[sacw] Book Review

[Harsh Kapoor]

April 16, 1999
Dear friends,
posted below is a book review of "Secular Challenge to Communal Politics"
Edited by P.R.Ram that was published in Indian Journal of Secularism
[Price Rs.100, Published by Vikas Adhyayan Kendra, Mumbai:-1998.;
Vikas Adhyayan Kendra: D-1 Shiv dham, 62 Link Road, Malad (W), Mumbai 400
064, India]
(South Asia Citizens Web)
--------------------------------------

Book Review: "Secular Challenge to Communal Politics" Edited by P.R.Ram

by Prof. Uday Mehta

This Reader is a rare compilation of major contributions on
different facets of communal problem in India. It deals with wide
variability of themes ranging from the role of misinterpretation of Indian
Social History in consolidation of communal forces, the genesis and
development of communal politics, partition tragedy and its distinct
impact particularly on minorities, the distinct features of Hindutva
offensive, the role of Hindutva during freedom struggle, the place of women
and feminist organization in the Sangh Parivar, the cooption of Dalits, the
problems of Muslim community, the glorification of obscurantism as science,
to the relevance of culture in the present threat of communal onslaught and
also in promoting secularization of Indian society.

The contributors to the volume include Imtiaz Ahmed, Rustom
Bharucha, Romila Thapar, K.N.Panikkar, Anandhi.S, Brenda Cossman, Ratna
Kapoor, Asghar Ali Engineer, Mushirul Hassan, T.Jayaraman, Sumeet Sarkar,
Tanika Sarkar and P.R.Ram.

The current `Construction' of communal identities is largely based
on misinterpretation and distortion of social history of Indian society.
Romila Thapar in her essay, "Communalism and the Historical Legacy"
indicates how what has been called Hinduism now differed from Islam or
Christianity, as it emerged out of series of parallel systems of thought
and traditions. The major religious groups referred in early sources are
Brahmanism and Sraminism, the latter included Buddhist, Jain and other
sects. Vedic Brahminism stressed on separate observances, rituals and
practices of each caste and made sharp distinction between dvija/twice-born
and the rest. Sramanism tried to build a congregation of believers
irrespective of caste.

Distinct from Brahmanism there also emerged at the beginning of the
Christian era, the Bhagvata sects and subsequently the Sakta sects. These
were manifestations of a variety of popular cults. In the multiplicity of
sects, which surfaced both in the first millennium A.D., as Thapar points
out, the identity of the sects was based not only on the particular deity,
but also on its location and the language (which used to be usually
regional), which was used.

Orientalism encouraged a Brahmincal view of early Indian society.
J.S.Mills' periodization of history as Hindu, Muslim and British period,
which was later picked up by most of the historians, proved instrumental in
strengthening the Hindutva ideological constructs and also encouraged the
`Two-Nation Theory'.

The period of history that has been grossly distorted by the
communal forces is the medieval period. Medieval period is depicted as a
period of the Muslim rule and consequent Hindu enslavement. Asghar Ali
Engineer in his paper, `Medieval History and Communalism", questions the
widely used current terms like `Golden period of the Indian history',
slavery of Hindus in medieval period and bring out on the basis of
authentic evidence that the temple breaking was not a religious
phenomenon and religious conversions were not necessarily outcome of force
and further points out that there was a development of rich and composite
culture as articulated in medieval art, music, paintings, sculpture,
costumes, food preparations, and behavioural patterns. There were enmities
between different Muslim Kings as well as alliances between Muslim and
Hindu Kings. There was clash of interests between different sections of
Muslim community. This was also equally applicable to Hindu community. The
scriptural Islam dictated by Ulema was so different from the Islam as
practised and preached by the Sufi saints. While elites of both communities
sought to excel over each other. The down trodden of both communities were
drawn to each other in different facets of their life.

