Cover Story

The recent Lok Sabha elections in India highlighted the ability of its people to confront the divine pretensions of a genocidal and communal maniac who sought to rule the country as a fascist autocrat.

The relationship between Narendra Modi, the Hindu religion, and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections is a complex and multifaceted one, shaped by political strategy, cultural narrative, and electoral dynamics.

The following report is based on the interview conducted by Indian journalist Karan Thapar with Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, a Delhi-based writer and journalist interested in Hindu nationalistic politics. The text below is shown in a running format, not a Q&A format.

A stable Pakistan under bold and dynamic leadership seems a distant dream.

Hybrid regimes lack legitimacy, and their decisions are flawed and peripheral, becoming a big problem rather than a solution.

Institutions have an inherent tendency to resist reform. Conventional ways of conduct become quasi-sacred traditions.

The problem that the judges have raised about interfering in their functioning is not confined to them alone but affects other major state institutions.

The letter written by six judges of Islamabad High Court is poorly drafted and is more of an admission of the judges’ inability or incapacity to use their power and clout to take action against the detractors.

The recent spate of toxic letters received at the offices of the IHC and SC judges, including the CJP himself, might be the act of an agent provocateur.

Being the most accessible instrument of electoral manipulation, ‘Form 47’ succinctly describes the never-ending plight of a captive nation.

Patronage and the capacity for violence play crucial roles in determining political outcomes and manifest themselves in repeated coups, sectarian conflict and feudalistic relationships.

All major political dynastic parties lack intra-party democratic practices, prevent the rise of non-family members even within their parties, and have little interest in the emancipation of the masses through education, legal and social justice, and equitable distribution of wealth.

It appears that both the civil structures and the military intelligence agencies have realized the need to pull-back, and enable the country’s intrinsic capacity for constructive work to reach fruition.

The supremacy of civilian leadership over the military needs to be reasserted through the work of the Cabinet Committee on National Security and the National Security Division.

The very institution decried for our country’s political ills will have to cajole and coerce the politicians to do what is necessary.

Constitutional meddling or choreographing the elections is a ubiquitous bar on the transparency of elections and Pakistan’s future stability and development.

The ugliest face of power politics in Pakistan will be re-exposed in the February 2024 General Elections.

The nation is at a crossroads where it can either fight back and say no to a manipulated future or give in, at least this one last time.

Conditions on the ground do not indicate the established rationale for the formation of a national government.

The imposition of an unelected ‘National Government of Technocrats’ is likely to do more harm than good.

A national government, riding upon the back of the Establishment’s strength, would be a far cry from people’s wishes, for it has never been able and willing to, nor will it carry out the essential reforms in all, but especially the governance and economic sectors.

The militarisation of governance and public affairs can never be conceived as an ideal remedy. However, a democratic dispensation can learn a lot from the military leadership, particularly in the areas of good administration and sound stewardship.