Arundhati Roy on a democractically elected totalitarian Indian Government

Interview here with Arundhati Roy on the result of the recent Indian elections, which resulted in the election of Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi. 

Arundhati Roy argues that India has an elected totalitarian Government:

“Now, we have a democratically elected totalitarian government. Technically and legally, there is no party with enough seats to constitute an opposition. But many of us have maintained for several years that there never was a real opposition. The two main parties agreed on most policies, and each had the skeleton of a mass pogrom against a minority community in its cupboard. So now, it’s all out in the open. The system lies exposed.”

As Barbara Crosette writes in The Nation, Modi's political origins are in the radical fringes of a Hindu nationalist party unashamedly influenced by 1930s European fascism, complete with theories of a master race. Crosette  argues that Modi's election presents India with its greatest political challenge since the nation was formed in 1947.

Arundhati Roy sees that the Modi Government is beholden to the mining and resource companies who bankrolled his campaign. She believes he will hand over land to the mining and infrastructure corporations and attempt to crush those resisting the forcible takeover of their land:

“The contracts are all signed and the companies have been waiting for years. He has been chosen as the man who does not blink in the face of bloodshed, not just Muslim bloodshed but any bloodshed.”

In her view India's chosen economic development model has a genocidal core

“How have the other ‘developed’ countries progressed? Through wars and by colonising and usurping the resources of other countries and societies. India has no option but to colonise itself............ Bloodshed is inherent to this model of development. There are already thousands of people in jails. But that is not enough any longer. The resistance has to be crushed and eradicated. Big money now needs the man who can walk the last mile. That is why big industry poured millions into Modi’s election campaign.”

An interview with Arundhati Roy about the dark forces underlying the Indian election is here.