K.N.Panikkar in his essay, `What is Communalism Today' argues that
the two dominant components of the communal consciousness are religion and
religious communities and they form the necessary pre-requisite of
communalism in modern Indian society. The religious self-identity of the
pre-Islamic period was of a particular sect and not of Hinduism, as the
word Hindu itself came into vogue only after the advent of Islam. The
attempt to establish the roots of Hinduism and its uninterrupted history,
as Panikkar suggests, is not an innocent appeal to the past. It is an
appeal with a political purpose, of creation of Hindu religious community.
Such a homogeneous community never existed in the past. What is true of the
Hindu identity is also applicable to creation of monolithic Muslim
community. As Panikkar rightly points out that even the history of the
Indian National Movement shared a community oriented perspective. The
history of Indian nationalism itself also is the history of slow but steady
communalization of our society.

During the colonial and early post-independence periods communalism
drew support mainly from the petty bourgeoisie and its hold was restricted
to urban centres. The communal ideology has now spread its influence much
beyond the middle class base. The merchants, the traders and the feudal
classes have drawn into it. They form the major support of communalism in
Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. Further he also notes that it is
alarming to find that communalism is now spreading to the lower sections
of society.

Asghar Ali in his paper, `Re-emergence of Communalism in
Post-Independent india', points out that the communal violence which
remained dormant during fifties, became a devastating phenomenon during
late sixties and seventies and eighties affecting all aspects of life.
Culmination was demolition of the Babri-Masjid and post demolition riots.
He further suggests that discrimination against Muslims in jobs and other
social and economic resources, made the community more vulnerable to come
under the grip of obscurantist leadership.

Sumit Sarkar argues in his paper, `Fascism of the Sangh Parivar',
that although Fascism in India is quite distinct from the European
contexts, still one cannot ignore also parallels between the two movements.
Fascism came to power in Italy and Germany through confrontation of street
violence, deep infiltration into the police, bureaucracy and army and the
connivance of `Centrist' political leadership and crude violation of law.
Hindutva as a mass phenomenon (like any other Fascist movement) is the
outcome of perpetration of a powerful and extendable enemy image through
appropriating stray elements from past prejudices, combining them with
newness through the most up-to-date media techniques. The Muslim here
becomes the near-exact equivalent of the Jew (although there could be no
comparison between the socio-economic positions of the two communities).

P.R.Ram in his paper, `Hindutva Offensive: Social Roots and
Characterisation', suggests that the term Hindu today has acquired
exclusive religious connotations unlike in the past and has been identified
with pronounced Brahmanical bias. Since early part of the present century,
the term Hindutva has been fused with the political, cultural and social
components to suit the politics of elite sections of Hindus. The major
support base of communal forces initially come from Brahmins, Banias,
Zamindars and kings of the Riyasats, but over last two decades it has
succeeded in attracting the significant section of petty industrialists,
rich peasants, sizeable sections of the middle class and upwardly mobile
strata of OBCs and Dalits. Unlike fascist movements in Italy and Germany,
Indian counterpart focuses predominantly on religious symbols, rituals and
mythology. This contrast in Indian manifestation led some of the social
scientists to call it as Religious Nationalism or fundamentalism, which in
any case, as Ram suggests, is basically a petty-bourgeoisie phenomenon.
This paper also highlights not only apathy but at times the connivance of
Hindutva forces with the colonial government, particularly during the `Quit
India' movement in the forties.

The same author in his contribution, `Crime and (No) Punishment',
makes brief survey of the factors contributing to communal violence, the
trajectory of major communal riots since independence, the impact of
communal disturbances on different sections of Indian society,
particularly the Muslim community, and the findings of various inquiry
commissions and their outcome. So far the major theatre of communal
violence has been Northern states, but lately Southern states like
Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and even Tamil Nadu have also witnessed the rise
of this phenomenon.

