West Bengal MPs work status in Loksabha during 2009-14

Name	Constituency	Party	Attendance Percent	Debates Total	Questions Asked	Private Member Bills
Abdul Mannan Hossain	Murshidabad	Indian National Congress	59%	0	0	0
Abhijit Mukherjee	Jangipur	Indian National Congress	98%	3	22	0
Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury	Maldaha Dakshin	Indian National Congress	77%	3	8	0
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury	Baharampur	Indian National Congress	82%	88	309	18
Ambica Banerjee	Howrah	All India Trinamool Congress	60%	3	154	0
Anup Kumar Saha	Bardhaman Purba	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	87%	21	101	0
Bansagopal Chowdhury	Asansol	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	61%	24	43	0
Basudeb Acharia	Bankura	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	88%	143	218	7
Choudhury Mohan Jatua	Mathurapur	All India Trinamool Congress	34%	0	0	0
Deepa Dashmunsi	Raiganj	Indian National Congress	79%	9	328	0
Dinesh Trivedi	Barrackpur	All India Trinamool Congress	78%	3	0	0
Gobinda Chandra Naskar	Bongaon	All India Trinamool Congress	83%	8	1	0
Gurudas Dasgupta	Ghatal	Communist Party of India	88%	94	505	0
Jaswant Singh	Darjeeling	Bharatiya Janata Party	78%	18	0	0
Kabir Suman	Jadavpur	All India Trinamool Congress	31%	3	0	0
Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar	Barasat	All India Trinamool Congress	67%	25	13	1
Kalyan Banerjee	Serampore	All India Trinamool Congress	75%	39	0	0
Mahendra Kumar Roy	Jalpaiguri	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	94%	39	168	0
Mamata Banerjee	Kolkata Dakshin	All India Trinamool Congress	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Manohar Tirkey	Alipurduars	Revolutionary Socialist Party	57%	32	602	0
Mausam Noor	Maldaha Uttar	Indian National Congress	66%	4	60	0
Narahari Mahato	Purulia	All India Forward Bloc	71%	53	650	0
Nripendra Nath Roy	Cooch Behar	All India Forward Bloc	75%	53	636	0
Prabodh Panda	Medinipur	Communist Party of India	90%	148	585	1
Pranab Mukherjee	Jangipur	Indian National Congress	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Prasanta Kumar Majumdar	Balurghat	Revolutionary Socialist Party	76%	138	468	2
Prasun Banerjee	Howrah	All India Trinamool Congress	60%	0	0	0
Pulin Bihari Baske	Jhargram	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	92%	42	84	0
Ram Chandra Dome	Bolpur	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	83%	54	80	0
Ratna De	Hooghly	All India Trinamool Congress	83%	100	174	0
Sakti Mohan Malik	Arambagh	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	87%	7	28	0
Satabdi Roy	Birbhum	All India Trinamool Congress	75%	6	0	0
Saugata Roy	Dum Dum	All India Trinamool Congress	95%	68	195	0
Sisir Kumar Adhikari	Kanthi	All India Trinamool Congress	43%	0	0	0
Sk. Nurul Islam	Basirhat	All India Trinamool Congress	37%	1	4	0
Sk. Saidul Haque	Bardhaman-Durgapur	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	97%	96	258	0
Somendra Nath Mitra	Diamond Harbour	All India Trinamool Congress	48%	1	278	0
Subrata Bakshi	Kolkata Dakshin	All India Trinamool Congress	32%	1	0	0
Sucharu Ranjan Haldar	Ranaghat	All India Trinamool Congress	84%	6	29	0
Sudip Bandyopadhyay	Kolkata Uttar	All India Trinamool Congress	85%	55	0	0
Sultan Ahmed	Uluberia	All India Trinamool Congress	55%	1	63	0
Susmita Bauri	Bishnupur	Communist Party of India (Marxist)	94%	31	131	0
Suvendu Adhikari	Tamluk	All India Trinamool Congress	27%	20	90	0
Tapas Paul	Krishnanagar	All India Trinamool Congress	72%	6	0	0
Tarun Mandal	Jaynagar	Independent	68%	124	21	0

