The Astounding Parallel Between Germany of 1933 and India of 2014

My friend Sri Ramachandran Attur has sent me a mail comparing the Germany of 1933 and India of 2014. I was also thinking on the above lines for the last few months. I have to tell you that I have read and studied a lot on the history of the rise and fall of German Nazism. From my study I am fully convinced that the situation prevailed in Germany at the time of Hitler coming to power and the present situation in India where there is a real danger of a Hitler like demagogue like Narendra Modi coming to power. The mail of my friend Sri Ramachandran  Attur really expresses my forebodings far better than I can express them.

Here is the mail for you to read and reflect on it and understand the serious situation which faces our motherland.

“I am a 69-years old retired Railway officer with an absolutely impeccable record of honest service to the nation.  I am writing this mail due to my deep concern about what will happen to the country after the 2014 elections, not with any aspiration for a political career.

There is an uncanny parallel between the present situation in India and the situation that prevailed in Germany at the time of the rise of Adolf Hitler:

1. Deep disgust spread across all strata of society, directed at an incompetent, corrupt and utterly discredited so-called "democratically elected" government.

2. Anger at rising prices and unemployment, and with all that, a small segment of population living in extreme comfort and prosperity.

3. A large group of people, particularly youth, who are aware of the life that they can have but that they are denied due to the workings of a coterie of politicians and other powerful people.

4. A major party goes to the extreme of identifying itself with an individual.  Note how Rajnath Singh changed the slogan, "Ab ki baar Bhajpa ka sarkar", and made it, "Ab ki baar Modi sarkar".

5. The rise of a demagogue, fluent of speech, strong of words, not prone to smiling.

6. Marginalization of politicians who have served the country and the party sincerely according to their best understanding, for a long time but who are thrown into the waste paper basket due to the emergence of a demagogue.

What happened in Germany from mid-1930s onwards is part of history.  Such things may not happen in 21st century, 80 years later, particularly in India.  But don't be sure.  The ordinary respectable and peace-loving people who lived in Germany in the early 1930s did not expect the rise of a terrible dictatorship and the holocaust either!

If Narendra Modi comes to power and BJP gets to be completely controlled by Narendra Modi in the years to come, and the Congress and other older parties continue to be incompetent morons, incapable of reading the situation aright and responding with maturity and statesmanship, the following things may very well happen:

1. LK Advani, Jaswanth Singh and others who have been sidelined to accommodate the "Modi wave" and who have protested directly or indirectly may get picked up at the dead of night, and nothing more may be heard about them afterwards.

2. Minorities will suffer immensely.  Narendra Modi has shown some sample of what can be expected if the minorities do not tow his line.  

3. But the majority community should not think that they will be safe.  In the beginning people like me who write such emails will be picked up.  Then they will pick up people who maintain silence but who look suspicious in their silent acquiescence with what is going on.  Then they will get into the habit of silencing imagined opposition.  Knocks at the door in the middle of the night will become more common.

4. Big corporates which fund the party's operations will be happy in the beginning.  But later on they will also feel the heat - because the man who loves power does not love anything else or love anyone except himself.

Arvind Kejriwal has shown courage in standing against Narendra Modi in Varanasi.  But it will be good for his health if he does not win.  If he wins, the large mass of people whose illusion-bubble he has pricked by winning against Modi will not forgive him.  There is great danger for the man who takes a tigress' cubs from her and also for the man who takes away their illusions from a fanatical people.

Think over this carefully and act after careful consideration of your own interests and the interests of the nation.

Vote AAP and give the party a chance.  Give power to AAP and then keep a watch on its elected representatives and its government to make sure that they remain sincere and committed to selfless service of the nation.”