Dr. Guha recently gave a lecture on "Patriotism and Jingoism" at the Bangalore Literary Festival. Nothing new in what he said - rather a sermon he gave. All of these have been collectively responded to and torn to pieces by many. Mine is yet another attempt. If not anything atleast Dr. Guha knows in how many different ways people disagree with him and how he has pushed himself to intellectual irrelevance except in the circles that represent the intellectual hegemony of the last 70 years. He has lost it with the people of India. He is not any more creating a rhetoric that creatively engages with us. These are probably his last feeble attempts with his own monologues. This is my response to his speech in three parts.
Guha refers to six aspects of Indian Constitution. At the outset there is no disagreement with those elements of the Constitution that he refers to. However, conflict arises out of how he twists them to misrepresent the right-wing which allows him to paint it in a wrong negative.
1. Acknowledgement and Appreciating our shared diversity
It is difficult to understand why Guha begins his lecture by a reference to Shivarama Karanth and his comments on Aryan Culture. The issue itself has been rendered irrelevant as the Aryan-Dravidian purity stands discredited and shattered. The right wing of India has always claimed that the separate Aryan migration is hoax. More importantly, it has always acknowledged that Indian culture is a great composite that has assimilated every new stream that came into it. The bone of contention is the right wing claims that the larger stream in this continuous flow has a certain philosophical, social and cultural continuity and that is Vedic. It views the Vedic perspective as broad enough to accommodate and negotiate every new stream and integrate it into the larger stream with a minimal give and take. If Guha has a problem with this view, he needs to take this view head-on with this nuance rather than over-simplify it to make his criticism easy. This is not only lazy intellectualism but also intellectual jingoism.
2. Multiple Levels at which Patriotism should be practised
Guha and the likes have constantly criticized how the grand Nationalism rhetoric of the right-wing is monolithic and does not allow patriotism at the state-level and other levels to thrive. This is grossly wrong. For instance, RSS has always been a great promoter of Indian languages. Infact, the liberal left like Guha have often derided them for pushing English to a lower pedastal. The critical difference is the right-wing considers patriotism at lower levels to be within the ambit of the nation and patriotism at the national level mandatory. It considers any challenge to the unity of the country as unacceptable while accommodating all other patriotism within this limit. It is in this light it considers any support to Kashmiri separatism as anti-national. You can contest this view but not by misrepresenting it for your convenience.
In this context, it is sad to see Guha indulging in downright lies. He refers to Kannada Flag as being flown only by the subaltern and not by the elite. This is ridiculous and manipulation. He should visit the upscale apartment complexes of Bangalore and see how Kannada Rajyotsava is celebrated and the flag is respected. At intellectual levels this is equivalent to indulging in fake news. How much more will Dr. Guha fall in order to peddle his theories.
On the contrary, jingoism is found more at the local level today. The Dravidian nationalism of Tamil Nadu has always been unaccommodative of anything else. It is ironical that a section of Kannada literary world was opposed to Ramachandra Guha being honoured with Kannada Rajyotsava Award doubting his Kannada-ness. Will Guha muster courage to raise his voice against such jingoism?
Dr. Guha says that he is opposed to the notion of World Citizen. He probably does not know that a great proponent of this concept was Dr. Kuvempu - the first Jnanapeetha Award honoured Kannadiga. His concept of Vishwa Manava was an inspiration to Kannadigas in the 60s. In his overzealousness to misrepresent the right-wing Dr. Guha has ventured into dangerous waters unwittingly though.
3. A) Constitutional Patriotism recognizes that No State, No Religion, No Nation is perfect or flawless B) Ability to feel shame at the failures of the state
Yet again, the right-wing does not contest this. What it contests is the misrepresentation of the flaws of the State, Religion and the Nation. Kashmir for eg., is more of a religious fundamentalism than the state excess - even as one acknowledges the mistakes of the state. The Naxal problem is more of an ideological indulgence of the elite than the exploitation by the rich and the state. The perceived religious intolerance is more of an overblowing of assorted incidents than a systematic assault on the perceived other. While the religious conflict is acknowledged it is not in the realm of perfection but in the realm of religious competition, appeasement, mutual respect, mutual co-existence and respect for the cultural past of the country.
As far as feeling ashamed at the failures of the state, charity should begin at home. Firstly, Guha should be begin by feeling ashamed of the way he ideal Shri. Jawahar Lal Nehru turned intolerant of dissent, refused to honour the cultural past of the country, thrust secularism on a country whose traditions were more potent than secularism, failed in primary education and killed private industry. While Dr. Guha acknowledges Nehru's failures he continues to be an apologist and refuses to acknowledge that Nehru became authoritarian and secretly ran a project to groom Indira Gandhi for the future. He pushed all dissent out of the Congress Party and refused to listen. The secularism that he has unleashed and the minority appeasement he initiated has pushed country towards many a brink in the past. The right-wing truly feels ashamed of this past of the Indian state. The right wing is indeed ashamed of the failures of the state but not in the way Dr. Guha wants because it views the same subjects differently. Guha would do well to engage with the different perspectives created by the right wing on the said topic rather than intolerantly wanting them to feel ashamed exactly the way that he does. So much for respecting the dissent.
4. True Patriotism should have the ability to root yourself in your culture and country while being willing to learn from other cultures and countries
This is some simple truth that is so universally true of India's past and true today as well. The right wing of India is a great proponent of Free Market. It loves technology. It loves agricultural methods created in Israel and intends to learn from the same. Yes, the right wing indulges in over glorification of India's past but that is mere rhetoric. An intellectual of Dr. Guha's stature should know where to place rhetoric and reality. It is no secret that a large part of India admires the technology revolution of the west and intends to rebuild India leveraging the same.
The rhetoric of the right wing of its superiority should be viewed as a rhetorical response to the left liberal perspective of India's past. The latter has constantly painted India's past as pathetic in order to shove its ideology down the country's throat and occupy hegemonic position in the intellectual, educational and cultural institutions running them like sophisticated mafia. The right wing being a very wide spectrum - a section certainly has responded to this in frustration. Dr. Guha should know where to position it. Instead, he conveniently picks on it as though that represents all of the right wing and that is the most significant strand of the resurgence. Anything but that. There are far more potent and meaningful strands of the right wing that deserve engagement and Dr. Guha conveniently ignores all of that.
(To be Continued...)
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