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On Communalism and Globalization:
Offensives of the Far Right.
Ahmad’s first essay, On the Ruins of Ayodhya, is an extended comment on Hindutva. This essay would possess an urgency, if read in 1992 after the demolition of Babri Masjid, when it was originally written; or even if the BJP was still in power. But currently with the Congress party in power, it is purely academic and can offer, in Ahmad’s words "some analytic comments on the fascistic nature of the actions, organisational principles, ideological formulations, and programmatic objectives of Hindutva". Nonetheless, Ahmad’s insights are profound: he explains cultural nationalism in terms of Romila Thapar’s process of "syndication", that is, the way by which a homogeneous Hinduism was evolved by conflating conflicting discourses and practices. Hindutva, thus, becomes both traditional and modern and includes figures as widely diverse as Gandhi and Golwalker; it is part of events as heinous as Partition and as altruistic as Bhoodan. Such is the organisational genius of Hindutva. The second essay, "Right Wing Politics and the Cultures of Cruelty", follows in the footsteps of the first, and links the Hindutva ideology to deeper structures of history elsewhere in the world. All fascisms have at their core a distinct theory of nationalism. In France, it was called "integral nationalism", whereas, in the erstwhile Yugoslavia, "ethnic cleansing" was the name accorded to it. Savarkar and Moonje were hugely inspired by the Italian and Germanic models. In India, however, which is perhaps more heterogeneous than any other place, nationalism is "simply a necessary cement" to hold the country together. Ahmad believes that if the Left cannot provide this cement, the reactionary right wing will most certainly step in. For Ahmad, "a Leftist kind of nationalism is an objective necessity," the only national ideology which is capable of acting secular. He then goes on to define secularism. In India, secularism is usually associated with a kind of "nostalgic revivalism", a retreat to the "Golden Age" when Muslim and Christian "infiltrators" had not "contaminated" Hinduism. We can call this revivalism "secular" because it carries "a vision of a modern, post-colonial India that was culturally diverse, religiously pluralistic, constitutionally federalist and republican, with extensive guarantees of individual and collective rights." Yet such a model of secularism bred right-wing organisations such as the Hindu Mahasabha and the RSS. Ahmad posits himself as a secularist of another kind, marked by a spirit of "social decency" who encourages pluralism among communities and is indifferent to religious differences among individuals. Such a mode of living would epitomise "a modern civic virtue" and revolutionise society. In India, on the other hand, we have been cornered by "the rising tide of revivalist communalism on the Right", the fragmentary pluralism mixed with soft right-wing ideology at the Centre and an altogether weak Left which alone "commands a moral authority and a degree of social consent". In the absence of the Left parties, the Far Right tends to create "a widespread culture of cruelty". The results of the 2004 elections in which the Left forms the chief bastion of the ruling Congress should please Ahmad. The final essay on "Globalisation and Culture" focuses less on the all-purpose catch word encompassing the trans-national connections in the field of market economy resulting in the rise of an integrated global society than a phenomena predicated upon a number of preconditions. The envirnonment for globalisation was prepared by colonialism itself after the Second World War, just as Marx had predicted. After decolonisation struggles, it was inevitable that the US should emerge as victor. The decades following the Second World War established the US as the strongest capitalist economy, which, in turn, propped up the vast hinterland of poorly industrialised nations left vulnerable in the era of classical colonialism. The dissolution of the Soviet bloc further accelerated globalisation in the last quarter of the twentieth century as the "non-aligned" countries gave up protectionist policies and allied themselves with transculturalism. The agents of cultural nationalism are equally complicit with globalisation because they can little afford to be anti-imperial. In this scenario, the
Hindutva indigenity is maintained less by opposing this "new
imperialism"; it seeks justification instead by protesting against
the "foreign" Muslims and Christians. This saffronised, yet
neo-liberal, face of politics is indeed a new masquerade for fascism. |
The
three essays by Aijaz Ahmad collected in this book were written in the
course of eight years and focus on communal violence and contemporary
imperialism. The overall focus of the book is the sheer overlap of Hindu
fascism and neo-imperialism in contemporary India, which is not
incidental, but deliberate.