An article i wrote
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Peter de Souza
Nov 28, 2024, 12:40:43 AM11/28/24
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Susana Sardo
Nov 28, 2024, 6:56:48 AM11/28/24
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Dear Peter.
Thank you for sharing your article. I believe those who are not subscribers of the newspaper - like me - cannot read it. Can you send it in PDF?
Best
Susana
No dia 28/11/2024, às 05:40, Peter de Souza <peterde...@gmail.com> escreveu:
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fredericknoronha
Nov 28, 2024, 7:07:42 AM11/28/24
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Opinion by Peter Ronald deSouza
Opinion: I was told to ‘go back to Portugal’. Is this Indian modernity now?
If my story is unique to me then it need not go any further.
But I believe it is symptomatic of the mindsets that have
grown not just across the country but also in families and
neighbourhoods two india Essential India with its
philosophical openness would re-emerge from such cesspools of
prejudice. (Express photo by Praveen Khanna)
Peter Ronald deSouza
Nov 17, 2024 06:04 IST First published on: Nov 13, 2024 at 17:29 IST
The stories of discussions taking place in Resident Welfare
Association (RWA) chat groups, University Alumni gatherings,
the Officer’s mess, and even in IIT Whatsapp groups — where
the scientific temper is supposedly pervasive — of members
being trolled because of their religion and ethnicity, I only
half regarded as serious. These to me were passing moments
of toxicity. Essential India with its philosophical openness
would re-emerge from such cesspools of prejudice. I have now
learnt that I am mistaken. The poison has gone very deep.
It has entered the groundwater of our national soul.
A few days ago, during an argument, I was told to "go back to
Portugal". Not one to take such abuse without a fight I
responded and asked my adversary to “go back to Afghanistan”.
He was outraged. "I’m not from Afghanistan," he roared.
"Well, I’m not from Portugal," I said. Two things come
together in this brief exchange that are worth thinking
about. My name and his outrage. For him I was obviously the
outsider and, equally obviously, he was the insider. Both
for him were self-evidently true. In this exchange, my
argumentativeness faced his righteous anger. He said he was
confronting me because I was evil. That we went to school
together more than half a century ago did not matter.
Advertisement
I narrate this story because I must honestly admit I was
surprised at the vitriol. There was more abuse directed at
me but I ignored it. His educational and professional
journey seemed to have had little tempering effect on his
views, not just as an adult but as a retired senior. What
began as a discussion on an Indian festival, soon descended
into a toxic spat watched by others who, in their silence,
appeared to endorse his views that it was inadmissible for me
to talk about things Indian, especially Indian culture. What
did I know? And who was I anyway? An Indian on probation!
Now I know what Draupadi must have felt in the assembly when
she asked the custodians of dharma her question. They did
not answer. They remained silent. It is unclear to me if
they looked down in embarrassment, but Sanskrit pandits tell
me that they did not. Which only makes it worse!
Also Read | Are academic historians to blame for WhatsApp University?
The answer isn’t straightforward
Bharatiya Sanskruti
Curiously, we were both defending the same thing, Bharatiya
Sanskruti. He was doing it from a worldview constructed
after listening to hours of lectures at Hindutva university.
An alternative view comes from analysing the exchanges in the
Constituent Assembly. When one reads the interventions of
illustrious Indians such as Rajkumari Amrit Kaul, KM Munshi,
N Gopalaswami Ayyangar, Syama Prasad Mookerjee, Jerome
D’Souza, Maulana Azad, S Radhakrishnan, and of course B R
Ambedkar, and others, it is clear that in the India they
imagined both of us are equally insiders. The word “equally”
is crucial here since what was being given to us, when we
adopted the Constitution, was equal citizenship. That is
under threat today. My story is only a pointer to the
challenge ahead. I must admit that in my naivete I was
unprepared for the ferocity of the onslaught. The language
of “us vs them” has clearly taken root among educated
middle-class Indians.
As I narrate this story, I’m not sure if it is an admission
of defeat. As one who has spent more than 40 years as an
educationist believing in the promise that we were building
rational minds and a rational public sphere, the experience
of both vituperation and silence surprised and saddened me.
It was as good a laboratory experiment as one can get in the
social sciences, all things being constant. Members who were
a part of the group were educated in a public school and
later in a public university. They worked in secular
organisations both national and international. They held
club memberships and played the occasional game of golf.
They even enjoyed whiskey on the rocks. But views from
Hindutva university had begun to dominate their perception of
the world.
Building a nation
If my story is unique to me then it need not go any further.
But I believe it is symptomatic of the mindsets that have
grown not just across the country but also in families and
neighbourhoods. My experience the other day dispelled the
illusion that I had harboured, as a political scientist, that
this toxicity was only temporary, that India’s fabled
hospitality (our welcome to the Parsis and the Jews) was
deeper than the surface poison.
