How BJP’s aggressive aversion to criticism can undermine democracy

By Akshat Vachher

The BJP has built a reputation for its aversion to criticism ever since coming to power. The party now is not just known for its stronghold throughout the country, but for its majoritarian politics as well. Right from the time of winning the elections, the BJP has shunned its critics through means of personal attacks or by asking the critics to first criticise the wrongdoings of others. The critics are deemed as anti-nationals, who ought to leave the country and settle in Pakistan. Another trend is to give examples of countries like Saudi Arabia that are not democratic at all.

Double standards by the BJP

Popular actors and leaders who criticise the BJP are told to go to Pakistan if BJP faces criticism. There was this entire idea that was generated by the BJP to show that the ‘award wapsi’ brigade are pseudo-intellects trying to get attention, whereas the BJP is right. Now, criticising Modi or BJP has been translated into criticising India. In a democracy, people should be allowed to criticise the country they live in as well.

When the BJP faced backlash due to mob lynching’s, BJP spokespersons and panellists on news channels have gone on to say that religion should not be brought into the discussion and that the issue should not be politicised. They have also gone on record to say that India is not a ‘lynchistan’ and a few incidents here and there can happen and that the government cannot be blamed for the actions of people. When the atrocities against the minorities are given attention, the BJP reprimands it and calls it minority appeasement. At the same time, it calls for condemnation of the killing of RSS workers in Bengal and Kerala. When the issue of the government’s policy in Kashmir is raised, the government shifts focus to what happened to Kashmiri Pandits.

Criticisms against economic policies

Recently, leading economists and institutions have faced the government’s trolling and personal attacks for criticising the poor implementation of GST and demonetisation. Even Amartya Sen was not spared. Economists are called pro-rich or are claimed to be individuals paid by the opposition. Another standard BJP defence is that Congress got so much time, that BJP is not corrupt, and that Rahul Gandhi could not have done any better. However, BJP was surely not elected to act in the way that they claim Congress to have acted in.

Former finance minister and BJP veteran, Yashwant Sinha, criticised the government for its poor work, resulting in an overall economic slowdown. He believes that the government got elected when the crude oil prices were lower, resulting in the excess saving bonanza that the government wasted. Even NPAS became worse. The government also faced flak for changing the GDP calculation process, which would result in showing a higher than normal GDP. He also condemned the way the demonetisation process was created, calling it a complete failure. The BJP, on the other hand, is patting its back for the work they have done and claim that they are doing the best possible work after 60 years of damage caused by Congress. The problem is that all leading sociologists and economists have been criticising BJP’s cultural and economic policies.

A threat to democracy?

Even Yashwant Sinha faced BJP’s personal attacks, with Jaitely calling him a job-seeker at the age of 80. Instead of responding to Sinha’s arguments in a constructive manner, BJP has used its traditional style of Ad Hominem reasoning by personally attacking the people questioning their legitimacy, and bringing out the past flaws of such people. The BJP made Sinha’s son,  Jayant Sinha, respond to his father’s criticism.

Such behaviour on the BJP’s part is a huge threat to democracy, as they have such a strong power hold throughout the country. In order to keep their power in check, the BJP needs to realise that they are the ones who are going against the nation by creating this propaganda of nationalism, and a false narrative of the nation is in a rosy state. If the government maintains such a strong aversion to criticism and creates a false narrative about how good their work has been, they will only get stronger and gain more public support. This is worrisome because the BJP has a huge following, and if they shun all the criticism, its followers are going to legitimise BJP’s poor work. This will only take the nation backwards and away from its democratic essence.

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