‘Countering the fascist assault: Role of the legal community’

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: “While it is true that no establishment likes dissent, no government likes to be challenged, but you did not have what we see today – targeted brutal attacks on those who espouse issues concerning marginalised communities,” said Mihir Desai, a senior advocate at High Court of Bombay, keeping in comparison the times before the ruling party came into power in 2014.
An open session was addressed by Mihir as a part of the 1st National Conference by the All India Lawyers Association of Justice (AILAJ). As a practising human rights lawyer, he addressed the session titled: ‘Countering the fascist assault: Role of the legal community.’  
He said the current establishment has a three-fold objective which poses legal impacts and effects on lawyering. The first is the establishment of a Hindu Rashtra, which by definition is highly patriarchal, communal and casteist. 
The second is centralisation, which is a need to establish a Hindu Rashtra. “If you need to establish a one kind society, you need to remove multiculturalism and all kinds of plurality. This cannot be achieved without extremely centralised power,” he said, adding that a quasi-federal nation like ours is being manipulated to have more power at the Centre. He provided an example of the recently repelled farm laws which were originally regulated by states. 
The third is a strong security state. “To achieve Hindu Rashtra, the state must have a strong security apparatus which is only answerable to the Centre,” he said.
To achieve these objectives there are certain things that the government needs to implement, Mihir said. 
The initial stages involve the implementation of laws and policies that marginalises minorities. “Look at the CAA-NRC laws, beef ban, anti-conversion laws and even the hijab row that has been recently happening in Karnataka,” he said, adding that even the abrogation of Article 370 was an attempt to marginalise the minority. 
The government is also required to implement laws that will significantly increase the power in the Centre, he said.
Curbing dissent is an important aspect that the government will have to successfully control to achieve their objectives, Mihir said. 
To do so, the government will establish a surveillance state. “They will find out when and how voices are dissenting. It will become important for them to establish a centralised police structure which will ensure any voices of dissent are crushed,” he said, adding that if the voice is that of a Muslim they are labelled an Islamist and if it is not, they are called an urban Naxal.
Hollowing out all institutions of accountability is in progress, he said. “The law required that only a retired Chief Justice of the Supreme Court must be appointed as the chairperson of NHRC but due to the amendment, it has now allowed Arun Mishra to sit in the place,” he provided an example.
“It is very important for lawyers in the present times not to just be lawyers but to engage with the civil society and movements which are happening inside and outside the courts. We are not just representing individual cases but are representing a cause,” he said, encouraging lawyers in India to take note of lawyers across the world who are standing up against authoritative regimes, may it be Israel or Iran. 
He also told them not to lose heart and fight for constitutional values. 
The AILAJ is a pan India organisation comprising law clerks, students, lawyers and other members of the legal fraternity. The talk delivered in English was later translated to Hindi by Kavitha Krishnan and Kannada by Vinay.