Placing India’s secular-democratic constitution in the background, while the six priests from Sringeri Math in Karnataka were chanting mantras from the Vedas, Prime Minister Narendra Modi performed “bhoomi pujan” for the new Parliament building on Thursday.

In his usual style, he even quoted from Guru Nanak: “Jab tak sansar rahe, tab tak samvad rahe (So long as the world exists, dialogue too must exist).”

Emphasising the point, the Prime Minister said that democracy was the soul of India.

Anyone who applies their mind to these words would naturally think about the happenings at the borders of the national capital, where the “annadatas (providers)” of the country have realised the meaning of “dialogue” in the Modi era.

Democracy is the political framework for dialogue that provides space for debate and dissent. People would in this context naturally remember the position taken by the CEO of the Niti Aayog on democracy itself.

It was not for nothing that the Modi government dismantled the Planning Commission. For this government, everything connected with Jawaharlal Nehru is anathema.

The Niti Aayog was invented by the RSS-controlled BJP as an alternative to the concept of planning. They think that the word “planning” is a stepping stone towards socialism.

The Niti Ayog presents a glittering profile: “National Institute for Transforming India”. This establishment has within no time become a mirror for the thoughts and deeds of the Modi government. Many a time the Niti Ayog has proven to be a harbinger of the policy orientations of the Modi government. What its moots today as an idea can become the guiding principle of the government tomorrow.

That is why the country has noted with anxiety the recent statement by the CEO of the Niti Ayog (Amitabh Kant).

He was addressing a webinar, “The Road to Atmanirbhar Bharat”, organised by the Swarajya magazine. He said India was “too much of a democracy”, which made tough reforms difficult to execute.

It was the revelation of a philosophy that locates democracy as a counter-current on the path to a self-reliant India, or atmanirbhar Bharat.

While the whole nation stands united behind the farmers who are fighting against so-called reforms in agriculture, the Niti Ayog chief laments that tough reforms are difficult in India.

He minced no words in praising his government, which had “shown the will to bring hard-headed reforms across sectors like mining, coal, labour, agriculture...”.

Everyone in India knows what is happening in the country in the name of reforms. In every walk of life FDI has become the salvation mantra for the government.

The government’s concept of Atmanirbhar Bharat itself is mortgaged to foreign capital. Almost all the reforms it has railroaded were blows to the foundations of democracy.

Economic, social and political democracy in India is constantly under attack from the initiators of these hard-headed reforms. The basic rights to organise, differ and protest are brutally suppressed.

The annadatas of the country, knocking at the borders of the national capital, are denied entry to the citadel of democracy where the elected government of the people sits. The concrete barricades, wire fences, water cannons and tear gas shells, together with the thousands of paramilitary forces deployed, speak volumes about the functioning of democracy in India.

The Prime Minister must be aware of the way the provisions of Article 370 were abrogated, the CAA and NRC reforms were enacted, and labour law reforms and farm laws were imposed on the country.

He must also have a basic understanding of the rights enshrined in Articles 14 (equality), 19 (free speech) and 21 (right to life and liberty) of the Constitution. The farmers, workers, students, Dalits and other deprived sections of society do have the right to question those “hard-headed reforms”.

These reforms affect their inalienable right to lead a dignified life in a democratic country.

The Prime Minister should understand the brewing discontent among the masses. The reason behind it is not the abundance of democracy but the growing disparity of wealth and living conditions.

The stimulus packages announced during the pandemic did no justice to the poor. Migrant labourers, domestic workers and sanitary labourers were forgotten. The paltry benefits offered to them did not reach the majority of them.

The crisis in the economy has arisen not because of “an act of God” or too much democracy. The policies evolved by the Niti Aayog and implemented by the government are the reason. The ruling circles intend to resolve it by providing concessions to wilful defaulters and foreign capital.

The question is: people or profit? Here the government is coming out with dangerous propositions with far-reaching impacts, like using the (anti-terror law) UAPA to curtail democracy. This is to strangle the people’s right to differ so that the flow of capital for super profits remains unhindered.

That is why the Niti Aayog CEO in his speech urged “huge amounts of political determination”. This was a call to the government to arm itself further with more and more oppressive laws.

That was a caution to the nation and a warning to its people. The Prime Minister’s intention at the foundation stone ceremony was to hide the undemocratic path the government wants to pursue.

This “swadeshi” government is keen to do it under the cover of a $5-trillion dollar economy, where only FDI will define the parameters of democracy.

(Modi has said he hopes India will have a $5-trillion economy by 2024.)

Binoy Viswam is secretary, CPI National Council, and leader of the party in Parliament