Sarath's response

[suneetha achyuta]

Please find below an interesting to the ongoing discussion on Telangana and BJP by Sarath Davala. 

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Very interesting responses and very good discussion. The discussion has actually moved somewhere else. Beyond Kakru and Telangana. There I find Srivats' reflection most interesting. Add a bit of Mary's discomfort to that. 

1. The crucial question is this great faith we repose in some of our concepts: democracy, smaller states, secularism, etc. The limitations of these categories and the guarded faith that we all otherwise have in them are actually being pointed out by Mary and Srivats. I feel they are touching something in the dark that is very important for our understanding but are not taking it to its logical end. 

2. For the poor in Telangana,  we have already assumed that a seperate Telangana is the best thing that can happen. We have no doubt been critical on this matter internally, but then we said let us postpone all those contradictions, because there is a groundswell. Orchestrated or otherwise. Those opposed to Telangana movement say it is orchestrated. Our friends say that it is spontaneous. It boils down to faith, however. Yours vs mine. I personally believe that there is a groundswell. 

Beyond 'naming' what is happening, there is also that touching faith we all have in the very notion of "groundswell'. In Marxist/ radical politics, a spontaneous groundswell has a special place. Isn't it? Isn't that why we want to name our struggles as actually spontaneous? And respect only those that are 'spontaneous'? Or somehow show them to be spontaneous? In a big plot called struggle for democracy, a sub-plot? I leave it at that.   

3. Along with democracy as a concept and a category that has potential to produce salvation for collectives and individuals, we have also taken secularism and its track record in this country for granted and as unproblematic, thereby meaning that it's virtue is self-explanatory. And something that needs to be defended. Those who have had unquestioned faith in 'secularism' as a position of the state, and culturally as a framework for our living, are actually surprised and angry that the basic tenets of their life are being questioned. 

We need to be a wee bit humble and ask what has been the outworking of secularist position (both what the state has done to its 'others' and what we as individuals have done to our 'others') in this country. What has it produced in this country? As long as we remain the evangelists of secularism, how can we even question it? We need to be as arrogant as the early anthropologists to assume that we can enter (lesser) people's belief systems and analyse them with our methodological tools. Or, we should get that arrogance from a Marxist movement or a Feminist movement or a Dalit movement whose politico-ethical ground, by definition, happens to be so high (for different historical reasons) that it provides a pious ground which to stand and judge others. 

Can we pause a bit and ask ourselves: Is BJP -  the presumed corporate entity that we want to portray as a sexy demon -  a product of this prolonged self-righteous elite-secular national existence? Is it the cause that we need to address or its manifestation? I feel we need to address the cause. BJP is just its outworking. 

Lets discuss.

sarath

 

 

 

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  Today's Topic Summary

Group: http://groups.google.com/group/tracking-telangana/topics

• Chief Justice Kakru's Farewell [4 Updates]

 Chief Justice Kakru's Farewell

Vasudha Nagaraj <vasudhan...@gmail.com> Oct 25 04:43PM +0530  

Nisar Ahmed Kakru, the Chief Justice of AP High Court, retired yesterday. On
an occasion like this, the High Court Bar Association usually organizes a
farewell. Kakru’s retirement was no ...more

Geetha V <gee...@gmail.com> Oct 25 08:26PM +0530  

Very interesting and saddening, at the same time. Vasudha,
 
While I have been very curious about the Telengana struggle and moved by
your accounts of its democratic potential, I was also a trifle ...more

R Srivatsan <r.sr...@gmail.com> Oct 26 08:01AM +0530  

Hi Vasudha,
 
Thanks for this post. My two bits worth of chewing the cud:
 
When I listen to myself speak, and also hear so many accounts of the BJP
consolidation and strengthening, I wonder -- ...more

Mary E John <marye...@gmail.com> Oct 26 12:05PM +0530  

Dear Vasudha, Suneetha and friends,
 
i am so grateful to be part of this group tracking the telengana movement.
Especially i want to congratulate you for the careful, complex and reflexive ...more

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A.Suneetha
Senior Fellow and Coordinator
Anveshi Research Centre for Women's Studies
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[Susie Tharu]

Thanks everyone. This is fascinating. On the run, but will respond when I have a moment. I have a couple of things to say. S

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Susie Tharu
A 27/2 , 1st Crescent Road, AFOCHS, Sanikpuri. Hyderabad 500 094

[R Srivatsan]

Dear Sarath,

You should write more often!  I really like the notion of a 'groundswell', and the word.  I also felt somewhat guilty when you spoke of our 'touching' faith in a groundswell, as a key aspect of democracy. I have more to say about groundswell, but it isn't quite clear (not that these few following paragraphs are) but more on 'groundswell' later

As you say, we link democracy with its twin sister in our imagination, secularism.  I was ambivalent at first about your implicit characterization of the BJP as something that is a response to secular elitism.  I know other people are saying this too.

On the one hand, I feel doubtful whether one can limit the BJPs organicity to a reaction against secular elitism.  In other words, I wonder (not as a criticism of your point, but as a way of thinking) whether it is possible to ascribe everything the BJP is to its reaction to secularism.  It is also not as if the BJP is a slouch when speaking of that ultimate fortress of secular thought in India -- development, forced if need be (or rather, forcing development as the only way).

On the other hand, when one looks at written history, it seems as if the secular history-writing we have now characterizes the antecedents of the BJP i.e., the Hindu Mahasabha and the militant nationalists of the 1900s, as driven by a reaction to colonial rule, which is after all the mother-lode of secular government in India.  (So many analyses of Bankim). At the same time, according to this history-writing it is the colonial ruler who initiated the anti-Muslim discourse, with its story of civilizational decline under Muslim rule.  Thus the Hindu nationalist actually falls for this secular argument while reacting to secular colonialism.

Not sure where to take this -- I feel this way of thinking may be a labyrinth.  And yet it is crucially important to find a breakthrough in proposing a way of thinking the problem of fundamentalism and its threats.  

Srivats

On Thu, Oct 27, 2011 at 8:13 PM, suneetha achyuta <suneet...@gmail.com> wrote:

--
R Srivatsan
Senior Fellow

[CIVIL LIBERTIES INDIA]

Dear All,
This type of communal hatred is not confined to Telangana region, it is a national phenomena. But in recent years it have increased because of the communal politics of BJP, which wants to get back to power in 2014 at any cost for this they are using all mischievous strategies, and the most important plan is to promote the culture of Hindutva in all over India that is why now a days we are witnessing new type of celebrations in the name hanuman jayanthi, ram navami etc. and I personally believe that we should not connect every unfortunate communal incident to Telangana movement. and as per our sources in siddipet and also other parts of Andhra pradesh hindutva terrorists running there training camps to implement their agenda.And the most sad thing is govt of India in spite of having all the information is mum on this matter. i suggest you to question the state on their criminal silence.

Lateef mohd khan

On Thu, Oct 27, 2011 at 8:13 PM, suneetha achyuta <suneet...@gmail.com> wrote:

--
Lateef Md Khan

Many have sacrificed their lives for our Liberty
Let us renew our commitment to Freedom