The RSS, as a voluntary organization, is part of Civil Society. It played a heroic role in opposing Mrs Gandhi's tyranny. Its reward is that two of its members- Vajpayee and Modi- have become popular Prime Ministers.
The Congress- as the hereditary property of a Dynasty- is not part of Civil Society. It is a cult of hereditary power of a corrupt and arbitrary kind.
Ram Guha thinks the BJP has animosity towards Civil Society though it is itself a product of the Civil Society of the vast majority of Indians. He writes in the Telegraph-
Earlier this month, three dozen voluntary organisations in Karnataka
which aren't part of Civil Society if they receive money- from Governments or other Agencies- to provide certain services. Guha does not know the definition of 'Civil Society'. The RSS is Civil Society because it is not the agent in any monetary transaction with a Government or Market entity which involves the provision of services. In law, an NGO acts as a 'public body'- i.e. is treated as part of the State- if it discharges a function which is similar to that of an organ of Government even if it is a foreign Government or private foundation which provides the funds to do so.
collectively prepared a manifesto for the political parties contesting the assembly elections in the state. This ‘Civil Society Forum’ included groups working for the rights of Dalits, women, and slum dwellers, groups active in the fields of education, health and sanitation, and groups pressing for political decentralisation through the fuller application of the 73rd and 74th amendments to the Indian Constitution.
But if any of the members of this forum are paid by Governments or Foundations to provide services similar to those provided by an organ of the State, then they are not part of Civil Society.
The fact is people who talk about the 73rd amendment don't represent the Aristotelian koinōnía politikḗ
They are academics or ideologues of an essentially theological stripe. They represent a sort of secular clergy or bunch of virtue signaling holier-than-thou talking heads.
Their manifesto, running into twenty pages, was printed in both Kannada and English.
It was translated into Kannada- not very well. But then these guys have been issuing manifestos like this for over a decade. Nobody takes any notice. Still, if they have money for it in their budget and if the thing helps them get their grants renewed then it is just a case of people doing what they are paid to do. There is a market for this shite and they serve that market.
It covered a wide array of issues, reflecting the varied priorities of the participating groups as well as the different challenges confronting the people of the state. The Civil Society Forum asked “all political parties” to include these demands in their own manifestos and, further, requested those elected to the assembly to take decisions in favour of them.
But the stuff Kharge is offering voters aint on their manifesto. Kharge is smart. These guys have shit for brains.
The circulation of the manifesto was followed by a meeting to which the representatives of the political parties were invited. I attended the meeting too, and followed the proceedings with keen interest. They began with presentations by civil society workers on governance, health, education, agriculture, social justice, among other issues, and ended with the politicians in attendance responding to these presentations and also answering questions from the audience. The discussions were constructive, conducted in a spirit of tolerance and understanding. The meeting, however, was marred by the striking absence of representatives of two of the three major political parties in the state. These were the Janata Dal (Secular) and the Bharatiya Janata Party. The third major party in Karnataka, the Congress, had sent a representative, as had the Aam Aadmi Party, which is striving to make a mark in the state, and the Communist Party of India (Marxist), which has had pockets of support in working-class districts.
So, the thing was known to be useless. If Rahul's disqualificaton stands. Kharge wants to signal the possibility of a UPA 3 with a technocratic PM who isn't a threat to any of the big regional satraps. AAP is the joker in the pack. It is looking to recruit ambitious NGO types or else to cannibalize Congress vote banks.
The organisers made repeated calls to the JD(S) and the BJP, but despite promising to send a spokesperson neither party did so. Why was that?
Because the thing is useless. Elections are almost upon us. Everybody has better things to do.
My own surmise is that in the case of the JD(S), it was probably indifference.
Based on greater ideographic knowledge of the State and the preferences of particular dominant groups.
The party does not care about civil society per se.
Nobody does. The thing is about boring shitheads boring the shite out of other boring shitheads.