Maharahtra MPs work status in Loksabha during 2009-14

Name	Constituency	Party	Attendance Percent	Debates Total	Questions Asked	Private Member Bills
A.T. Nana Patil	Jalgaon	Bharatiya Janata Party	80%	69	641	10
Anand Prakash Paranjpe	Kalyan	Shiv Sena	68%	11	820	0
Anandrao Adsul	Amravati	Shiv Sena	74%	35	1266	3
Anant Gangaram Geete	Raigad	Shiv Sena	73%	55	10	1
Awale Jaywant Gangaram	Latur	Indian National Congress	91%	51	350	0
Bhavana Pundlikrao Gawali Patil	Yavatmal-Washim	Shiv Sena	67%	19	360	0
Chandrakant Bhaurao Khaire	Aurangabad	Shiv Sena	73%	48	725	5
Datta Raghobaji Meghe	Wardha	Indian National Congress	88%	59	308	0
Dilip Kumar Mansukhlal Gandhi	Ahmednagar	Bharatiya Janata Party	68%	48	278	0
Dudhgaonkar Ganeshrao Nagorao	Parbhani	Shiv Sena	92%	45	418	0
Eknath Mahadeo Gaikwad	Mumbai-South-Central	Indian National Congress	98%	11	1020	0
Gajanan Dharmshi Babar	Maval	Shiv Sena	73%	24	1176	0
Gurudas Kamat	Mumbai-North-West	Indian National Congress	87%	0	0	0
Hansraj Gangaram Ahir	Chandrapur	Bharatiya Janata Party	72%	114	1005	31
Haribhau Madhav Jawale	Raver	Bharatiya Janata Party	81%	53	404	1
Harischandra Deoram Chavan	Dindori	Bharatiya Janata Party	79%	8	791	0
Jadhav Baliram Sukur	Palghar	Bahujan Vikas Aaghadi	94%	16	316	0
Jadhav Prataprao Ganpatrao	Buldhana	Shiv Sena	64%	19	511	0
Khatgaonkar Patil Bhaskarrao Bapurao	Nanded	Indian National Congress	76%	4	859	0
Manikrao Hodlya Gavit	Nandurbar	Indian National Congress	88%	9	150	0
Marotrao Sainuji Kowase	Gadchiroli-Chimur	Indian National Congress	85%	16	471	0
Milind Murli Deora	Mumbai-South	Indian National Congress	88%	0	274	0
Mukul Balkrishna Wasnik	Ramtek	Indian National Congress	75%	0	0	0
Munde Gopinathrao Pandurang	Beed	Bharatiya Janata Party	68%	32	465	0
Nilesh Narayan Rane	Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg	Indian National Congress	70%	19	606	0
Padamsinha Bajirao Patil	Osmanabad	Nationalist Congress Party	61%	3	237	0
Praful Manoharbhai Patel	Bhandara-Gondiya	Nationalist Congress Party	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Pratik Prakashbapu Patil	Sangli	Indian National Congress	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Priya Sunil Dutt	Mumbai-North-Central	Indian National Congress	58%	14	161	3
Raju Shetti	Hatkanangle	Swabhimani Paksha	74%	43	324	1
Raosaheb Patil Danve	Jalna	Bharatiya Janata Party	62%	27	291	0
Sadashivrao Dadoba Mandlik	Kolhapur	Independent	50%	8	72	0
Sameer Magan Bhujbal	Nashik	Nationalist Congress Party	70%	15	346	0
Sanjay Dina Patil	Mumbai-North-East	Nationalist Congress Party	82%	7	467	0
Sanjay Nirupam	Mumbai-North	Indian National Congress	89%	57	334	0
Sanjay Shamrao Dhotre	Akola	Bharatiya Janata Party	75%	18	395	0
Sanjeev Ganesh Naik	Thane	Nationalist Congress Party	94%	76	756	2
Sharad Chandra Govindrao Pawar	Madha	Nationalist Congress Party	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Shivaji Adhalrao Patil	Shirur	Shiv Sena	43%	10	1082	0
Shrimant Chh. Udyanraje Pratapsinhmaharaj Bhonsle	Satara	Nationalist Congress Party	51%	1	41	0
Sonawane Pratap Narayanrao	Dhule	Bharatiya Janata Party	53%	14	293	0
Subhash Bapurao Wankhede	Hingoli	Shiv Sena	65%	12	327	0
Supriya Sule	Baramati	Nationalist Congress Party	86%	38	739	5
Suresh Kalmadi	Pune	Indian National Congress	51%	14	206	0
Suresh Kashinath Taware	Bhiwandi	Indian National Congress	86%	13	183	1
Sushil Kumar Sambhajirao Shinde	Solapur	Indian National Congress	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Vilas Baburao Muttemwar	Nagpur	Indian National Congress	81%	48	687	0
Wakchaure Bhausaheb Rajaram	Shirdi	Shiv Sena	66%	24	780	7

