Democratic freedoms breed authoritarianism. Consolidation of power, achieved through democratic means, is a tempting phenomenon. Regimes are slowly being wrapped up in totalitarianism or dictatorship.
Nationalism and patriotism are aroused. The fear factor is created by introducing “foreign enemies”. Minorities are being targeted.
To streamline the influence of fear, several practices and arrangements are mobilized. Judiciary, the intelligence agencies, the income tax department, the police forces, state-sponsored “terrorism” are the channels to move democracy towards autocracy.
In this exercise, the media is disciplined or regulated for the smooth acceptance of manufactured propagated material.
It is a camouflaged process where the majority population naively gets adapted with acceptable disturbance mainly for nationalistic or patriotic alarms.
The fear factor permeates into the culture of silence and apathy. And authoritarianism survives till the next elections if these are not corrupted.
-By Promod Puri
Promod Puri.com 