One of the major projects of Hindutva is also to reinforce
patriarchal norms of the family structure along with subjugation of women
and depressed castes. It is in this context that Ratna Kapoor and Brenda
Cossman (Communalising Gender, Engendering Community) point out the
difference between formal and substantive equality. Hindutva by harping on
formal equality aims to maintain a status quo and stress on harmonious
order based on continuity of different role in family and society. These
`roles' obviously imply different levels of hierarchical status. Hindutva
not surprisingly sees women primarily as ideal mothers, wives or daughters
and the woman hood is eulogised as `Matrushakhti'. They are also quite
explicit about their differences from the Women's liberation movement,
which aspire to struggle against patriarchal norms and gender inequality.
Hindutva forces' emphasis on traditional roles of women in the family comes
out glaringly in the educational policy of the present BJP led government.

Tanika Sarkar in her essay, `Heroic women, Mother goddesses" deals
with the issue of family and organizations in Hindutva Politics. She
pinpoints that Women's movements for their Rights reveal the political
possibilities and resources of the new culture. In her elaborate appraisal
of Rashtra Sevika Samiti, one of the oldest organizations of the SP, she
shows how members are drawn from similar background of the RSS and its
other organizations are modelled on the `Dharmpatni' model, loyal to the
RSS, the male controlled body. M.S.Golwalkar attached top priority for
women to raise children and unquestioning loyalty to the elders. On the
lines of the RSS, the Rashtra Sevika Samiti also recruits members who take
the vow of celibacy and are indoctrinated in the communal ideology. As
Tanika Sarkar points out, they spread the message and value system of the
Sangh Pariwar and help for marriage of daughters of sympathiser community
in `Collective dowry raising' along with other arrangements. The women of
Hindu Right predominantly come from upper caste, middle class and urban
background.

In order to broaden its social base Hindutva forces have taken
recourse to various techniques to attract lower rung of OBCs and Dalits,
but Hindutva here faces a dilemma. On the one hand Hindutva would prefer
to keep Dalits subjugated on the scale of hierarchy and also seeks to use
them as their foot soldiers and followers. Anandhi in her significant
study of the Dalit slums in Tamil Nadu (Contending Identities: Discourse
on Dravidan Movement in Tamil Nadu) argues that it is through the
identity construction that Hindutva is able to win over the support of
Dalits for its long term goals. Tracing the earlier campaigns launched by
Periyar, Rama Swamy which were against Hinduism and for self-respect of
minorities and women, she suggests that this culminated in consolidation of
Tamil identities. The activities of VHP type organizations in Dalit slums
have led to the formation of homogenised Hindu identity for Dalits which
becomes evident in increasing participation by Dalits in festivals like
Vinayak Chaturthi.

The appeasement of Muslim has been the favourite theme of Hindutva
forces. Mushirul Hasan in his paper, `Legacy of a Divided Nation', India's
Muslim since Independence', covers a range of themes around the problems of
Muslim community. The author suggests, notwithstanding the dangerous bogey
of minority appeasement, Muslims have been on the lowest rung of the ladder
in terms of the basic categories of socio-economic indicators of
development. More than half of the urban Muslim population live below the
poverty line. The corresponding proportion of Hindus is 35%. In modern
industries and trade, except for isolated instances, Muslims do not own any
large scale industry or business. Similarly Muslim community does not form
a uniform monolith as projected by the Hindutva forces. One finds diverse
trends not only in terms of religious sects they follow, but also within
the same sect, socio-economic gradation, hierarchy with almost over 80% of
Muslims whose conditions are comparable with poor OBCs category. This is
also true of so-called Hindu community.

