Fwd: Counter-Responses to Anna Hazare's Anti-Corruption Movement

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jason Keith Fernandes <jason.k.fernandes@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, Apr 9, 2011 at 3:03 PM
Subject: Re: Counter-Responses to Anna Hazare's Anti-Corruption Movement


Dear Neshat, Friends,

Thank you for raising this important point, to which I would like to add a few more. You say that 'the central banner on the stage displays Bharat Mata - Durga like image – on the map of India...'. I think you understate the issue when doing so. The image is not just that of Bharat Mata, it is the EXACT posture, face, and design of the RSS image of their Bharath Mata, right down to the flaring pallu/ anchal of the saree toward the North East. All that is missing is the lion she leans on, but that is a small detail that is irrelevant, since the point has been made.

Allow me to now address why this issue has not been raised by Shuddhabrata; he is Hindu. He does not see it in quite the same manner as you and I do. Now let me rush to say that I am not suggesting that Shuddhabrata is not 'secular' or that he does not see the danger of the Saffron Right. Ofcourse he does, and he is also engaged with the problem. And yet, there are certain limitations that the Hindu intellectual faces. I remember for example, an instance in Goa, when Shuddhabrata spoke of challenging the Hindu right wing (the exact theme and title escapes me now). The solution he offered however blew me away. He was suggesting a re-reading of the same brahmanical texts that are the problem, in so far as they have come to define India. My question to the Hindu 'secular' intellectual is, why do you not seek to expand the oeuvre that constitutes Indian-ness. When I heard Shuddhabrata speak at that time, I expected that he would speak of the Persian, Urdu texts that are by and large ignored (Dalrymple, as much as I loathe him, was right to critique the Indian establishment on its forgetting of the Persian literary heritage). I would expect that Indian scholars engage with a world outside that of the Anglo-American (and those Europeans they have adopted). This however does not happen too often.

Having said this, let me also insist that I am not attributing a biological inability of 'the Hindu' to sympathise, neither am I creating the figure of the perfect 'Muslim' or 'Christian'. As Khalid, who initiated this thread, also points, the Muslim is a figure that hides the fractures of class, caste and ethnicity. All I am saying is that we should recognise that merely because you (the secular Hindu) feel for the 'Muslim', and that you recognise the danger that the saffron right wing poses, it does not mean that you will see the problem with the same intensity as others do. Indeed, very often you make miss the main point altogether. I am sure that Shuddhabrata will amiably agree to this point. He will also perhaps be troubled that he missed this sign. There are others however, who need to hear this argument, and acknowledge their gap. All too often, for the upper caste Hindu, being 'secular' is enough....they are then perfect...

I scribbled some ideas on this point some time ago, rather than impell you to read it here, I am merely providing you with the link

http://dervishnotes.blogspot.com/2011/03/breaking-secularisms-caste-curious-case.html

regards,

Jason

On Sat, Apr 9, 2011 at 9:54 AM, Dr. Neshat Quaiser <quaiser.neshat@gmail.com> wrote:

My response to article by Shuddhabrata Sengupta on Anna Hazare posted
on kafila.org dated April 9, 2011

Neshat Quaiser
April 9, 2011 12:58 PM
I agree with what the author has stated – there may be few more things
that could be added – but I would like to point out one thing which
has almost been taken for granted – that is to deploy religious symbol
to mobilise 'people' against corruption. The central banner on the
Stage displays Bharat Mata – Durga like image – on the map of India –
this is something which should not be allowed to go unnoticed – What
is all this?

Neshat Quaiser

On 4/8/11, Khalid A Ansari <khalidanisansari@gmail.com> wrote:
> Dear All,
>
>
>
> Many greetings!
>
>
>
> I am attaching here a few counter-responses to Anna Hazare's
> anti-corruption movement. Please circulate widely and discuss.
>
>
>
> Many thanks.
>
>
>
> Best regards,
>
>
>
> Khalid Anis Ansari
>
>

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Dr. Neshat Quaiser
Associate Professor
Department of Sociology,
Jamia Millia Islamia, Central University
New Delhi-110025
INDIA
Phone: 91-011-26952309

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Read my thoughts at www.dervishnotes.blogspot.com
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For a successful revolution it is not enough that there is discontent. What is required is a profound and thorough conviction of the justice, necessity and importance of political and social rights.
(B R Ambedkar)

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Palash Biswas
Pl Read:
http://nandigramunited-banga.blogspot.com/