With two ultra-right wing political parties in India and the UK making an electoral breakthrough, Priyal Sanghavi compares both cases to examine if fascism is making a comeback

Out of many world events which took place on Friday October 23, two were strikingly similar - An Indian state election result and a UK television debate programme. BBC’s Question Time featured British National Party (BNP) leader Nick Griffin on the panel which caused an uproar in the country. The Indian state Maharashtra, which includes the financial capital Mumbai, had a new entrant in its state legislature - the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). Both these parties are very much alike, from their ideologies to the way they are shaping politics.

Fascism today largely differs from the old form of the 1930s which saw Europe crippled by World War. Today it is largely rooted in economic and social issues. Firstly, overcrowding in cities. Jobs and living amenities in cities are being put under pressure by the sheer numbers of people they have to keep up with. Secondly, the world-wide recession and the subsequent job losses have left many individuals disillusioned and angry. MNS formed in 2006 and turned from a crude gathering of rebel politicians to an organised, systematic political party in 2007.

The two main features of both parties are that they are ultra right wing and regionalistic. The BNP mission statement is to secure a future for its indigenous population which they define as “people whose ancestors were the earliest settlers here after the last great Ice Age and which have been complemented by the historic migrations from mainland Europe.” (During the Question Time broadcast fellow panelist Bonnie Greer commented that there were no settlers in Britain during the Ice Age and all migration had originally come from the south, i.e. Africa.)

This is the common stand of Mr Griffin and Mr Raj Thackeray, founder of MNS. Mr Thackeray is a Marathi manoos (man) and the son of Maharashtra, one of the biggest states in India and also the native state of Mumbai, one of India’s biggest cities. His fiery speeches are about working for the welfare of the native Marathi population of the state.

India currently suffers from the boon-turned-bane multi-party system. In a democracy it is essential that every voice is heard but now a few political parties have fragmented into many smaller ones, turning voices into noise. It is not possible to have a government which is not a coalition, since with each new party the votes get further divided. The National Democratic Alliance comprised a coalition of thirteen parties in 1998 and won the national elections in the following year.

In such a situation, where parties must come together and moderate their stand, a radical ultra-right wing party can spell disaster. MNS party workers have beaten up Mumbai taxi drivers hailing from northern states, threatened film-makers who used the English term ‘Bombay’ instead of the original Marathi word ‘Mumbai’ and insisted on Marathi signage on any commercial establishment.

To create and actually continue running a party in the face of vast criticism from all corners requires a firebrand and almost madly-driven leadership. 25 minutes into Question Time and Mr Griffin already looked like a fascist, mental and racist maniac. However any publicity is good publicity as this incident proved. The show was watched by 7.8 million viewers, three times its usual viewership. Mr Thackeray led his party into the state assembly and the Electoral Committee finally recognised it as a state party, three years after its formation.

If there are any doubts that these parties are not taken seriously, the election results lay rest to them. The BNP won two seats in the European Parliament while MNS won 13 seats in the state legislature. For those outraged a moment of reflection may be neccessary - people have begun voting for both these parties.

Both these parties fundamentally oppose human beings' natural habits. Men for generations have travelled in search of a better livelihood to the great prosperous lands of the world. These people differ as to how they chose to balance local customs and their original cultures.

Migration is natural. No city consists of a population from just one indigenous culture anymore. As a land of 29 states and a thousand languages and many foreign cultures, India has proclaimed itself secular in its constitution. A ride on the London underground train reveals how varied its citizens are - from Chinese to Africans. While we remain fairly congenial, individual prejudices do manifest. Both the parties inflame these prejudices into widespread public propaganda. As an educated urban person, you may scoff, ridicule, protest and downright dismiss these parties but you cannot deny their growing existence. Fascism may not have raised its ugly head yet, but it is sleeping with one eye open.