Understanding Unity: An Idea in the Context of Diversity

Author(s): PIA DAVID

Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 51, No. 8 (FEBRUARY 20, 2016), pp. 70-76
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly
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Understanding Unity
An Idea in the Context of Diversity

PIA DAVID

The id
reveal
Jawaharlal
Jawaharlal freefree
ence India 1938, largelyinence
Indiain largely Nehru, ina unity
1938,
termsintroduced
of termsintroduced
in whilepreserved
writingthrough its the
the of a moral unity formoral vision
an vision preserved internationalofof thethe
throughyet
yet audi-toto bebeits
also se
diversity. He uses the allegory of an ocean which "received the
politic
tribute of a thousand rivers, and though she was disturbed often
idea
enough, and storms raged over the surface of her waters, the sea of
continued to be the sea" (Nehru 1941: 14). As the first Prime Minis-
discou
ter of independent India and an influential statesman representing
concep
third world aspirations at a time when global politics was far re-
ofmoved from multilateralism, and could bethe
neatly divided into in-
politic
sular ideological economic blocs, his ideas and political positions
hold much significance. Nehru viewed the idea of unity being sus-
tained through his conception of toleration, and a long tradition of
rational argumentation familiar to most Indians.
That lost Jewish tribes, Zoroastrians, sects of Christianity, later,
Muslims all come and make India their home was to Nehru evi-
dence of the country's accommodating nature. Moreover India while
accommodating "others" is also the land where Buddhism and
Sikhism emerged to counter mainstream "Hindu" religious practices.

Introduction

For Nehru then the idea of unity is based on the fact of India's
unique ability to adapt culturally. His views represent a very
fluid notion of what India could mean in terms of representing
a secular syncretic ethos. He goes on to talk of how political
unity was introduced by the British, fostered through the
spread of modern communication and transport. This, in turn,
gave rise to nationalism and the idea of a free and united
India. To Nehru, that was the only way forward.
However, Nehru was not so much concerned with communal-
ism and the problems of difference in terms of the language or the
caste question as he was with economic and international impedi-
ments in the way of this unity. To him, international law and the
effect of treaties were more crucial for they determine the path
chosen by nation states individually. Therefore, while India had to
industrialise and take to economic reform it was equally impor-
tant, at the level of internationalism, to uphold a notion of human
progress guided by ethical concerns to "find a harmony between
the inner man and his ever-changing outer environment" (Nehru
1941: 26). He made these observations before partition which di-
vided the subcontinent into first two, and later three, nations.
The Constituent Assembly of India, formed against a backdrop
of the demand for a separate nation based on a notion of a reli-
Piagious identity,
Davi
was careful not to allow sectarian visions to make
Political
an impression in the formulations of the new Indian identity. It

