HISTORY, NATIONALISM AND MULTICULTURAL IDENTITIES

As a student of progressive historical ideas and thoughts which ingrained in my blood from the birth I born to inter-caste, inter-religious and inter-regional parents who belonged to Pooja-Yadav-Madiga communities in south Asian society. I have been haunted by various queries, questions and suspect regarding super imposition of single identities upon various multiple identities by using the state apparatus.  State apparatus is highly misinterpreted, misguided and misused by uneducated people who hold offices of President to a local police in India. Therefore, I started reading some serious books written by few serious social scientists such as Romila Thapar, Gopal Guru or Nivedita Menon after the event of JNU sedition case in which few progressive students had been jailed under this notorious act by the Hindutva based non-progressive, anti-freedom of speech of central government of India.

Of course reading is my life and my small thatched home is full of books with approximately 1000 books. I started buying books since the days I spent at the Center for the Study of Culture and Society (CSCS) which seeded a strong desire of reading serious books on culture and society. I should thank CSCS for its unforgettable contribution in my life in intellectual arena. I met many mainstream eminent scholars at this institution. I might have read the literature on Nationalism in this institution but I read a very serious work on this topic is G Aloysius Nationalism Without A Nation in India. It is a serious work which broken the ground from the theoretical aspects by giving existing inegalitarian theories and practices of Indian Hindu society. The work is dealing with the history, tradition, protest and human rights from the perspective of sub-subaltern experiences. Perhaps, I have my own problems with the academic mafia of Ambedkar’s school of thought. Professor Aloysius, of course, is not from this school of thought by birth but having sympathy with non-meritorious followers of Ambedkar has been a big problem in the academic contributions to knowledge. As a matter of fact, reservation holders to which Dalit-Mala communities belong are unfit for teaching or research at higher educational institutions by drawing attention from their inadequate, non-reading, non-meritorious skills and non-academic activities by members of this Untouchable-Mala community at any university in India. In fact they are the destroyers of the knowledge creation in higher educational institutions. Another non-meritorious academic community is Sudra categories to which agricultural categories i.e Reddy, Kamma, Velama and Kapu belonged. One can’t talk about vernacular speaking Brahmins or Tribals or Vaishyas (trading community) or Kshatriyas(rulers) or Muslims or Sikhs or Buddhists or Jainas or Dalit-Mala or tribal converted Christians in this space of knowledge creation based on their poor academic skills. They are mostly inferiorized by their poor academic skills in research or teaching field. However, mainstream academicians with western degrees have sympathy on these intellectually inferior categories. As historian Harban Mukhia rightly observed about how kings of any Hindu dynasties in India had been illiterates, therefore, depending on the court priests or traditional judiciary under the category of uneducated Brahmins for any decision which ruined the spirit of social justice. These illiterate kings of various dynasties have enjoyed the life of unethical or juxtaposed to welfare state. Of course welfare state is nowhere in the thoughts of any Hindu or Muslim ruler in any period of ancient or medieval histories of India. It is very much invention of British Raj.

However, is there any linking thread between history, nationalism and multicultural identities in India? What is the meaning of nationalism in the context of JNU event which redefined the meaning of nationalism which is different from the definition of Hindutva nationalism in India? How do political thinkers like Gopal Guru or Nivedia Menon and historians like Romila Thapar or Harban Mukhia defined real meaning of Constitutional nationalism which differs from the definition of nationalism of right wing Hindu fundamental groups? Is there any bad nationalism or good nationalism or good Indian/Hindu or bad Indian/Hindu like good Muslim and bad Muslim?

How to address the words like nation, nation state or nationalism or governmentality state in the context of Indian society when right wing Hindutva forces are super imposing its single identity of Hindutva on multicultural identities? Is there any fundamental differences between Constitutional nationalism or Hindutva nationalism or both are carrying the spirit of Indian Hindu nationalism?

Indian Constitutional nationalism is promising its people in order to claim their identities, rights and welfare of any community whereas Hindu nationalism is enforcing its single identity of Hindu upon the non-Hindu castes. Majority Hindus with Indian academic degrees are standing by Hindutva ideologies since the analytical skills of these ideologies are poor or since they do not have any culture of reading a book or article. The fate of the Indian academy is with full of non-meritorious teachers and researchers who made research institutions as elementary schools with their non-reading habit culture with unproductive academic activities.

When internationally renowned Romila Thapar had planned for JNU in its initial stage of foundation to make it with superior academic standards, freedom of speech with critical bent of mind with the like minded historians Harban Mhkhia then the entire foundations of Indian universities has made universities as merely elementary schools by recruiting non-academic people with Indian academic degrees. There is NO place for western degree holders in Indian academic institutions by fearing that intellectuals are threat to their non-academic activities. University Grants Commission (UGC) or ICSSR or other Science or Engineering funding institutions have spoiled the spirit of knowledge creation by its non-meritorious rules and regulations. Clearing NET is one among non-meritorious rule of UGC. Western degree holders of few intellectuals with Indian academic degrees are going away from these UGC recognized non-meritorious academic institutions for unable to bare casteist politics of reservation holders particularly by the followers of Ambedkar.

Universities supposed to be centers of progressive ideas and thoughts but unfortunately Indian universities have spoiled the spirit of knowledge creation by practicing plagiarism in its academic discourses. Indian universities are plagiarizing western knowledge in its every discipline. Therefore how to expect a progressive scholar or writer from the Indian universities from the degree holders of Indian academics? Societies needs progressive knowledge creators like Romila Thapar but unfortunately Indian society is nowhere in the eye sight of reading books. Reading progressive books will create creative ideas and thoughts in order to reform individually but unfortunately these pseudo are ruining the state from its unproductive religious prison chains to modern or welfare state in order to establish modern principles of equality, liberty, freedom and fraternity. When could Indians give importance to progressive or creative ideas? When could Indians start reading like its CSDS, CSSS or CSCS institutions? When could so-called Professors of Indian universities learning proper English or when can we expect Indian Professors to reading text books? When can we expect Indian Professors able to write a single line in their own in the English without plagiarizing western articles or books? When can Professors from state or central universities in India start learning good English? When can State Universities think of recruiting intellectuals? When can Indian Professors with few exemptions from CSDS, CSSS, JNU or CSCS ( with few individual exemptions from HCU) start reading EPW or Seminar or Social Scientist journals or when can entire Dalit-Mala community stop its caste politics in the name of Ambedkar? When can Professors or Associate Professors or Assistant Professors dedicate themselves for the reading habit? When can we expect Indian academy will start reading mainstream journals and books written by serious scholars like Romila Thapar? When can so-called Professors ashamed of their inadequate academic skills? When can Dalit-Mala’s ashamed of their poor academic skills? When can people stop thinking about reservations in any form?

Let us read to create creative ideas in order to establish a modern state in India.