Also Read | Suhas Palshikar writes: RSS, a century later
And this is where my anxiety lies. I firmly believe (or
believed) that the only way to build a strong nation is to
make it a nation of people, to nurture its diversity, based
on the imagination crafted in the Constituent Assembly. It
would not be easy. Ambedkar warned us that we would be
entering a world of contradictions. Contradictions are good.
They enable new resolutions that can lead to exciting new
outcomes. Like our cricket team. This will, however, not
happen if the more powerful among us impose their viewpoints
on others, maligning them as anti-national. I believe that
this demonising that is being encouraged is not the way to
build a future India. But maybe I’m wrong.
I see such “poisonous othering” pervading our opinion-forming
institutions. In addition to the media, we find this
attitude of constructing the “hostile other” being formulated
in NCERT textbooks, university curricula, ICHR research
projects, and of course, WhatsApp groups. Minds are being
infected. The “other” is being vilified. Although this has
been said many times before, I bring it up again not because
of my recent experience but because of the silence of the
majority who watched the exchanges as if it were a theatre
performance. The silent majority will, through their
silence, become colluders in this venomous new India.
most read
* 1The JEE system is broken. Here’s how India can
produce employable engineers
* 2Pratap Bhanu Mehta writes: Why Opposition’s
‘democracy in danger’ pitch cuts little ice with
voters
* 3Discuss Adani: There cannot be a more fitting way to
mark the Constitution turning 75
* 4Diet as a cancer cure: What Navjot Singh Sidhu didn’t
tell you
* 5Four failures that led to the 26/11 terror attacks on
Mumbai
This bothers me as a desi. But what bothers me more is the
impossibility of this Hindutva project. India, I believe,
cannot be built on the idea of majoritarianism, as Hindu
supremacy. Its fundamental diversity will break out of this
forced and imposed uniformity. Our civilisational history
shows this to be the case. It will not permit such
uniformity. Āstika and Nāstika philosophical systems, each
with their own warring groups, cannot be reconciled. Nor can
the Zaidi school of law in Shia Islam agree with the Hanafi
school in Sunni Islam. Even within our small Parsi
community, there are grumblings against the rulings of the
Parsi panchayat. And even God, I'm told, does not know how
many Christian groups there are in India. The Constituent
Assembly recognised such diversity and constructed an
institutional and legal edifice to accommodate it. We had
embarked upon the greatest experiment in human history, of
making a plural nation of equal citizens. It was
unparalleled in its ambition. But this has been stalled by
Hindutva. It is being dismantled. It appears to be
succeeding.
Must Read Opinions
* Election Commission of India is one of the greatest gifts of the
Constitution
* Dealing with the China question
* In Good Faith: Who is a real Gorakhpanthi?
Maybe I am wrong. Maybe it is possible to build a
majoritarian nation even in the face of the challenges of
modernity. According to the IMF, we are not doing too badly.
Hindutva may be able to build a modern, technological,
economically successful, and supremacist nation. They will
find ways to dance to Diljit Dosanjh’s hip-hop while also
crushing Valentine’s Day celebrations. The majority will be
silent. The toxicity has spread. Paraphrasing Ambedkar one
thing is certain: The India in which I was born will, sadly,
not be the India in which I am going to die.
--
The writer is an independent scholar and co-editor with
Rukmini Bhaya Nair of Keywords for India: A Conceptual
Lexicon for the 21st century © The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
newsguard-logo
Opinion: I was told to ‘go back to Portugal’. Is this Indian modernity now?
If my story is unique to me then it need not go any further.
But I believe it is symptomatic of the mindsets that have
grown not just across the country but also in families and
neighbourhoods two india Essential India with its
philosophical openness would re-emerge from such cesspools of
prejudice. (Express photo by Praveen Khanna)
Peter Ronald deSouza
Nov 17, 2024 06:04 IST First published on: Nov 13, 2024 at 17:29 IST
The stories of discussions taking place in Resident Welfare
Association (RWA) chat groups, University Alumni gatherings,
the Officer’s mess, and even in IIT Whatsapp groups — where
the scientific temper is supposedly pervasive — of members
being trolled because of their religion and ethnicity, I only
half regarded as serious. These to me were passing moments
of toxicity. Essential India with its philosophical openness
would re-emerge from such cesspools of prejudice. I have now
learnt that I am mistaken. The poison has gone very deep.
It has entered the groundwater of our national soul.
A few days ago, during an argument, I was told to "go back to
Portugal". Not one to take such abuse without a fight I
responded and asked my adversary to “go back to Afghanistan”.
He was outraged. "I’m not from Afghanistan," he roared.
"Well, I’m not from Portugal," I said. Two things come
together in this brief exchange that are worth thinking
about. My name and his outrage. For him I was obviously the
outsider and, equally obviously, he was the insider. Both
for him were self-evidently true. In this exchange, my
argumentativeness faced his righteous anger. He said he was
confronting me because I was evil. That we went to school
together more than half a century ago did not matter.
