Deccan Herald, 22 February 2013
Deccan Herald, 22 February 2013
by Neena Vyas
‘Religious nationalism confronts the secular State.’ That is the title of Mark Juergensmeyer’s book that came out two decades ago, but is more relevant today to what has been happening in India and elsewhere. Will this confrontation between religious and secular nationalism harden into a new Cold War? This is the question that he attempts to answer. He suggests that turning to religion – described long ago by Karl Marx as the opiate of the masses – for stability should come as no surprise in times of social turbulence and political confusion after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the decline of American economic power.
The world over the very idea of a multi-cultural, pluralistic and democratic society is being confronted by shrill sectarian voices. Liberal values are under threat. The so-called Arab Spring has proven to be far removed from a democratic resurgence as it bares its fundamentalist Islamic heart in Egypt. The strategy of these sectarian groups to arouse primordial fear is invariably the same: us versus them, the known versus the unfamiliar. They couch their thinly disguised fascist agendas by using ‘nationalism’ and ‘patriotism’ as a cover.
The slogan may be Germany for white Christian Germans; Hindustan for Hindus; Sri Lanka for the majority Buddhist Sinhalas; a Jews-only Israel; or a Europe minus Muslim and Hindu immigrants. The killing of Sikhs at a gurudwara in Wisconsin, United States, is a fresh memory. In India, intermittent communal rioting, whether in Assam or Uttar Pradesh, is a reminder that what happened in Gujarat in 2002 may not be firmly behind us.
Sub-religious groups are also rearing their heads. It is Sunni against Shias in Pakistan and Iraq; Protestants against Catholics and vice versa in Ireland; and the centuries-old caste wars within the ‘Hindu’ fold in India.
In India, what is disturbing is that secular values are on the retreat as aggressive extremist groups of all religious hues – Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Christian – flex their muscles to demand ban on books, plays, films and even music. What is worse, the state seems timid, unsure of its own and its people’s commitment to secular values.
[ . . .]
http://www.sacw.net/article3775.html
|
