09-09-2006, 01:04 AM
NATION IN THE MAKING
Limited view
The Insurrection of Little Selves: The Crisis of Secular Nationalism in India By Aditya Nigam, Oxford, Rs 650
The Indian educated classes have emphasized, since the Nehru era, that the ideology of the state is both secular and national. The concept of nationalism is much-debated, and often abstruse theoretical categories are brought into the discussion. Benedict Anderson wrote of nations as imagined communities. Partha Chatterjee retorted by arguing, âIf nationalisms in the rest of the world have to choose their imagined community from certain modular forms already made available to them by Europe and the Americas, what do they have left to imagine?â
In this book, the author provides a thought-provoking discussion on the origin and development of Indian nationalism and its growth with secular ideas. He explains Chatterjeeâs theory and discusses its limitations. However, without reference to subaltern contestations, Nigam says, the nationalist discourse cannot be appreciated.
Nehru was central to the formation of secular nationalism as the ideology of the post-colonial nation-state. But, Nigam says, this ideological-discursive configuration âby defaultâ¦remained Hindu, born as it was within a Hindu universe.â He could have added that this Hindu universe was seen principally through upper caste eyes, and this was bound to promote compromises with forces averse to progressive changes while continuing to talk about socialism. Nehruâs self-contradictions made him vulnerable to the Hindu right within the Congress.
Nigam dwells at length on various strands of Dalit politics, which according to him, ârepresents a deep resistance to the two great political artifacts of our modernity, secularism and the nation.â However, the question is should the traditional concepts of nationalism and secularism be accepted as they are? The continued dominance of the old elitist view has often made us brand anybody asserting his identity as anti-national. One has to recognize that the process of Indian nationhood-formation is incomplete. Besides, the growth of nationalism is often accompanied by the growth of chauvinism, which teaches the nation to bully weaker states and woo the powerful. When nationalism becomes progressive, it obliterates the idea of the nation itself.
The chapter, âThe impossible nationâ, shows how the dominant discourses on nationalism and secularism have avoided the class question. The review of the critique of the old secular-nationalist view is elegant. The problem with some secularists is that they look at secularism with respect to the state that came into being in the post-Partition period. The outbursts of the Hindu right has shown its limitations, propelling new thinking. âSecularism: the Marxist wayâ fails to note that often, religious preachers have involved themselves in the struggle of the masses. An important example is Reverend Murmu, who died in 1986 trying to protect the rights of Santals. By contrast, the Hindutva cult has often attacked Muslim obscurantism by referring to their radical teachings.
The book, on the whole, is important and interesting. A paperback edition would be most welcome, given the present price.
BHASKAR CHATTERJEE
Limited view
The Insurrection of Little Selves: The Crisis of Secular Nationalism in India By Aditya Nigam, Oxford, Rs 650
The Indian educated classes have emphasized, since the Nehru era, that the ideology of the state is both secular and national. The concept of nationalism is much-debated, and often abstruse theoretical categories are brought into the discussion. Benedict Anderson wrote of nations as imagined communities. Partha Chatterjee retorted by arguing, âIf nationalisms in the rest of the world have to choose their imagined community from certain modular forms already made available to them by Europe and the Americas, what do they have left to imagine?â
In this book, the author provides a thought-provoking discussion on the origin and development of Indian nationalism and its growth with secular ideas. He explains Chatterjeeâs theory and discusses its limitations. However, without reference to subaltern contestations, Nigam says, the nationalist discourse cannot be appreciated.
Nehru was central to the formation of secular nationalism as the ideology of the post-colonial nation-state. But, Nigam says, this ideological-discursive configuration âby defaultâ¦remained Hindu, born as it was within a Hindu universe.â He could have added that this Hindu universe was seen principally through upper caste eyes, and this was bound to promote compromises with forces averse to progressive changes while continuing to talk about socialism. Nehruâs self-contradictions made him vulnerable to the Hindu right within the Congress.
Nigam dwells at length on various strands of Dalit politics, which according to him, ârepresents a deep resistance to the two great political artifacts of our modernity, secularism and the nation.â However, the question is should the traditional concepts of nationalism and secularism be accepted as they are? The continued dominance of the old elitist view has often made us brand anybody asserting his identity as anti-national. One has to recognize that the process of Indian nationhood-formation is incomplete. Besides, the growth of nationalism is often accompanied by the growth of chauvinism, which teaches the nation to bully weaker states and woo the powerful. When nationalism becomes progressive, it obliterates the idea of the nation itself.
The chapter, âThe impossible nationâ, shows how the dominant discourses on nationalism and secularism have avoided the class question. The review of the critique of the old secular-nationalist view is elegant. The problem with some secularists is that they look at secularism with respect to the state that came into being in the post-Partition period. The outbursts of the Hindu right has shown its limitations, propelling new thinking. âSecularism: the Marxist wayâ fails to note that often, religious preachers have involved themselves in the struggle of the masses. An important example is Reverend Murmu, who died in 1986 trying to protect the rights of Santals. By contrast, the Hindutva cult has often attacked Muslim obscurantism by referring to their radical teachings.
The book, on the whole, is important and interesting. A paperback edition would be most welcome, given the present price.
BHASKAR CHATTERJEE