Hello, everyone. Good morning, afternoon or evening, and welcome to this edition of Notes from South Asia. You can find all the articles in the series here (along with my other diaries).
Note: I clicked the publish button on the queue for South Asian Kos community last week in the morning (my time) and thus, the diary last week was published a few hours in advance. Apologies if you missed it thanks to my ignorance. It is here.
Fascism and persecution continues in India with Narmada Bachao Andolan (Save Narmada Revolution) activist Medha Petkar sent to jail for calling a BJP politician a coward twenty years ago. Along with that, I have in this edition, an Indian observer’s view on rising fascism in Europe. Then we have stories on economy from Bhutan and Maldives where there is no fascism thriving. For now.
India
Parliament Sees Action
The opposition gave what seems to be decent performance (including yes, naming Muslims and hatred against them) during the Motion of Thanks. Motion of thanks is usually given in response to the President’s address to a joint sitting of the parliament at the start of the Lok Sabha’s session (each year). This was the newly elected 18th Lok Sabha’s inaugural session.
But words of the Leader of Opposition (LOP) in the Lok Sabha (People’s House) Rahul Gandhi condemning Modi et al and that of Mr. Kharge, LOP in the Rajya Sabha (State’s House), condemning the RSS (ideological fount of the Hindu Supremacist Bharatiya Janata Party--BJP) were expunged from the record. This affects both reporters and future historians despite us having the videos (which may also be deleted because the ruling party controls the parliament infrastructure).
I am not as happy with Rahul’s speech as a majority seems to have been but there were quite a few other opposition leaders from the INDIA alliance and an independent MP who were great.
Where does that lead us though? We don’t know yet because the levers of power and money are still with the BJP. Jawhar Sircar writes for the Wire: An Insider's View of the First Round of Arm Wrestling in a 'New' Parliament
It is clear that despite Modi’s electoral battering and the spirited combat by the reinvigorated opposition, his genetic intolerance prevailed. He ignored universal protests and operationalised the three new draconian criminal laws during this session. These empower the police to arrest us without a warrant and keep us in police custody for intolerable periods, upto 90 days. The government now has the power to book one and all under anti-terrorist provisions.
Modi has also given effect to several sections of another menacing law, the Telecommunications Act — that had been hustled through in December last, along with the three new criminal laws. To ensure their smooth passage, 146 MPs were suspended from both Houses, marking a new nadir in democracy. This Telecom Act introduces a surveillance regime that no other democratic country in the world suffers.
The conclusion that emerges is that public enthusiasm and opposition unity are not enough to combat such an incorrigibly authoritarian ruler, who controls the levers of power once again.
In politics, all that matters is who holds the steering wheel – even if he is a lying churl or an obnoxious rake. As long as the opposition is united in parliament and has impressive numbers (neither of which can, incidentally, be guaranteed always), Modi will not be able to change much of the constitution. This is, indeed, a relief, but the inveterate intimidator is sure to ram through whatever legislation he wants, as numbers favour him. The recent electoral verdict has clearly shown him the limitations of Hindutvawad, even in his hitherto-assured ‘Hindi-Hindu’ belt. While we arm-wrestle him in parliament, it is time to strengthen continuous communication with the people.
The writer is an All India Trinamool Congress (TMC or AITC) MP from the Rajya Sabha. I don’t like TMC because it is as authoritarian in West Bengal as BJP is across India. But they are part of the opposition.
PS: I didn’t like Rahul Gandhi’s speech because of this:
I was glad he raised the matter of hate and spoke for Muslims, Christians and Sikhs but he used the language of religion (Hinduism) for it not of the Indian constitution. There were others such as Mr. Kharge and Mr. Azad (independent MP) who did not use Hinduism to condemn BJP for their Hindu Supremacy. I thought that was better in the long run.
Persecution Continues
Medha Petkar who had led the Narmada Bachao Andolan against a dam in Narmada has been sentenced to five months jail for defamation. The case was brought by V.K Saxena, the current Lt. Governor of Delhi in 2001. Scroll reports.
A Delhi court on Monday sentenced Narmada Bachao Andolan activist Medha Patkar to five-months imprisonment in a defamation case that is more than two decades old, reported Bar and Bench.
The case was filed in 2001 by VK Saxena, who is now the lieutenant governor of Delhi. At the time, however, Saxena was heading the Ahmedabad-based non-governmental organisation National Council for Civil Liberties.
Saxena alleged that Patkar had defamed him in a press note titled “True face of patriot”, which the activist had issued on November 25, 2000.
