The US is at the forefront when it comes to lecturing other countries on democracy. Whether it’s the Kashmir issue, the anti-CAA protests, or the farmers’ protests, the US has been at the forefront of a smear campaign aimed at shaming Bharat on an international platform due to Bharat’s supposed erosion of democratic credentials. A couple of weeks prior to PM Modi’s US visit in 2023, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had visited the US and raised all sorts of preposterous alarms on the supposed lack of democracy and the silencing of all forms of free speech in Bharat.
He hadn’t of course gone there on the US government’s invitation, but he addressed various forums and events organized by US-based think tanks. Rahul Gandhi’s views on Bharatiya democracy and governance were all over the woke Bharatiya and US media. The fact that his tour happened just a couple of days prior to the Bharatiya PM’s scheduled state visit seems more than a coincidence.
The US deep state is deeply intertwined with the global leftist and woke forces. Of recent, one has seen this pattern in its equation with Bharat that publicly and diplomatically, the US maintains a cordial equation with Bharat avoiding all controversial issues. But it uses the leftist woke machinery rather dexterously to shame Bharat on international platforms. Rahul Gandhi’s US visit in 2023 and the adulation it received from woke media should be seen in that context.
Even currently, as the US-Bharat bilateral relations are going strong on multiple fronts, the US is aggressively pursuing the Bharatiya government for the “investigation” into the alleged plot to kill Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in which a Bharatiya citizen was allegedly involved. Pannun has US citizenship. While Bharat has agreed to cooperate with the US in the investigation, what stands out is the blatant silence of the US when it comes to condemning Pannu and his vile anti-Bharat rhetoric. Pannun threatened to attack the Bharatiya Parliament on the recent anniversary of the 2001 parliament attacks. He has now threatened to target the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of Bharat from March 12, thus enabling the economic destruction of Bharat.
Why is the US silent on this? Why is it protecting Pannun and not condemning these threats of a terrorist issued to a democracy? Or is it that the US applies the democracy rhetoric selectively when it suits its purpose? While it lectures the whole world on the lack of democracy when it suits its purpose, its own house is not in order. US President Donald Trump has been barred from the primary ballot of the US states of Maine and Colorado. This effectively means that these states have considered Trump ineligible to run for the post of US President. Trump has been barred from contesting the elections in these states because of his alleged role in the January 6 attack on the Capitol, the US Parliament, that is. Based on his alleged involvement in the Capitol violence in the aftermath of Joe Biden’s victory, multiple lawsuits have been filed throughout the US seeking Donald Trump’s disqualification from contesting the elections.
In Maine, Trump’s candidature was disqualified through a decision by the Secretary of State Shenna Bellows (a Democrat). In Colorado, the state Supreme Court ruled in a decision that the former President was ineligible to contest the elections. In both these states, Trump was barred under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment was introduced in the era of the American Civil War. It prohibits a person from holding a civil or military office, in the United States. If they had been engaged in insurrection or rebellion against their officer when they previously served as an officer in the United States. So this is the section that’s being widely invoked to disqualify Trump from contesting the elections.
But many ifs and buts are here. Section 3 of the 14th Amendment was introduced to a different era for different circumstances so if it can be applied to a former US President is a contentious issue. Moreover, Trump’s role in the Capitol Hill violence is still alleged. Nothing has been proven so far. From the vantage point of Bharatiya democracy, it seems rather strange that the US system is hell-bent on pronouncing a former President guilty without trial. From an outsider’s perspective, what it looks like is the ruling government’s orchestrated campaign to bar a powerful candidate from the opposition party from contesting elections. And that doesn’t look very promising for a democracy. Had Donald Trump been pronounced guilty by the US Supreme Court, things would have been different. But this is the classic case of the US Democrats trying to do away with a powerful opponent by denying him the right to stand for elections. That certainly is anything but democracy.
Imagine if anything of that sort had happened in any other country, especially a non-western country. The US would have been at the forefront of a global smear campaign against that country, its media crying hoarse over the lack of democracy. The US would have also probably by now meddled in the internal affairs of that country, influencing elections through its proxies. Isn’t that what the US is trying to do in Bangladesh, after all? The US is actively meddling in Bangladesh’s internal affairs and trying to maneuver a regime change. It is knowingly or unknowingly creating conditions for radical Islamists to take over Bangladesh by supporting Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh National Party (BNP) which is currently in opposition.
Technically, Donald Trump is still eligible to contest elections. The ultimate decision is of the US Supreme Court. Both the Colorado and Maine decisions are on hold at the moment. If the US Supreme Court intervenes and rules in either favor of Trump or against him, the matter is sorted. But as of now, the US Supreme Court is trying to avoid controversy by not intervening.
It’s not just Donald Trump though that the US deep state woke machinery is vehemently attacking and discrediting. Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is also being demonized and discredited by the US media. Because of Ramaswamy’s no-holds barred approach when it comes to critiquing the US woke culture, the woke lobby is up in arms against him. He is constantly portrayed in a negative light by the woke media and made to feel uncomfortable about his Bharatiya Hindu origins. During the CNN Townhall at Iowa held a couple of weeks back, Ramaswamy was asked by a voter what he has to say to those who say he cannot be their President because his religion is not what their founding fathers based the country of US on. Rather strange that a country that lectures the whole world on secularism and religious freedom makes its own citizens feel uncomfortable because of their religious beliefs in the 21st century.
CNN Townhalls are live interactions with the voters conducted by the US media conglomerate CNN in the run0up to the US Presidential elections. Republican Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy recently created a series of posts on X in which he accused CNN of interfering with his CNN Townhall held with the Iowa voters while giving more preference to Republican candidate Nikki Haley’s CNN Townhall held six months ago.
Here is the post from Vivek Ramaswamy’s X handle:
Bharat mostly plays reactive, at best when it comes to countries like the US. It’s high time Bharat plays proactive and develops an ecosystem to start calling out countries like the US for their tangible lack of democracy and freedom of expression outright.
