Hyderabad: A panel discussion on “new agenda for new India” organised by the Telugu edition of The Wire here on Saturday (September 26) threw light on subversion of democratic institutions in the country under the Narendra Modi regime.The fake ‘Naya Bharat’The Wire‘s co-founding editor Siddharth Varadarajan set the tone for the discussion and began by taking stock of how exactly ‘new India’ – or “fake Naya Bharat” – has come to differ from the old one.While 15 or 20 years ago Indians were focussed on consolidating and expanding the rights affirmed by our founding figures – Varadarajan cited the RTI and rural employment guarantee Acts as examples – now we find ourselves on the defensive, fighting to protect these rights that we have come to take for granted, he observed.That a fundamental right such as the right to vote is being trampled is just one example, he said, noting that India was radically progressive in granting franchise to all adults by 1951 even as Western countries including the United States were yet to do so.Living Modi’s vision for ‘Amrit Kaal’ in the centenary year of independent India in 2047, he said, new laws and new norms were thrust on people of the country in the name of “newness” in the domain of politics and economics.Varadarajan lamented that it was a “fake new India” functioning out of Delhi to suppress media, promote casteism and foist draconian laws on people. “In fake new India, nobody’s rights are safe although it took the country seven-and-a-half decades to achieve them.”The biggest challenge to new India will come from organising the youth to defend these rights and keeping one’s eyes open at all times, he said.The fears of Ambedkar have unfoldedThe architect of the constitution, B.R. Ambedkar, rejected a proposal in the Constituent Assembly to link the right to vote to education and skill elements. Aware that India was driven by social and economic inequalities, Ambedkar insisted that every citizen had an equal say in politics. He was also aware that those who were socially and economically powerful will find ways to subvert the rule, Vardarajan pointed out.He added that the fears of Ambedkar have unfolded now as 10-20% votes were snatched from people in the name of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. A systematic method was followed in taking away the votes of the poor and minorities.“There is a method in the madness of the government to implement its agenda. If you are poor or minority and belong to a section whose leanings to the ruling party cannot be taken for granted, then you have to be careful to preserve your vote,” he said.A view of the gathering at the event. Photo by arrangement.Varadarajan cited the example of removal of votes of a large number of people who lived in a slum of Delhi to prove his point about the EC running roughshod over the poor . They had been living there for several years but suddenly disenfranchised in the SIR. When they protested, bulldozers were deployed to clean up their settlement in 24 to 48 hours. The whole rot, Varadarajan said, set in during Bihar Assembly elections. Lakhs of voters were deprived of their right.He expressed anguish that even the handpicked men of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah found the “illegality and irrationality” in the poll body too much to handle.“A division in the Election Commission among the Election Commissioners handpicked by Modi and Shah through a new EC law found the illegality and irrationality so enormous that even they felt it was too much,” Varadarajan remarked.‘BJP-RSS combine’s foremost target is educational institutions’Aishe Ghosh, former president of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) and national joint secretary of Students Federation of India (SFI), said the BJP was clear on how to control each and every democratic institution in the country according to its ideological framework. It had the full support of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), she added.“The BJP-RSS combine’s foremost target is educational institutions with the aim to pollute young minds.The agitation at Jantar Mantar exposed the anger, aggression and frustration of youth over this. Then, the ruling dispensation altered the education policy to mold youth towards communal tensions. Their dreams of a bright future were shattered in the last 12 years as they were weaned away from public education with fund cuts on scholarships,” Ghosh said. Jantar Mantar 2.0At the event, cyber security expert Kodali Srinivas explained how the Internet Protocol Detail Record (IPDR) was used to identify internet activity and zero in on targeted people. Communication may be encrypted by IPDR but the identity of persons involved in the calls could be established, he said. Srinivas added that it had become easy for security agencies to track public dissent with the emergence of cell phone technology. “Since every cell phone was linked to a tower, the police could easily track down the location of the users.”Vijay Mallangi, south India in-charge of Cockroach Janta Party, said the country was going to witness Jantar Mantar 2.0 with the demand for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The outfit has planned to launch a satyagraha demanding Kumar’s resignation in Mumbai on October 2, followed by a major agitation in Hyderabad ten days later. The CJP also demanded criminal proceedings against Kumar and freezing elections in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab next year. Mallangi said the Election Commission had made a mockery of itself by committing to conduct “free and fair elections”. “But, the kind of elections actually held are something else.”