Public memory of how (the) fascists “use[d] and abuse[d] democratic freedoms in order to abolish them” (Hannah Arendt) was strong when India’s Constituent Assembly rejected the option of a presidential type of executive. But now, more than 60 years later, the coming general elections are being framed as a presidential-style contest between the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) “strongman” Narendra Modi and the Congress Party’s “weakling” Rahul Gandhi, presuming, of course, that the latter will be named by his party as its prime ministerial candidate in next year’s general elections. In a recent Economic Times/Nielsen opinion poll of 100 chief executive officers, it was reported that 74 wanted Narendra Modi as prime minister compared to only seven who backed Rahul Gandhi. Surely the Washington-headquartered lobbyist Apco Worldwide, which had been hired by the Gujarat state government to promote the biennial “Vibrant Gujarat” summit, seems to have transformed the image of Modi from that of an infamous communalist bigot into one which big business regards as most suitable to be India’s next prime minister.

The founding fathers (and mothers) of the Constitution, apprehensive of the emergence of tyranny in the future, opted for parliamentary democracy. But communal politics, already given an ideological content with the founding of the Hindu Mahasabha and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), grew steadily after Partition. The Jan Sangh, the previous incarnation of the BJP, which joined the JP movement only after the Emergency, opportunistically entered the power structure via the Janata Party. And over time, the BJP, in a series of fascist manoeuvres within the parliamentary framework, established itself as the main competitor of the Congress Party for power at the centre.

To hell with secularism as defined in S R Bommai vs Union of India (AIR 1994 SC 1918)! Gujarat, with Narendra Modi as chief minister, became the RSS’, and, in turn, the BJP’s laboratory of Hindu Rashtra. Following the Godhra tragedy, as the late eminent civil rights lawyer K G Kannabiran, who was a member of the Concerned Citizens’ Tribunal that inquired into the carnage in Gujarat in 2002, put it, “genocide was unleashed on the Muslim population of Gujarat ...The mobs ... converted Ram into a psychopathic, bloodthirsty god.” And, one might add, Modi was like the Führer who made the anti-Muslim pogrom possible. The direct perpetrators were the BJP state and Sangh parivar leadership, and, of course, sections of the state police, intelligence, and the bureaucracy who turned into a Hindutva brigade. In all of this, one needs to emphasise the power of sustained communal propaganda and mass communal mobilisation, and the influence of the ideology of Hindutva within the state police, intelligence, bureaucracy, judiciary, and media.

Now, just two days after the BJP’s parliamentary board announced, on 15 September, that Narendra Modi would be the party’s candidate for prime minister, the candidate, addressing a rally of retired military personnel and sharing the dais with the former army chief V K Singh, used the occasion to deride the “soft” stance of the government towards Islamabad and Beijing. It may be recalled that on 14 March 2011, at a “Know Your Army” exhibition in Ahmedabad, a major-general commended Modi’s “vision of development”, going on to say: “He (Modi) works like we in the army do. He sets a deadline ... and then ensures that the targets are achieved ... These are the qualities of a successful army commander.” Of course, at the last Vibrant Gujarat summit, held in January this year, the “captains of industry” were not far behind. This is what Mukesh Ambani of Reliance proclaimed: “In Narendra bhai, we have a leader with a grand vision”. His brother Anil went several notches ahead, hailing Modi as “a king among kings”! And Ratan Tata was all praise for Gujarat’s “investment climate”, attributing it to Modi’s leadership. All this admiration goes far beyond what the Italian bourgeoisie once said of Benito Mussolini – it was he who got the trains to run on time.

Big media is also doing its bit, even offering unsolicited advice. For instance, a Times of India (16 September 2013) headline: “Modi Campaign Should Be Premised on Growth, So Every Tea Vendor Can Be Upwardly Mobile”. Amusing, for is not Modi’s yarn titled “From Tea Vendor to Chief Minister”? Make no bones about the fact that Modi is solidly backed by big business, including the media. But, remember, it is the RSS that has appointed Modi as the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate; the BJP has only simply announced that decision. So it will be the RSS that will set the policy agenda. Big business is not so foolish to not know this, but yet it fully backs Modi. But do not underestimate the power of big business. To be a serious contender for a parliamentary seat in elections to the Lok Sabha the average amount that has to be spent is Rs 8 crore. It is going to be a presidential-style race wherein money and wealth will hijack the electoral process. Surely the integrity of India’s liberal-political democratic system is at stake.