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rejected separate electorates based on religion, looked at the juncture to highlight the significance of the "modern" as a
reunification of states based on linguistic- and cultural-affinities. category and how under colonialism there was an entirely new
It upheld the rights of the citizen over the community, yet pre- way of understanding. It may be useful to emphasise how the
served the choice of personal laws to govern the private lives of its scientific revolution affected what Bayly (2012) understands as
individuals who were seen as being part of religious groupings, the transnationality of ideas or the ways in which Western
and simultaneously, being citizens and guaranteed reservations concepts were used and adapted to the Indian context as well as
for Scheduled Castes (ses) and Scheduled Tribes (sts). All this the ways in which nationalism simultaneously affects the defini-
was meant to provide a conception of equal treatment, a measure tional process of these categories. Thus, in a certain sense the
used to minimise inequality and allow for intra-group equality. A majority-minority framework has been constructed around the
conception of unity was in a sense then manufactured through its parameters of a religious identity and is a product of this histori-
emphasis on the diversity of lived experiences; historical injustic- cal process. To evaluate the conception of this identity formation
es were to be addressed by making provisions for rights for equal helps us in two ways. First, it helps us in understanding how the
treatment, and therefore, the right to freedom, especially free- majority identity has been constructed and points out to how the
dom of religious practice was understood as an enabling concept. idea of the Hindu is constructed. Second, in turn, it helps us un-
Granville Austin has highlighted national unity, integrity, the derstand how the identity of the minority is constructed around
need for democratic and socially equal society as the central con- religion and how this construction, in turn, questions the way
cerns around which the postcolonial Constitution of the Indian the discourse of unity is articulated in the Indian context.
State was grafted. Since these goals were mutually dependent, All this would then mean going back to the British period.
they needed to be pursued simultaneously and ingrained into The coming together of the civilisational heritage and Brah-
the "seamless web" (Austin 2000) of what may represent the minism was part of a specific ideological understanding in the
idea of India in a postcolonial set-up. These considerations were colonial context. Scholar administrators, mainly the orientalists,
to ensure a kind of formal legal-political edifice around which had understood the idea of India as representing a conflation
the polity was to be arranged. It meant establishing a federal and this understanding was behind the codification of religious
structure by which India was classified as a union of states. and cultural practices, laws and customs as part of an ethno-
These considerations were also behind giving enough powers to graphic project that compiled, what has been understood in
the centre to counter the idea of difference - the basis for de- the enlightenment tradition as the knowledge on the new world.
mands of autonomy, through what has been termed as cooperat- Its main purpose was to define the "other," to contrast the dis-
ing or bargaining federalism. However, different groups were tinction between the metropolis and periphery, based on racial
largely perceived through the religious prism and inter-group inferiority, and therefore, provide a defence for colonialism.
equality was perceived through the recognition of diversity of However, this process of knowing India defined it as well.
religious beliefs and practices - and not as much through recog- The idea of civilisational heritage and superiority was there-
nition of linguistic or regional differences. fore central to the 19th century discourse of colonialism. It
Thus, the contours of this unity were forged by placing the provided the metaphor as well as the justification on the basis
threat to the nation outside its boundaries; it emphasised of which nations could be colonised alongside building affini-
preventing the breaking down of what was understood as the ties of race, and therefore, solidarity amongst people. Conse-
territory of India. This was done by understanding foreign quentially, civilisational superiority was understood in terms
aggression as being a threat to the political unity of India. The of religious practices in the Indian context and it led to the
secular, though not emphasised in the initial preamble, was seen emergence of understanding the combination of religion,
as being a core idea of the moral fabric of the Indian nation. This myth and history as being facts of a golden age sidelining the
meant allowing personal laws to govern the private lives of indi- social aspects of societal formation and political consolidation.
viduals and dedicating an entire section of the fundamental The project of scholar administrators of the East India Company
rights to religious and cultural minorities as communalism was had an effect on the intellectual thinking of the Indian nationalist
perceived as the looming threat in the aftermath of the partition. discourse. India was given a sense of history through the under-
The choice of Rabindranath Tagore's Jana gana mana as the na- standing of its Sanskritic intellectual tradition- this cultural herit-
tional anthem is an excellent example of how India was to be age emphasised its antiquity, rationality, scientific nature, its high
perceived. The territory was to be the signification of unity. The civilisational status that manifested in the Sanskrit language and
idea of what it may mean to be a nation was understood not as a literature; it was based on the idea of racial superiority of the
struggle of groups and individuals for an Indian nation, rather it Hindu people. The project provided the source material for under-
was marked out by territory which in a certain sense could be standing what India meant in terms of a civilisational entity and
identified as what it may mean to be part of the Indian nation. brought to the fore the idea of a historical-religious identity which
was in a condition of degradation under "foreign rule," that of the
Civilisation to Nation Mughals. This knowledge was characterised as a rediscovery and
However, the conception of unity in the Indian context isutilised
the as evidence of India's possession of the features of moder-
nity - modernity which substantiated India's claim to political
merging of civilisational heritage with modern pplitical ideals.
It has been an overarching theme through which identities
autonomy. For Michael Dodson (2007), this phenomenon is best
have been constructed. It may, therefore, be important at this
understood as a process of constructive orientalism. He makes an