Uttar Pradesh MPs work status in Loksabha during 2009-14

Name	Constituency	Party	Attendance Percent	Debates Total	Questions Asked	Private Member Bills
Ajit Singh	Baghpat	Rashtriya Lok Dal	44%	2	0	0
Akhilesh Yadav	Kannauj	Samajwadi Party	53%	4	0	0
Annu Tandon	Unnao	Indian National Congress	93%	30	307	0
Arvind Kumar Chaudhary	Basti	Bahujan Samaj Party	96%	4	190	0
Ashok Kumar Rawat	Misrikh	Bahujan Samaj Party	86%	42	819	0
Bal Kumar Patel	Mirzapur	Samajwadi Party	80%	11	280	0
Baliram	Lalganj	Bahujan Samaj Party	94%	51	351	0
Beni Prasad Verma	Gonda	Indian National Congress	99%	2	0	0
Bhismashankar, Alias Kushal Tiwari	Sant Kabir Nagar	Bahujan Samaj Party	79%	45	537	0
Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh	Kaiserganj	Samajwadi Party	85%	20	183	0
Dara Singh Chauhan	Ghosi	Bahujan Samaj Party	92%	130	92	0
Devendra Nagpal	Amroha	Rashtriya Lok Dal	53%	9	43	0
Dhananjay Singh	Jaunpur	Bahujan Samaj Party	65%	52	241	0
Dharmendra Yadav	Badaun	Samajwadi Party	72%	19	973	0
Dimple Yadav	Kannauj	Samajwadi Party	22%	0	0	0
Feroze Varun Gandhi	Pilibhit	Bharatiya Janata Party	63%	2	641	2
Ghansyam Anuragi	Jalaun	Samajwadi Party	90%	52	304	0
Gorakh Prasad Jaiswal	Deoria	Bahujan Samaj Party	87%	37	722	0
Goraknath Pandey	Bhadohi	Bahujan Samaj Party	94%	97	139	0
Harsh Vardhan	Maharajganj	Indian National Congress	77%	54	448	0
Jagdambika Pal	Domariyaganj	Indian National Congress	92%	191	223	4
Jagdish Singh Rana	Saharanpur	Bahujan Samaj Party	87%	15	236	0
Jayant Chaudhary	Mathura	Rashtriya Lok Dal	83%	45	180	2
Jitin Prasada	Dhaurahra	Indian National Congress	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Kadir Rana	Muzaffarnagar	Bahujan Samaj Party	57%	1	111	0
Kaisar Jahan	Sitapur	Bahujan Samaj Party	62%	7	33	0
Kalyan Singh	Etah	Independent	50%	1	0	0
Kamal Kishor	Bahraich	Indian National Congress	96%	102	250	0
Kamlesh Balmiki	Bulandshahr	Samajwadi Party	87%	1	4	0
Kamlesh Paswan	Bansgaon	Bharatiya Janata Party	80%	20	116	0
Kapil Muni Karwariya	Phulpur	Bahujan Samaj Party	80%	26	389	0
Lal Ji Tandon	Lucknow	Bharatiya Janata Party	81%	10	150	0
Maneka Gandhi	Aonla	Bharatiya Janata Party	77%	6	336	1
Mithlesh Kumar	Shahjahanpur	Samajwadi Party	86%	21	154	0
Mohammed Azharuddin	Moradabad	Indian National Congress	75%	2	5	0
Mulayam Singh Yadav	Mainpuri	Samajwadi Party	85%	117	0	0
Murli Manohar Joshi	Varanasi	Bharatiya Janata Party	84%	29	577	0
Neeraj Shekhar	Ballia	Samajwadi Party	93%	33	820	0
Nirmal Khatri	Faizabad	Indian National Congress	94%	37	24	0
P. Jaya Prada Nahata	Rampur	Independent	39%	27	395	0