The case was filed in an Ahmedabad court and transferred to the chief metropolitan magistrate’s court in Delhi in 2003. Patkar pleaded not guilty to the charges in 2013.
On May 28, Patkar was convicted in the case. She was found guilty of criminal defamation under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code, as per which she was liable to serve two years jail time or pay a fine, or both.
The Saket Courts in Delhi on Monday directed Patkar to pay Saxena Rs 10 lakh as compensation for defaming him. Metropolitan Magistrate Raghav Sharma said that Patkar was not being handed a longer prison sentence in view of her age and health concerns.
The court on May 28 observed that Patkar had accused Saxena of “mortgaging the people of Gujarat and their resources to foreign interests” and held the allegation to be a “direct attack” on his integrity and public service.
“[Patkar’s] statements, calling [Saxena] a coward, not a patriot, and alleging his involvement in hawala transactions, were not only defamatory per-se but also crafted to incite negative perceptions,” the court had said in its order.
You can read more about Saxena’s activities at the time in this book excerpt from Dilip D’Souza for Scroll: True patriots be damned: Medha Patkar’s conviction and more than 20 years of inconvenient questions
A court in New Delhi on Monday sentenced Medha Patkar to a five-month jail term. This is in a defamation case filed in 2000 by VK Saxena, who is now lieutenant governor of Delhi.
I read this news and my mind rolled all the way back to 10 November of 2000. That day, the Indian Express carried a large advertisement on page five, an ad that has an intimate connection to this defamation case.
I wrote about that ad in my book The Narmada Dammed (Penguin, 2002). What follows is the relevant excerpt from the book, lightly edited:
Someone I will call Mr X, President of the “National Council for Civil Liberties” of Ahmedabad, was responsible for the ad. “True face of Ms Medha Patkar and her NBA” or Narmada Bachao Andolan, it proclaimed. It presented to credulous readers two facets of this “true face”.
The first: “NBA is passing on confidential documents related to projects of national importance to the [sic] foreign people.” Reading those words, you were meant to bristle with righteous rage at the Narmada Bachao Andolan good-for-nothings who would pass national secrets to foreigners. The “proof”? An “e-mail message” from “Ms Chitra Rupa Palit of NBA”, to two Swiss gentlemen, reproduced immediately below.
The sender’s name, as written on that very “e-mail message”, is “Chittaroopa”, not “Chitra Rupa”, but let’s gloss over that little detail. Just what did Ms Palit, an Narmada Bachao Andolan activist from Madhya Pradesh, write to the Swiss gentlemen? This dangerous admission: “I am enclosing the (confidential) Risk analysis document that we have prepared.” [Emphasis added].
That is, Ms Palit is referring to a document the Narmada Bachao Andolan had itself produced. How that qualifies as a national secret, Mr X and the National Council for Civil Liberties do not explain. And why should they explain? Their purpose has been served. They have painted the Narmada Bachao Andolan as treasonous in your eyes. You, who saw the ad, were not meant to actually read Ms Palit’s “e-mail message”.
The second: the Narmada Bachao Andolan supports itself “through hawala transactions”. Hawala, as we once know well, refers to undeclared transactions in foreign exchange, on foreign soil. And what's the proof this time? A letter from a Nashik organisation called Lok Samiti to a company, thanking the company for its donation of some thousands of rupees. (A second inference you are supposed to make is that Lok Samiti is a mere front for the Narmada Bachao Andolan, allowing the Andolan to collect funds on the quiet.)
But the third line – yes, the third line – in that letter mentions the Narmada Bachao Andolan, explicitly saying that the funds are for the Narmada Bachao Andolan. In what sense, then, is the Narmada Bachao Andolan taking these funds on the quiet? Besides, Lok Samiti is an Indian organisation, in an Indian city, taking Indian rupees, issuing an Indian receipt, and handing the rupees over to another Indian organisation. In what sense is this a transaction in another country involving undeclared foreign currency, ie a “hawala transaction”?
Yet why should Mr X and the National Council for Civil Liberties care about answering those questions? They have put the idea of a hawala-tainted Narmada Bachao Andolan in your mind, have they not? Their purpose, served again. No, you were not meant to actually read the ad.
Perhaps most telling of all is a line at the bottom of the ad. “Space donated by a Patriot”, it says.
It makes me wonder. If patriots must seek to win public favour this way, we have slid a long way indeed from the times of Azad and Gandhi, Nehru and Patel. Someone save us from bumbling patriots.
He goes on to talk about the campaign by the disingenuously titled National Council of Civil Liberties to ban Narmada Bachao Andolan.
