Gauhar Raza

Gramsci was one of the most brilliant minds who pointed out that all structures created to run an organized society are intrinsically oppressive. He went to the extent of suggesting that the structures created by resistance movements, once organized also tend to be oppressive. By this formulation, one could arrive at a conclusion that creating resistance movements and continuously transforming them is the responsibility of those who take up the plunge to shape these movements.

Coming back to the oppressive nature of the structures created by nation states, it is imperative to resist their oppressive nature and inherent fascistic tendencies. Our experience of independent India suggests that the constitution, adopted just after freedom was achieved, is quite progressive in nature has been repeatedly undermined by various wings of the government as well as there has been threat to it from the fascist organizations. Be it emergency that was imposed on the people of this country, or repeated dismissal of popularly elected governments or slapping draconian laws on various sections of our society, we should look at them as assault on the democratic structure from within. Small or large scale communal violence, regional hatred, perpetrated by various political formulations should also be considered an assault on the fundamental rights enshrined in the constitution. India is not a country in the classical sense of `nation state’ created in the west. It is a fresh experiment that humanity started conducting in this part of the world in 1947 and since then it is evolving.

This journey to creation of a modern democratic nation has had many twists and turns. There are too many centrifugal forces ready to tear apart the structure that have been created after 1947. In order to keep the nation together, the voices of dissent are of prime importance and therefore, they should be listened to. Those who raise these voices must not only be respected but be given spaces so that the democratic structures may be strengthened. Suppression of these voices by slapping draconian laws is going to be detrimental to evolution of democratic structures. The ultimate litmus test to take a position on any issue would be that whether the position taken is inclusive or not. Does it accommodate varied opinions or does it suppress the voices of dissent.