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important argument that the Saidian project of understanding ori- Signification of unity, aikya, based on diversity was done through
entalism as a process of classifying the Orient with distinctive fea- a notion of dharma, and this unity was possible by following
tures is a participative process. By explaining what constructive duties of dharma and in turn serving the nation. Nationhood,
orientalism means in the Indian context, he examines the part thus, has indigenous origins related to a shared world of values
played by the pandit. For him, it produces a new conception of and conduct, which precipitated the formation of the historical
what can be termed national culture and also provides a simulta- community (samaj) into a modern nation (Gupta 2006).
neous transformation of the way in which the role and the charac- In such a context, then patriotism, race and history were modes
teristics associated with the person of a pandit. This, for him, is of linking the past with the present to shape a notion of identity.
representative of a transformative capacity that this idea throws However, these notions imbibe the form the state takes. For in-
up in the context of colonialism (Dodson 2007). stance, where the role of the state is not centralised like in India,
This meant that history was created out of religious-cultural Gupta (2006) points out, local particularism, in the form of cul-
practices and the pandit became a scholar authority of such tural identity is more clearly specified. Thus, in India we find
knowledge, and not just a participant observer. The role of the identity being rooted in a plurality of cultures and these cultures
pandits can be seen as that of renewing the understanding of In- are variously defined as affinity based on language, land or both.
dia's civilisational heritage within the colonial context as well as In the case of Bengal, we find that regional and the local can be
in their explicit engagement with the colonial presentation of transcended to include the nation under the umbrella of a reli-
European knowledge. This produced a modern perspective that gion with diversity of cultural practices to be assimilated from
enabled Europeans to not only make bold claims about their own below. The implications of this transcendence are that a notion of
civilisational status, but also allowed the pandits to articulate a religious community is carved for a cultural group to produce
newly inflected characterisations of shastrik knowledge as ra- the idea of the Bengali Hindu. This modern identity is to be used
tional, scientific, methodologically sound and above all Indian. to stake claim to the modern idea of the nation. The rights-bear-
In doing so, the pandits began to reinvent the roles they might ing individual is given a modern religious identity. The samaj
play in broader public and cultural processes outside the insti- came to represent parochial sociocultural concerns based on
tutional boundaries of education and religion to posture them- affinities of jatis to represent interest groups.
selves as reformers and political ideologues of an enslaved nation. In Bengal, then the rupture in political histories based on the
It gave rise to a stock of gurus, acharyas and mahatmas who unavailability of records meant that a new consensus on unity1
held sway within public discourses alongside the newly formed was required. Samaj over polity was prioritised to provide the link
intelligentsia of teachers, lawyers and clerks of the government. of continuity between the past and the present. Thus, according
to Gupta (2006: 283), there were no clear distinctions between
Importance of Restoration the political and the social. For her, notions of samaj "developed
In such a context, it becomes interesting to see that the idea of re- within the contextual parameters closely related to notions of the
form for India was central before talking of independence/auto- Bengali self vis-à-vis other." It provided an autonomous space in
nomy. To "restore" civilisational heritage, Indians took to social opposition to colonial rule. It preserved a notion of unity and led
reform which began through the formation of religious sabhas to a pan regional unity in terms of identity, finally culminating in
such as the Brahmo Samaj and Arya Samaj that aimed at restoring a supposed national unity. Based on conceptions of dharma,
the true religion of people. The restoration aimed at providing a atmiya and cultural Áryanism, creating a national cultural space
metaphor to talk back on equal terms. It became the idiom through carved out of modern religion as a space for inclusion.
which reform was to be translated within the community. In view of these remarks then the formation of the Brahmo
Historically, the samaj was not necessarily religious in its Sabha, later rechristened Brahmo Samaj, took place in 1828. It
outlook, rather it was a collective to regulate and govern was based on the idea of retrieving the pure Hindu dharma fol-
community concerns. The word samaj can be translated as a lowing Unitarian principles, based on a reading of the Vedic
society that is united for a common cause. "It was therefore an golden age. For Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Vedantic knowledge was
umbrella like concept that could accommodate different universal and available to all. He used the vernacular, in this
families, jatis, castes and regions under its rubric by forging a case Bengali to be the language of communication rather than
network of linkages" (Gupta 2006: 277). Sanskrit. For him all the major religions shared amongst them-
Thus, it was an all encompassing notion of atmiya sajan selves a universal language which he thought the idea of the
which translates as one's own people to include not only blood samaj encapsulated. However,
relations, but an expansive notion of neighbourhood or village; . . .this problem of unity and diversity that Rammohun raised but nev-
a collective of shared beliefs, not localised to a conception of er resolved eventually became a major weakness in the Brahmo ranks
kith and kin. It was meant to regulate the individual, based on throughout the century. The source of weakness was a deep psycho-
logical conflict that accompanied the search for a new identity.2
rules and regulations for the purpose for which it was formu-
lated. Samaj then represented a first step in the larger narrative The question was where to draw the line between the univer-
of the Indian nation. "Dharma could create a samajik basis of sality of mankind as encapsulated in Roy's thought and the pres-
unity, not by suppressing, but by accommodating the dissimilar. ervation of ą Hindu identity. This can be as observed in the
Indian history was seen as a meeting ground where discord was rifts and factions that later came to take place between Keshub
mediated and settled by dharmik consensus" (Gupta 2006: 282). Chandra Sen and Dwarkanath Tagore. For Keshub Chandra Sen,