I don’t intend to mount here a detailed defense of the Narmada Bachao Andolan against this memorandum. Still, this ties right in with the “Space donated by a Patriot” line at the bottom of the ad. The whole demand for a ban implies that disagreeing with the state is not just an unlawful activity that must be prevented, it is also traitorous. Again as Kothari writes:
“There is an unwritten assumption that the state can do no wrong, and that anything it does must be in the ‘national’ interest. Such faith in the Indian state is indeed touching. If the interests of those behind such demands were not clear, one would even be driven to tears by such blind faith.”
Truly: if our experience of over seven decades tells us anything, it is that the state can indeed do wrong. You don’t need to fight a dam to know that.
So, apparently, the person who published that ad in 2000 was Mr. V K Saxena. You can see the vindictiveness there post 2024. Ms. Petkar is old (which is why the court decided to give her a limited jail term though the 10 Lakhs fine is huge), and what else can this be but vindictiveness? Oh along with doubling down on threats against civil society?
Name the White Supremacy
Mukul Keshavan—who articles on the Kolkata Telegraph—are always worth a read writes for Foreign Policy that the right wing take over should not be called populism because that gives those fascist movements legitimacy they don’t deserve.
Trump, Farage, Narendra Modi, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Viktor Orban, Benjamin Netanyahu, Vladimir Putin, Marine Le Pen, Giorgia Meloni, Mahendra Rajapaksa, Min Aung Hlaing, and Alice Weidel aren’t populists; they are majoritarian nationalists. Every one of them has the same goal: to take the nominal majorities in their countries (defined by race or religion) and turn them into self-aware, supremacist majorities, determined to remake their nations in their own image and to reduce religious and ethnic minorities to the ranks of second-class citizens or worse.
The historical font of majoritarian nationalism is not populism, but Hitler’s National Socialist party. The Holocaust disqualified majoritarianism from the political mainstream in postwar Europe. The Cold War, in turn, froze the nationalist imagination on both sides of the Iron Curtain. But Nazism’s master concept of a majoritarian nation-state built on the scapegoating of “inferior” minorities remained an inspiration to supremacists elsewhere. M. S. Golwalkar, the chief ideologue of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the parent organization of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), held up Hitler’s treatment of minorities as an example for Indians to follow.
Indians are more sensitive to the significance of majoritarian nationalism than their Western counterparts for historical reasons. Late colonialism and the prospect of self-determination forced anti-colonial intellectuals to actively imagine the post-colonial nation-state. Colonized nationalists tended to mimic European models. They invoked language and religion to legitimize the nations they wanted to build.
The only decolonized states that refused an explicitly majoritarian nationalism and founded formally pluralist nation-states to accommodate their diversity were India and Indonesia. “Formally” is doing a lot of work here, because in several unspoken ways India and Indonesia deferred to the sensibilities of their religious majorities from the early years of their histories as republics. Their constitutions, though, rejected the idea of an established faith. Indonesia is arguably the less interesting of the two because it was for many decades an authoritarian state. India was the only post-colonial state in Asia to combine democratic practice with a rhetorical commitment to a homegrown pluralism that it defined as secularism.
He says that Indians had faltered at the beginning too in defining and naming the beast but had the advantage of seeing it playing out in the neighbourhood.
The systematic uprooting of this pluralism by the BJP and Modi made Indians acutely aware of the existential threat that majoritarianism poses to liberal democracy. They had witnessed firsthand the use of institutional and vigilante violence to hack out a harshly Hindu nation. Still, the threat from majoritarianism wasn’t always obvious to Indian commentators; they had to be educated into it by India’s experiences in the 21st century. It wasn’t until well into the first decade of this century that the term majoritarianism achieved currency.
Before that, Indians used a term that, like populism, obscured more than it revealed. The term was “communalism,” a peculiarly Indian political coinage that described the weaponization of religious community for political ends. Communalists came in different flavors; there were Muslim communalists whose parties sought to represent only the Muslim interest and there were Hindu communalists whose parties addressed themselves only to Hindus. There were minority communalists and majority communalists.
But it was the triumph of Modi that forced the recognition that a communalized majority had the demographic weight to reimagine and reconstitute India in a way that wasn’t available to a minority. Majority communalism was best understood as majoritarianism, the nationalism of a supremacist majority. If South Asian commentators were relatively quick to understand this, it was because they had the intellectual “advantage” of being adjacent to the savage majoritarian violence that ravaged the recent history of the subcontinent. The Gaza-like destruction of Tamil areas in northern Sri Lanka and the violent ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims from Rakhine State in Myanmar underlined for them the bloody logic of majoritarianism.
