Crushing dissent, Yesterday and Today
By AMITA KANEKAR
There are many memes on social media that refer to today’s political situation in India as fascism. But, if this is fascism, most of it is not exactly new. The Hathras case, horrifying as it is, is not the first such case of brutal violence against people belonging to Dalit or Adivasi or other discriminated-against communities. It is also not the first time where people in government office – expected to uphold the law – have made efforts not only to derail the investigation, but to hound, arrest, and file draconian cases against those demanding justice and those supporting the family of the victim. Nor is it just a matter of the BJP; the Congress too has presided over brutalities as terrible, as at Khairlanji, and with the same callous disregard for both the victims and the truth, and a hammering of those who protested. (more…)