What secularism doesn’t guarantee

Sandeep Sinha

Secularism is a tenet that is fundamental to Indian democracy and is enshrined in the Constitution. But its practice has been hampered because of the secular sectarianism pursued by secular, democratic and progressive political formations. It implies the tendency of specific secular political movements to act as if their agendas are exclusively important. The author, who teaches at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, says secular sectarianism has gradually polarised communities and advanced a limited political imagination which has led to the multiplicity of conflicts between various marginalised groups such as Dalits, tribals, OBCs, Muslims, women and the Left.

The sociology of conflict in India is no longer between the majority and the minority, between the upper and lower castes, beween the economically powerful and the weak, between the governed and those who govern. It is no longer between the elite and the subaltern. The scene has shifted to conflicts within the marginalised groups making the subaltern social groups fail to articulate issues beyond their immediate concerns and identities. The book makes an attempt to put in perspective the intra-subaltern conflicts.

The book describes secular sectarianism as a specific social condition that allows for social mobility for itself while actively preventing the same for social groups that are placed well below them. Subaltern social groups have claimed to locate themselves within the secular ethos, wanting to move beyond immediate identities and narrow ethnicity. However, post-independent politics of India has been a witness to repeated failure of such politics forging any meaningful solidarity or political dialogue. Increasingly, social groups have remained narrow, communal, parochial, ghettoised and isolated. This politics fails to understand the nature of power dynamics and its implications for other groups that are both below and also laterally located. It is this sustained failure that is here referred to as secular sectarianism.

Secular sectarianism is about elite domination and subaltern resistance and how the latter are partly responsible for their conditions because of the inner divisions and ignorance about the very principles they claim to promote, including equality and secularism, depicting the reality of Indian politics in which there is not one solid class on top and below. In the Indian context, the very groups identified as harbingers of secular upsurge like the Dalits, Muslims, women, OBCs and the Left, have initiated a process of sectarian ghettoisation.

The hyper-polarisation of differences has led to a craving for community, order, unity and reviving ancient cultural forms as against the invasion of Western enlightenment and liberalism in general. Ironically, while equality has disappeared from the agenda of capitalist nations, culture is moving to the centre stage of a communist country like China to avoid the pitfalls of Western-style liberalism. But the dangers of unity of thought can assume totalitarian form.

The essays in the book are in three parts. The first deals with the notion of Indian modernity being Brahmin modernity and the resistance to it. It speaks of the role of women and the Dalit-tribal conflict, in particular about the Rohith Vemula incident as to how it triggered an anti-caste movement that no longer had just a regional bias.

The second part is on minority politics focusing on reconversion and the uniform civil code. It speaks of how the once socially dominant Kashmiri Pandits, now displaced, have become a symbol of nationalism while the Muslims tend to get viewed as moving towards radicalisation despite bearing the brunt of exceptionalism.

The third part deals with Left politics. It speaks of the subaltern moving rightwards for more authentic politics. Does it explain the erstwhile Left cadre in West Bengal moving towards the BJP or the coalitions that the BJP cobbles up with parties with a more regional flavour?

The book helps understand contemporary Indian politics and how the Right, that is the BJP, is gaining over the Congress, communists and others. It also is about a challenge about the possibility of forming political coalitions that are internally diverse but still work together to fight economic and cultural oppression. The book lays emphasis on expressing citizenship through the right to speak for others and not just for oneself. Progress can be made only by opening up dialogues within and across political communities. This is essential for India’s survival as a secular and democratic nation.