never before, and hardcore RSS men not allowing meaningful democratic proceedings, indicating ineffectiveness of the Parliament. The RSS Pariwar union government has subjugated independent public institutions, placing loyalists in key leadership roles within the judiciary, election commission, investigating agencies, universities and other regulatory authorities. There have been legal and regulatory changes in investigative agencies, anti-terror laws, and FCRA (Foreign Contributions Regulation Act) restrictions. Investigative agencies like Enforcement Directorate (ED), Income Tax Department, CBI, NIA and others are used disproportionately against opposition politicians. Anti-terror laws like the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) have been broadened to detain minorities, activists and journalists. FCRA has been restricted to freeze funding and shut down critical non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Media and information have been controlled. State aligned conglomerates, leading to self-censorship, have bought mainstream news outlets. The government is utilizing the IT Rules to mandate the takedown of critical social media accounts and Internet shutdowns. The government is also deploying tax audits and criminal defamation cases against independent news portals. It wants the people to hear and watch such news, as government wants them to. There is regimentation of news as in dictatorship.

Major fascistic works include altering the electoral landscape with electoral bonds in different formats, SIR (Special Intensive Revision) of electoral roll with large scale deletions of anti-BJP voters of marginalized and vulnerable people, redrawing constituencies (delimitation) of parliamentary and assembly constituencies to dilute voter base of adversarial political parties to ensure unhindered wins of RSS Pariwar candidates, massive riggings or vote theft and disqualification of opposition, utilizing criminal convictions to swiftly disqualify high-profile opposition leaders from parliament and state assemblies.

Well-articulated designs of fascism in India are on the anvil. The country has already been converted into a surveillance state. As envisaged, George Orwell’s 1984 can come into full force, with thought control, double speak, big brother watching, with everyone living insecure and fearful. No one is safe. Even ones bedroom is not secure. The fascistic “one-size-fits-all” syndrome like uniform civil code has overtaken the nation at least in RSS Pariwar ruled states. Other segments of the syndrome like uniform food habits, dress code, and one nation one election and similar others are on the anvil. While current pressing problems of education, employment and price rise are ignored, mythical past is emphasized, expectations of Viksit Bharat 2047 to make India a developed nation by that time notwithstanding that the country is slipping in poverty, employment and education vis-à-vis even neighboring nations. No wonder, the RSS had rejected the Constitution of India four days after its adoption by the Constituent Assembly in November 1949, maintaining that the Constitution was modeled on Western patterns and they wanted adoption of Manusmriti as the Constitution of the new republican India.

Nevertheless, there is light beyond the tunnel. The sudden rise of Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) has ignited GenZ (students and unemployed youth) to rise in unison against repressive jobless governance of RSS Pariwar union government cutting across communal, divisive, religious polarizing, discriminatory and unfair governance of the duo-fascists government, demanding accountability of Prime Minister (PM) and Home Minister (HM) for excessive use of force with unprecedented use of nails lashed canes (lathis), tear gas, lathi charge, pellet gun use, and other lethal weapons by security forces, even use of AK-47 rifle in Bihar on July 20, 2026 and subsequently, demanding resignation of union education minister that came on July 25, 2026.

The CJP’s sudden emergence turned the tide in favour of revival of democracy, which has been practically taken over by the fascism patterned on the model of Mussolini and Hitler. The immediate fall out was removal of fear and insecurity from the minds of youth and general people, forging unifying symbol of resistance. Cross-demographic solidarity united students, middle class families, and older generations around systemic corruption rather than divisive sectarian lines. It also helped redefine democratic participation. Shifted public perception so that democracy is viewed as continuous accountability rather than just voting every five years. This connotes a flickering hope for revival of the constitutional democratic governance, though the system revamping has to take its own time in dismantling the current well-entrenched oppressive governance!

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