P.L. Punia	Barabanki	Indian National Congress	99%	289	656	11
Pakauri Lal	Robertsganj	Samajwadi Party	85%	19	61	0
Pradeep Kumar Jain Aditya	Jhansi	Indian National Congress	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Praveen Singh Aron	Bareilly	Indian National Congress	66%	6	12	0
Premdas Katheria	Etawah	Samajwadi Party	92%	54	156	0
R.K. Singh Patel	Banda	Samajwadi Party	81%	45	198	0
Radhe Mohan Singh	Ghazipur	Samajwadi Party	76%	17	162	0
Rahul Gandhi	Amethi	Indian National Congress	43%	2	0	0
Raj Babbar	Firozabad	Indian National Congress	72%	3	10	0
Raj Kumari Chauhan	Aligarh	Bahujan Samaj Party	85%	1	22	0
Raja Ram Pal	Akbarpur	Indian National Congress	91%	54	0	0
Rajendra Agrawal	Meerut	Bharatiya Janata Party	99%	172	366	2
Rajnath Singh	Ghaziabad	Bharatiya Janata Party	77%	14	33	0
Rakesh Pandey	Ambedkar Nagar	Bahujan Samaj Party	85%	11	20	0
Rakesh Sachan	Fatehpur	Samajwadi Party	85%	50	34	0
Ramakant Yadav	Azamgarh	Bharatiya Janata Party	50%	0	0	0
Ramashankar Rajbhar	Salempur	Bahujan Samaj Party	95%	80	227	0
Ramkishun	Chandauli	Samajwadi Party	82%	117	490	0
Ramshankar	Agra	Bharatiya Janata Party	73%	62	235	1
Ratanjit Pratap Narayan Singh	Khushi Nagar	Indian National Congress	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Ratna Singh	Pratapgarh	Indian National Congress	86%	37	677	0
Rewati Raman Singh	Allahabad	Samajwadi Party	87%	56	217	0
Salman Khurshid	Farrukhabad	Indian National Congress	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Sanjay Singh Chauhan	Bijnor	Rashtriya Lok Dal	90%	34	277	0
Sanjay Sinh	Sultanpur	Indian National Congress	80%	28	666	0
Sarika Singh Baghel	Hathras	Rashtriya Lok Dal	94%	1	23	0
Seema Upadhyay	Fatehpur Sikri	Bahujan Samaj Party	86%	13	399	0
Shafiqur Rahman Barq	Sambhal	Bahujan Samaj Party	98%	31	97	0
Shailendra Kumar	Kaushambi	Samajwadi Party	97%	353	168	3
Shriprakash Jaiswal	Kanpur	Indian National Congress	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Sonia Gandhi	Rae Bareli	Indian National Congress	47%	2	0	0
Surendra Singh Nagar	Gautam Buddha Nagar	Bahujan Samaj Party	81%	28	502	0
Sushila Saroj	Mohanlalganj	Samajwadi Party	87%	25	543	0
Tabassum Hasan	Kairana	Bahujan Samaj Party	71%	0	31	0
Tufani Saroj	Machhlishahr	Samajwadi Party	85%	49	340	0
Usha Verma	Hardoi	Samajwadi Party	86%	18	405	0
Vijay Bahadur Singh	Hamirpur	Bahujan Samaj Party	87%	72	199	0
Vinay Kumar Pandey	Shrawasti	Indian National Congress	83%	59	197	0
Yashvir Singh	Nagina	Samajwadi Party	87%	4	646	0
Yogi Adityanath	Gorakhpur	Bharatiya Janata Party	72%	82	347	5
Zafar Ali Naqvi	Kheri	Indian National Congress	80%	0	63	0

