Open Forum
New Delhi, 13 July 2022
Present Day
Nationalism
DEVELOPMENT ASPECT MISSING
By Dhurjati Mukherjee
The ruling BJP has been harping on
nationalism on and off. This nationalism is something unique as it is aimed at
arousing the majority Hindu community of the feeling that this land belongs to
them. There is thus a tendency of dividing the Hindus and Muslims and making
the former feel more important. However, recently noted economist Amartya
Sen, pointed out that India’s culture has been of tolerance and the need
of the hour is that Hindus and Muslims should work together, adding that the
majority was not the end of all.
With the BJP coming to power, it slowly
displaced the Congress from these two politically operative forces of
mainstream Indian nationalism. The Modi government’s
nationalistic package included welfare schemes such as National Rural
Employment Guarantee Scheme, Swachh Bharat and Digital India, and economic
policies like ‘Make in India’ and GST. The vocabulary of rights and
entitlements has been replaced with the grandeur of national projects, with
people portrayed as active participants in constructing the new nation.
However, the BJP regime’s poor record on the social and economic front makes
its ownership of this nationalism domain relatively weak and vulnerable to
challenges.
The Congress used secular nationalism as an
effective instrument of elite politics for building coalitions. But in the
arena of mass politics, it failed to develop a vocabulary of secular
nationalism to counter the growing and aggressive Hindu nationalism that is
manifest very much today. The BJP’s brand of nationalism is one of
aggressiveness, not seen since independence.
Delving into the past, it may be stated that
nationalism originated in Western Europe in the 17th and 18th
centuries but it did not become a general European movement until the 20th
century. Thus, it can be said that nationalism is a relatively recent
phenomenon. As Prof. Oganski pointed out: “Nationalism in the modern sense did
not exist at the time of Romans and Greeks. It was not present in medieval
times. Some trace of nationalistic feeling can possibly be found at the
very beginning of modern times when the nation State was first becoming an
important form of political organisation”. With the passage of time,
nationalism spread by means of propaganda and education.
The true meaning of nationalism cannot be
identified in the name of religion, caste or community. The nation-State model
talks about cultural boundaries of the State that must be similar to the
cultural boundary of the nation. On the other hand, the State-nation concept
focuses on the fact that there is no need for similarities between States and
nations. Thus, the concept of State-nation protects the rich culture and
individuality of the States.
The welfare of the nation is the true
reflection of nationalism. It means the spreading of love and
peace, brotherhood and unity among the countrymen, women empowerment,
eradicating poverty and economic development, improvement of law and order,
etc. In short, nationalism means the complete development of the nation.
Nationalism neither encourages discrimination with minorities nor any type of
violence against them that is manifest in India today. After all, minorities
are also part of the nation.
If this definition is to be followed, the
country has failed. In India, the social aspect of nationalism, i.e. the
portrayal of the importance of the majority in public life has become manifest
quite naively. Secular outlook and feelings have been suppressed, while the
minorities have been humiliated in various ways. The culture and tradition of
the Hindus may be there, but in a diversified country like ours, that of minorities
too needs to be recognised. This is quite evident from a rendition of the
country’s history.
The developmental aspect of nationalism must
assume priority in all matters of governance, but this is sadly missing. The
ruling party even a decade or two back was largely a party of the upper caste
and small businessmen. As such, there was virtually no attention towards the
conditions of the lower castes and backward communities. In fact, the
impoverished and marginalised sections were not the focal areas of attention.
Thus, till the late 90s, inclusive nationalism was virtually absent.
Though Prime Minister Modi recently asked
party leaders to reach out to the “deprived sections other than Hindus”,
without mentioning the largest minority, the Muslims, who have borne the brunt
of the saffron party’s hate mongering, it is clear that the party now thinks of
a change in strategy. “There are deprived sections in other communities too. We
should work and connect with all these downtrodden communities”, Modi is
reported to have told party leaders at a close-door meeting at Hyderabad.
It is thus quite discernible that over the
years all the talk of inculcating nationalism was thus limited to a particular
section of society and not intended to involve the masses. Even in formulating
the development strategy, the focus has been on thrusting from above and not a
grass-root level approach. This same strategy was followed by the Congress in
the later years of its rule though their social nationalism was better as they
followed secularism, not to the extent desired, but reasonably appreciable.
The sense of nationalism cannot be identified
in the name of religion, caste or community of people, it’s beyond all these.
Similarly, the European model of the nation-State is an old concept. India is a
diverse country, where each State has its own culture, religion,
tradition, history, language, etc. The nation-State model talks
about the cultural boundaries of the State that must be similar to the cultural
boundary of the nation, but this is a very narrow concept, at least for a
country like India with wide disparities in every sphere.
On the other hand, the idea of State-nation
is much wider than this. It says that there is no need for similarities between
States and nations. Thus, the concept protects the rich culture and
individuality of the States. The welfare of the nation is the true sense of
nationalism. It means the spreading of love and peace, brotherhood
and unity among the countrymen, women empowerment, eradicating poverty
and economic development, improvement of law and order, etc. In short,
nationalism means the complete development of the nation from all aspects but
principally in the social and economic realm.
If there is genuine rethinking within the
party of moving forward with all sections of society in a truly nationalistic
spirit, avoiding all forms of discrimination in matters of religion, caste and
creed, the objective of a strong bond of citizens would be established.
Dissenting voices would be heard, while intellectuals would be given due
respect. In a pluralistic society, development would occur at a fast pace only
if the social, cultural and economic climate is conducive to the interests of
society. Then only can true nationalism in the country be witnessed. ---INFA
(Copyright, India
News & Feature Alliance)
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