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the main problem with the earlier generation was that they had lived across the Sindhu River, now become an identity of a people
Indianised brahmoism reducing it to a sect of Hinduism, while who could be distinguished by their religious practices. This fa-
Dwarkanath was in search of a modern religion for the Hindus. cilitated the journey for the Indian subject from mythos to logos.
In effect, religion replaced all other differences, especially internal However, this construction of monotheism led to the formation
variances of caste. The systematic structuring of a proto-religion of a religion privileging an orientalist and also Sanskritic identity.
based on fuzzy and blurred cultural and religious identities took Roy created a normative domain within which the new structure
shape at around this period. This was in time to produce what we of the Hindu religion could be placed. The act of situating the no-
today understand and associate with, as the idea of the Hindu tion of community within religion and evoking particular texts
community, a community largely associated with a religion. In which uphold the universal principles is representative of it. This
fact, it is Roy who has been accredited with inventing the idea of according to Dorothy Figuera (2002)3 is also representative of
Hinduism as a religion of a people. how customs and norms were authenticated through scriptures
rather than being seen as part of social practices. We see the com-
A Modern Hinduism
ing together of the practice of rituals and textual knowledge being
Roy played a crucial role in this process by introducing modern
internalised as a religion based on faith. A canon was created. This
elements of Western rationality in his attempt to restructure the paved the way for other reform movements like the Aiya
exercise
Samaj
contours of a rational religion of the Hindu people and perhaps it and Ramkrishna Mission which worked on similar lines.
is for these reasons that he has been associated with ushering in points to the effect of the spirit of rational thought for it
This then
a renaissance for the Hindus. The pursuit of monotheism isprovided
then the native intelligentsia with a trope to systematically
a central aspect of this new identity. For Peter van der Veer
historicise the Indian past, link it to the present, and demand po-
(2001), the ushering in of the modern has been associated litical
with arights for individual citizens/subjects. The choice of Vedan-
sense of history. In such a context, Roy for him represents a
ta, Upanishads and the Vedas as representing the universal were
response which develops in light of utilitarian claims of defining
also a product of such an approach that gave legitimacy to a notion
of Brahminical Hinduism, internalised inner contradictions and
modernity in terms of rationality and utility, and in the mission-
upheld the unity of Hindu thought as one that accommodates dif-
ary perspective reflecting the moral superiority of the Christian
faith in terms of what could be called a modern faith. ference within - an exercise in inclusivism.4
Alternatively, Roy evolves a conception of the modern Hindu
Brian Hatcher (2008: 67), however, argues that this formation
by using rational argumentation to rid the Hindu religionofofthe
itsvariety found in the later offshoots of the Brahmo like the
Tattvabodhini
polytheistic and ritualistic excesses and develop a conception of Sabha represents "a peculiar nexus between
ascriptive group status and bourgeois individualism."5 A Gemein- .
a brahmo or Unitarian Hinduism. In this his training as a linguist
Schäften
helped in interpreting the Vedas, Upanishads and other codes. It was being imagined which could lead to a Gesellschaft
led to the creation of a new order, the Brahmo Samaj, and simul-
of Bengali society which was not confined to a select few.
taneously, paved the way for a modern understanding of what
The proliferation of other samaj on similar lines was then an
Hinduism should look like in the emergent, cross-culturallyassimilative
con- way of understanding Hinduism in the modern con-
nected, 19th century. Veer points out that in his attempt totext. For Christophe Jaffrelot (1993: 517), the consequences of
evolve
such an approach can be termed as the capacity of a universal
a truly rational religion, Roy's task led to "explore the universal-
ity of modernity and point out its limits and contradictions" of humanistic Hinduism to absorb various shades of Hin-
notion
(2001: 7). Another important point raised by him is that, hisThis has for him given rise to what may be termed as ethnic
duism.
Hindu nationalism for its ability at assimilation in the current
choice of personal hermeneutics, and not relying on authoritative
readings of the shastras , can be seen as evidence of the context.
emer- He states that the development of ethnic movements has
gence of a public sphere - the kind Jürgen Habermas talks been
of. studied via two categories - "primordialist" and "instru-
mentalist."
Why monotheism for Roy? Could it be that the idea of reason and The primordialist represents cultural-specific con-
texts, leading to an organic ethnic reification of communities,
the "dignity of all human beings" was one of the major concerns
which guided his construction of a rational Hindu religion? This
while the instrumentalist is seen as a means of modifying estab-
lished
concern was tied to the imperative to finding universal appeal forcanons to contemporise them as per the needs of elite con-
sciousness and the place of community therein. Jaffrelot points to
Hinduism, since all major religions of the world claimed such appeal.
itsreli-
The quest to find a place for Hinduism amongst the major limitations as being located in a discourse on nationalism. For
gions of the world had the effect of bringing the religion him,
on anthe retrieval of an alternate narrative on the public discourse
seems impossible due to the links between culture and ideology
equal footing globally and breaking the myth of Hindu inferiority,
and simultaneously, facilitating the formation of Hinduism as aideology is seen as providing the defining characteristic óf
where
a people,
religion. Also the hierarchy of believers created by the worship of and therefore, works within a limited space of symbols
and their relevance. He, therefore, provides a conceptual catego-
various gods projected an unequal society. The attraction towards
monotheism may be seen as facilitating a notion of equality
ry of "strategic-syncretism" which helps explain the contours that
amongst believers, and in turn, representing a conceptionspecific
of an ideologies take.
This methodology reflects not only on the various influences
equal society. Therefore, to talk about equality amongst individu-
als, it was essential that a single conception of the divine evolves.
that effect the shaping of an ideology, but also the ability of an
So the earlier Hindu, an identity given by the Persians to who to coopt disparate themes. As the function of ideology is
ideology

