Weekly Action - 26 April 2024 - India Election
India election
A major election began in India last Friday 19 April and will run until 1 June. Almost a billion people, 1 in 8 of the world’s population, will take part in the largest election the world has ever seen, in the world’s biggest democratic country. Voters will be electing members of the lower house (Lok Sabha) in India’s parliament for the next 5 years. India has been a democracy since independence in 1947, despite huge levels of poverty, much instability and political turmoil, a hugely impressive achievement. Nevertheless, the election is not without deep controversy. The incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will be up against the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) coalition of over 24 opposition parties, including Congress which dominated Indian politics until the BJP came to power in 2014.
Prime Minister Modi’s government is strongly supported by many voters as it has overseen significant economic development and a corresponding rise in India’s international reputation and status, as well as enormous welfare support for tens of millions in poverty across the country. However, others deeply oppose it as it is also a strongly Hindu nationalist party with close links to extremist groups that have perpetrated dozens of horrifically violent attacks against Muslims, Christians and other minorities. The more secular opposition parties also accuse it of undermining democracy through creating restraints on parliament, the judiciary and the free media, and other actions, accusations which are backed up by independent international monitoring organisations. Opposition parties also say they have faced electoral interference, with the bank accounts of the Congress Party frozen for several weeks, opposition political leaders’ homes raided by law enforcement agencies, and some even jailed on trumped up corruption charges.[1]
The importance of democracy
The crucial importance of proper, transparent, human rights respecting democracy in India, and indeed in every country in the world, cannot be overstated. A major report from Arise, the Arise Manifesto, looks in detail at what standards for democracy, human rights and good governance countries should have. As Christians, we read in the Bible how God wants all governments, everywhere, to rule well, with justice, fairness, impartiality and integrity (Arise Manifesto, pg 79 – 85). As Jeremiah the prophet said, “Hear the word of the LORD to you, king of Judah, you who sits on David’s throne – you, your officials and your people who come through these gates. This is what the LORD says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place” (Jer 2: 2 – 3). In our modern world, democracy has been one of the most effective ways of making sure this Biblical principle is put into practice. Democracies have a much better track record of governing well and effectively with justice, and good standards of human rights, civil liberties and basic freedoms than autocratic states do (Arise Manifesto, pg 102 – 108).
Reform Movements
Where dramatic improvements in democracy, good governance and human rights have occurred, they have overwhelmingly been driven by mass peaceful domestic reform movements. This is another key conclusion from the Arise Manifesto report. We see this in the lessons from the Bible (Arise Manifesto, pg 86 – 88), where prophets like Isaiah challenged the rulers of their day, “stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.” (Isa 1: 16 – 17). We also see it when we look at the lessons from history (Arise Manifesto, pg 108 – 119). In recent decades peaceful reform movements have had dramatic success in Serbia, Madagascar, Georgia, Ukraine, Lebanon, Nepal, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, East Germany, Slovenia, Mali, Bolivia, the Philippines, Zambia, South Korea, Chile, Argentina, Haiti, Brazil, Uruguay, Malawi, Thailand, Bulgaria, Hungary, Nigeria, and many other countries. Of course such movements require great courage and perseverance from those involved. They are not guaranteed to succeed every time. But overwhelmingly the power of ordinary people peacefully refusing to submit is remarkable, and has continually proved the most successful way to improve democracy, human rights and good governance in nations around the world.
Christians at the heart of Reform Movements
Throughout history, Christians and churches have played a hugely important central role in such reform movements (Arise Manifesto, pg 283 – 303). They have worked well alongside journalists, academics, activists, students, trade unions and others in the movement. Supporting such bottom-up Reform Movements (and the Christians that are so often at the heart of them) is one of three key focus campaigns for Arise.
This week will you take action as part of Arise’s Reform Movements campaign, to support brave democracy and human rights activists holding governments to account for better human rights and democratic standards in countries all around the world, including India?
Take Action
Speak out in advocacy
Write to David Cameron, the UK’s Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, in your own words asking the UK to take urgent action to:
- Ensure that the UK scales up support for pro-democracy and human rights reform movements around the world (including in India), in the ways that those movements want. This might involve spotlighting and publicly condemning specific incidents, diplomatic pressure, targeted sanctions, recovering and returning stolen national assets, travel bans for regime members, offering asylum for activists who have had to flee, or multiple other actions.
Write to him at:
The Rt Hon Lord Cameron
Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
FCDO
King Charles Street
London
SW1A 2AH
Pray
Pray for protection and peace for those who bravely campaign for good democratic standards and human rights in countries around the world, including India. Pray for the Christians amongst them who are playing their part. Pray for change and reform, for governments that are truly democratic and respect all human rights.
Give
Give to Christian organisations like International Justice Mission, and to secular groups like Freedom House, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, who are doing crucial work protecting human rights and democracy globally.
Practical Action
Grow the movement of Christians calling for change by sending this action on to a friend and encouraging them to sign up to receive weekly actions from Arise directly.
Ethical Consumption
Try and avoid buying products and services from companies whose operations (inadvertently or not) are helping to prop up undemocratic regimes. Check out the Ethical Consumer website for guidance on this.
Encourage us and others by letting us know what actions you have taken – message us at info@ariseuk.org, or via Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.
Find out more
It’s great to take this action as individual Christians, but even better to come together with others to pray, discuss, worship, learn, have fun and take action together. Contact Arise if you are interested in joining or starting a local Arise group in your church or area.
Find out more in the Arise Manifesto, Arise’s big picture, researched, Biblical, holistic and practical vision for a better world. It looks at what the Bible says, and what we can learn from the best data and the world’s leading experts on the five major areas of evangelism, discipleship, social justice, development and the environment. It then draws these lessons together into a practical road map for the changes we need to see in our world, which the Arise movement campaigns to achieve.
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[1] India is holding a mammoth election with nearly a billion voters, BBC, (16 Apr 2024), https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/extra/2gd2po82go/big-india-election