On Gandhi Jayanti, When Peaceful Protest Is Silenced, Can India Still Call Itself a Democracy?

 

On Gandhi Jayanti, When Peaceful Protest Is Silenced, Can India Still Call Itself a Democracy?

Hindi Version: https://rakeshinsightfulgaze.blogspot.com/2026/10/blog-post.html

Today is the birthday of Shri Mahatma Gandhi and Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri, where one is a symbol of the founding of India and the other is a symbol of honest governance. Their souls must be disturbed by what happened in India today, where the public was not allowed to carry out a peaceful protest against what they believe is a stolen government, which is now acting like a dictatorship.

In general, no one should need to ask for permission for a peaceful protest when they are unhappy with how things are. The right to dissent is a basic human right, especially when the system has fallen apart, and even the judiciary can no longer be trusted to remain neutral, as many of the decisions made by judges are visibly questionable. When laws are created to give immunity to those in power for their actions, from that very day, a dictatorship begins to take birth in that nation. Therefore, telling the world that you still have a democracy becomes questionable when the system no longer meets the definition of democracy.

What India is witnessing is that, with the help of money and power, a few rich people have put unqualified people at the top of the government and are choking the system by using brutal force against institutions that were meant to remain independent and carry out the laws designed to uphold the Constitution of India.

Disallowing the public from protesting against someone they believe has committed crimes against the people, while allegations continue that the election of the government was enabled through illegal means, shows a government that is now too afraid to give up power. These people know that if they do nothing to make India proud, the public will not come to their support if their alleged crimes are eventually proven in court and they are sent to jail.

In 1977, when Mrs. Gandhi lifted the Emergency and called for free and fair elections, she knew that even though the Emergency may have been harsh on the people, her government had done many good things, and she believed she would come back into power once again. She was right. The Janata government lasted only about 28 months, and Mrs. Gandhi returned to power with a thumping majority in the next general election.

I do not believe this will happen for the BJP because the allegations against these leaders are far more serious. If such crimes are eventually proven in court, they could result in long prison sentences not simply for bad governance, but for crimes involving allegations of murder, corruption, and breaking the system itself.

I am sure that much of the public did not get to see through the mainstream media what this government did today against free speech and peaceful marches. If I were advising the opposition parties, I would start filing FIRs against all those DMs, SDMs, Police Commissioners, and anyone else against whom there is evidence that they knowingly helped steal the election. Some are accused of looking the other way when counting was allegedly changed in favor of the BJP or when illegal votes were allegedly being cast.

None of these people have immunity under the 2023 law the BJP passed, and the pressure on the government must continue, this time for the resignation of Modi and Shah. I would also file FIRs against Modi and Shah in states where non-BJP governments are governing, wherever there is evidence supporting criminal allegations and the law allows such cases to be registered.

The protests must continue until the system is changed because, in my view, this is not the government the people elected; these are the people who have stolen your government. The fight must remain peaceful, but the people must continue demanding their constitutional rights and accountability from those holding power.

Jai Hind.

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