The Hindu, Jun 01, 2003
Literary Review
The last decade has seen the systematic capture of socio-political and cultural space by the Hindu Right. The three books under review offer a comprehensive overview and secularist critique of the whole process, says SHAJAHAN MADAMPAT.
VEER DAMODAR SAVARKAR and Mohammed Ali Jinnah, both irreligious and "unconventional", represented the mutually complimentary, yet outwardly antagonistic streams of religion-based, two-nation theory in pre-independence India. Savarkar scripted the drama and Jinnah literally enacted it to its (il)logical conclusion. The major point of agreement between the two gentlemen was, however, the theory that Hindus and Muslims constituted two different nations, unable to coexist and historically irreconcilable with each other. Having won independence, Indians heaved a sigh of relief that, despite partition and the horrendous genocidal violence that accompanied it, the newly born Indian nation had decided to follow a course fundamentally at odds with the anti-national forces on the Muslim and Hindu Right alike.
Well over half a century after partition, we are yet again confronted with the same forces, no less dangerous though in a different form. The last couple of decades have seen a systematic capture of socio-political and cultural space by fissiparous forces, represented this time by the Hindu manifestations of the ghost of Jinnah. They have not only managed to win a popular mandate to rule India with the help of opportunistic alliances with "secular parties", but also unleashed a scathing attack on all the pillars of India's multi-culturalist existence. While those occupying positions of power attack them from within through a number of manipulative strategies and transformative measures, the lumpen fringe do so by way of naked verbal and physical aggression. The three books under review here provide a comprehensive overview and secularist critique of this whole process that continues to erode even a semblance of sanity from the public space. The landmarks of the "devastate India" campaign have been the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992, the genocidal pogrom against Muslims in Gujarat in 2002 and the antediluvian attempts at rewriting history, represented mainly by the NCERT's introduction of new social science textbooks.
Communalism, Civil Society & the State is a collection of profound essays by some of India's most respected scholars, including K.N. Panikkar, Aijaz Ahmad, Irfan Habib, Mushirul Hassan, Romila Thapar and Prabhat Patnaik. These essays emerged from the disturbing realisation that, as the introduction rightly portends, "communalism has quite clearly made the transition to the full-blown symptoms of fascism". The "Gujarat experiment" confirms this, bringing into focus the twin elements of mass participation and state complicity in communal carnage, leaving the victims with no recourse either to the collective wisdom of the civil society or to the rule of law. The active role that social groups considered thus far on the opposite side of the Hindu Right, such as Dalits and Adivasis, played in Gujarat, added to the complexity of the situation. That all the three landmark Hindutva exploits happened during the BJP rule (at the time of the Babri demolition the BJP was in power in UP) belies the naïve optimism in some liberal circles that the taste of power would ultimately quell the savage passions of the bloodthirsty fanatic fringe. The ominous truth is that India is at the threshold of fascism, a second partition has actually occurred, this time on a psychological plane.
The economic deterioration and rising unemployment made rampant by globalisation provided the right atmosphere for chauvinist mass mobilisation. Fascism requires a period of economic crisis as a necessary condition for its mass growth. A recolonised economy serving the interests of the advanced capitalist countries is sure to cause widespread frustration. One question remains unanswered: why have the progressive forces completely failed in translating this despair into constructive political action? Several contributors refer to the take over of the nationalist space by the fascist elements, leaving India's constitutional framework vulnerable to cynical distortions and manipulations. Even the Congress party is now more interested in playing the BJP's B team, than in confronting the demon head on. Third world nationalisms originally emerged as a result of people transcending narrow sectarian and cultural barriers in their struggle against imperialism. However, the calculated invisibility of new forms of imperialism renders the whole political space ambiguous and in utter chaos.
Saffronised and Substandard comprises articles, editorials and news reports that expose the mediocrity, factual inaccuracies and wilful distortions that mark the new NCERT textbooks. The silences and distortions in these textbooks were only to be expected, but the fathomless depths of philistinism and matchless ignorance with which the authors wrote these books are simply "spectacular". The essays by Arjun Dev, Kumkum Roy, V.M. Jha, Sumit Sarkar, K.M. Shrimali and others offer a minutely analytical account of the textbooks. One the one hand, one feels the authors of these textbooks only deserve the charity of our contempt; they are not even worth any serious engagement. On the other, one shudders at the thought of how pathological the mindset of a generation that grows up on a fair dose of this kind of histories would be.
The Republic Besmirched documents media reports and commentaries on the demolition of the Babri Mosque. The pieces compiled in this book make one feel that despite many shortcomings, the English media reflects the conscience of the nation even in these deeply troubling times. The three books, taken together, will provide adequate information and analysis of the historic rape of India that has continued unchecked during the last decade.
Communalism, Civil Society & the State: Reflections on a Decade of Turbulence, edited by K.N. Panikkar and Sukumar Muralidharan, Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust, p.181, Rs.120.
Saffronised and Substandard: A Critique of the New NCERT Textbooks, Articles, Editorials, Reports, Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust, 2002, p.160, Rs.75.
The Republic Besmirched: 6 December 1992, edited by Anand K. Sahay, Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust, p.172, Rs. 60.
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