Manish Tewari | A Year That Blurred The Line Between Truth and Illusion

As December comes to an end, one can but cast a regretful gaze upon the portentous litany of tragic events that underscored the year 2023. No wonder Cambridge Dictionary has announced “hallucinate” as its Word of the Year. Though the context of the word “hallucinate” was in reference to AI tools generating false or misleading information as facts; it remarkably mirrors the broader narrative of the year gone by — a year characterised by the augmented distortion of truths and the blurring of lines between the perceived and the actual.

The unnecessary Russian aggression on Ukraine entered its tenth month as the year turned over. In those ten months the Russian casus belli for the unprecedented assault on a sovereign nation in violation of the Budapest Memorandum of 1994 and the Minsk Accords of 2014-15 stood fully exposed. However the assault continues shorn of the perceived bogey of Nato’s eastward expansion. Similarly the Chinese transgression across the Line of Actual Control (LAC) into Indian territory entered its thirtieth month.

The year in India also began with a frontal onslaught on what is left of the freedom of the press with the Union government proscribing a BBC’s two-part documentary by dubbing it as Faustian. Moreover, BBC offices in India faced harassment from the coercive instrumentalities of the state, a recurring tactic employed by the government with even greater leeway this year to squelch all dissent.

In early March, a five-bench judge of the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and election commissioners shall be made by the President on advice of a committee consisting of the Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition, and the Chief Justice of India. In absolute disregard to this judgement, the government passed a bill in the Parliament which replaces the Chief Justice with a minister, thereby providing the government a carte blanche in appointing officials to the Election Commission, and completely subverting electoral superintendence in the country.

In May, horrific ethnic violence erupted between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities in the state of Manipur. Despite being a BJP-ruled state with a no immediate action was taken to restore normalcy. On the contrary attempts were made to restrict the flow of information from the state. Even after being urged by the opposition to explain the on-ground situation in Manipur, the Prime Minister refused to do so. Even now, the facts on ground remain shrouded in ambiguity with the Supreme Court having to monitor the slow march to an uneasy calm.
May also witnessed the Reserve Bank of India withdrawing the 2,000-rupee note. No denomination in the history of independent India's currency regime has had a shorter shelf life than the 2,000-rupee currency note. This clearly illustrates how abrupt and short-sighted the government's policy was in 2016, and how nothing was learnt from that tragic decision with all the overtones of a dark comedy.

In September, Parliament was compelled to shift into a new premises by forsaking its historical seat. The original Parliament building was converted into a Samvidhan Sabha or Constituent Assembly completely ignoring the seminal role it has played over the past seven decades in transforming an old civilisation into a modern nation. The reasons for this shift are still abstruse for the old structure still stands tall radiating vibrancy, mystique and an aura of unblemished dignity.

In October, the world saw the horrific terror attack unleashed by the Hamas on hapless Israeli citizens that left hundreds dead and scores taken hostage. The Israeli retaliation has been both brutal and disproportionate with entire population of the Gaza strip being subjected to the most medieval and barbaric form of collective punishment that still continues unabated with women, children and even the wounded being subjected to systematic and clinical extermination.

In November, eight retired navy personnel were awarded the death penalty by a Qatari court. Though this has since been commuted, the details of the charges against them remain unknown while their ‘condition’ continues to be a matter of utmost concern. I had raised this issue in December 2022 in Parliament; despite that ten months later our “decorated veterans” continue to suffer ignominy in a Qatari prison.

Early December saw the pronouncement of Article 370 judgement. Its deleterious impact on the federal structure of our country should concern us all. The court refrained from answering the question of whether the Parliament can convert a state into two Union territories which was a sine qua non of the dispute. The apex court also allowed for the reorganisation of Ladakh into a Union territory on the grounds that the solicitor general has promised that statehood would be restored in the remaining part of Jammu & Kashmir. An undertaking neither binding on any successor government or the legislature for that matter. Quixotically, the court held that, while the process of abrogating Article 370 was ultra-vires of the Constitution of India, the abrogation itself was intra-vires.

The year finally ended with a literal assault on India’s democracy. On December 13, 2023, the 22nd anniversary of the terror attack on Parliament, two intruders entered into the Lok Sabha and released smoke canisters. Despite the intruders entering Parliament on a pass recommended by a BJP MP, no action has been taken against him so far either by the presiding officers or the police for that matter.

On the contrary, in order to save itself any further embarrassment and exonerate itself from any public scrutiny, the government suspended 146 Opposition members of Parliament for demanding accountability from the home minister thereby setting a terrible precedent for India’s parliamentary form of government.

In the middle of these suspensions, important bills such as the telecom bill, Chief Election Commissioner and the three criminal law bills were passed with zero opposition, with scenes from the Parliament drawing eerie parallels to an Orwellian dystopia reminiscent of authoritarian regimes.

In the train of seminal events that underpinned 2023, the resonance of “hallucinate” extends beyond linguistic semantics. It becomes a metaphor for a year where the boundaries between reality and illusion blurred, leaving citizens grappling with distorted versions of the truth. The global slide tilt towards right wing populism, and non-adherence to democratic principles and constitutionalism underscores a disturbing pattern of governance that prioritises control over transparency and power over accountability.