Jobs in Education System

Engaging & timely tome: The Battle of Belonging

EducationWorld April 2021 | Books
Dilip Thakore If Shashi Tharoor, Member of Parliament and author of 16 masterly English language non-fiction books of deep erudition and three fiction titles, had been born a white Christian American, he would surely have completed at least one term in the White House by now. A successful politcian, accomplished literateur, exceptional wordsmith skilled in the cut and thrust of parliamentary and intellectual debate and gifted with personable charm, a white Tharoor would have been the natural successor of John F. Kennedy, arguably the most charismatic president in the history of the United States. Unfortunately for him — but fortunately for latter-day India, Tharoor is a brown Indian. And unlike many of our countrymen would rather serve in heaven than rule in hell, he chose to become an Indian citizen and proud Hindu of the liberal school of this ancient creed, which has made a big comeback in its most illiberal avatar, in 21st century India. Unsurprisingly, Tharoor has emerged as the most articulate public intellectual and critic of the BJP which swept the General Elections of 2014 and 2019, and inspired by the regressive Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the shadowy ideological mentor organisation of this all-conquering political party, is trying its best to transform contemporary India into an intolerant, majoritarian Hindu nation. This conscientiously researched, brilliantly written book is divided into six sections. It opens with the Idea of Nationalism, traces its rise around the world and highlights the historical truth that nationalism is a relatively recent 18th century phenomenon that arose out of the American (1776) and French (1789) revolutions. The second section, The Idea of India which has six chapters, traces the history of the Indian subcontinent, an agglomeration of over 500 kingdoms and princedoms owing fealty to Imperial Great Britain which ruled for almost two centuries before a united India emerged after the freedom struggle. Since then (1947), it has evolved into the world’s most populous democracy, governed according to the mandate of an extraordinarily liberal Constitution — a “living document”. In the third section of this 462-page book, the learned author focuses light on The Hindutva Idea of India espoused by RSS/BJP. In sum, it is to reverse the legacy of the founding fathers of the nation who painstakingly crafted our uniquely egalitarian and inclusive Constitution, and transform it into a Hindu majoritarian rashtra or “Hindu Pakistan”. Section four highlights the on-going “battle of belonging” and ‘Modi-fication’ agenda of the RSS/BJP and their hand-picked prime minister Narendra Modi to erode the country’s democratic institutions, impose Hindi as the lingua franca, demote the Muslim community, encourage (“soft signal”) religious and communal bigotry and enshrine the Hindu rashtra, by invoking ancient glories. The fifth section of this absorbing history-cum-sociology polemic titled The Anxiety of Nationhood discusses the fractures manifesting in India’s unique national development project which began 70 years ago with an underdeveloped country starting to write a new history as an egalitarian, one-man-one-vote democracy. It compares and contrasts the RSS/BJP’s intolerant hindutva philosophy with Mahatma Gandhi’s inclusive
Already a subscriber
Click here to log in and continue reading by entering your registered email address or subscribe now
Join with us in our mission to build the pressure of public opinion to make education the #1 item on the national agenda
Current Issue
EducationWorld October 2024
ParentsWorld October 2024

Access USA
Xperimentor
WordPress Lightbox Plugin