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primarily a reflection of values and beliefs, and therefore, it is simply to the easy realm of providing reservations to aggrieved
important to study them more closely. Therefore, "material taken groups and not addressing the question of dignity and inequality.
from the cultural values of groups who were seen as antagonistic It has also shaped a kind of majority versus minority politics
towards the Hindu community" (Jaffrelot 1993: 518), within its which is not really representative of the real terms of equality and
domain to present a kind of hegemonic, monolith ideology of freedom that should exist between communities. This has led to
dominance, in his case here, it being representative of what may totalising tendencies from within the majority community which
be called the emergence of the Hindu nationalist ideology. believes that it has the ability to shape the distinctive culture of
For Jaffrelot (1993: 522), Roy's approach can be understood the public sphere. In a sense it has resulted in the literal and actu-
as syncretic, al Vailing" of minority communities against the assertion of Hin-
. . .because he endeavors to reform Hinduism by resorting to the precepts dutva in the public sphere in terms of its rhetoric on what should
of Christianity and western rationalism; but this syncretism proves to constitute the nation and public culture.
be strategic since Roy claims that he draws this neo-Hinduism from a
purely indigenous golden age which enables him to rehabilitate the
Maiytree as Fraternity
Hindu identity scoffed at by the Europeans. This is one of the first building
blocks of a pre-nationalist ideology evolved to resist foreign aggression In contrast, B R Ambedkar imagined the political realm as a radical
seen as most dangerous for the native cultural equilibrium. republican space. Just after independence, post the rejection of the
Jaffrelot argues that this takes a more robust and mature form, transformatory Hindu Code Bill, he embarked on a personal and
as an ideology of the socio-religious reform movement with the political journey to seek a way of imagining the idea of what it may
Arya Samaj. The Arya Samaj adds a social dimension to the myth mean to be a Dalit community. Interestingly, his role as the drafter
of the Aryan age and makes religion a guide to social living. of the Indian Constitution needs to be taken as a background against
The consequences of such a validation is a process by which the his new vision of a moral ethical order. His conversion to Buddhism
constituents of the Hindu identity are defined - to maintain an then is a choice towards a life of dignity, compassion and justice. Fór
equilibrium in society in the face of foreign dominance. This him, the structural-functional role upheld by the Hindu social
strategy involves "psychological" and "mimetic" aspects of order did not offer any scope of mutual recognition or reciproc-
ideology-building. From it stems an ethnic nationalism that shares ity between communities and groups. As V Geetha and Rajan
nationalism's compulsions of preserving endangered institu- (2011: 134) argue,
tions - the caste system in our case - on one hand and assimilat- Dr Ambedkar famously noted that the Hindu has no public, and that
ing diverse culture characteristics to maintain the stability of the his public was caste: in the absence of 'social endosmosis' which
makes it possible for classes to hold values in common... the absence
nation on the other. This strategic syncretism is not Hindu.
of fraternity was a founded absence, based on rigid economics which
Rather, it is based on borrowed concepts of monotheism and disallowed learning to many, and condemned them to servitude and
equalitarianism and centralisation of religious authority, which forbade occupational mobility to all.

