The Growing Radicalization in the Country is Threatening India's Democracy and it's Constitution?

The Growing Radicalization in the Country is Threatening India's Democracy and it's Constitution?

 (By Sravani Gokaraju) 

Image By:- Goutham Sagar

In recent years, the world has been seeing many times, how extreme violence is taking the lives of many innocent people. Whether for religious, political or social reasons, radicals have been seeking violence to get what they want, especially in India. The growing radicalization in the country is threatening India's Democracy and it's Constitution. Before we dive deeper into this topic, I want to first explain what radicalization and democracy are.  

 

Democracy is a form of government in which the citizens of that country have the right and authority to choose and elect their governing legislation. Direct and representative are the two types of democracies. In a direct democracy, people directly decide and elect on the legislature. In a representative democracy, people elect representatives who then decide on the legislature, such as in India.  

 

Now coming to Radicalization, in simple terms, is taking one’s opinion on religious, political, or social issues so seriously, to the point of dominating them by the use of violence. It is basically taking law into their own hands. Terrorism, Naxalites, a politician's or religious authority's provocative speech enraging their followers and a few citizens, leading to starting riots are all examples of Radicalization. The causes of Radicalization are complex and intertwined and relate to the structural environment in which radicalization can start to take hold. Historic, political, economical, and social circumstances, including the impact of central and state power politics are what cause radicalization. Growing inequalities, perceptions of injustice, human-rights violence, social-political exclusion, rejection of the growing diversity in the society, widespread corruption, or sustained mistreatment of certain groups, along with poverty and/or unemployment are driving factors of radicalization. Even the lacking freshness of violence through its daily projections and consumption via media, books, films, video games, newspapers, etc. contributes a little to the rise in violent behavior amongst people. In addition to these structural drivers, people get pulled into radical and violent movements through well-considered manipulation and accompaniment (socialization) processes, often facilitated by personal, emotional or psychological factors, such as alienation, a search for identity and dignity, revenge for the previous mistreatment, breakdown of communication between authority figures and youth, as well as through virtual communities on social media. 

 

Radicalization is putting people at risk. The violent measures taken by the radicals not only create chaos and fear amongst the public but also takes the lives of many innocents. It takes away from people, the basic right of feeling safe in one's own country. Radicalization undermines democratic governments like India. Radicals assume that anything can be achieved by taking a violent route. The purpose of a democratic government is to ensure the people elected by the public look after them and provide them with all the aid they need. The sad part though is that even some politicians take advantage of their power. They use their power to create havoc in society and bring hatred amongst people through provocative speeches and preaching. Strong and effective policies must be implemented by the government to ensure that de-radicalization is happening in the country.  

 

The threat posed by radicalization in India is underestimated and understudied. Since no strong policies were implemented so far, the situation had been worsening over the years. Policy addressing and trying to reverse the process of radicalization that forces an individual or a group to idealize and act upon extremist ideas is needed to face the problem. Some policies were implemented by the state governments, but they turned out to be weak because they were focussing only on the people who are already preaching radicalization. They haven't been dealing with others who are showing symptoms of radical behavior but haven't yet broken any law. The programs to be implemented should focus upon the four aspects: the individual, his/her family, religion, and psychology, and seek to bring about a lasting change in the individual’s belief system. Poverty and unemployment should be reduced. Children should get educated so that they not only get employed but also will be able to tell the good from the bad. Also, all people should be inclusive and not neglected so that they don't feel the need to resort to such harmful practices. Security centric perspective measures must be taken severely.  

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The opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Light de Literacy and LDL does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.