Ten years ago Narendra Modi came to power with the promises of ushering in Achhe Din or better days, recovering black money, and creating one crore jobs every year. He got a second chance in 2019 when he promised to double farmers’ income and build a pucca house for every family by 2022. Now, a few weeks before the declaration of 2024 elections, when every promise made to the people has bombed, Modi carried out “Pran Pratishtha” at the half-done Ram Temple at Ayodhya to ask for votes. This event was a victory of the right- wing reactionary Ram Janmabhoomi movement which caused demolition of Babri masjid and thousands of deaths. The movement was the pivot of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s political campaign since its inception in 1980 and reached its peak in the 90s along with opening up of the market in the name of Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization (LPG) in line with US imperialist diktats. While leaders like Advani, Murali Manohar Joshi, and Atal Bihari Vajpayee are the ones who raised this right-wing reactionary movement into popularity, Modi is projected as the leader who brought victory to it. Massive media propaganda, release of movies like “Mein Atal Hoon”, are creating a climate of communal polarization and hatred before the general elections.
This construction budgeted at Rs. 1800 crore has led to the demolition of houses, shops, mosques, and temples, displacing thousands of people in Ayodhya. It has created opportunities for profit in land deals for Adani and leaders linked to the RSS-BJP. With such funds, hundreds of public schools and hospitals could have been built for the people. The pending loans of lakhs of farmers and
labourers could have been waived, rather the Indian banks waived off loans worth Rs. 10.6 trillion for capitalists in December 2023.
This waiving of corporate loans was in spite of the fact that the national debt stood at Rs. 155.6 trillion, or 57.1% of GDP, at the end of March 2023. During the same period, the debt of state governments stood at about 28% of the GDP. Even the US imperialist institution International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that India’s general debt may exceed 100% of its GDP by fiscal 2028. By December 2024, it is projected that there is a probability of 62.94% that the United States will fall into another economic recession. The ‘global’ economy (read imperialism) is in acute crisis needing the most reactionary fascist friends like Modi in the dependent economies like India to stay afloat.
As directed by the imperialist institutions, in the name of reforms, attacks have been brought down on students and workers with National Education Policy 2020 (NEP) and four labour codes. There was a big blow to the fascist march of RSS-BJP with the historic farmers’ movement. Now, attempts are being made to malign the movement and enact state level anti farmer- pro corporate laws. Along with massive loot of jal-jangal-jameen, a selling spree of public property and infrastructure to domestic and foreign corporations is carried out. Rampant privatization and contractualization of all possible sectors is on the verge of completion. Any opposition is met with fascist hands equipped with the oppressive UAPA, ‘Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita’ and ‘Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita’.
Education is being made exclusive, the economy is debt-ridden, unemployment is rising with people even losing faith in the job market. Unemployment is at a 45-year high and the 8-9% rate of unemployment has become the norm. The situation is such that the youth are even ready to move to warring Israel for jobs. In this situation, what the fascist RSS-BJP can offer to the youth of India is a beggar’s bowl at the temple door.
A joint forum of trade unions and farmers’ bodies has given a call for a nationwide general strike and Grameen Bandh (rural strike) on February 16, to protest this overall assault by the RSS- BJP Modi government on the people. This strike is being organized by Samyukta Horata and Joint Committee of Trade Unions (JCTU) in Karnataka. The forum is pressing for their demands which include guaranteed employment as a fundamental right, higher minimum support price, minimum wage of Rs. 26,000 per month for workers, repeal of four labour codes, repeal amendments made to IPC/CrPC, etc. The students and youth of Karnataka should unite and carry out massive propaganda in favour of this strike and against the fascist agenda of the RSS-BJP. It is only in the streets that fascists can be defeated. Ram Janmabhoomi movement may continue in newer forms by targeting Kashi, Mathura etc. It can only be countered with a strong revolutionary, anti-fascist movement uniting students-youth, workers-peasants, Dalits, religious minorities, Adivasis, women, and other oppressed communities. We, the student-youth, have a very critical role to play in forging this alliance to build a militant movement against this fascist regime. It is the task of the hour.