Apart from abusing history, as Ram suggests the religion based
politics necessarily denigrates "rationalism" "Spirit of inquiry" and basic
tenets of science. While rejecting science as a Western concept, it
promotes its own obscurantist concepts as science. T.Jayaraman in his
essay, "Facing up to Fraud: On science and Secularism", deals with this
complicated issue. Jayaraman argues that religion being above all a matter
of personal faith, cannot be used as the basis of settling questions of the
real world and similarly the theories of science cannot be tested by appeal
to the Bible, the Quran or the Vedas. For Jayaraman modern science as an
endeavour is secular, and also international, which during the course of
its growth continuously challenges myths, superstitions and prejudices.
Science and fundamentalism operate on two opposing wave lengths. Hyper
claim about the validity and superiority of Vedic Mathmatics is a striking
case of absurdity and confusion Hindutva force could create in common
people. "Vedic Mathmatics" of Jagadguru Swami Sri Bharathi Krishna Tirthaji
Maharaj, Sankaracharya of the Govardhan Math, Puri is proclaimed as a
landmark work while making loud claims about mastering Vedic Mathmatics
within a year, that could be applied to all branches of knowledge, but
what is actually offered is some simple exercises of additions,
subtractions and multiplications that could prove at best useful for
secondary school students. As Jayaraman states the real issue is not so
much the level of the contents as the additional philosophical baggage that
is provided. How are we to take the assertion that the Vedas provide the
answers to all questions of mathematics? The contents of the book appears
far removed from this goal, comprising as they do elementary mathematics.

Communal politics operates at various levels and one of its major
agenda as rightly brought out by Imtiaz Ahmed (Pluralism on Trial) is to
destroy the plural traditions of the Indian Society and to substitute it
with a monolithic, elite, modernised Brahminical culture. While
recognizing the fact of a dominant presence of the Right wing Hindu
chauvinism in the national life right from the beginning of the freedom
struggle Ahmed points out that gradually the state has been infiltrated
by the forces inimical to plural cultural ethos, and the state itself has
become the agency in side-tracking the constitutional consensus on
pluralism, by subtly imposing monolithic norms and values. This role of
the state becomes evident once one looks at its role during the demolition
of the Babri Masjid, its approval for serials like Ramayana and Mahabharata
and hordes of mythology based serials on television and its indifference
when Hindutva vandals burn the paintings of M.F. Hussain or break up the
programmes of Pakistani Gazal singer Gulam Ali. Ahmed's deeper concern is
at the penetration of subaltern consciousness by such elitist monolithic
cultural values.

In the concluding piece of the compilation Rustom Bharucha (In the
value of Secular). argues that culture is the battle ground of politics in
India today. Basically, culture is a catalytic element and expression of
social life, which keeps humanity alive through multiform expressions. At
the present juncture of cultural onslaught by the Hindutva, he suggests,
it is not sufficient to merely respond to the activities of the Hindu
Right, but we have to be vigilant enough to pre-empt them through
collective vigilance and strategies of defences. We have to develop new
modes of intiltration through disguise and evolve new strategies. What is
needed is to work across faiths, doctrines and beliefs to decommunalise the
cultural practices. In all the strategies drawn as a component of secular
struggles, he holds that culture has to be central and most crucial element.

We could not resist the temptation of providing a brief extract of
all essays included in this compilation as we feel that each contribution
is significant and collectively they deal with practically all aspects ,
of communal phenomenon inclusive of its roots, its growth during colonial
and post-Independence period, role of the state, changing socio-economic
and political scenario and its implications, subtle strategy used by
Hindutva forces, institutional network of Sangh Parivar, especially the
role of its women's wing, its attempts and success in wooing Dalits and
OBCs, its use of modern mass media, religious symbols for communalizing
civil society, its thrust on obscurantist propaganda, myths of Vedic
science, extensive use of culture for spreading communal propaganda and
instrumental use of state as an agency to break plural traditions in this
country. In spite of such wide range of themes one finds some kind of an
organic link in essays incorporated in this compilation. Selected essays
are so arranged that they supplement each other and enrich our insight in
understanding multiple dimensions of communalism in Indian society. In
this sense it is very useful guide for an activist to combat communal and
particularly Hindutva onslaught at various levels. Such compilations are
rare and P.R.Ram has done a commendable job in preparing this Reader.
Vikas Adhyan Kendra deserves all compliments for fixing such moderate price
that it could be within much larger reach of ordinary reader.

Despite such valuable compilation, the editor and publisher owe
apology to its readers for gross printing and grammatical errors which are
so rampant and could be easily noticed even if one glances through the
introduction in a casual manner.

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