Tongue-in-cheek

In his recent tweet, the prime minister of Pakistan highlighted the rise of fascism in India. This term is not new but I had no idea about its features. I probed a little and have found that its features include establishing a dictatorship, a belief in the superiority of one’s own nation, imposing a certain way of life upon the people, hostility to democracy, skillful propaganda, introducing austerity to control the economic life of the people, large defence spending, inclination of violence against other nations, controlling all kinds of media by imposing strict censorship and indoctrinating students through education.

After having gone through the basic features of fascism, I shuddered at the very idea of being subjected to fascism and said to myself, “Thank God we don’t have fascism in Pakistan.”

Sikander Aqeel Ansari

Islamabad