. . .which appeared to endow the rival and antagonistic groups with Through Buddha and his Dhamma, he lays down a conception
prestige and strength. The whole process is determined by a national of fraternity which is quite distinct from the conception of unity.
cohesion (and) leads to a homogenising action, which is contrary to The idea of fraternity as understood in the writings of Ambedkar
the pluralistic and hierarchical essence of Hinduism (Jaffrelot 1993: 522).
points to an egalitarian order based on a conception of modern
Thus, the consolidation of a Hindu identity on these terms allows ideals of liberty and equality, not as was traditionally done to bor-
for the constant resurgence of Hindutva forces which seeks to posit row from law or religious morality. The idea of fraternity was to be
itself against the other or in terms of national interest and guarding fashioned through the life of the Buddha - the concerns of ethical
Indian heritage. Therefore, to contain such ethnic nationalism it is life and the choices that confront a person. Thus, adapting the
rather important to recognise that Hinduism, as we have come to Buddhist doctrine as a scientific religion for Dalits, he constructs a
understand it today, is based on diverse belief systems, and more spiritual alternative for the Dalits. It was to provide a "new meta-
importantly, rooted in several cultural conceptions. Hinduism, as a physics adequate for modern life." Navayana Buddhism, as he
religion is not then only about religious precepts, but it is rooted in termed it, had an inbuilt conception of how society was to recog-
cultural practices which need to be acknowledged to break down nise the other. It was not based on assimilating via inclusion rather
the influence of universalising tendencies within it. recognised groups on the basis of karuna - active love, a concep-
This brings us back to the point of unity and the consequences tion which upheld a reciprocity of recognition. Karuna was to be
it can have in such a context on the public sphere where it might supplemented by maiytree or the notion of loving kindness
slant in favour of the majoritarian community. Faisal Devji (2013) towards all creation. As Geetha calls it, it was to be an active fel-
has argued that the decisive moment of defining who would con- lowship with the world on equal terms. Dhamma was to be the
stitute the minority is the Foona Pact. By not granting the un- guiding idea for this fraternity as it was composed on the basis of
touchables separate electorates implied that religion would be a an ethical consensus amongst each other. The distinction to be
major defining character of the minority. This assimilation of the made here is that this was not a call to sameness of individual
Dalits into the Hindu fold has led to the formation that not only ways of being, rather it recognised equality between individuals
misreads who constitutes Hindu, but also led to a transformation and upheld a consideration of mutual respect. Thus, fraternity was
of how the identity of the Dalit and other religions is perceived. embedded in viewing equality through empathy of human life.
Dalit culture is appropriated as being part of the larger Hindu Alternatively in the nationalist paradigm, the heterodoxy within
habitus and debates on equality from within the fold are relegated the Hindu tradition was projected as "inclusivism" - a process of