From Lucknow, Lahore, Colombo, Kathmandu, Dhaka, or Yangon, it’s obvious that the violence visited on Gaza and the dehumanization of Palestinians in the West Bank grows out of a project of majoritarian supremacy.
Mr. Keshavan calls it majoritarianism because he is speaking from a South Asian point of view. If you were based in the West and were a race studies or Black studies scholar, you would call it white supremacy. White supremacy in the West is after all, majoritarianism in other countries. I have often said in comments across Daily Kos that the United States’s foreign policy is white supremacist and that reinforces the domestic racism and fascism. Mr. Kesavan is saying the other side of it. That racism at home is seen in foreign policy (and anti-immigrant measures).
Be that as it may, the majority and the powerful not contending with white supremacy is why you keep going to elections with the slogan, if you don’t vote Blue, you will not have a democracy anymore.
Bhutan
State of the Economy
Bhutan’s Prime Minister presented the state of the nation report to the legislature (I assume legislature since the article does not say) reports Bhutan Broadcasting.
The prime minister during the presentation of the State of the Nation report in the joint sitting today shared various plans and initiatives the government will undertake aimed at reviving the country’s economy in the next one year. Some of the plans are the formalisation of the 21st-century economic roadmap, road development, and digital transformation and education reforms among others.
The prime minister presented various plans and priorities to revive and develop the economy along with the development of the agriculture and livestock sector, human resource, culture and heritage, and enhancement of diplomatic relations within the span of this year and next year.
Additionally, he said for economic revival and development, the government will formalise the 21st-century economic roadmap.
Moreover, low-interest loans will be given to private sectors to support businesses, to farmers for improvement of agriculture and livestock activities and to facilitate homeownership for homeless individuals.
For road development, the prime minister said the government will widen the 11 national highways and construct seven new highways. Similarly, 20 Gewog Centre roads will be repaired and blacktopped along with the repairing of 200 chiwogs roads.
He added that for agriculture and livestock development, the government will install chain-link fencing in 200 chiwogs and construct 47 new irrigation channels.
BBS also reports that the Prime Minister is hopeful that Bhutan would continue recovering from Covid induced economic downturn.
The Prime Minister said the country is steadily recovering from the economic downturn triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic during the presentation of The State of the Nation report in the joint sitting today. The prime minister said that it is evident that the country is progressing, going by the increase in the GNH index over the years. He also said the Gelephu Mindfulness City will be pivotal in addressing the challenges brought about by migration in recent years.
The prime minister said the state of the country is fundamentally linked to the state of Gross National Happiness (GNH).
According to the Centre for Bhutan and GNH Studies’ 2022 GNH Index Results, a measure of the population’s overall well-being and happiness on a scale of 0 to 1, the GNH Index has increased from 0.743 in 2010 to 0.756 in 2015. Further, despite the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2022 the GNH index increased to 0.781 said the prime minister.
He added that such a rise in the GNH Index is an indicator of the progress of GNH and the overall state of the country. The GNH index is usually published once every five years.
“Experiencing a rise in the GNH index during the pandemic is astonishing. This is all thanks to the selfless leadership and sacrifices of His Majesty The King, who was at the frontline of the fight against the disease. His Majesty’s relief Kidu programme and a series of support measures significantly cushioned the people of Bhutan from enduring substantial hardships.”
The prime minister also stated that about 64,000 Bhutanese, which is around nine per cent of the total population have migrated overseas so far is a pressing challenge to the country if the trend persists.
Further, he highlighted that the country’s economy has not yet fully recovered from the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic. For this, he said those wishing to expand their businesses are unable to secure loans, and many are struggling to repay existing loans. This, he said has led to imports exceeding exports, a sharp decline in foreign reserves, and an increase in external debt.
“There is only one solution to addressing the aforementioned challenges: reviving and expanding our economy at the earliest. At the forefront of our strategies is the historic Gelephu Mindfulness City, conceived from His Majesty The King’s profound wisdom. The Gelephu Mindfulness City is a precious gift to the people of Bhutan that will ensure the nation’s present well-being and future security.”
The King seems to be a major personality there.
Preparation for Monsoons
Keunsel editorial asks that Bhutanese must be prepared for the monsoons.
As we face the onset of a challenging monsoon season, the urgency of immediate, decisive action has never been clearer.
