ON NATIONALISM
Romila Thapar, A G Noorani and Sadanand Menon
Aleph
162 pages; Rs 399
The authors of the three essays that constitute this book do not make any bones about why they came together at this juncture. They think the notion of nationalism has been contorted under the National Democratic Alliance to serve a political purpose with which they strongly disagree and they argue that this contortion has put society on a perilous path.
This is putting it politely.
Romila Thapar, A G Noorani and Sadanand Menon are the three writers. Their essays dwell on the concepts of nationalism and patriotism and the reformatting of these concepts in contemporary politics. They come to the subject from their individual subject domains and, therefore, bring three perspectives of the political mechanics at play around the idea of nationalism.
Mr Noorani's essay is easier to approach. It deals with the issue through a specific tool in the state's legal repertoire that has been much in use and in the news - sedition. His piece is stitched from two essays he wrote for Frontline. The edited and revised version produced for this book is a little disjointed as a result but that flaw is easily overlooked because of the compelling nature of the content. Mr Noorani draws a historic timeline, tracing how the tool of "sedition" has been deployed, interpreted and used over time since the colonial era. His strict recollection of this historical interpretation shows how society, the judiciary and the political leadership have, at different times, articulated and imagined the nation that is India.
In the second part of his essay he looks at how the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership has appropriated nationalism and retrofitted the concept to the party's political and ideological objectives. He makes the point that deploying accusations of sedition in defining nationalism leads to an exclusionary conception of the country.
Sadanand Menon, faculty at the Asian College of Journalism and at IIT, Madras and a well-known writer on arts, aesthetics and its politics, looks at the constantly evolving idea of cultural nationalism in a society's conversation with itself and with the state. His obvious focus remains on the current attempt to generate a narrative of majoritarian cultural nationalism but also he points to its early roots in the national movement. His critique extends to cover Mahatma Gandhi's articulation of Hind Swaraj and the Vedantic underpinnings of his concept of self-transformation.
"As a political force, cultural nationalism draws heavily upon the past to shape the identity of the present. It is up to the democratic forces to question the authenticity of such constructs and expose their majoritarian and hegemonic underpinnings. Wherever this political argument does not take root, cultural nationalism marches in with its triumphal banners," he writes. Mr Menon goes on to lament that the left and the liberals have done little in the past to address this threat politically.
The essays by Messrs Noorani and Menon are interrogative in nature. Unfortunately, that is not the case with Romila Thapar's essay at the beginning of the book. Unlike the other two, it fails to explore the creation of the narrative around the phrase nationalism. The author instead focuses on making a plea for the country to be a "secular democratic" one.
The plea is not rhetorical or emotional. It is a rational one, but it does not marshal enough history, as Ms Thapar easily could have, to make the point. It draws little energy from the historical development of the Hindu religion as we see it practised today. The essay limits the conversation on this historical perspective as the author leaps to her conclusion frequently - of the need for a secular democratic India.
At this stage when the idea of nationalism is being redefined, all three writers could have done well to approach the issue from the more radical outposts that have challenged India's most benign forms of the concept over the past 50 years. For instance, they could have considered the perspective of marginal communities (and not just the Muslims) and the state's engagement with them in the creation of Indian nationalism.
How has India in its formation as a nation dealt with different movements for sub-nationalism, autonomy, cultural or sovereign independence? The torturous dealings of the Indian state and society with the demands of many (though not all) of the communities from the frontiers could well be an easier way to see the fragility of India's vaunted secular and democratic nationalism.
These three essays, however, are limited by the fact that they are merely quick reactions to a mainstreamed political debate today. They examine whether the BJP is painting the idea of nationalism with the broad strokes of Hindutva and how threatening this is for society. They are, thus, not the contemplative pieces of which the three authors are easily capable. They essentially reiterate arguments with which the converted will instantly agree, and do not challenge the rest sufficiently to pay attention.
But if you are still sitting on the fence and wondering where the phrases such as sedition entered India's lexicon and what it means for the idea of a country, go buy the book.
