What is Modi? A 21st century version of Adolf Hitler. Bearded, not mustachioed; with pagri and dhoti, not uniformed. Nevertheless, fully Hitlerite. Hitler wanted a pure Aryan race to rule the world; Modi’s dream – our nightmare – is an upper-caste Hindu ‘rashtra’. Hitler’s pogrom against Jews is now Modi’s policy against Dalits (16% of the population) and Muslims (14% of the population). For him, women are just sexpots and reproduction machines who should not be allowed in places of worship.

Just like Hitler, he is an expert at lies, deceit and witch-hunting. Not only did he order and organize a heinous crime, the demolition of India’s Babri mosque, his rule is also associated with «arrests, assassinations, lynchings, bomb attacks, riots and pogroms» (Arundhati Roy). His BJP is the brainchild of the diseased RSS which preaches Hindu fundamentalism or, if you want, Hindu ‘Talibanism’. In his outlook or mindset, there is no place for the compassion and tolerance Gandhi taught us.

What is Modi’s India? It is the third power in the world in economic and financial terms, behind China and the USA but is also the place where a third of the world’s poor live. It has 131 billionaires but also 50,000,000 persons living in extreme poverty.

India today is cursed by two evils: neoliberalism on the economic front and fascism on the political front – a toxic cocktail. The financialization of the economy means that money is used to make money and not to make things; short term financial returns are preferred to long term investment in productive activities – manufacturing and agricultural goods; inequality is deepening and growth is slow and unemployment is high.

On the one hand, India’s economy is being sold to transnational corporations, on the other, the political class has undergone criminalization. Rampant corruption and the rule by Mafia Raj feed fascism, repression and violence. The voice of dissent must be silenced by all means, at all costs.

This is the India which the Jugnauth tribe loves; this is the India to which Agalega has been sold (?); this is the India which pseudo-leaders and pseudo-intellectuals are proud of, blinded by prejudice and ignorance. Neoliberal and fascist India will try to spread its tentacles to grab the resources found in Africa and is using our country to attain its objectives.

In Mauritius, Big White Money will seek and beg for collaboration and partnership with the enemies of our sovereignty; black, brown, green and yellow business will seek benefits and favours and wouldn’t give a damn for our independence; those who carried the national Indian flag to Grand Bassin, who do not think of themselves as Mauritians of Hindu faith but as Indians in Mauritius are already willing slaves of Indian imperialism and fascism. The future is not bright.

Mauritian progressives must unite in an anti-fascist and antiimperialist front and build links with Indian progressives. The national liberation movement will grow with work and time and let us hope that this time we do not forget that freedom and nation building go together.