Early warnings indicate that this year’s monsoon could be particularly severe, with the potential for devastating floods, landslides, and other catastrophic events. Recent disasters in the region underline the gravity of the situation: Afghanistan has already witnessed deadly floods, killing more than 300 people and displacing thousands, while record-breaking heatwaves have forced school closures, damaged crops, and ignited forest fires.
We cannot afford to be complacent.
First and foremost, the enhancement of early warning systems is imperative. These systems are our first line of defense against natural disasters, providing critical time for preparation and evacuation. It is essential to collaborate with regional and international agencies like the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) to ensure access to the most accurate and timely data. By investing in advanced technologies and establishing robust communication networks, we can provide our vulnerable communities with the information they need to stay safe.
Infrastructure resilience is another critical area that demands immediate attention. Our roads, bridges, and public buildings must be fortified to withstand the extreme conditions anticipated this monsoon season. Strengthening critical infrastructure in vulnerable areas will not only protect lives but also ensure the continuity of essential services during and after a disaster. We must allocate resources to reinforce these structures, prioritising the safety and stability of our nation’s lifelines.
Community preparedness cannot be overlooked. Empowering our citizens with knowledge and skills to respond effectively to disasters is crucial. Comprehensive community awareness programs should be conducted nationwide, educating people on the risks they face and the actions they can take to mitigate them. Training local communities in emergency response techniques and establishing community-based disaster management committees will create a resilient and informed populace, ready to act swiftly in the face of danger.
Yeah we are seeing floods, landslides etc in many places across India. Might be even more difficult in the Himalayas.
Maldives
Economic Challenges
The Maldives Journal reported a week back that Maldives is facing persistent economic challenges.
The Maldives continues to grapple with significant economic vulnerabilities due to a decade of debt accumulation and persistently high fiscal and current account deficits. Erdem Ataş, the country economist and resident coordinator of the World Bank in the Maldives, recently reiterated these concerns in a tweet, emphasizing that economic growth or additional financing alone cannot resolve these issues.
Ataş highlighted that the Maldives' economic woes are the result of a combination of factors that have developed over the past ten years. He pointed out that addressing these vulnerabilities will require expenditure cuts to reduce fiscal and current account deficits. Such measures are essential for supporting the reserves of the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) and improving the debt situation in the medium term. Ataş also acknowledged the government's ongoing efforts to implement fiscal reforms.
The World Bank's "Maldives Development Update" provides a detailed analysis of the current economic situation. According to the report, the Maldivian economy grew by 4.0 percent in 2023, a notable decline from the 13.9 percent growth in 2022. This slowdown occurred despite a record number of tourist arrivals, which reached 1.88 million in 2023. However, increased arrivals did not translate into higher economic growth due to reduced spending per tourist and shorter stays.
The report also underscores the persistent fiscal deficits and rising public debt, which have led to liquidity and solvency risks. The fiscal deficit expanded to an estimated 13.2 percent of GDP in 2023, driven by high capital spending on infrastructure projects and significant recurrent spending, including subsidies and health expenditures. Consequently, public debt surged to 122.9 percent of GDP in 2023, with domestic debt increasing substantially due to tighter global financial conditions.
Minwal Rasheed reports for the same newspaper that the government is confident debt will be paid.
The Ministry of Finance has expressed confidence that the financial reforms being implemented by the Maldivian government will enable the nation to pay its debts and improve its international credit ratings.
In a statement released yesterday, the Ministry of Finance addressed the recent downgrade of the Maldives' credit rating by the international credit rating agency, Fitch. The agency has adjusted the Maldives' financial rating to CCC Plus, citing risks associated with external financing.
However, the statement highlighted that Fitch has also recognized the government's debt management measures, which are expected to enhance the country's financial situation and improve its financial rating.
"Coupled with changes in spending and earnings policies aimed at improving the debt situation, and measures to reduce the economy's dependence on external factors, and efforts to mitigate the negative impact of external shocks on the economy, Fitch's rating will likely be positive at its next review," the Ministry of Finance stated.
Small island nations as I have said earlier faces difficulties thanks to their smallness, climate change induced disasters, and lack of concern from the rich nations and international financial institutions. We need a complete change of international financial architecture and international organisations to change things and support them and the vulnerable across the world. That won’t happen when the rich countries control everything.
That is it for today. I have some personal obligations for the next couple of weeks and am considering taking a longer break (until mid-August) to catch up on a few projects I have been letting slide. So, I may not be here for the next two weeks and possibly longer if you don’t mind.
I hope all of you take care of yourselves. Stay safe. Be well.
May the majoritarians and the racists fail.
