To all politicians
The Indian nationalistic movement was the origin of the Indian
National Congress, INC. This version of nationalism was of the kind that
included everyone against the colonial foreign ruler. It was markedly non-sectarian.
It made a point to include everyone irrespective of the distinctions and use the
principle of nonviolence.
It is necessary also to mention that before the
administrative integration by the British there was no entity that could be
called INDIA. There were small kingdoms and fiefdoms vying, battling and
skirmishing with each other. It was a sad, strange but eventually benevolent destiny
that it took colonialism to integrate this country of many geographies,
languages, cultures, religions, cuisines and innumerable sub divisions of the
kind, what in short is called the rich diversity of this country.
The nationalism of BJP is grounded on the majority Hindu
sentiment. At first glance this is commendable. The shared values of this
nation may be interpreted as originating from the legends of great epics Ramayana
and Mahabharata. In fact at every corner of India and even extending to
Afghanistan (Gandhar, Khandahar), Sri Lanka, South East Asia and many such, the
legends can be traced. The sort of Nationalism that the BJP adheres to and
advocates is called the cultural nationalism. And it is pronouncedly sectarian.
Thus differs the anti-colonial nationalism of the Congress and
the religious cultural nationalism of the BJP. In a representational democracy,
where numbers count, it is quite possible that the BJP stands to gain assuming
every Hindu now accepts its version of nationalism and supports BJP. Is it
desirable? It seems not. What would have happened if India had embraced religious
cultural nationalism at the time of independence and framed the constitution accordingly?
The nation would have been a majoritarian dominated one where the minorities would
be second class citizens eventually fighting for dignity and even demanding
separation. Knowing this, the framers of the constitution deliberately made
minority rights and secularism a key hallmark of the constitution.
If the guaranteed rights to the minorities have gone to be
used to the excess, it needs to be corrected. It is also necessary that the minorities
and majority be aware that nowhere in the world, given human collective atavistic
nature, has such small minorities been spared of the excesses of the majority
to the detriment of both. History is replete with such horrors of extermination
of many a minority. Herein lies the greatness of INDIA we are told. It welcomed
the others, so called outsiders, and history is replete with instances of such
embracing. The Jews, the early Christians, early Muslims, the Zoroastrians and
many such were welcomed in INDIA even as they were being persecuted and
unwelcomed elsewhere. India’s diversity is the result of such inclusiveness. In
fact invitingness and inclusiveness is the culture of India, so to say. What then
is or should be the cultural nationalism of INDIA? The all-inclusive welcoming
cultural nationalism or the ‘othering’ religious cultural nationalism? In short
the nationalism of the Congress or that of the BJP?
I am afraid at the bottom of the current stresses is the
strain on the resources due to overpopulation. When the population increases,
the ethics turns to what is called the life boat ethics. As the resources
deplete on a life boat, the altruistic nature of people give way to individualism,
selfishness and atavism. The remaining find newer forms and reasons of
otherness to predate on the other. And in India the otherness is right now
based on religion. The flag bearers of this tendency is the advocates of the
religious cultural nationalism.
The ways of the left in India and elsewhere is also based on
divisiveness from the very beginning between the so called haves and have-nots,
between the rulers and the proletariat. Such approach goes through cycles
depending on relative ‘havingness’ and ‘not havingness’. Since essentially the left is also based on
finding the right kind of ‘others’ to hate, it cannot be taken seriously except that at the
bottom, it has a desire for universal distributive justice.
The only alternative for INDIA is therefore the all-inclusive
welcoming cultural nationalism represented by the Indian National Congress. Perhaps
the Left and other non BJP parties can keep their differences away and join in
saving INDIA, majority and minority alike.
