Changing Narratives: A Counter Revolution In The Great Indian Story

By Anand Mohan

07 November, 2015
Countercurrents.org

The great Indian story is a story which traces its inception to the Indus Valley civilization. Centuries of immigration and assimilation in the fertile sub continent resulted in the creation of one of the world’s most diverse country.

From the Vedic Iron Age to Buddha’s revolution, from the Mughal empire to the British Empire this land has been a melting pot of sorts for races from all over the world.

The Indian narrative in the present epoch is the story of an anti colonialist revolution, it is a story of a billion humans divided into various races, religions, castes all coming together to realise their dream of a developed modern India.

However, the current political discourse of our country has been sabotaged.

This paradigm has been subverted to the narrative of the ruling dispensation's narrow political gains.

I am of course talking about the increasing level of intolerance under the current Government of the BJP led NDA (National Democratic Alliance). The BJP under its Prime Minister Narendra Modi have created an environment of extreme xenophobia due to a cultural fascism practiced by the fringe elements of the Sangh Parivar.

The political murders of M.M. Kalburgi, the black ink attack on Sudheer Kulkarni by the Shiv Sena, which is in an alliance with the BJP Government in Maharashtra, because he dared launch a book written by former Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, banning Ghulam Ali’s concert in Mumbai.

This politics of intolerance has not only been meted out to artists and politicians but also has had a pervasive affect in the lives of ordinary Indians.
The recent murder of Mohammed Akhlaq by a mob because he was rumoured to have consumed beef.

This onslaught on freedom of speech and expression was criticized not only by the opposition in India, but also has catapulted India on a global stage as an intolerant country.

This has set alarm bells ringing with many former supporters of the BJP like Arun Shourie launching scathing attacks against the Government, prominent filmmakers, academics and scientists returning their awards.

So how is it that a country which was a shining example of tolerance, acceptance and democracy has been subverted into a state, which is increasingly aligning itself with the Hindutva narrative of the RSS?

What is the present discourse that India has taken?

What is it about the RSS narrative of India that gives rise to a xenophobic polity?

To understand this current right wing discourse we must understand certain broad narratives at play which have been repeatedly propagated by the Hindu right wing.

The first narrative propagated by the Indian right is that of identity.

M.S. Gowalker, who was the second Sarsanghchalak of RSS, in his book a bunch of thoughts has argued that the Hindus are the natural citizens of this country and has identified Muslims, Christians and Communists as anti nationalists, who have their loyalties towards other countries. He also argued that Democracy is an import of the West and vehemently opposes the assimilation of ‘other communities’ as he believed that they were never born into the Hindu fold and thus pose a grave internal threat. This definition of the Hindu community is precisely what is embedded in the RSS cadres and it is precisely this demonization of the minorities which forms the blueprint of the ideological right.

So the inner threats must be kept in check so that they don't derail their dreams of a Hindu rashtra.

The second narrative is a classic among fascists, fundamentalists, revivalists and others on the extreme end of the right wing spectrum: The golden age. This is tactic involves the celebration of the long gone era of a golden age, an age in which a particular civilization reaches its zenith in all spheres of life. It is this same fetishization of history the right wing ideologues indulge in, this results in a skewered understanding of history.

This is very much prevalent in the current discourse with many ‘academics’, ‘intellectuals’ of the right who argue that India had mastered inter planetary space travel, plastic surgery in the Vedic age, weapons of mass destruction and very conveniently all of this is tailor made for the grand story of a civilization brought to its knees by Muslim invaders and the British Raj.

The third narrative is that of how secular congress governments have over the past few years indulged in corruption, doled out social security programmes and 'useless subsidies' which resulted in a fragile economy.

They pretty much saw the congress party as product of the much hated Nehruvian socialism, condescending elitism with a 'sickular' mindset.
And then what happens in our story ? Well yes you guessed it. A huge dose of good old hindutva and a potent mix of capitalism and you have the acche din to look forward too.

But there is another way we may look at this paradigm: ‘neo liberal capitalism and its role in festering xenophobic elements in a society.

The 2008 financial crises was like playing musical chairs with open grenades and the grenades had to go off some day or the other and they did.

The result? A slow growth in the world economy, the flight of capital from many countries which resulted in record layoffs and a depression of massive proportions last seen in 1932.

This paradigm saw massive political upheaval in Europe where many states had a radical shift from centrist governments to Left wing and Right wing Governments.

And India was no such exception the flight of capital also had various painful consequences with youth unemployment, agrarian distress, a burgeoning current account deficit and inflation.

And this left us at an uncomfortable crossroads, what is the Indian story? After all the East Asian tigers had their story, China would go onto dominate Asia but what about the Indian story?

We were at 9% GDP and we were supposed to be given our due in world history but that time never came and it passed away.

This frustration was deftly channelled by the BJP who had a better story to tell a story of space ships, biological weapons and invaders, a classic story....a best seller indeed!

And people bought that and they have made their decision. 300 plus seats and a vote for 'sabka saath sabka vikas' and good old traditions. After all can we forget our culture now ?

So the cultural revolution was under way forced conversions, love jihad campaigns, and the usual horrific statements from the fringe elements which is now the 'new normal'.

Now a counter narrative to the main discourse is in fact the hardest thing one can do at this time. With sections of the media constantly propagating the dominant ideology while at the same time smearing activists who dared protests against intolerance and a Prime Minister who keeps a tacit silence while the goons maraud their way through our country.

So if there is a lack of criticism from the media, the Prime Minister doesn't speak up and those who dare speak are attacked then the lies which have been sold will become 'accepted facts', and it will become increasingly hard to come back to reality and we may have a severe case of schizophrenia like Pakistan.

The next few chapters of the great Indian story are being written down by the right. But those chapters are but a few pages in the great Indian story.

We must write our destiny and it is not a story which will be written by a few fanatics on fringe with black ink, it is a story written by a billion people and it is a better story than the one we get to hear these days...

Anand Mohan J is a journalist. Anand did M.A. in Development communication from AJK M.C.R.C Jamia Millia Islamia.