In the case of the BJP, however, its refusal to show up at this meeting was almost certainly based on the party’s intense dislike for civil society organisations that operate independently of it.
In the opinion of a guy who has an intense dislike of the BJP. Just recently, I organized an anti-Masturbation Forum and invited Ram Guha and Amartya Sen. Sen didn't show up probably because he was indifferent to the cause of anti-masturbation. Guha, however, obviously hates anti-masturbation because he is a wanker.
The origins of the BJP’s dislike for civil society lie partly in the ideological orientation of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
which is the product of the Civil Society of the Hindu people of India not that of some stupid academics in worthless University Departments.
Totalitarian by instinct,
in the opinion of a man whose instinct is always to tell the stupidest and most ignorant lie possible
the RSS seeks to control all spheres of social and cultural life in India.
RSS prevented Guha from joining Indian cricket team and personally jizzing over each and every team captain.
Wherever it works — among peasants, tribals, women, students, neighbourhood groups — it does not wish to have any competition.
Whereas Guha is always asking for competition before performing his conjugal duties. Wifey too may prefer this. On the other hand, Guha's domestic life might be quite different from mine.
Another, and perhaps even more consequential, reason for the BJP’s dislike for civil society is the personality of the present prime minister. Instinctively authoritarian, when in power, Narendra Modi seeks to control all aspects of governance and administration.
Which is why he banned not just the RSS but also the Hindu Mahasabha
As chief minister of Gujarat, he came down strongly on the state’s civil society groups.
No he didn't. The RSS flourished. That's a civil society group.
Indeed, at that time, he was even suspicious of the Gujarat wing of the RSS, seeing it as a rival to his authority.
Nonsense! The plain fact is that Modi's tiff with Sanjay Joshi only became public after it had become evident that Modi was seen as the best PM candidate for 2014. Modi knew very well that he had to settle the 'dual membership' canard- i.e. the notion that Nagpur was pulling his strings- so as achieve cohesiveness within the NDA, not to mention open doors to 'outside support' in case of a hung parliament.
For Guha- who has a 'great man theory of history'- everything is based on the whims and caprices- rather than the rational calculations- of elected leaders.
After he moved to Delhi as prime minister, Modi’s relations with the RSS have improved, largely because the sangh has accepted that it must play second fiddle to him.
They had accepted this much earlier. Advani refused to push aside Vajpayee. The RSS had to accept that only Vajpayee could be PM.
In the nine years that Narendra Modi has been in power, his government has displayed a savage hostility to voluntary organisations.
Manmohan was tougher on them. Modi understands that strong arm tactics won't work. He apologized fulsomely for the Farm Bill.
Groups doing excellent work in education, health, policy research, and social welfare, and with no connection to any political party or religious organisation, have been harassed through tax raids and the withdrawal of permission to receive donations under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act.
Which is a good thing. They can tell donors that they have to concentrate on doing 'first order good' rather than fighting some imaginary Fascism.
Many organisations have been persecuted in this manner, of which Oxfam
which is useless
and the Centre for Policy Research
which was useless and mischievous. Pratap Bhanu Mehta was once its head. That's how shit it was.
are only the best-known examples. At the same time, there has been virtually no bar on Hindutva groups sympathetic to the current regime getting funds from abroad.
Because Hindus aren't cuddling up with crazy jihadi terrorists.
A couple of years ago, when it was reported that the FCRA registration of non-denominational organisations had been cancelled while non-resident Hindus were freely funding RSS-affiliated bodies, the Kannada cartoonist, P. Mahamud,
who has genuine talent
satirically commented in print: “Modiji says ‘One Nation, One NGO’.”
Guha thinks that if a cartoonist- moreover one with a Muslim name- says something then it must be true. I mean, Muslims are stupid- right? They can't do irony or poke fun. Thus this guy has drawn a picture of something which is 'common knowledge'. Moreover the thing was published in a newspaper. That means it must be true.
