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Deshprem
The assembly election results, the Kashmir files, the hijab row; it has been yet another charged month in our political scape. As the country finds itself increasingly divided into the so-called liberals and Bhakts we are losing out on the middle ground for debate and discussion. Like other post colonial countries, we are on the road to self-discovery and cultural maturation. A shallow or a misguided politics can seriously harm our future. For the sake of our collective future then it is absolutely essential that we redeem the middle ground.
Being brought up in India, as against the West has taught me that there is a rich inner world. That beyond the dichotomy of inner and outer is a being that can experientially evolve into higher states of consciousness. The experience can give rise to increasing empathy and understanding of all the forms of life that inhabit the planet. Such an understanding can lead to real change through love as against violence. Violence has to be forsaken not just as an ethical principle but because it sows the seeds to our own destruction.
Any encounter with difference helps in this growth and there is no one path to it. You can be a vaampanthi or a dakshinapanthi and still find your truth. The essentials are that there be the freedom to choose one’s own path as long as you do not hamper another’s journey. That is in essence, Swaraj. And a deep commitment to that path; to the journey of the inner self is Bhakti. Bhakti requires self- expression and guidance. Hence the proliferation of our various gods and gurus. Our gods in this yuga are as human and ambivalent as our conditions, they can cajole and lead by example but never dictate our ways.
Our politics then should ensure that every human and we as a society inhabit the conditions essential to carry on the journey.
The dominant political ideology today is incapable of amalgamating our cultural traditions with the insights of modernity and taking us forward. It misunderstands the same cultural continuity it claims to safeguard. Only when you delve deep into this tradition can you gain the confidence to experiment with it and grow. And without experimenting and arguing there can be no growth.
This ideology is presently so enamoured by its own power that it seems incapable of evolving. By negating our right to be in various ways, by creating strife where there can be inclusive solutions it is hampering our journey. By telling us what we can eat, what we should wear, who we can love it is playing with our future. By silencing those within us who dare to think differently it is sowing the seeds for our stagnation. By making our youth into an unthinking mob who get their rush catering to a form of militant nationalism it is sowing the seeds to their self-destruction. It does not respect the cultural understanding that farmers carry of their fields or tribals of their forests. It does not understand division of power, it does not understand “Swaraj.”
Those who sit in the opposition have squandered away the legacy of Gandhi and the brilliance of Ambedkar who could enshrine these ideas in our constitution. They have instead of healing the wounds of partition, supporting creativity in our growth turned their back to what was most precious in us. The opposition is but a hollow vessel devoid of ideas and ideology with its slogans exhausted.
What do we need then? We do not need a revival of our history or past glory because that is simply not possible. We need to acknowledge our multiple histories and our conflict but respect our diversity and the fact that each of us is equally Indian. That being an Indian is over and above any other identity we may inhabit. Instead of being bogged down by our history use it to create a glorious future together. We need the wisdom and the ethical integrity of Gandhi, the creativity of Tagore, and the empathy of Ambedkar. The Indian Nationalist struggle was a path to self-discovery. Paying mere lip service to that legacy is the worst kind of insult. We need to engage with it and our past more deeply but knowing that the future has to be constantly created anew. We need Kalidasa’s poetry, Khusrow’s lyrical self-assurance, Kabir’s groundedness. That is only possible in a spirit of experimentation and argument, not in an environment stifled by censorship. I want to claim everything as my inheritance. The different flavours, the multiple languages, the accents, the clothing, the people. I want to claim the ancient, the medieval, the Mughal, the British as my history and a part of me. Anything else is self-hatred. That is the only way forward. The way of deshprem as against rashtrawad, the way to Swaraj.
Email: itriks@gmail.com
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