That’s the question: Where is India lagging behind?Everybody knows where India is lagging behind. Unemployment, rising economic inequality, social disharmony, absence of a progressive agenda and lack of political will put the enormous human capacities to optimum use.But the same question, asked in a different context, advertises the real problem today’s India is grappling with. For instance, let’s examine what the top Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ram Madhav said a few days ago during his tour of the United States.Participating in a function with some Americans, Ram Madhav said: “We agreed to stop buying oil from Iran, we agreed buying oil from Russia, facing so much criticism from our Indian opposition. We agreed for 50% tariffs; agreed means we did not say anything. We maintained our patience. Today, in the new trade deal also, we agreed to 18% tariff, higher than what it used to be. So, where is India lagging behind? What are those issues where India is not doing enough?”That’s the most tangible confession by an RSS ideologue and spokesperson, who has held the important post of BJP general secretary in the past, about the Narendra Modi government’s surrender before the Donald Trump administration. Though Modi’s inability to counter Trump’s repeated taunts and insults left little doubt about his timidity, the feeble voices coming from government spokespersons about decisions not taken under extraneous pressures gave excuses to the BJP.Oil import from Iran was stopped and the purchases were whittled down substantially from Russia but the whispers of denial that decisions were not taken under US pressure didn’t die away completely. Madhav’s public admission ripped the mask off, no matter he later said what was said was wrong.Sycophancy is uglier when it looks like a hideous surrender. The whole structure of confusion and misery betrays a dormant sense of guilt. That’s why Rahul Gandhi says prime minister Narendra Modi is “compromised”. The trembling confession of surrender and the subsequent apology by Ram Madhav can’t be seen in isolation. The entire episode persuades us to delve in history to recall that shady chapter of mercy petitions that the Hindutva icon V.D. Savarkar wrote to the colonial rulers. That fragile thread of cowardice hasn’t broken in the decades even as they are in power now, crushing domestic opponents with brutal force. Deploying state machinery against citizens isn’t bravery. That’s another manifestation of fear and cowardice.So, where is India lagging behind, mews the insider who is in the habit of roaring down critics and opponents in India. How obedient! Please tell us, my lords, where did we fail. So sweet! The 56-inch masculinity is for the helpless activists, journalists, students and cartoonists. The menacing tiger is like a cat on the hot bricks outside her cozy home. What more can we do, Jahanpanah?Now India understands why the heinous crime of bombing 165 Iranian schoolgirls to death was not condemned. It is clear now why Modi remained silent when Trump boasted of stopping war with Pakistan and flaunted Asim Munir as his darling. That explains how Trump went so far as to amplify that nasty message about India being a hell-hole. How pathetic!Toxic rhetoric“Aye Trump, kaan khol kar sun lo…” roared home minister Amit Shah, coming to the defence of the prime minister Modi who might not have spoken out for some mysterious reasons. Perish the thought. Shah did roar and delivered that intimidating dialogue but the target was West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, not the mercurial US President who has been humiliating India . “Aye Didi, kaan khol kar sun lo…”, thus went the real lines. A particular kind of bravery is local; it doesn’t have the passport to go international.There was no dearth of courageous leaders in the election campaign. Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “Main Didi se bola hun, Didi Hinduon ke saath takkar mat lena. Bharat mein Hindu the, Hindu hain aur jab tak chand-sooraj rahega, Hindu rahega (I told Didi (Mamata Banerjee), don’t fight with Hindus. There were Hindus in India, there are Hindus in India, and there will be Hindus till the sun and the moon exist).” This profound wisdom from a chief minister should convince the nation and the world that the glorious intellectual tradition set by Modi and Shah will be preserved by their followers. Another chief minister, Yogi Adityanath dutifully informed Bengal that the sound of Azan is not heard in Uttar Pradesh anymore because of the double-engine government. He added, “Nobody offers namaz on the roads either.”Remarkable achievements! The electoral discourse involved other important subjects as well. No, not the LPG crisis that has hit millions across the country. Not about the impending energy crisis that may push the prices of petrol and diesel beyond the reach of the poor. Not about the lurking fertiliser crisis. Not even India’s diminishing clout in the world. Not such dry topics. Juicy conversations like the strong BJP leaders’ capacity to eat more mutton and fish than the Trinamul’s frail activists.Bengali girls were told by Amit Shah they would be able to roam around the city in the night without any fear if the BJP forms government. Peace will dawn on Bengal if the voters embraced BJP. Like Manipur. Like Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Delhi. How will the Bengali voters know what happened in Unnao and Hathras? Who remembers what BJP IT Cell’s boys did to a BHU girl? Even if they know, who has said leaders can’t lie and mislead in election campaigns?Electoral sanctityWhat next? This question is burning everybody’s ears. We have seen fake and duplicate voters, blatant violations of model code of conduct, deletion of millions of names from electoral rolls and distribution of money by governments in the middle of voting. We have seen a partisan Election Commission of India (ECI) threatening the political rivals of the BJP. We have seen eminent personalities, including army officers, government servants, academicians, editors, artistes and students struggling to restore their names to the voters’ list amidst silly excuses like “logical discrepancies”.We have seen the Supreme Court’s inability, or reluctance, to deliver justice and stop the untimely misadventures of the Election Commission. What next? That’s the question every conscientious citizen is grappling with.Will the Supreme Court tender an unconditional apology for the miscarriage of justice in Bengal and promise to rein in the ECI which has undertaken an illegal task of disenfranchising bona-fide citizens? If 27 lakh genuine voters could not vote in this election in Bengal, shouldn’t the judges who were hearing the case share the guilt? Or, is it enough to say – vote in the next election! Are the prime minister and the home minister, who are so passionately singing the ghuspaithiya tune worried about lakhs of genuine citizens who could not vote? Have they uttered a word of sympathy for this illegal exclusion? Does the majesty of the Constitution not fall on these people wronged by a procedural fault?What next – that’s the question which haunts India’s democracy. The chief election commissioner (CEC) hasn’t shown any sign of remorse; leave apart showing any readiness for course correction. How will the ECI regain its impartiality and start acting according to the constitutional mandate? Does the system – which includes the government and judiciary – realise there is no purpose of having an Election Commission in which no stakeholder, except one, has any faith? This can be tolerated only if the real agenda is destruction of democracy. Otherwise, the nation must ponder over what next? Every opposition party was dissatisfied with the CEC Rajiv Kumar. He was succeeded by, far worse, Gyanesh Kumar. What next?Sanjay K. Jha is a political observer.