In truth, when in power between 2004 and 2014, the Congress also misused the FCRA to harass NGOs it felt threatened by, particularly those working on the environment and human rights.
But Manmohan was ham handed. Modi knows that you have to keep the people on side. He cancelled projects in Gujarat when the farmers objected.
At the same time, the Congress did solicit advice from civil society groups with regard to social welfare policies (such as the rural employment guarantee scheme). The United Progressive Alliance government’s attitude to NGOs was, we might say, marked by strategic ambivalence.
No. Manmohan was and is an economist. He understood Agent-Principal hazard cuts both ways. Indian NGOs need to have a plausible reason to push-back against donor insistence they concentrate on fucking over India. They need to do enough 'first-order good' in India to prevent the GoI shutting them down in which case the Principal loses his Agent and the accumulated power and influence he represents.
On the other hand, the BJP government now in power distrusts all civil society organisations unless they subscribe to, and enthusiastically promote, its majoritarian Hindutva agenda as well as the personality cult of the prime minister himself.
No. They welcome NGOs which focus on 'first order good'. Bill Gates is welcome. Soros is not.
This fear of civil society is of a piece with the current government’s fear of independent scrutiny in general.
Nobody gives a fuck about independent scrutiny. I don't care if women are checking me out. I only get upset if they try to force their nipples into my mouth or grab hold of my dick. Anyway, that's the reason I quit Mrs. Thatcher's Cabinet.
Hence the extraordinary, and unprecedented, act of the prime minister not holding a single press conference in two terms in office.
Since 1989, Manmohan was the only PM who held open press conferences. But this was because he was trying to get a little leverage against Sonia's clique. The plain fact is, prior to liberalization and the mushrooming of TV channels, journalists and proprietors were highly dependent on the Government. The purpose of the press conference was the asking of planted questions and the issuing of scripted answers- unless the PM couldn't be bothered.
Hence also the State’s attacks on those sections of the press which still remain relatively free.
This cretin thought that when a case was brought against him by some vexatious litigator in the boondocks, that Modi himself was behind it! He also compared himself to Mahatma Gandhi! I need hardly say, this was unfair. Guha is like nobody except Mother Theresa- but only if she also discovered the Theory of Relativity.
Hence the jailing of journalists and student activists under the obnoxious Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Because no journalist or student can do anything unlawful- right?
Hence the venomous propaganda against such admirably peaceful protests as those against the (obnoxious) Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the farm laws.
The anti-CAA agitation helped the BJP and AAP. The farm laws didn't harm Yogi but turned out to be a godsend for Kejriwal.
Hence the denial of research visas to foreign scholars and the curbs on what seminars Indian universities staffed and run by Indian citizens can or cannot hold.
This will escalate. India will impose stringent travel restrictions even on diplomats in a reciprocal manner.
Again, in fairness, one must acknowledge that many state governments run by parties other than the BJP do not much appreciate independent assessment of their policies either. Nor do they seek to encourage grassroots organisations doing constructive work outside a party umbrella.
Nonsense! Everybody doing 'first order' good is approached by different parties. Generally, they get bi-partisan support though this evaporates if they cross a Mafia Don.
This has been true of West Bengal under the CPI(M) and under the TMC, of Tamil Nadu under the AIADMK and under the DMK, of Andhra under the YSR Congress, and Telangana under the BRS. Nonetheless, the BJP has taken this hostility to civil society and independent thought to an altogether new level.
No it hasn't. The BJP has to concentrate on governance. They must leave paranoia to Guha & Co.
Besides, unlike the CPI(M), the TMC, the DMK and others, the BJP is in office at the Centre as well as in many states and, thus, far better placed to use the levers of power to crush and intimidate civil society organisations.