Andhr Pradesh MPs work status in Loksabha during 2009-14

Name	Constituency	Party	Attendance Percent	Debates Total	Questions Asked	Private Member Bills
Anantha Venkatarami Reddy	Anantapur	Indian National Congress	74%	14	552	0
Aruna Kumar Vundavalli	Rajahmundry	Indian National Congress	92%	19	33	0
Asaduddin Owaisi	Hyderabad	All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimmen	69%	40	1129	1
Bapiraju Kanumuri	Narsapuram	Indian National Congress	87%	11	0	0
Chandra Sekhar Kalva Kuntla Rao	Mahabubnagar	Telangana Rashtra Samithi	13%	2	0	0
Chinta Mohan	Tirupati	Indian National Congress	80%	5	18	0
Daggubati Purandeswari	Visakhapatnam	Indian National Congress	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
G.V. Harsha Kumar	Amalapuram	Indian National Congress	77%	3	34	0
Gaddam Vivekanand	Peddapalle	Indian National Congress	69%	11	57	0
Jaipal Sudini Reddy	Chelvella	Indian National Congress	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Jhansi Botcha Lakshmi	Vizianagaram	Indian National Congress	88%	146	377	2
K. Jayasurya Prakash Reddy	Kurnool	Indian National Congress	56%	0	499	0
Kavuri Samba Siva Rao	Eluru	Indian National Congress	78%	31	152	0
Killi Krupa Rani	Srikakulam	Indian National Congress	89%	19	338	0
Komatireddy Raj Gopal Reddy	Bhongir	Indian National Congress	65%	0	158	0
Konakalla Narayana Rao	Machilipatnam	Telugu Desam Party	74%	3	30	0
Kristappa Nimmala	Hindupur	Telugu Desam Party	78%	9	41	0
Lakshmi Panabaka	Bapatla	Indian National Congress	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
M. Anjan Kumar Yadav	Secunderabad	Indian National Congress	74%	0	643	0
M. Jagannath	Nagarkurnool	Indian National Congress	80%	34	278	0
M. Vijaya Shanthi	Medak	Telangana Rashtra Samithi	14%	0	0	0
Madhu Goud Yaskhi	Nizamabad	Indian National Congress	77%	15	626	0
Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy	Ongole	Indian National Congress	54%	3	808	0
Mallipudi Raju Pallam Mangapati	Kakinada	Indian National Congress	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy	Nellore	Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party	52%	5	240	0
Modugula Venugopala Reddy	Narasaraopet	Telugu Desam Party	67%	29	485	0
Nama Nageswara Rao	Khammam	Telugu Desam Party	86%	114	488	0
Naramalli Sivaprasad	Chittoor	Telugu Desam Party	55%	5	16	0
P. Balram	Mahabubabad	Indian National Congress	68%	10	429	0
Prabhakar Ponnam	Karimnagar	Indian National Congress	88%	67	935	0
Rajagopal Lagadapati	Vijayawada	Indian National Congress	68%	21	538	12
Rajaiah Siricilla	Warangal	Indian National Congress	84%	40	806	0
Ramesh Rathod	Adilabad	Telugu Desam Party	52%	10	290	0
S.P.Y. Reddy	Nandyal	Indian National Congress	46%	3	2	0
Sabbam Hari	Anakapalli	Indian National Congress	70%	0	0	0
Sai Prathap Annayyagari	Rajampet	Indian National Congress	78%	1	163	0
Sambasiva Rayapati Rao	Guntur	Indian National Congress	61%	14	690	0
Sathyanarayana Sarvey	Malkajgiri	Indian National Congress	72%	4	267	0
Sukender Reddy Gutha	Nalgonda	Indian National Congress	66%	12	103	0
Suresh Kumar Shetkar	Zahirabad	Indian National Congress	79%	20	839	0
V. Kishore Chandra S. Deo	Araku	Indian National Congress	91%	2	0	0
Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy	Kadapa	Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party	33%	2	0	0

Regarding fascism

The point is not that voters want to compromise with communalism for the sake of growth.

Pratap Bhanu Mehta,  April 11, 2014

http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/regarding-fascism/99/

he rise of Narendra Modi has brought the “F” word into promiscuous use. The spectre of fascism is said to be haunting India. It is easy to dismiss this concern over fascism as the hyperbole of a crumbling elite that has often used moral outrage as a substitute for addressing genuine political challenges. It might be tempting to engage in an argument over the historical specificity of fascism. Can the the combination of military power, total mobilisation and eliminationism that marked fascism really be reproduced in India?

 But take the core concern beneath the hyperbole seriously. The communal atmosphere in some parts of the country is fragile. Dozens of riots in UP testify to this. As Suhas Palshikar had argued, the BJP has regionally varied strategies.

