BJP govt turning country into a fascist state, say Left parties

NEW DELHI: Left parties on Tuesday said the Narendra Modi-led-government was turning the country into a “fascist state” and said the government’s idea of nationalism was similar to that of late Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

During the debate on the motion of thanks to the President’s address, CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury said intolerance on university campuses was “chillingly reminiscent of the way Hitler used nationalism to establish fascism”.

Yechury mentioned the recent incidents of alleged intolerance at Hyderabad University, Indian Institute of Technology, (Chennai), FTII and Allahabad University to support his argument. CPI’s D Raja said “Gandhi and Ambedkar” would have faced “sedition charges in today’s India”.

Raja said the RSS never participated in India’s freedom struggle. “I am accusing the government… what is their nationalism? This is fascistic,” he said. “(Nobel laureate) Amartya Sen called us argumentative Indian. This government is turning argumentative Indians into seditious Indians.”

Both leaders said the President’s customary speech to open the Parliament made no mention of these issues.

Yechury said the President mentioned “Satyam Shivam Sundaram” (Truth, Godliness and Beauty) in his speech. “The three Ss in this phrase, being widely used by the government, were more than the two Ss used in Hitler’s secret police (SS or Schutzstaffel).”

However, minister of state for parliamentary affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the Opposition was speaking on intolerance as it could not tolerate the change of regime. “They want to defeat the gover nment’s development agenda and our goal of ‘Saab ka saath, saab ka vikas (Everybody’s support, everybody’s progress).”