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assimilation to project a condition of tolerance which was later democratic upright party. The party projects itself as connecting
extended at a national level to make claims as done in standard with the common man on grounds of merit and ability that is sig-
descriptions/marker of Indianness. However, it may be useful to nified in the way its leadership is chosen. It also represents an
more clearly spell out this conception of tolerance and its aims.
idea of India which does not accept differences between people or
Toleration in the Indian context was a process of assimilation
groups. It seems to project a fresh way of going beyond sectarian
which allows for diversity of religious beliefs to be absorbed andvote bank considerations. It projects itself as looking at individuals
arranged within the larger discourse of the Hindu religion itself.primarily as citizens rather than affiliates of various groups. The
For instance, seeing the Buddha as a later avatar of Vishnu and
bjp's conception, however, is quite different from the Kantian un-
similarly looking at the Jains and the Sikhs as being sects of Hindu- derstanding of the equal moral worth of individuals because
ism. The Lockean paradigm on toleration is a process by which when
a it talks of the citizen, it is the Hindu citizen that is evoked
"privatisation" of theological claims is made which does not guar-for every Indian. Thus, while the bjp claims to argue on universal
antee the sustenance of an order or sect; rather it is allowed to,
lines, it upholds an idea of the nation that goes back to a notion of
"wither or flourish" on its own (Nicholsan 2011 : 186) . a religious civilisational superiority.
The idea of inclusivism as toleration looks at assimilating For the Sangh a cultural affiliate preceding the formation of the
sects, practices, philosophies and modes of worship within the political party, Hindu religion, culture, and language exist in their
singular overarching theme of the Hindu tradition, and there- ideal state in Satyuga; they are eternal, inseparable, 'undefinable'
fore, more than toleration of beliefs it represents the accommo- • emanations of the Ultimate Reality (Jaffrelot 2006: 135).
dation of them. This notion of toleration allows therefore for a In such a context then diversity, and more importantly,
thin understanding of identities for what it may mean to be part difference amongst a people is sidelined to uphold a conception
of a specific sect or a group. Yet simultaneously, it provides a of akhand Hindu rashtra. While the Hindu right-wing simplis-
thick conceptual category of what it may mean to be part of the tically term Parsis as the only minorities in India it also talks of
Hindu fold. Extending this idea of tolerance as inclusivism to the ghar wapsi or the return of citizens to the Hindu fold. Indian-
national context meant the assimilation of minorities, primarily ness then is equated with Hinduness. This Hinduness moves
on the lines of religious differences rather than focusing on the beyond being just a religious identity and seeks to uphold
peculiarity of how religion negotiates cultural, linguistic and cultural ethos. This also takes the form of making claims to
social landscapes. In the current context, it can be best under- India's advancement in the ancient times; in such claims my-
stood as the simultaneous process of Sanskritisation while simul- thology becomes a part of real time events of India's past.
taneously demanding reservations on grounds of historical Thus in this context, the unity of the Indian nation seems
backwardness, especially in the case of Other Backward Classes threatened if a claim is made on lines of differences, especially
(obcs). In a similar vein, within the "minority" community we from religious groups who want to preserve difference. The de-
see a demand for recognising Dalit Christians and obc Muslims bate on the Uniform Civil Code is one such example. So while
being made not from the point of inequality or the class perspec- development is hailed as the only political agenda that the bjp
tive but from a vantage of religious claims. understands, what it may mean is far more nebulous consider-
As a result, Indian politics since the 1980s has been witness to a ing development has traditionally been targeted towards groups
specific kind of identity politics. While it represents the heteroge- and aims at minimising inequality between groups. Develop-
neity of demands and aspirations, it also complicates the discourse ment is understood by the bjp more in terms of ideas of smart
of social justice. It recognises difference yet does not acknowledge cities, modernising travel, improving infrastructure facilities
equality as Ambedkaťs understanding of fraternity. In the wake of and providing better jobs. The party forgets that development is
this, it becomes important to understand the rise of political par- eventually about how individuals are able to access these facili-
ties on the right like the Bharatiya Janata Party (bjp). It negotiates ties and that such access is, to a very large extent, determined by
the quest for a Hindu rashtra along with the goals of development the negotiating and purchasing power of the individual. Or is it
to throw up a uniform stable political agenda for the people ofthe development of a certain section of the middle-class that
India that goes beyond its politics to demonstrate an idea of unity. bjp's idea of development is aimed at?
For Jaffrelot, when in power the bjp symbolises an oscillation
A Context from the Present between
The bjp is a product of the coming together of the ethnic- ethno-religious mobilisation and a more moderate approach of politics
religious-cultural and political class-based aspirations emerging
that is shaped by three parameters: the Hindu feeling of vulnerability;
attitude of other political forces; and the attitudes of the party cadres
gradually from the effects of liberalisation and the new economy.
as well as of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (rss), with which the
It also has a traditional base in a majoritarian idea of India which
party cadres often display strong affinities (Jaffrelot 2006: 292).
did not find a representation because of the Congress's focus on
Therefore,
loyalty to the party and its apparent quest for the continuance of while Nagpur which is the headquarters of the rss is
status quo through the idea of the Nehru-Gandhi rule - and also
not seen as playing an instrumental role in terms of the political
because of the Congress's inability to capture the newly emergent
strategies that the bjp would stand for it, it is allowed to meddle
with the idea of what India could mean in the cultural context.
class and its aspirations. In such a context, the bjp aims at repre-
Since the bjp has been in power since 2014, the rss has ac-
senting the voice of India, otherwise unrepresented in the leader-
tively furthered its old agenda of the Hindu rashtra through
ship. It does so by projecting itself as a fresh and a more internally