In UP, in particular, it involves fishing in troubled communal waters. Whatever Narendra Modi’s intentions or change of heart might be is besides the point. India still has a communal challenge and ultimately the quality of its democracy will be judged by how it deals with it. You don’t have to subscribe to analytically otiose invocations of fascism to wonder what this election means for India’s prospects as a country where no one is targeted for being who they are. All sides speak about minorities, but few speak to them.

Whatever Amit Shah’s organisational genius might be, his track record should make you nervous about the kind of intimidation he could create. If we end up voting for them, the morning after we will need to think of the kinds of structures that can mitigate the damage they might do. BJP supporters, who might bristle at being called fascist, would do well to act reassuringly on these concerns.

The best way to respond to accusations of fascism is not to dismiss them. It is to make them look silly by your own exemplariness.
But those scare-mongering on fascism also need self-reflection. Many of those dropping the “F” word also betray a will to simplification that tells you more about those making the accusations than it does about politics. The Indian Left is incapable of any dialectical thinking; there is not a trace of reflection on the forces that have brought us to this pass. There should be no complacency over the communal question.

But what is it about the structures of our thinking about communalism that 60 years after Independence, we seem to be revisiting the same questions over and over again? Is there some deeper phenomenon that the BJP-Congress system seems two sides of the same coin to so many, even on this issue? The point is not about the political equivalence of two political parties. People will make up their own minds. But is there something about the way we have conceptualised the problem of majority and minority, trapped in compulsory identities, that makes communalism the inevitable result?

Is there something odd when voting for the Samajwadi Party, which has done its damnedest to stoke communal tension under the garb of electoral secularism, is not fascist, by the same standards? And does it serve the purpose of any kind of democratic accountability to let a party like the Congress, which has done its best to corrode every institution that should be the foundation of protecting equal individual rights for all, consistently get a free pass, based on fear?

In short, if you are serious about the communal question, you will have to think of what it is about the larger political culture that we seem to be trapped in the same discourse all over again. The political construction of identities, shared across parties, has been as much the deep substrate from which this poison springs.

We also need some historical perspective. It is hard to imagine that the same set of urban voters who in 2009 were considered the paragons of social democracy by electing the Congress have all suddenly turned fascist. Yes, these voters are anxious, because India’s growth story is faltering.

And this is where we need some dialectical thinking. Hindu nationalism arose in the 1990s against a backdrop of immense national anxiety: an uncertain economic future, various secessionist movements. The imperatives of creating coalitions, the checks and balances of an immensely complicated institutional structure, helped contain its furies, though not perfectly.

Hindu nationalism dissipated somewhat because of the confidence that growth provided. Growth created a new churning and a different national narrative. It created the circumstances where there was a lot more to lose by violence. This did not, tragically, work in every specific case. But the overall effects were to take the edge off investment in destructive identity politics. It mitigated some of the psychological anxieties from which the furies of nationalism had stemmed. It was the self-confidence and hope in the future that made organisations like the RSS so much less attractive.

It was the cunning of history that a BJP government, unintentionally, created the conditions that undermined the anxieties that fuelled Hindu nationalism. The anxieties returned somewhat when India’s confidence faltered.

The critique of fascism is less effective because it is not playing on the right terrain: a growth narrative that can restore India’s confidence. But the point is not that voters want to compromise with communalism for the sake of growth. What many of them sense, more presciently than academics, is that if this growth story continues to falter, we will create the conditions for the kind of reactionary politics that we have not seen.

They don’t find the Congress credible any longer, or the AAP quite ready. They may be misjudging the economic downsides of any non-BJP alternative. But to think that the social democrats of 2009 have now created a fascist surge is besides the point.

The role of incentives can be exaggerated in politics. But the incentive structures for the BJP at this moment are very different. Large-scale communalisation will, in the long run, create the very uncertainties that can damage growth. Violence may pay in specified local contexts, but beyond a point it backfires nationally.

Democracy cannot be the excuse for immobilising questions of individual liberty and security. But invocations of fascism often express a kind of distance from Indian democracy that is also disquieting. We are not on the high tide of fascism. It is more about a complicated country feeling its way through difficult times, fed up with old power structures. The “F” word has become a substitute for real thinking. We will need to think anew about what incentives and pressures will work in our new context. We are on a wing and a prayer. But we need to show more intelligence than screaming the “F” word.