Author and economist Parakala Prabhakar on Thursday narrated how it had become “very difficult” to be critical of the government and juxtaposed some of his personal experiences in recent years to highlight the accoutrements of a repressive state, which he termed “new India.”

“In new India, it is very difficult to be critical of the government…. They want you to buy whatever data, idea or narrative they put out,” said Prabhakar during a discussion on his book The Crooked Timber of New India: Essays on a Republic in Crisis, which takes a critical look at the political developments in the country since 2014.

“It is the agony of what is happening to the republic…. After spending a number of sleepless nights, I wrote these essays,” he said in Calcutta.

The Educationists’ Forum, West Bengal, and the West Bengal College & University Professors Association organised the discussion. Bengal education minister Bratya Basu, Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member Jawhar Sircar, Deb Narayan Bandyopadhyay, a former vice-chancellor of Bankura University, and Omprakash Mishra, a former member of the National Security Advisory Board, attended the event.

During the one-and-a-half-hour programme, the discourse revolved around the “disturbing trends” in the country under the Narendra Modi regime. If Basu’s focus was on the rise in Fascism and crony capitalism in India, Sircar highlighted the regressive public finance policy of the government resulting in a declining share of corporate tax in the total tax kitty.

Prabhakar, the main speaker at the event, expanded the narrative by listing the “distinct features” of the “new India” and began his presentation by explaining the difficulties in speaking truth to power.

According to him, publishing the book — he was ready with the content in 2023 — itself threw several challenges as most publishers — who had shown a lot of enthusiasm initially —developed cold feet after he sent them some sample essays for their consideration.

The publishers wanted him to wait till June 2024 for the release of the book, he recounted, alluding to the fear in the minds of the publishers in coming up with content that is critical of the government before the Lok Sabha elections.

Drawing peals of laughter from the audience, he rolled out the example of how the State Bank of India also wanted to disclose details on electoral bonds on June 30, 2024.

Responding to a question from this newspaper on whether his attempts at “speaking truth” in his book — themed on the Modi dispensation’s pernicious effect on India — created problems for him, the alumnus of Jawaharlal University and the London School of Economics shared some of his recent experiences.

“Yes, some people have told me not to go for walks alone.... I keep getting so many abusive messages. People came to my home with smiling faces and said ‘stop this’,” Prabhakar, husband of Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, replied with a smiling face.

“Anything can happen.... You know that two chief ministers are in jail. But no, I am not scared,” he added.

While he swatted the possibility of him being cowed down, Prabhakar — who spoke on rising inequality and high unemployment rate among other topics — did not hide his apprehensions about the future of the country if the present regime returned after the Lok Sabha elections and sounded a warning to the people.

“If this government comes back to power, the small or fringe groups will not be coming up with calls like, throw this community out or attack them... These things would be said from the ramparts of Red Fort. Every state will see what is happening in Manipur,” said Prabhakar.

“So, the franchise that you exercise this election will be important…. If this dispensation comes back to power, secular and liberal India will cease to exist. We will be in a very deep economic, political, social, and moral crisis,” he added.

He also spoke about the other threat which looms large. “It is not that we did not have religion in our lives.… There is a difference between bringing religion into public life and using it as a political tool. What is happening now is the weaponising of religion for political gains and that characterises new India. This directly poses a threat to our constitution,” he said.

When this newspaper asked him, on the sidelines of the event, to comment on the possible electoral outcome in Bengal, Prabhakar — who had predicted a seat count of around 220-230 for the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections in some of his earlier interviews — did not comment citing his lack of knowledge about the politics in the state.