ABSTRACT
In the age of institutionalized authoritarianism, from USA to Russia and from India and Pakistan to Turkey, what is strangely evoked to fight this imperialist menace is not Marxism, but liberalism. Liberalism is seen not merely as the ‘other’ of authoritarianism and fascism, but seen as the solution to these twin menaces. What is not realized is that liberalism really is the ‘repressed other’ and the ‘true self’ of authoritarianism. This essay is a critique of liberalism as this ‘repressed other’ and ‘true self’ of authoritarianism. It is also about liberalism in the age of late imperialism in permanent crisis as being nothing but fascism without a gun, and fascism as liberalism with a gun. 2019 India witnessed the National Elections where the Indian National Congress in the name of liberalism and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the name of creating a Hindu nation battled for getting political power. The BJP won and the Indian National Congress, despite its high decibel propaganda in the name of liberalism lost miserably. The Established Left (which by and large is a blind follower of parliamentary politics) has no clue to the understanding of the rise of the right-wing in India. Instead of having a revolutionary line, the Established Left follows the liberal line, which in actuality is aiding the Indian rightist movement.
