If the BJP is voted back to power there will be incidents of genocide like Manipur across the country and this will be announced from the rampart of Red Ford, said professor Parakala Prabhakar this afternoon.

He was present at the inauguration of his book titled, The Crooked Timber of New India – Essays On A Republic in Crisis at Press Club this afternoon. State education minister Bratya Basu, Trinamul Congress MP Jawahar Sirkar, educationists Om Prakash Misra and former VC Debnarayan Bandyopadhyay were present at the function. The function was organized by the West Bengal College and University Professors’ Association.

Prof Prabhakar said one of the features of New India is that organizations who did not take part in the Indian freedom movement are claiming themselves to be patriots. In New India the top 1% of the population holds 40% of the nation’s wealth and this is alarming. There is so much inequality and the country is facing the largest, highest youth unemployment, which is 24% in New India.

He said, “It is really funny that our “bhakts” claim that we are the 5th largest economy in the world and we have overtaken Great Britain. If that be so then we are a developed country. The Prime Minister said that by 2047 we would be a developed country. His statement contradicts the tall claim of the bhakts,” he remarked.

He said there is a tendency to deny the world hunger index where India occupies a very low position. There are people who say that this index does not have any basis and it is done by the Western world to malign India. “Interestingly, the central government has announced that 81 crore people will be given free ration for 5 years. This confirms the apprehension that as there will be no jobs, people will have to be given free ration,” he observed.

He warned people that if BJP comes back to power then in New India there will not be any election and democracy will be slaughtered by people who do not like people to ask questions. There will be a deep economic, social, political and moral crisis in New India,” he said, adding, “It is unfortunate that the bhakts are weaponising religion for political gain. Earlier, religion was followed privately but now it is used to determine citizenship,” he said.

Prof Prabhakar narrated how the publishers backed out and refused to publish his book before June 2024. “They showed great interest to publish the book initially, but then they backed out and agreed to publish it after June 2024. The indication is clear. But now it has been translated into Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi and some other Indian languages.”