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The book under review handles
these, among other, aspects of the phenomenon particularly in
linkage with nation-building, not just competently but with
unusual perspicacity and depth. This is a revised edition. Its
first edition had already been received with acclaim to enjoy
wide popularity —--and not merely among the degree-seeking lot
of students. Rajat Ganguly, by his postscripts to each chapter,
has ably updated it with requisite discernment and mastery of
material.
The major
objective of the study is stated to be ‘an appraisal of the
dynamics of ethnic identities and movements (selectively and in
the seven countries of South Asia, viz., India, Pakistan,
Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Maldives) in a
comparative framework’, which has enabled identification of
certain broad parameters of ethnicity and the process of
nation-building. The aspects of increasing stridency of
ethnicity; the occasional assertion by an ethnic community of
its status as a ‘nation’, and how ethnicity impinges upon
the processes of state and nation-building have also been
addressed.
Intrinsic to
South Asian socio-political realities, as indeed elsewhere,
ethnicity and relations among distinct ethnic groups feature
harmony, not necessarily conflict. However, ‘ethnicisation of
politics and politicisation of ethnic communities has diffused
mutual toleration and has sharpened ethnic consciousnesses.
Ethnicity and the endeavours at nation-building have to be seen
in a broad perspective of the social dynamics, the ethnic
dimensions of the power structure and the measures taken by the
various regimes to cope with the aspirations of various ethnic
groups.
The fundamental
political question today, iterates the study, is whether the
existing plural states would be able to cope with dual onslaught
of ethnic nationalism and global economic integration. While the
latter may come to pass eventually, the unravelling of plural
states consequent upon the resurgence of ethno-nationalist
sentiment bursting into violent ethnic conflict seems to be the
immediate prospect. Ethnicity is universal, of course, but the
scene in South Asia, feel the authors, is particularly acute
necessitating a re-assessment of nation-building approaches in
the region.
The South Asian
multi-ethnic societies, with their high complexity resulting
naturally from a historical past going back millennia are
characterised by an unparalleled diversity in which ethnic
groups and communities share similarities and contrasts in
regard to their evolution and growth, structural and spatial
dimensions, and finally in the nature and character of
inter-ethnic group relations. The less than two centuries old
boundaries of the region’s restructured state system
(delineated during the colonial period) frame political
fragmentation co-existing with a common thread of
sub-continental civilisational values. Each one of them —-and
this is quite unique to this region—-had to somehow loosen if
not break the symbiotic relationship with India, while
simultaneously carving a niche underscoring theheir respective
distinctiveness as a state and as a nation.
The study’s
analysis in mapping ethnic groups and communities in South Asia
leads to the conclusion that the ‘post-independence experience
indicates that ethnic mobilisation has not been totally
disruptive or negative in the developmental processes of India.
(Indeed, often) such mobilisation has facilitated the
strengthening of unity by reallocating societal rewards and
goods within the civic society. Besides, in the pursuit of power
the central leadership has as much manipulated ethnic labels as
others’. It hasn’t been much different in case of most of
the other countries, more or less, though structural
arrangements like federalism, when effectively operative —--which
to quite an extent is not the case—--can minimise ethnic
tensions by universalising the principles of power devolution
pushing the conflict to a lower level.
Inviolability
of territorial integrity and sovereignty of an existing state
today is a universally recognised norm also because most
countries are multi-ethnic; separatism is thus a natural
anathema. Yet, both external support and protagonism of kin
groups across the border or as global diaspora fuel the
separatist movements in South Asia. But by and large, despite
its tremendous potential to evoke group solidarity
"ethnicity has remained latent in some cases and strident
in others," is the broad conclusion of the study under
review.
Ethnicity can
facilitate the composite process of nation-building if the
aspirations of the ethnic community are accommodated and
contained through open, competitive and democratic processes;
conversely, the frustrated ethnic impulses can transform into
ferociously secessionist campaigns.
This first-rate, thorough and
stimulating volume in its revised version remains an invaluable,
authentic tool of analysis and understanding the rhythm of
forces and phenomena in South Asia. I would recommend it as
essential text not just for the student, but for all those who
take public affairs seriously.
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