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spokespersons, some of whom are sadhus elected on bjp tick- to actually make the conception work. Focusing on the citizen
ets. Parliamentarians have gone on record to have said that they allows the party to push a neo-liberal agenda. The individual's
are proud of their rss roots. In a certain sense the rss is postured embeddedness, in contrast, complicates the story of develop-
as a cultural group and as a kind of a modern-day non-govern- ment in India. It may be that corporate investment will, in the
mental organisation. It works not only as a mobiliser for votes for long term, provide more revenue and opportunities for the
the bjp, but has also gained a legitimacy over the years, through larger population. But it can lead to a disruption of ways of life
its "social" work amongst tribais, weaker and vulnerable sections that people value. For instance, the ways in which a corporate
of society. It has been able to come out more aggressively as a understands the idea of land and capital is very different from
preserver of culture and an organisation dedicated to the uplift- how a tribal community would imagine it.
ment of Hindu/Indian society; this is different from how it was One may argue that economic reforms are important for a vast
traditionally understood as an organisation that was primarily country like India. But the question that is not being asked is re-
about majoritarian religio-communal aspirations and an organi- forms for whom and at what cost in a country where even basic
sation that produced the assassin of the father of the nation. livelihood concerns are not in place. It must be pointed out that
The strategic silence of the bjp which has an overwhelming other Asian nations on their way to economic liberalisation had
majority in the lower house of Parliament is disturbing. By not ensured what Amartya Sen refers to as basic capabilities in terms
strongly condemning violence and aggressiveness the bjp of universal education, healthcare, land reforms, reform of the
allows for expanding the scope of the limits of permissibility • informal sector before taking to unfettered liberalisation. The
within a discourse on issues of "origins" of religious minorities four Asian tigers as well as China are examples of the same. The
and their status. This can create a sense of insecurity amongst provision of basic capabilities ensures, at the very least, that the
already vulnerable sections within them and also work as a workforce is healthy and equipped to be the backbone of the
double-edged sword where both sides can be polarised along much touted manufacturing boom planned under the "Make in
the lines of patriotism and religion. So while the government India" campaign. Also the ability to participate in the market re-
is erecting the statue of unity to symbolise the idea of the quires a certain safety net which is being taken away as evi-
Indian nation, the exact contours of the idea of unity is left to denced by attempts to reform the public distribution system and
the interpretation of sadhus, sadhvis and the rss. the restructuring of the Food Corporation of India.
Even if one overlooks the identity question as is traditionally
Different Aspirations and Capabilities done in India through the caste and religion lens, the policies
On the economic front the government has come up with novel being rolled out are not even factoring in other universal cate-
ideas to change the way citizens understand their position in gories like the farmer or the worker. Identity blind or identity
this developmental project. However, terms like Ek Bharat, neutral development can never be substantive because there is
Shrestha Bharat are not grounded in substantive realities of a direct correlation between social indicators of groups and
lived experiences. The fact that communities and regions have their ability to participate. In the long run any sound policy for
different aspirations and different capabilities for accessing the India as a whole would need to acknowledge diversity of
market as consumers and workers is not factored in. However, groups and their access to resources, and more importantly,
the usage of an abstract ideal may be seen as a deliberate at- how we understand who constitutes a minority, especially at a
tempt to avoid the hard task of reaching out to various sections time when development is the keyword.

NOTES
Although eternal and immutable, this Veda Figuera, Dorot
i See Gupta (2006), Marathawad as a notion could be ofemployed
a to explain a process of New York: St
land with a history of the Maratha people, change andin provide a fluid sacred authority Geetha, V and
the Maratha case or Tamil inam, a landupon which an interpreter could impose a per-
unified Ideology, Ci
sonal
on the basis of a language in the case of the thematic (Figuera 2002: 95).
Tamils. London: Rou
2 David Kopf (1969: 203) notes that despite5 According
Bengalto Hatcher, the values that mark the Gupta, Swaru
having indigenous universities, Benares ethics was
of this bhadralok are hard work, honesty, Bengali: Per
regarded as the epicentre for knowledge frugality
onand dependability, "those values form- Modern Asian
authentic Hinduism in 18th century.edFor the moral
ex- framework of early tattvabodhiniHatcher, Bria
ample, in late 1844, Debendranath Tagore thought,hadand, as such, they'provided an impor- Faith of the
sent four Brahmins to Benares to verify tant basis
the in-for the expression of new notions of
Jaffrelot, Ch
Hindu
fallibility of the Vedas and the only one religious identity" (Hatcher 2008: 72).
govern- Strategic Syn
ment-sponsored Hindu college in the 18th cen- nomic & Polit
tury was in Benares established by Jonathan
Duncan.
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76 February 2o, 20i6 vol Li no 8 E3253 Economic & Political WEEKLY

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