Activists flag increasing assaults on 'idea of India'

At a time when BJP-led Narendra Modi government is reeling under mounting Opposition attack over allegations of impropriety and corruption in its ranks, leading public intellectuals today accused the Centre on multiple fronts, including "assaulting" the "idea of India" in the past one year.
40 top members of the intelligentsia including academicians, social activists and economists such as Harsh Mander, Ashish Nandy, Indira Jaisingh, Utsa Patnaik engaged in a two-day-long brainstorming session and released 15 video panel discussions evaluating one year of the Modi government.
Releasing the video series at a press conference here, Mander said there was a "deep sense of disquiet" over the assault on fundamental values in the form of communal polarisation and the "demolition" of the welfare framework through spending cuts in education and health.

"The idea of India that involves respect cutting across communities and groups, and the celebration of diversities, is increasingly under threat. On top of that, the convergence between politics of conservatism and market fundamentalism is the most disturbing aspect and the attempts to reduce minorities as second class citizens," he said.
Professor Apoorvanand warned against making a distinction between the fringe groups and the mainline figures in the government saying that "Modi himself belonged to RSS" whose single point agenda, he said, was "establishing a Hindu empire".
"The people of India had expectation and hope from this government because they spun a web of lies and deceit which many could not see. One of the reasons also could be that they change their tactics from time to time but the objective remains the same," he said.

The organisers of the "Idea of India Conclave" of which the talks are a part, said the video series cuts across a multiplicity of issues that have "reared its head" recently, "reducing" the domain of democratic politics in the country.