Advertisement
I narrate this story because I must honestly admit I was
surprised at the vitriol. There was more abuse directed at
me but I ignored it. His educational and professional
journey seemed to have had little tempering effect on his
views, not just as an adult but as a retired senior. What
began as a discussion on an Indian festival, soon descended
into a toxic spat watched by others who, in their silence,
appeared to endorse his views that it was inadmissible for me
to talk about things Indian, especially Indian culture. What
did I know? And who was I anyway? An Indian on probation!
Now I know what Draupadi must have felt in the assembly when
she asked the custodians of dharma her question. They did
not answer. They remained silent. It is unclear to me if
they looked down in embarrassment, but Sanskrit pandits tell
me that they did not. Which only makes it worse!
Also Read | Are academic historians to blame for WhatsApp University?
The answer isn’t straightforward
Bharatiya Sanskruti
Curiously, we were both defending the same thing, Bharatiya
Sanskruti. He was doing it from a worldview constructed
after listening to hours of lectures at Hindutva university.
An alternative view comes from analysing the exchanges in the
Constituent Assembly. When one reads the interventions of
illustrious Indians such as Rajkumari Amrit Kaul, KM Munshi,
N Gopalaswami Ayyangar, Syama Prasad Mookerjee, Jerome
D’Souza, Maulana Azad, S Radhakrishnan, and of course B R
Ambedkar, and others, it is clear that in the India they
imagined both of us are equally insiders. The word “equally”
is crucial here since what was being given to us, when we
adopted the Constitution, was equal citizenship. That is
under threat today. My story is only a pointer to the
challenge ahead. I must admit that in my naivete I was
unprepared for the ferocity of the onslaught. The language
of “us vs them” has clearly taken root among educated
middle-class Indians.
As I narrate this story, I’m not sure if it is an admission
of defeat. As one who has spent more than 40 years as an
educationist believing in the promise that we were building
rational minds and a rational public sphere, the experience
of both vituperation and silence surprised and saddened me.
It was as good a laboratory experiment as one can get in the
social sciences, all things being constant. Members who were
a part of the group were educated in a public school and
later in a public university. They worked in secular
organisations both national and international. They held
club memberships and played the occasional game of golf.
They even enjoyed whiskey on the rocks. But views from
Hindutva university had begun to dominate their perception of
the world.
Building a nation
If my story is unique to me then it need not go any further.
But I believe it is symptomatic of the mindsets that have
grown not just across the country but also in families and
neighbourhoods. My experience the other day dispelled the
illusion that I had harboured, as a political scientist, that
this toxicity was only temporary, that India’s fabled
hospitality (our welcome to the Parsis and the Jews) was
deeper than the surface poison.
Also Read | Suhas Palshikar writes: RSS, a century later
And this is where my anxiety lies. I firmly believe (or
believed) that the only way to build a strong nation is to
make it a nation of people, to nurture its diversity, based
on the imagination crafted in the Constituent Assembly. It
would not be easy. Ambedkar warned us that we would be
entering a world of contradictions. Contradictions are good.
They enable new resolutions that can lead to exciting new
outcomes. Like our cricket team. This will, however, not
happen if the more powerful among us impose their viewpoints
on others, maligning them as anti-national. I believe that
this demonising that is being encouraged is not the way to
build a future India. But maybe I’m wrong.
I see such “poisonous othering” pervading our opinion-forming
institutions. In addition to the media, we find this
attitude of constructing the “hostile other” being formulated
in NCERT textbooks, university curricula, ICHR research
projects, and of course, WhatsApp groups. Minds are being
infected. The “other” is being vilified. Although this has
been said many times before, I bring it up again not because
of my recent experience but because of the silence of the
majority who watched the exchanges as if it were a theatre
performance. The silent majority will, through their
silence, become colluders in this venomous new India.
most read
* 1The JEE system is broken. Here’s how India can
produce employable engineers
* 2Pratap Bhanu Mehta writes: Why Opposition’s
‘democracy in danger’ pitch cuts little ice with
voters
* 3Discuss Adani: There cannot be a more fitting way to
mark the Constitution turning 75
* 4Diet as a cancer cure: What Navjot Singh Sidhu didn’t
tell you
* 5Four failures that led to the 26/11 terror attacks on
Mumbai
This bothers me as a desi. But what bothers me more is the
impossibility of this Hindutva project. India, I believe,
cannot be built on the idea of majoritarianism, as Hindu
supremacy. Its fundamental diversity will break out of this
forced and imposed uniformity. Our civilisational history
shows this to be the case. It will not permit such
uniformity. Āstika and Nāstika philosophical systems, each
with their own warring groups, cannot be reconciled. Nor can
the Zaidi school of law in Shia Islam agree with the Hanafi
school in Sunni Islam. Even within our small Parsi
community, there are grumblings against the rulings of the
Parsi panchayat. And even God, I'm told, does not know how
many Christian groups there are in India. The Constituent
Assembly recognised such diversity and constructed an
institutional and legal edifice to accommodate it. We had
embarked upon the greatest experiment in human history, of
making a plural nation of equal citizens. It was
unparalleled in its ambition. But this has been stalled by
Hindutva. It is being dismantled. It appears to be
succeeding.