But a lot of these guys are senile, paranoid, non-entities. The Institute of Socioproctology, however, has faced relentless discrimination ever since its Founder-President (currently Acting Vice President pending independent investigation of charges of sexual self-abuse) quit Mrs. Thatcher's Cabinet.
Writing in the 1830s, the French thinker, Alexis de Tocqueville, argued that American democracy was nourished by its flourishing voluntary associations.
which involved lynching niggers and massacring injuns.
At that time, aristocratic Europe may have been a laggard,
fuck off! The Third Estate, by definition, is Civil Society. Civil jurisdictions are also called Roman Law jurisdictions. Common Law jurisdictions are based on the evolving norms and stare decisis judgments of the Third Estates- which is the 'Commons'. In France, Parliaments were part of that older, Frankish, tradition.
Guha literally knows nothing about European or American history. But he is funniest when he talks about India.
but by the end of the 19th century it had many thriving voluntary associations of its own.
No. What happened was that certain types of associations- e.g. Trade Unions- became legal and could operate 'over-ground'.
These were of two types — critical and constructive.
No. The two types are corporate and unincorporated. Individuals and associations are always both critical and constructive.
The first sought to shine a spotlight on the failures of the State in assuring its citizens the freedom from want or fear;
Nobody- including Marx- thought the State had any such power. This is a recent academic availability cascade. Try telling Ukrainians that Zelensky is shit coz he isn't upholding their freedom to enjoy sodomy in streets not being bombed by Putin's goons.
the second sought to make up for these failures by setting up schools, hospitals and so on themselves.
Plenty of schools and hospitals and so forth had already been set up hundreds of years previously.
Writing almost two centuries after Tocqueville, I endorse his view that the health of a country’s civil society can serve as an index of the health of its political system as a whole.
India isn't lynching niggers or committing genocide on indigenous people. Thus its political system must be shitty- right? De Tocqueville would so not have approved of a brown fellow replacing a nice Italian- albeit one without a penis.
In this regard, India was probably most democratic in the decades after the Emergency ended.
Because an airline pilot becoming PM because his Mummy and granddaddy were PM is totes democratic-right?
serve as an index of the health of its political system as a whole.
India isn't lynching niggers or committing genocide on indigenous people. Thus its political system must be shitty- right? De Tocqueville would so not have approved of a brown fellow replacing a nice Italian- albeit one without a penis.
In this regard, India was probably most democratic in the decades after the Emergency ended.
A country with a hereditary leader is not a democracy. Under Modi, that is what India could become. But it isn't there yet. Guha's own home state of Karnataka may revert to being the property of the Dynasty.
That was when voluntary associations of both the critical and constructive kind had the space to flourish, with salutary effects on our political system and on society as a whole.
Fuck off! The Soros type nutters shat the bed. Essentially, if a guy wasn't a Naxal or Jihadi, they didn't give a shit about him.
Since 2014, however, the State has sought to assert its might against groups and organisations that operate autonomously.
Guha had told us earlier that Manmohan got this particular ball rolling. But the thing dates back to Buta Singh in 1980.
Though it is true that in the past no political party liked civil society organisations to be wholly independent, the BJP today is not merely indifferent or suspicious but actively hostile to them.
So are we all- unless they do 'first order good'. Bill Gates is fine. Soros can go fuck himself.
Its failure to send a representative to the recent meeting of the Civil Society Forum in Bengaluru was not a product of forgetfulness or oversight, but an act of deliberation.
Whereas Janata Dal's failure to do so was an act of mindless folly- right?
Increasingly, the BJP sees a free press and a vigorous civil society as antithetical to the promotion of its ideology and the perpetuation of its rule.
No. The BJP sees that having shitty candidates or lackadaisical booth management is what lost them Himachal. In Karnataka, they face Kharge. The truth is, they deserve to lose but Rahul can still screw up what should be a walk over.
Meanwhile, we must feel a little sorry for Guha. His social calendar must really suck ass big time if he has no better place to be than some 'Civil Society Forum'.
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