Must Read Opinions
* Election Commission of India is one of the greatest gifts of the
Constitution
* Dealing with the China question
* In Good Faith: Who is a real Gorakhpanthi?
Maybe I am wrong. Maybe it is possible to build a
majoritarian nation even in the face of the challenges of
modernity. According to the IMF, we are not doing too badly.
Hindutva may be able to build a modern, technological,
economically successful, and supremacist nation. They will
find ways to dance to Diljit Dosanjh’s hip-hop while also
crushing Valentine’s Day celebrations. The majority will be
silent. The toxicity has spread. Paraphrasing Ambedkar one
thing is certain: The India in which I was born will, sadly,
not be the India in which I am going to die.
--
The writer is an independent scholar and co-editor with
Rukmini Bhaya Nair of Keywords for India: A Conceptual
Lexicon for the 21st century © The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
newsguard-logo
Peter de Souza
Nov 28, 2024, 12:04:54 PM11/28/24
to goa-rese...@googlegroups.com
Dear Susana, dear Rico
Rico has been kind enough to post the whole article. Thank you Rico.
Now in Goa and will be here for 3 months. Doing a project on the river Mhadei controversy.
Peter.r
To view this discussion, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/goa-research-net/86459DB8-DF6C-4701-9BFA-61EB11421E26%40ua.pt.
sammit khandeparker
Nov 28, 2024, 1:30:58 PM11/28/24
to goa-rese...@googlegroups.com
I read it printed in the national press.
Dr. Sammit P. S. Khandeparkar
PhD(Religious Studies)
To view this discussion, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/goa-research-net/CAOWg_2aS43dQwjoxLu_q6XfeC2vVLUDxRMCFOGiujeasF%2BG19A%40mail.gmail.com.
Helga Do Rosario Gomes
Nov 28, 2024, 6:45:55 PM11/28/24
to goa-rese...@googlegroups.com
This is a terribly sad article for us. So many people at work say the same. They go back home and suddenly highly educated family members have morphed into something ugly no different from what’s happening in the USA, UK and elsewhere. Maybe Indians are more brazen.
This may be anecdotal but at a work related meeting, I met a very bright Kerala Christian who said that his family in Bangalore suffers a lot of discrimination. He also said that many Indian scientists both in India and in the USA don’t respect him - how can Indian Christians be good at math and sciences? This was corroborated by a young Indian Christian woman at the same meeting.
I meant to write this earlier, but I went for an excellent play “Catarina and the Beauty of Killing fascists’ - directed by Tiago Rodrigues. It was about the rise of fascism in Portugal and it was excellent but also pretty scary as it played the week Trump was elected.
 | |
This world isn’t getting better.
Sent from my iPhone
On Nov 28, 2024, at 13:30, 'sammit khandeparker' via Goa-Research-Net <goa-rese...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
To view this discussion, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/goa-research-net/1130052620.2710568.1732813945501%40mail.yahoo.com.
Rahul Tripathi
Nov 28, 2024, 6:46:08 PM11/28/24
to goa-rese...@googlegroups.com
This was the response I gave in the comments section to the article, when I read it :
"Poignantly written. That the malaise has run deep has been without doubt, but what makes the situation more alarming is that the project of othering appears to be on an autopilot even without the Hindutva ecosystem making a big noise about it. I agree with you that the silence of the majority only ends up in normalizing such exchanges as you have witnessed. My 5 percent optimism, the students (still unsure about their future) I come across in my classroom , still appear to be more receptive to ideas than the 60 plus retired elite who have had the best of all in their life. Let us believe in the 'audacity of hope'. Rahul Tripathi"
However I am not able to see my comments in the online version of the article, though it got saved and displayed when I filled in the comment box : Peter/Rico can you guide me on this?
To view this discussion, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/goa-research-net/1130052620.2710568.1732813945501%40mail.yahoo.com.
With kind regards,
Rahul Tripathi
Professor
Political Science Programme
D.D.Kosambi School of Social Sciences and Behavioural Studies
Goa University
Taleigao Plateau,Goa,403206
Tel: 91-8669609-149/152 (Office Landline)
Mobile: +91-9822126981
email : r...@unigoa.ac.in
Disclaimer visit: https://www.unigoa.ac.in/docs/disclaimer.html.
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